Phoenicia

Biblical References

In the New Korean Revised Version, the name "Benige" (Phoenicia) appears only in Acts. After the martyrdom of Stephen, the believers who had been scattered traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word (Acts 11:19). Paul and Barnabas passed through Phoenicia on their way to the Council of Jerusalem, reporting the conversion of the Gentiles (Acts 15:3). At the end of a missionary journey, Paul boarded a ship bound for Phoenicia, landed at Tyre, and stayed seven days with the disciples there (Acts 21:2-4). The term "Syrophenician" in Mark 7:26 is understood to mean a Phoenician from the Syrian region. The "Phenice" of Acts 27:12 is a harbor on the island of Crete and is not the same place as Phoenicia.

The Old Testament has no distinct name for the region as a whole. Instead, the region is referred to by its principal cities, Tyre and Sidon, or by the term "Zidonians." Hiram king of Tyre sent cedar trees and workmen when David built his palace (2 Samuel 5:11) and when Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 5). Jezebel was the daughter of "Ethbaal king of the Zidonians" (1 Kings 16:31). Zarephath, where Elijah stayed, was a town belonging to Zidon (1 Kings 17:9). Isaiah 23, Ezekiel 26–28, and Amos 1:9-10 contain prophecies of judgment against Tyre and Sidon.

Background

Phoenicia was a narrow strip of land stretching along the eastern Mediterranean coast. Rather than a single nation, it was a collection of city-states, port cities such as Tyre, Sidon, and Gebal (Ezekiel 27:9), each with its own government. The Phoenicians excelled at seafaring and maritime trade and founded colonies such as Carthage in North Africa. They were renowned for the cedars of the Lebanon mountains and for their purple dye. Their script is generally regarded as the basis of the Greek alphabet. The name "Phoenicia" derives from the Greek Phoinikē. The word is commonly connected with purple dye, though its etymology is disputed. The Phoenicians worshiped deities such as Baal and Ashtoreth (1 Kings 11:5).

Significance in Scripture

In the Old Testament, Phoenicia, Israel's northern neighbor, plays a dual role. On the one hand, it was a partner that helped build the Temple; on the other, it was a source of temptation that introduced Baal worship through Jezebel. Ezekiel 27 likens the wealth and commerce of Tyre to a great ship and laments the coming collapse of its pride. In the New Testament, this Gentile land is portrayed as a place reached by grace. Jesus declared that it would be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for the unrepentant cities of Galilee (Matthew 11:21-22). In this region he also granted the request of the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30). In Acts, the region is a place where believers gathered at an early date and a channel through which the gospel spread beyond Judea.

Interpretations and Issues

• Mark describes the same woman as "a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation," while Matthew calls her "a woman of Canaan" (Matthew 15:22). Some interpreters hold that Matthew deliberately evoked Canaan, the ancient neighbor of Israel.
• Interpretations differ concerning the lament over the "king of Tyrus" in Ezekiel 28:11-19. Some traditions have read this passage, together with Isaiah 14, as depicting the fall of Satan. Others regard it solely as a poetic portrayal of the pride of the king of Tyre.
• Views also differ on the prophecy of Tyre's destruction in Ezekiel 26. Some interpreters see the prophecy as fulfilled through the siege by Nebuchadnezzar and the later conquest by Alexander the Great. Others, noting that Ezekiel 29:18 states that Nebuchadnezzar received no reward from Tyre, explain the manner of the prophecy's fulfillment differently.