ישעיהו, פרק כ״ג, פסוק ט״ו

Through the sharp imagery of an aging prostitute, the economic and political lifecycle of the great merchant city of Tyre comes into focus. The city will experience a drastic fall from greatness, suffering a long decline followed by a deeply humiliating attempt at recovery. For seventy years, Tyre will be completely forgotten and abandoned by the many merchants who once filled its markets [רש״י, מצודת דוד, שד״ל]. This specific period of desolation serves as a measure-for-measure punishment. Because Tyre rejoiced when the Israelites were exiled to Babylon for seventy years, it is decreed that the city must drink from the same cup of suffering [חומת אנך].

The prophetic vision compares this seventy-year period of isolation to the days of a single king, a concept that carries several layers of meaning. One approach is that it refers to a continuous empire, specifically the Babylonian kingdom, whose rule lasted seventy years alongside Tyre's destruction, with Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson viewed collectively as a single monarch [אבן עזרא, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Alternatively, the single king points to King David, who lived for exactly seventy years. This serves as a stark reminder to Tyre of the covenant it originally made with David and Solomon—a pact it later betrayed by harming Israel. By referencing David's lifespan, the message is clear that the punishment is not a random disaster, but a direct decree from God for their betrayal [מצודת דוד, רד״ק].

Other perspectives view the seventy years simply as the average lifespan of a person and a king, indicating that the city will sit completely inactive for an entire generation [רד״ק]. Another approach suggests a tone of mockery directed at the local kings of Tyre. Because they were peaceful rulers focused on wealth rather than war, they often boasted of unusually long reigns lasting up to seventy years. The prophet uses their own exaggeration against them, declaring that their disaster will last just as long as their celebrated peace [שד״ל]. Finally, a unique view argues that the reference is to the king of Tyre himself, who is destined to rule over the city during its lowest point, spending his entire seventy-year life in pain and sorrow over a ruined, trade-less state [אברבנאל].

At the end of these seventy years [מצודת ציון], the city will begin to recover, but this revival is likened to the song of a prostitute. Tyre, having grown wealthy from international trade, is compared to a woman who receives payment from many lovers. When she grows old and is forgotten, and her admirers stop visiting, she is forced to go out into the streets and sing sweetly to lure them back. The same fate awaits Tyre. After decades of total abandonment, the city will not return to its former glory in a natural or honorable way. Instead, it will be forced to beg, sending letters to various nations and pleading with merchants to return and trade, acting exactly like a prostitute singing to awaken the hearts of her former lovers [רש״י, רד״ק, מלבי״ם, אברבנאל].