The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 27
Chapter XXVII · Vol. III, pp. 1349–1351
1 The rich and large commerce of Tyrus. 26 Her great and irrecoverable fall.
1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2 Now, thou son of man, atake up a lamentation for Tyrus;
a ch.26.16,17; ver.32; ch.xix.xxxii. Je.9.17,18. Is.15.5; 16.9.
3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou bthat art situate at the entry of the sea,1 which art ca merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD, O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect2 beauty.
b 1 Ki.5.9. Is.23.1-4,6. ch.28.2,3.
1 Entry of the sea. Old Tyre was situated on the continent, New Tyre in an island not far from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean.—C.
c ver.5-24. Is.23.2,3,8,11. Re.18.7.
2 Heb. perfect of, ver.4,10,11; ch.28.2.
5 They have made5 all thy ship boards of fir trees of eSenir:6 they have taken gcedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
6 Of the hoaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; 7the company8 of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of iChittim.
7 Finej linen,9 with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple1 from the isles of kElishah was that which covered thee.
j 1 Ki.10.28. Pr.7.16. Is.19.9.
9 Rather, 'cotton cloth.'—Sail should most probably be translated 'flag.'—Elishah: among Greek writers, a part of the Peloponnesus still retains the name of Elis.—Covered thee: formed awnings on thy decks; a practice still common during summer in the Mediterranean feluccas.—C.
8 The inhabitants of lZidon and nArvad2 were thy mariners: thy owise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
l Is.23.2,4,12. Ge.10.15. Jos.19.28.
n Is.10.9. Je.49.23. 2 Ki.18.23. Ge.10.18.
2 Arvad was one of the earliest of the Phœnician settlements. The town was built upon a small rocky island off the coast of northern Syria. It was celebrated as a seaport, and its inhabitants were all sailors. Arvad is still a village; and the ruins of the ancient town are very imposing.—P.
9 The ancients of pGebal,3 and the wise men thereof, were in thee thy calkers:4 all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
p Ps.83.7. 1 Ki.5.18. Jos.13.5.
3 Gebal was also a Phœnician city, situated on a promontory at the base of Lebanon, a few miles north of Beyrout. The Giblites were famous as builders both of houses and ships. History testifies to the latter; and the massive battlements of Gebal still prove that in mural masonry they were unsurpassed.—P.
4 Or, stoppers of chinks. Heb. strengtheners.
10 They of Persia,5 and of qLud, and of Phut, were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.
11 Ther men of Arvad, with thine army, were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.
r ver.8; ch.26.8,illegible
12 Tarshishs was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches: with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.
s Ge.10.4. 1 Ki.10.22?. 2 Ch.20.36,37. Is.2.16; 23.1,6,10. Ps.72.10. Je.10.9. Jonah 1.3. Ac.9.11; 21.39.
13 Javan,6 Tubal,t and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the upersons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.7
15 The men of xDedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of yivory and ebony.
x Ge.10.7; 25.3. Je.25.23; 49.8.
y 1 Ki.10.22.
16 Syria8 was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making:9 they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.1
17 Judah,z and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market awheat of Minnith, and Pannag,2 and honey, and oil, and bbalm.3
18 Damascusc was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.4
c Ge.15.2. 1 Ki.11.24,25. Is.7.8.
A.M. cir. 3416. B.C. cir. 588.
4 See note * below.
* The whole beauty and force of this magnificent description of Tyre consists in this, that the city commanded the best art and labour of every country, and the staple products of every country found ready sale in her marts. Damascus was famed for rich brocades, ornaments of gold and silver, and arms; it was the merchant (the supplier) of Tyre in 'the multitude of wares,' and of 'all riches.' Its trade with the shepherd Bedawîn made it, and still makes it, a wool depot, and 'white wool' was supplied in the marts of Tyre. The 'wine of Helbon' was another of its exports. The remains of Helbon still exist in a rich valley of the same name within a few miles of the city. The valley is to this day celebrated for the luxuriance of its vineyards and the choice quality of its grapes; and a good wine is manufactured in a neighbouring convent.—P.
19 Dan5 also and Javan6 going to and fro,7 occupied in thy fairs; bright iron, dcassia, and calamus, were in thy market.
5 Perhaps places of Arabia Felix or India.
6 Taphobrane, where was a city called Dana, according to Grotius. Javan, not Greece, as in ver. 13, but a people in Arabia. Boothroyd, the highest authority in these matters, thinks Javan may be pronounced Yemen, which is still a distinguished part of Arabia.—C.
7 Or, Meuzal.
21 Arabia,g and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee9 in lambs, and rams, and goats; in these were they thy merchants.
g 2 Ch.17.11. Ge.25.13. Is.60.7; 21.16.
9 Heb. they were the merchants of thy hand, ver.22,24.
22 The merchants of hSheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
23 iHaran,1 and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of jSheba, kAshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
i Ge.11.31. 2 Ki.19.12. Ac.7.4. Am.6.2. Ge.2.8; 10.10. Is.10.9; 37.12.
