Be still, you inhabitants of the coast; you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
Read Chapter 23
Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
Still, it was when humanity was in this state that the Word—the Son—came to seek and to find that which was lost. Even before he came, he tried to restrain us from such foolishness, crying out, “Don’t be like the horse and the mule which have no understanding and whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle.” And because his own people were careless and acted as the wicked did, Isaiah, praying in the Spirit said, “You are to me like merchants of Phoenicia.” - "Festal Letter 2.3"
Island. Tyre was originally surrounded with water. A communication with the land was made afterwards, Josue xix. 29. (Calmet) (Ezechiel xxvii.) (Worthington)