Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Who hath taken this counsel? - To whom is this to be traced? Is this the work of man, or is it the plan of God? - questions which would naturally arise at the contemplation of the ruin of a city so ancient and so magnificent. The object of this question is to trace it all to God; and this perhaps indicates the scope of the prophecy - to show that God reigns, and does all his pleasure ever cities and kingdoms.
The crowning city - The distributer of crowns; or the city from which dependent towns, provinces, and kingdoms had arisen. Many colonies and cities had been founded by Tyre. Tartessus in Spain, Citium in Cyprus, Carthage in Africa, and probably many other places were Phenician colonies, and derived their origin from Tyre, and were still its tributaries and dependants (compare Ezekiel 27:33).
Whose merchants are princes - Princes trade with thee; and thus acknowledge their dependence on thee. Or, thy merchants are splendid, gorgeous, and magnificent like princes. The former, however, is probably the meaning.
Whose traffickers - ( kı̂ne ‛âneyhâ , Canaanites). As the ancient inhabitants of Canaan were "traffickers or merchants," the word came to denote merchants in general (see Job 41:6; Ezekiel 17:4; Hosea 12:7; Zephaniah 1:1 l). So the word Chaldean came to mean astrologers, because they were celebrated for astrology.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Isaiah 23:8:
Job 41:6
Isaiah 23:11
Zechariah 9:5
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