1 Haran, situated in Mesopotamia. See Ge.24.10; 29.4. It was a principal seat of the Sabeans or fire-worshippers; and the ruins of one of their fire temples was still to be seen in modern times. It has also become noted in history as the scene of the defeat of the Roman army by the Parthians, when Crassus, their general, was killed. Its site is still discoverable, but merely by its ruins.—C.
k Ge.10.22,11. Nu.24.22, i.e. Assyrians. 2 Ki.15.19. Is.7.18,20.
24 These were thy merchants in all sorts of things,2 in blue clothes,3 and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar,4 among thy merchandise.
2 Or, excellent things.
3 Heb. foldings.
4 The peculiar scent of the cedar, which is grateful to man, seems to be ungrateful to the moth and its kindred devourers; and hence cedar was used to make packing-cases for the finer manufactures; and is still occasionally introduced into European wardrobes for the same purpose of protection.—C
25 The lships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market; and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
l 1 Ki.10.22. Is.23.14; 2.16; 60.9. Ps.48.7.
26 Thy 5rowers6 have brought thee ninto great waters: the oeast wind hath broken thee in the midst7 of the seas.
27 Thy priches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in8 all thy company which is in the midst of thee, qshall fall into the midst9 of the seas in the day of thy ruin.
p ver.4-24; ch.26.12. Re.18.11-13. Pr.11.4.
8 Or, even with.
q ch.26.5,12,14,19,21; ver.26,34.
9 Heb. heart.
28 The suburbs1 shall rshake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
1 Or, waves.
r ver.35; ch.26.15,18; 32.10. Ex.15.14.
29 And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea,2 shalls come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land;
2 See ch.26.12,19.—C.
s ch.26.16; 32.10.
30 Andt shall cause their voice to be heard against thee,3 and shall cry bitterly, and shall ucast up dust upon their heads, they shall vwallow themselves in the ashes.
A.M. cir. 3416. B.C. cir. 588.
3 Against thee. Rather, 'for' or 'towards thee,' as the passage evidently requires, and the original will bear to be rendered.—C.
u 1 Sa.4.12. 2 Sa.1.2. Job 2.12. Je.6.26. Re.18.19.
v Jonah 3.6. Je.6.26. Mi.1.10. Job 2.8,12; 42.6. Es.4.1,3.
t ch.26.17; 28.12. Is.23.1,4-6. Ho.10.5. Re.18.9-19.
31 And they shall make themselves xutterly bald for thee, and gird them ywith sackcloth, and they shall zweep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
32 And in their wailing they shall atake up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, bWhat city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?
a Je.9.17,18; 22.18. Re.18.10-19. ch.xix. xxxii.;? 30.2.
33 When cthy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich4 the kings of the earth with the dmultitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
c ver.12-25. Is.23.2,3,8. Zec.9.3. Re.18.12-14.
4 By means of transit duties or customs, paid upon exports to their several countries.—C.
d ver.27; ch.28.16.
34 In the time when ethou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters,5 thy merchandise, and all thy company in the midst of thee, shall fall.
35 Allg the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance.
g ch.26.15-18. Re.18.2,9-19.
Notes
Ver. 6. Ashurites. 'We shall not find any company of Ashurites if we inquire for them.' But here are two words read divided, which ought to have been read in one word, and so translated, as in Is. 41.19, where we read 'box,' then all is plain; and the sense is, that from Corsica, &c., where the box flourishes, they brought box boards, which the artists inlaid with 'ivory.' Poole.
Ver. 13. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were sons of Japhet, Ge. 10. 2. Javan is believed to have peopled that part of Greece called Ionia; and some have traced the names of his brothers in Tobolski and Moscow, cities of the Russian empire. C.
Ver. 14. Togarmah is, by Jerome, identified with Phrygia. The reference to fairs and horses clearly shows continental as well as insular Tyre to be included in the general description; a fact which it is important to notice, as it is necessary to remove an apparent contradiction between the prophecy and history. C.
Ver. 15. Dedan. Dedan was the son of Raamah, Ge. 10. 7; and the city after his name, situated on the Persian Gulf, is still called Dadan.—Many isles, &c. 'Many isles were the markets of thy manufactures: they returned thee for thy price, horns, ivory, and ebony' Boothroyd). This enumeration evidently points to the trade of the coasts of Africa and the East Indies. C.
Reflections.—Great power and wealth rarely fail to have great pride for their companion. How strangely God by trade connects the different nations of the world! And yet, the more extensive trade is, the necessities and dependence of the traders are but the more manifested. Many articles in trade might be easily dispensed with: and yet God's wisdom remarkably appears in rendering that which is but trifling in itself the means of subsistence to multitudes. But the most pompous and powerful nations and cities are certainly and awfully brought down at last. And convenient situations, advantageous harbours, magnificent and elegant structures, numerous and well-manned fleets, choice troops and armour, universal traffic, and wide-spread fame, do but concur to aggravate their misery. But when even their own governors are guiding them to ruin, most sure and wretched is the downfall. And it is very hard for those who have been wallowing in pleasure, and sleeping in carnal security, to endure remarkable losses, disappointments, and trouble.