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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezekiel 27:1 - 27:1
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The lamentation commences with a picture of the glory of the city of Tyre, its situation, its architectural beauty, its military strength and defences (Eze 27:3-11), and its wide-spread commercial relations (Eze 27:12-25); and then passes into mournful lamentation over the ruin of all this glory (Eze 27:26-36).
Introduction and description of the glory and might of Tyre. - Eze 27:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 27:2. And do thou, O son of man, raise a lamentation over Tyre, Eze 27:3. And say to Tyre, Thou who dwellest at the approaches of the sea, merchant of the nations to many islands, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Tyre, thou sayest, I am perfect in beauty. Eze 27:4. In the heart of the seas is thy territory; thy builders have made thy beauty perfect. Eze 27:5. Out of cypresses of Senir they built all double-plank-work for thee; they took cedars of Lebanon to make a mast upon thee. Eze 27:6. They made thine oars of oaks of Bashan, thy benches they made of ivory set in box from the islands of the Chittaeans. Eze 27:7. Byssus in embroidery from Egypt was thy sail, to serve thee for a banner; blue and red purple from the islands of Elishah was thine awning. Eze 27:8. The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers; thy skilful men, O Tyre, were in thee, they were thy sailors. Eze 27:9. The elders of Gebal and its skilful men were with thee to repair thy leaks; all the ships of the sea and their mariners were in thee to barter thy goods. Eze 27:10. Persian and Lydian and Libyan were in thine army, thy men of war; shield and helmet they hung up in thee; they gave brilliancy to thee. Eze 27:11. The sons of Arvad and thine army were upon thy walls round about, and brave men were upon they towers; they hung up their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect. - The lamentation commences with an address to Tyre, in which its favourable situation for purposes of trade, and the perfect beauty of which she was conscious, are placed in the foreground (Eze 27:3). Tyre is sitting, or dwelling, at the approaches of the sea. מְבֹואֹת יָם, approaches or entrances of the sea, are harbours into which ships sail and from which they depart, just as מְבֹוא הָעִיר sa t, the gate of the city, it both entrance and exit. This description does not point to the city on the mainland, or Old Tyre, but answers exactly to Insular Tyre with its two harbours.
(Note: Insular Tyre possessed two harbours, a northern one called the Sidonian, because it was on the Sidonian side, and one on the opposite or south-eastern side, which was called the Egyptian harbour from the direction in which it pointed. The Sidonian was the more celebrated of the two, and consisted of an inner harbour, situated within the wall of the city, and an outer one, formed by a row of rocks, which lay at a distance of about three hundred paces to the north-west of the island, and ran parallel to the opposite coast of the mainland, so as to form a roadstead in which ships could anchor (vid., Arrian, ii. 20; Strabo, xvi. 2. 23). This northern harbour is still held by the city of Sur, whereas the Egyptian harbour with the south-eastern portion of the island has been buried by the sand driven against the coasts by the south winds, so that even the writers of the Middle Ages make no allusion to it. (See Movers, Phönizier, II. 1, pp. 214ff.).)
יֹשֶׁבֶתי, with the connecting i, which is apparently confounded here after the Aramaean fashion with the i of the feminine pronoun, and has therefore been marked by the Masora as superfluous (vid., Ewald, §211b). The combination of רֹכֶלֶת with 'אֶל אִיִּים ר may be accounted for from the primary meaning of רָכַל, to travel about as a merchant: thou who didst go to the nations on many shores to carry on thy trade. Tyre itself considers that she is perfect in her beauty, partly on account of her strong position in the sea, and partly because of her splendid edifices.
(Note: Curtius, iv. 2: Tyrus et claritate et magnitudine ante omnes urbes Syriae Phoenicesque memorabilis. (Cf. Strabo, xvi. 2. 22.))
In the description which follows of this beauty and glory, from Eze 27:4 onwards, Tyre is depicted allegorically as a beautiful ship, splendidly built and equipped throughout, and its destruction is afterwards represented as a shipwreck occasioned by the east wind (Eze 27:26.).
(Note: Jerome recognised this allegory, and has explained it correctly as follows: “He (the prophet) speaks τροπικῶς, as though addressing a ship, and points out its beauty and the abundance of everything. Then, after having depicted all its supplies, he announces that a storm will rise, and the south wind (auster) will blow, by which great waves will be gathered up, and the vessel will be wrecked. In all this he is referring to the overthrow of the city by King Nabuchodonosor,” etc. Rashi and others give the same explanation.)
