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John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Ezekiel 27:1
INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 27
This chapter contains a lamentation on Tyre; setting forth her former grandeur, riches, and commerce; her ruin and destruction; and the concern of others on that account. The prophet is bid to take up his lamentation concerning it, Eze 27:1, observing her situation and magnificence, of which she boasted, Eze 27:3, describing the excellency of her shipping and naval stores, Eze 27:5, declaring who were her mariners, pilots, and caulkers, Eze 27:8, her military men,
Eze 27:10 her several merchants, and the things they traded in with her in her fairs and markets, Eze 27:12, then follows an account of her destruction, Eze 27:26, the lamentation of pilots and mariners because of it, Eze 27:28, and of the kings and inhabitants of the isles, and merchants of the people, Eze 27:33.
Ver. 1. The word of the Lord came again unto me,.... Upon the same subject, the destruction of Tyre:
saying; as follows:
Ezekiel 27:2
Ver. 2. Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus. Compose an elegy, and sing it; make a mournful noise, and deliver out a funeral ditty; such as the "praeficae", or mournful women, made at funerals, in which they said all they could in praise of the dead, and made very doleful lamentations for them: this the prophet was to do in a prophetic manner, for the confirmation of what was prophesied of by him; and it may teach us, that even wicked men are to be pitied, when in distress and calamity.
Ezekiel 27:3
Ver. 3. And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea,.... Of the Mediterranean sea; at the eastern part of it, not above half a mile from the continent; and so fit for a seaport, and a harbour for shipping; so mystical Tyre sits on many waters, Re 17:1:
which art a merchant of the people for many isles; the inhabitants of many isles brought the produce of them to her; who took them off their hands, or sold them for them to others; these came from several quarters to trade with her in her markets; and who supplied other isles and countries with all sorts of commodities, for which they either resorted to her, or she sent by ships unto them; so Rome is represented as the seat of merchandise, Re 18:7:
thus saith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou hast said; in thine heart, in the pride of it, and with thy mouth, praising and commending thyself; which is not right:
I am of perfect beauty: built on a good foundation, a rock; surrounded with walls and towers; the streets arranged in order, and filled with goodly houses; having a good harbour for shipping, and being a mart for all manner of merchandise, Jerusalem being destroyed, Tyre assumes her character, Ps 48:2.
Ezekiel 27:4
Ver. 4. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, Fixed by the Lord himself, and which could never be removed. Tyre stood about half a mile from the continent, surrounded with the waters of the sea, till it was made a peninsula by Alexander:
thy builders have perfected thy beauty. The Sidonians were the first builders of the city, as Justin {q} says; who began and carried on the building of it to the utmost of their knowledge and skill; and which was afterwards perfected by other builders, who made it the most beautiful city in all those parts; unless this is to be understood of her shipbuilders, who brought the art of building ships in her to such a perfection, as made her famous throughout the world; since they are immediately spoken of without any other antecedent.
{q} Ex Trago, l. 18. c. 3.
Ezekiel 27:5
Ver. 5. They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir,.... The same with Sion and Hermon, which the Sidonians called Sirion, and the Amorites Shenir, De 3:9 here, it seems, grew the best of fir trees, of which the Tyrians made boards and planks for shipping; of these the two sides of the ship, as the word {r} here used in the dual number is thought to signify, or the fore and hind decks, were made. The Targum is,
"with fir trees of Senir they built for thee all thy bridges;''
the planks from which they went from one ship to another; but these are of too small consequence to be mentioned; rather the main of the ship is intended, which was built of fir planks; but ours made of oak are much preferable:
they have taken cedars from Lebanon, to make masts for thee; large poles for the yards and sails to be fastened to, for receiving the wind necessary in navigation; called the main mast, the foremast, the mizzenmast, and the boltsprit; all these are only in large vessels; whether the Tyrians had all of these is not certain; some they had, and which were made of the cedars of Lebanon; which, being large tall trees, were fit for this purpose. The Tyrians {s} are said to be the first inventors of navigation.
{r} Mytwxl "tabulata duplicia", Munster; "duas tabulas", Vatablus. {s} "Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros." Catullus.
