The Lord will visit Tyre - He will restore her to her former wealth and magnificence.

And she shall turn to her hire - The word 'hire' here denotes the wages or reward that is given to an harlot; and the idea which was commenced in the previous verses is here continued - of Tyre as an harlot - frivolous, splendid, licentious, and holding intercourse with strangers and foreigners. The gains of that commerce with other nations are here represented as her hire.

And shall commit fornication ... - Shall again be the mart of commerce Isaiah 23:3; shall have contact with all the nations, and derive her support, splendor, luxury, from all. The idea is, that she would be restored to her former commercial importance, and perhaps, also, the prophet intends to intimate that she would procure those gains by dishonest acts, and by fraudulent pretexts. After the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, it remained desolate until the close of the Babyloian monarchy. Then a new city was built on the island, that soon rivaled the former in magnificence. That new city was besieged and taken by Alexander the Great, on his way to the conquests of the East.

After the end of seventy years - Tyre, after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, recovered, as it is here foretold, its ancient trade, wealth, and grandeur; as it did likewise after a second destruction by Alexander. It became Christian early with the rest of the neighboring countries. St. Paul himself found many Christians there, Acts 21:4. It suffered much in the Diocletian persecution. It was an archbishopric under the patriarchate of Jerusalem, with fourteen bishoprics under its jurisdiction. It continued Christian till it was taken by the Saracens in 639; was recovered by the Christians in 1124; but in 1280 was conquered by the Mamelukes, and afterwards taken from them by the Turks in 1517. Since that time it has sunk into utter decay; is now a mere ruin, a bare rock, "a place to spread nets upon," as the Prophet Ezekiel foretold it should be, Ezekiel 26:14. See Sandy's Travels; Vitringa on the place; Bp. Newton on the Prophecies, Dissert. xi.

And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years,.... When the seventy years before mentioned are ended:

that the Lord will visit Tyre; not in judgment, as before, but in mercy:

and she shall return to her hire; trade and merchandise; that shall revive, and be as in times past:

and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world, upon the face of the earth; be a mart of nations again, as in Isaiah 23:3 that is, trade and traffic with all nations of the earth, in the most ample and public manner; this is called committing fornication, in agreement with the simile of a harlot before used, whereunto Tyre is compared; as well as to observe the illicit ways and methods used in her commerce. The Targum is,

"and her merchandise shall be sufficient to all the kingdoms of the people, which are upon the face of the earth;''

and so the Septuagint,

"and shall be a mart to all the kingdoms of the world, upon the face of the earth.''

The phrase is used of mystical Tyre or Babylon, and of her merchants, in Revelation 18:3.

When it begins again to make love to all the world, it will get rich again from the gain acquired by this worldly intercourse. "And it will come to pass at the end of the seventy years: Jehovah will visit Tzor, and she comes again to her hire, and commits prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth on the broad surface of the globe." Such mercantile trading as hers, which is only bent upon earthly advantages, is called zânâh, on account of its recognising none of the limits opposed by God, and making itself common to all the world, partly because it is a prostitution of the soul, and partly because from the very earliest times the prostitution of the body was also a common thing in markets and fairs, more especially in those of Phoenicia (as the Phoenicians were worshippers of Astarte). Hence the gain acquired by commerce, which Tyre had now secured again, is called 'ethnân (Deuteronomy 23:19), with a feminine suffix, according to the Masora without mappik (Ewald, 247, a).

And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her {y} hire, and shall play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

(y) Though she has been chastised by the Lord, yet she will return to her old wicked practises and for gain will give herself to all men's lusts like a harlot.

23:17 Visit - In mercy. Her hire - The Hebrew word properly signifies, the hire of an harlot. Fornication - Shall trade promiscuously with people of all nations, as harlots entertain all comers.

17. visit-not in wrath, but mercy.

hire-image from a harlot: her gains by commerce. After the Babylonian dynasty was ended, Tyre was rebuilt; also, again, after the destruction under Alexander.

23:15-18 The desolations of Tyre were not to be for ever. The Lord will visit Tyre in mercy. But when set at liberty, she will use her old arts of temptation. The love of worldly wealth is spiritual idolatry; and covetousness is spiritual idolatry. This directs those that have wealth, to use it in the service of God. When we abide with God in our worldly callings, when we do all in our power to further the gospel, then our merchandise and hire are holiness to the Lord, if we look to his glory. Christians should carry on business as God's servants, and use riches as his stewards.