because the items that people trade can buy them food
because your mom
They had limited farming land to support a growing population - they had the choice of conquering more land or trade. They chose the latter.
With limited land and a burgeoning population, they didn't have the land to support it and could either conquer more land or turn to trade. They chose trade.
The formation of Sargon's empire occurred earlier than the beginning of Phoenician trade. Sargon of Akkad established his empire around 2334 BCE, while the Phoenician trade network began to develop significantly later, around 1200 BCE. Thus, Sargon's empire predates the rise of Phoenician trade by over a thousand years.
They had insufficient arable land to support an expanding population and were faced with either conquering new land or trade. They chose trade.
Commercial farming, where crops are grown for sale in the market rather than solely for the farmer's own consumption, can be considered the opposite of subsistence farming. Commercial farming often involves larger-scale operations with a focus on maximizing profits through efficiency and productivity.
Initially a desire to conquer others. They elected to expand by trade rather than war. It was not until challenged by Rome's expansion that they contested control of the Western Mediterranean.
They started as farmers, and wanting goods not produced in their territory, traded their surplus of foodstuffs, timber and dies for those goods. They were so successful at this that they extended this direct trade to carry-trade, that is they also carried goods between their trading partners to meet demand for goods they did not produce themselves. To facilitate this they established a trading fleet and warships to protect them, and trading stations around the Mediterranean and in Mesopotamia - they even went as far as Britain for tin.
The Phoenician alphabet is simpler and more concise than cuneiform, which had hundreds of characters. This made the Phoenician alphabet easier to learn and more adaptable for different languages. Additionally, the Phoenician alphabet was more portable, as it could be easily written and inscribed on various surfaces.
First, the opted for trade rather than conquest to solve a population crisis; then their inventiveness - astral navigation, seamanship, inventing alphabetic writing.
The Phoenician alphabet is older than the ancient Hebrew alphabet. The Phoenician script emerged around the 12th century BCE, while the earliest forms of the Hebrew alphabet developed later, around the 10th century BCE. The Hebrew script is derived from the Phoenician alphabet, reflecting the influence of Phoenician writing on later Semitic languages.
Both are phonetic systems, however the Phoenician Alphabet has no vowels, and it more accurately called an "Abjad" rather than an "Alphabet".