Ezekiel 27:6
Ver. 6. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars,.... To row the ships with; for their ships probably were no other than galleys, which were rowed with oars, as were the ships of first invention. Bashan was a country in Judea where oaks grew; see Isa 2:13. The country of Judea in general was famous for oaks; it abounded with them in the times of Homer {t}, who speaks of Typho being buried in a country abounding with oaks, among the rich or fat people of Judea; and he seems to design Bashan particularly, of which Og was king, whom he calls Typho, and of whose bed he makes mention in the same place; hence several places in Judea had their names from the oaks which grew, there, as Elonmoreh, Allonbachuth, Elonmeonenim, Elontabor, and Elonbethhanan, Ge 12:6 and which one would have thought were fitter to make their ships of; but of these only their oars were made:
the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim; the benches for the towers to sit on, or for others in the cabin and decks; but that these should be wholly of ivory is not very probable; nor was ivory brought from the isles of Chittim, but from other parts; nor is it easy to say who the company of the Ashurites were; some say the Assyrians; but why they should be so called is not plain. Jarchi makes Myrva tb to be but one word, which signifies box trees, as it is used in Isa 41:19 and he supposes that these benches, or be they what they will, were made of box trees covered or inlaid with ivory. So the Targum,
"the lintels of thy gates (the hatches) were planks of box tree inlaid with ivory;''
which box, and not the ivory, was brought from the isles of Chittim; either from Cyprus, where was a place called Citium; or from Macedonia, from whence box was fetched; or from the province of Apulia, as the Targum; where there might be plenty of it, as in Corsica, and other places, where particularly the best box grows, as Pliny {u} says. Jerom interprets Cittin of Italy; and Ben Gorion says {w} that Cittim are the Romans.
{t} cwrw enidruoent', ioudhv en pioni dhmw. Homer. Iliad. 2. Vid. Dickinson, Delphi Phoenicix. c. 2. p. 13, 16. {u} Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 16. {w} Heb. Hist. l. 1. c. 1. p. 7.
Ezekiel 27:7
Ver. 7. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt,.... From whence came the finest and whitest linen; and which they embroidered with needlework, which looked very beautiful. Pliny {x} says there were four sorts of linen in Egypt, called Tanitic, Pelusiac, Butic, and Tentyritic, from the names and provinces where they were produced; of the second sort the garments of the high priest among the Jews were made; for they say {y}, on the day of atonement he was in the morning clothed with Pelusiac garments; that is, with garments made of linen which came from Pelusium, a well known city in Egypt; and which Jarchi {z} says was the best, and in the greatest esteem; and one of the Misnic commentators says {a} that the linen from Pelusium is fine and beautiful, and comes from the land of Raamses; and observes, that, in the Jerusalem Targum, Raamses is said to be Pelusium; but though they are not one and the same place, yet they are both in the same country, Egypt, and near one another; and with this sort of linen the priests of Hercules were clothed, according to Silius {b}; and so the vv, "shesh", or linen, of which the garments of the Jewish priests in common were made, was linen from Egypt; and which their Rabbins {c} say is the best, and is only found there. The Phoenicians, of which Tyre was a principal city, took linen of Egypt, and traded with other nations with it, as well as made use of it for themselves; particularly with the Ethiopians, the inhabitants of the isle of Cernes, now called the Canaries, who took of them Egyptian goods, as linen, &c.; in lieu of which they had of them elephants' teeth, the skins of lions, leopards, deer, and other creatures {d}: now such fine linen as this
was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail: not content with canvass or coarse linen, which would have done as well, they must have the finest Egyptian linen, and this very curiously embroidered, to make their sails of they spread upon their masts, to receive the wind; at least this they spread "for a flag" {e}, standard or ensign, as, the word may be rendered; when they hoisted up their colours on any occasion, they were such as these: "blue and purple, from the isles of Elishah, was that which covered thee"; meaning not garments made of cloth of these colours, which the master of the vessel or mariners wore; but the tilts, or tents, or canopies erected on the decks, where they sat sheltered from the rain, wind, or sun; these were made of stuff died of a violet and purple colour, the best they could get; and which they fetched from the isles of Elishah, or the Aegean sea, from Coa, Rhodia, Nisyrus, and other places famous for purple, as Tyre itself afterwards was. The Targum is,
"from the province of Italy;''
or of Apulia, as others {f}; see Re 18:12.
{x} Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 1. {y} Misn. Yoma, c. 3. sect. 7. {z} Gloss. in T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 34. 2. {a} Bartenora in Misn. Yoma, ib. {b} "----Velantur corpore lino, Et Pelusiaco praefulget stamine vertex." L. 3. de Bell. Punic. {c} Aben Ezra in Exod. xxv. 4. {d} Vid. Reinesium de Lingua Punica, c. 2. sect. 13. {e} owl "in signum, [sive] vexillum", Gussetius; so some in Bootius. {f} So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 48. 1.
