[Commenting on Isa 24:15:]
The name of the Lord—on the isles of the sea—In remote countries beyond the sea, which
in Scripture are commonly called isles. (John Benson, The
Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, (According to the Present Authorised
English Version:) with Notes, Critical, Explanatory and Practical [London:
Thomas Cordeux], 3:[149])
“19. By the earth, or the
word so translated, the prophets frequently mean the land of Judea; and sometimes, says Sir Isaac Newton, the great
continent of all Asia and Africa, to which they had access by land. By the isles of the sea, on the other hand,
they understood the places to which they sailed, particularly all Europe, and
probably the islands and sea-coasts of the Mediterranean. (Adam
Clarke, The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes, 6 vols. [Bellingham,
Wash.: Faithlife Corporation, 2014], 4:14)
In Esther x.1, it is said that “Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land
and upon the isles of the sea.” The same Ahasuerus is said to have “reigned
over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India even unto Ethiopia,” including
Egypt and Palestine; which two countries, with probably some part of the coast
of Asia Minor, must be the isles here intended. Egypt is likewise called an “isle”
by Isaiah. (Ch. xx.6) In 1 Mac. xiv.5, among the honourable acts of Simon, it
is mentioned, that he “took Joppa for a haven, and for an entrance to the isles
of the sea:” in which sentence the universal acceptation of the term “isles
of the sea” by the Jews is clearly expressed.
It appears from these extracts, that the term “isles” and “isles of
the sea” were applied more particularly to the countries west of Judaea; the
communication with which was by the Mediterranean. It is also to be observed,
that these terms are always applied by the Jews to the Gentile countries; those
countries described by Moses as peopled by the posterity of Japheth, namely,
Asia Minor and Europe. Hence St. Paul, who was chiefly employed in preaching in
these countries, is styled the Apostle of the Gentiles: and these extensive
regions of Western Asia, and the whole of Europe, are comprehended in the
general term " Isles of the Gentiles.” (John Griffith Mansford, A
Scripture Gazetteer; Or, Geographical and Historical Dictionary of Places and
People, Mentioned in the Bible: With Maps; Tables of Time, Weights, Measures,
and Money; and a Copious Chronological Table [London: Hamilton, Adams,
and Co., 1829], 268)
ISLAND, ISLE.—The Heb. word ʼῑ means primarily ‘coastlands,’ but
sometimes lands in general, and in one passage (Is 42:15) ‘dry land’ as opposed
to water. In Is 20:6 Palestine is called ‘this isle’ (AV, but RV ‘coast-land’).
The islands of the Gentiles or heathen (Gn 10:6, Zeph 2:11) are apparently the
coasts of the W. Mediterranean; the ‘isles of the sea’ (Est 10:1, Ezk 26:18
etc.) are also the Mediterranean coasts; ‘the isles’ (Ps 72:10 etc., Is 42:10
etc.) means the West generally as contrasted with the East. Tyre is mentioned
as an isle in Is 23:2, and here perhaps the term may be taken literally, as
Tyre was actually at that time an island. The isle of Kittim (Jer 2:10, Ezk
27:6) is probably Cyprus, and the isle of Caphtor (Jer 47:4 mg.), Crete. In the
NT five islands are mentioned: Cyprus (Ac 4:36, 11:19f., 13:4, 15:39, 21:3, 16,
27:4), Crete (27:7, 12, 13, 21), Clauda (v. 16), Melita (28:1), and Patmos (Rev
1:9). (E. W. G. Masterman, “Island, Isle,” in Dictionary of the Bible,
ed. James Hastings [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909], 393)
The isles that are in the
sea (Ezk 26:18) are the coastlands, or island-like countries on the seaboard, which profited by the
traffic of Tyre; and in one instance, judging by the ivory and ebony which they
had to exchange, many isles (Ezk
27:15) may be East Africa or India. (Thomas Nicol, “ISLAND, ISLE,” in A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with Its
Language, Literature, and Contents Including the Biblical Theology, ed.
James Hastings, 2 vols. [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1912], 2:506)
