Isaiah 23:9 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

The Lord of hosts. Whoever be the instruments in overthrowing haughty sinners, God, who has all hosts at His command, is the First cause (Isaiah 10:5-7).

Stain - "to stain:" Hebrew, le-challeel, to profane as in Exodus 31:14, the Sabbath, and other objects of religious reverence: so here, "the pride of all glory" may refer to the Tyrian temple of Hercules, the oldest in the world, according to Arrian (Isaiah 2:16): the prophet of the true God would naturally single out for notice the idol of Tyre (G.V. Smith). But the parallelism between "to stain the pride of all glory," and the following,

To bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth - shows that the former clause refers, like the latter, to the pride of wealth which characterized the Tyrian merchants, The repetition of "the honourable of the earth" in Isaiah 23:9 from Isaiah 23:8 confirms this. The destruction of Tyre will exhibit to all how God mars the luster of whatever is haughty (Isaiah 2:11).

Isaiah 23:9

9 The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stainb the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.