Ezekiel 27:8
Ver. 8. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners,.... Zidon was a city in Phoenicia, near to Tyre, and older than that, by whose inhabitants it was built; see the notes on Isa 23:2 and Arvad was an island in Phoenicia, to the south of Zidon, not far from Tyre. Mr. Maundrell {g} says it is about a league distant from the shore; and is now called by the Turks Ruad. It seemed to the eye to be not above four to six hundred yards long, and wholly filled up with tall buildings like castles: its ancient inhabitants, he observes, were famous for navigation, and had a command upon the continent as far as Gabale later mentioned, Dr. Shaw {h} says it is at present called Rouwadde; and that the prospect of it from the continent is wonderfully magnificent; promising at a distance a continued train of fine buildings and impregnable fortifications; but this is entirely owing to the height and rockiness of its situation; for at present all the strength and beauty it can boast of lies in a weak unfortified castle, with a few small cannon to defend it; so that the prophecy of Jeremiah appears to be fulfilled,
Arpad is confounded, Jer 49:23. This is the Aradus of Strabo, and other writers; and which he says is distant from the land, two and an half miles, and is about a mile in circumference; and is said to be built by the Sidonians {k}; the inhabitants of it are the same with the Arvadite, Ge 10:18, these places brought up abundance of seafaring men, and which furnished Tyre with rowers, as the word {l} signifies; which was the most slavish work in navigation:
thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots; such, as had learnt the art of navigation; were well versed in geography; understood the charts; knew the shores of different places; where were creeks and promontories, rocks and sands; these were brought up among themselves, and made pilots or governors, as the Targum renders it; who have their names here from the "ropes" {m} the sails are fastened to; and which they loosened or contracted, as they saw fit.
{g} Journey from Aleppo, &c.; p. 19. Ed. 7. {h} Travels, p. 267. Ed. 2. {k} Geograph. 1. 16. p. 518. {l} Myjv "remiges", V. L. Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus, Cocceius, Starckius. {m} Kylbwx a lbx "funis, ita dicuntur a contrahendis aut laxandis funibus veli", Vatablus.
Ezekiel 27:9
Ver. 9. The ancients of Gebal,.... A promontory of the Phoenicians, the same with the Gabale of Pliny {n}, and with the land of the Giblites, Jos 13:5. It was by the Greeks called Byblus; and so the Septuagint here render the words, the elders of Bybli or Byblus, a place once famous for the birth and temple of Adonis; it is now called Gibyle. Mr. Maundrell {o} says it is pleasantly situated by the seaside, and that at present it contains but a little extent of ground, yet more than enough for the small number of its inhabitants; it is compassed with a dry ditch, and a wall with square towers in it, at about every forty yards' distance; on its south side it has an old castle; within it is a church; besides which it has nothing remarkable; though anciently it was a place of no mean extent, as well as beauty, as may appear from the many heaps of ruins, and the fine pillars that are scattered up and down in the gardens near the town. The old experienced workmen of this place were employed by the Tyrians in mending and refitting their ships, and in the caulking of them, as follows:
the wise men thereof were in thee thy caulkers; or, "the strengtheners of thy breaches" {p}, or "chinks"; the seams and commissures of the planks; which they stopped with tow, oakum, or such like stuff; at least this is what is used now, whatever might be by those wise men; and it seems by this that it was reckoned a very great art and mystery, and which only wise men were masters of, at least such the Tyrians employed. The Targum renders it,
"providing thy necessaries;''
as if they were the ships' husbands:
all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise; ships from all parts were in her harbours, which brought goods into her, and carried goods out of her, by way of merchandise. So the Targum,
"all that go down into the sea, and the ships; they were rowers, and they brought merchandise into the midst of thee;''
the goods of merchants from divers places; and carried back commodities again they traded for at Tyre; see Re 18:19.
{n} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20. {o} Journey &c.; p. 33, 34. {p} Kqdb yqyzxm "roborantes scissuram tuam", Montanus; "instaurantes fissuras tuas", Munster, Tigurine version; "rimas tuas", Vatablus; "instauratores rupturaram tuarum", Piscator.
Ezekiel 27:10
Ver. 10. They of Persia, and of Lud, and of Phut, were in thine army, thy men of war,.... As the Tryrians were a trading people, they hired foreign troops into their service, to fill their garrisons, defend their city, and fight for them in time of war; and these were of various nations, and the most famous for military skill and valour; as the Persians, a people well known, and famous for war in the times of Cyrus, and before, and well skilled in shooting arrows; and they of Lud, or the Lydians, a people in Greece, renowned for war before the times of Croesus their king, as well as in his time; and they of Phut, the Lybians, a people in Africa, skilful in drawing the bow,
Isa 66:19:
they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; in their garrisons and towers, or places of armoury; which were defensive weapons, the one for the body, the other for the head; this they did in times of peace, when there was no occasion to use them, or when they were off their guard, and not on duty; see So 4:4:
they set forth thy comeliness; it being an honour to the Tyrians to have such soldiers in their service. The Targum is,
"they increased thy splendour;''
added to their glory.
Ezekiel 27:11
Ver. 11. The men of Arvad, with thine army were upon thy walls round about,.... Placed there for the defence of the city, to watch against an enemy, lest it should be surprised; here they were upon the patrol day and night; see Isa 62:6, these were the men of the same place before mentioned, Eze 27:8 which furnished Tyre both with mariners and soldiers:
and the Gammadims were in thy towers: not the Medes, as Symmachus renders it; nor the Cappadocians, as the Targum; much less were they images of their tutelar gods, as Spencer thinks, of a cubit long; nor "pygmies", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; which to mention would not be to the honour of their militia; though Kimchi and Ben Melech call them dwarfs, men of a small stature, of a cubit high, from whence they are supposed to have their name; so Schindler {q}: rather they were the inhabitants of some place in Phoenicia; either of Ancon; which in Greek signifies a cubit, as Gamad does in Hebrew; or of Gammade, the same which Pliny {r} corruptly calls Gamale. Hillerus {s} thinks the word signifies "ambidexters", or left handed men, such as Ehud:
they hanged their shields upon thy walls roundabout. Kimchi and Ben Melech observe it was a custom in some places to hang such weapons upon the tops of towers, and upon the walls of them; which might be done, either that they might be ready to take up and make use of, whenever occasion required; or to dismay their enemies, and to show them that they were provided for them:
they have made thy beauty perfect; besides the beauty of her buildings and shipping, there was the beauty of her militia; which was increased by the soldiers from Persia, Lydia, and Lybia, and added to by the men of Arvad, but completed by the Gammadim; and particularly being glided, as probably they were, looked very glittering and beautiful in the rays of the sun.
{q} Lexic. Pentaglott. col. 319, 320. {r} Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 91. {s} Onomast. Sacr. p. 159.
Ezekiel 27:12
Ver. 12. Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches,.... Some understand this of the sea, which is sometimes called Tarshish; so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it here: and the Targum,
"from the sea, or they of the sea bring merchandise into the midst of thee:''
that is, those who lived upon the coasts, or on the isles, of the Mediterranean sea. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it the Carthaginians, who were a colony of the Tyrians, and no doubt traded with them; but it seems most likely, with others, to intend Tartessus in Spain, a place not far from that where Cadiz now stands; a country which abounded with riches, and with the following things:
with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs; Pliny {t} says, that almost all Spain abounded in metals of lead, iron, brass, silver, and gold; which takes in the several things here mentioned, excepting tin; and that the Spaniards might have from our Cornwall, which they might import into Tyre: though the Phoenicians carried on a commerce with our isle of Britain themselves, whither they came for tin, and disposed of other goods they brought with them. Gussetius {u} observes, that the word Kynwbze does not signify the place of trade and traffic, as it is commonly rendered; but respects the goods traded in, and the manner of trafficking with them, by way of "exchange", as the word should be rendered; and the sense is, that the things before mentioned were what they gave in exchange, battered, and "left", with the Tyrians, for other goods they took of them; and so it is to be understood in all the following places where the word is used. So Ben Melech says it is expressive of merchandise.
{t} Nat. Hist. l. 3. c. 3. {u} Ebr. Comment. p. 594, 595.
Ezekiel 27:13
Ver. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they [were] thy merchants,.... Javan designs Greece, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it; especially that part of it called Ionia, from Javan the son of Japheth,
Ge 10:2 and Tubal, and Meshech, were also sons of Japheth; the former are the Iberi and Albanians, as Jerom and others, among whom were a city called Thabilaca, by Ptolemy {w}; and the latter the Cappadocians, with whom is a city called Mazaca {x}.
They traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy markets; or, "the souls of men" {y}; they bought up men and women in the several countries to which they belonged, or where they traded, and brought them to Tyre, and sold them for slaves; and the Ionian and Grecian slaves were had in great esteem: and the best brass, of which vessels were made, was had from Corinth, Delus, and Aeginetus; according to Pliny {z}, Cappadocia was famous for it also: in the first of these merchandises Tyrus was remarkably a type of antichrist, who is said to deal in such wares, the souls of men, Re 18:13. The word here rendered "markets", Gussetius {a} also observes, does not design the place of commerce, but the act of negotiation or trade; and so it is rendered by many {b}.
{w} Geograph. l. 5. c. 12. {x} Joseph. Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1. {y} Mda vpnb "animabus hominum", Pagninus, Vatablus, Cocceius, Starckius. {z} Nat. Hist. l. 34. c. 2. {a} Ebr. Comment. p. 642. {b} Kbrem thn emporian bou, Sept.; "negotiationem tuam", Tigurine version; "in commercio tuo", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus; "mercaturam tuam", Cocceius.
Ezekiel 27:14
Ver. 14. They of the house of Togarmah,.... The Targum is,
"they of the province or country of Germany.''
Jerom understands it of Phrygia, near to which was Cappadocia; and perhaps is here meant, since it abounded with what these people are said to trade with Tyre in:
these traded in thy fairs with horses, horsemen, and mules; for the Cappadocians paid for their yearly tribute to the Persians fifteen hundred horses, and two thousand mules, as Bochart {c} from Strabo observes; and as they sold horses and mules to the Tyrians, so likewise horsemen, men that were skilled in riding and taking care of horses; and these were sold along with the horses, as servants for that purpose.
{c} Phaleg. c. 11. col. 178.
Ezekiel 27:15
Ver. 15. The men of Dedan were thy merchants,.... Not Dedan in Idumea or Edom, but in Arabia, from Dedan the son of Raamah, Ge 10:7:
many isles were the merchandise of thine hands; that is, many isles took off their manufactures from them, in lieu of what they brought them, which were as follow:
they brought thee for a present; that they might have the liberty of trading in their fairs and markets; or rather for a reward, or as a price, for the goods they had of them:
horns of ivory and ebony; Kimchi reads them as separate things; and which the Targum confirms, "horns, ivory, and ebony"; elks' horns, or horns of goats, as the Targum; and "ivory", or the teeth of elephants; and "ebony", which is a wood of a very black colour, hard and heavy, and of which many things are made. The Targum takes it for the name of a fowl, and renders it peacocks; so Jarchi; see 2Ch 9:21, but Ben Melech much better interprets it of a tree, called in Arabia "ebenus". Solinus makes it peculiar to India {d}; and so Virgil {e}.
{d} Polyhistor. c. 65. {e} "----Sola India nigrum fert ebenum.----" Virgil. Georgic. 1. 2.
Ezekiel 27:16
Ver. 16. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making,.... Which they took off of their hands, and for them brought the following things:
they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds; precious stones of a green colour: Jarchi renders it "carbuncles", other precious stones of a different colour; and so the word is translated by Pagninus, Montanus, Grotius, the French, and Diodate; sometimes called "carchedonies", and which the Apostle John calls the "chalcedony", Re 21:19, the same with rubies; and so the word here used is rendered by Luther; and, by Abarbinel, precious stones of great value; see Pr 3:15, from whence the Syrians had these to trade with at Tyre cannot be easily said; the modern rubies, which are thought to be the true and genuine carbuncles of the ancients, seldom exceed the weight of twenty carats; yet some say the Emperor Rudolphus the second had a ruby as big as a little hen's egg, bought at sixty thousand ducats, and supposed to be worth more; and that Regulus Decan had one of thirty four carats, bought at six minas of gold, that is, a hundred and ninety two pounds of gold; and that the great Mogul had one, which cost a million four hundred and twenty five thousand florins; and that there are some which exceed the weight of fifty carats {f}; but there were few, if any of these, that came to the market of Tyre; however, no doubt, some valuable ones were here sold.
Purple, and broidered work, and fine linen; cloth of purple colour, raiment of needlework curiously embroidered, and linen of the best sort. So the Targum,
"purple clothes, and wrought with a needle, and linen of different colours;''
and of such they made their sails, tilts, and tents; see Eze 27:7.
And coral, and agate