The words, “in the heart of the seas is thy territory” (Eze 27:4), are equally applicable to the city of Tyre and to a ship, the building of which is described in what follows. The comparison of Tyre to a ship was very naturally suggested by the situation of the city in the midst of the sea, completely surrounded by water. As a ship, it must of necessity be built of wood. The shipbuilders selected the finest kinds of wood for the purpose; cypresses of Antilibanus for double planks, which formed the sides of the vessel, and cedar of Lebanon for the mast. Senir, according to Deu 3:9, was the Amoritish name of Hermon or Antilibanus, whereas the Sidonians called it Sirion. On the other hand, Senir occurs in 1Ch 5:23, and Shenir in Son 4:8, in connection with Hermon, where they are used to denote separate portions of Antilibanus. Ezekiel evidently uses Senir as a foreign name, which had been retained to his own time, whereas Sirion had possibly become obsolete, as the names had both the same meaning (see the comm. on Deu 3:9). The naming of the places from which the several materials were obtained for the fitting out of the ship, serve to heighten the glory of its construction and give an ideal character to the picture. All lands have contributed their productions to complete the glory and might of Tyre. Cypress-wood was frequently used by the ancients for buildings and (according to Virgil, Georg. ii. 443) also for ships, because it was exempt from the attacks of worms, and was almost imperishable, and yet very light (Theophr. Hist. plant. v. 8; Plinii Hist. nat. xvi. 79). לֻחֹתַיִם, a dual form, like חֹמֹתַיִם in 2Ki 25:4; Isa 22:11, double-planks, used for the two side-walls of the ship. For oars they chose oaks of Bashan (מִשֹּׁוט as well as מָשֹׁוט in Eze 27:29 from שׁוּט, to row), and the rowing benches (or deck) were of ivory inlaid in box. קֶרֶשׁ is used in Exo 26:15. for the boards or planks of the wooden walls of the tabernacle; here it is employed in a collective sense, either for the rowing benches, of which there were at least two, and sometimes three rows in a vessel, one above another, or more properly, for the deck of the vessel (Hitzig). This was made of she4n, or ivory, inlaid in wood. The ivory is mentioned first as the most valuable material of the קֶרֶשׁ, the object being to picture the ship as possessing all possible splendour. The expression בַּתּ־אַשֻּׁרִים, occasions some difficulty, partly on account of the use of the word בַּת, and partly in connection with the meaning of אַשֻּׁרִים , although so much may be inferred from the context, that the allusion is to some kind of wood inlaid with ivory, and the custom of inlaying wood with ivory for the purpose of decoration is attested by Virgil, Aen. x. 137:
“Vel quale per artem
Inclusum buxo, aut Oricia terebintho
Lucet ebur.”
But the use of בַּת does not harmonize with the relation of the wood to the ivory inserted in wood; nor can it be defended by the fact that in Lam 3:3 an arrow is designated “the son of the quiver.” According to this analogy, the ivory ought to have been called the son of the Ashurim, because the ivory is inserted in the wood, and not the wood in the ivory.
(Note: The Targum has paraphrased it in this way: דַפּין דאשׁכרעין מכבשׁין בְשֵׁן דְפִיל, i.e., planks of box or pine inlaid with ivory.)
We must therefore adopt the solution proposed by R. Salomo and others - namely, that the Masoretic division of בת־אשּׁרים into two words is founded upon a mistake, and that it should be read as one word בִּתְאַשֻּׁרִים, ivory in תְּאַשֻּׁרִים, i.e., either sherbin-cedar (according to more recent expositors), or box-wood, for which Bochart (Phal. III 5) has decided. The fact that in Isa 60:13 the תְּאַשּׁוּר is mentioned among the trees growing upon Lebanon, whereas here the תְּאַשֻּׁרִים are described as coming from the islands of the כִּתִּיִּם, does not furnish a decisive argument to the contrary. We cannot determine with certainty what species of tree is referred to, and therefore it cannot be affirmed that the tree grew upon Lebanon alone, and not upon the islands of the Mediterranean. כִּתִּיִּם are the Κιτιεῖς, the inhabitants of the port of Κίτιον in Cyprus; then the Cyprians generally; and here, as in Jer 2:10, where אִיִּים of the כִּתִּיִּם are mentioned, in a still broader sense, inhabitants of Cyprus and other islands and coast-lands of the Mediterranean. In 1 Macc. 1:1 and 8:5, even Macedonia is reckoned as belonging to the γὴ Χεττειεῖμ or Κιτίεων. Consequently the place from which the תְּאַשֻּׁרִים were brought does not furnish any conclusive proof that the Cyprian pine is referred to, although this was frequently used for ship-building. There is just as much ground for thinking of the box, as Bochart does, and we may appeal in support of this to the fact that, according to Theophrastus, there is no place in which it grows more vigorously than on the island of Corsica. In any case, Ezekiel mentions it as a very valuable kind of wood; though we cannot determine with certainty to what wood he refers, either from the place where it grew or from the accounts of the ancients concerning the kinds of wood that ship-builders used. The reason for this, however, is a very simple one - namely, that the whole description has an ideal character, and, as Hitzig has correctly observed, “the application of the several kinds of wood to the different parts of the ship is evidently only poetical.”
The same may be said of the materials of which, according to Eze 27:7, the sails and awning of the ship were made. Byssus in party-coloured work (רִקְמָה, see comm. on Exo 26:36), i.e., woven in mixed colours, probably not merely in stripes, but woven with figures and flowers.”
(Note: See Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, III Pl. xvi., where engravings are given of Egyptian state-ships with embroidered sails. On one ship a large square sail is displayed in purple-red and purple-blue checks, surrounded by a gold border. The vessel of Antony and Cleopatra in the battle of Actium had also purple sails; and in this case the purple sails were the sign of the admiral's ship, just as in Ezekiel they serve as a mark of distinction (נֵס). See Movers, II 3, p. 165, where the accounts of ancient writers concerning such state-ships are collected together.)
“From Egypt;” the byssus-weaving of Egypt was celebrated in antiquity, so that byssus-linen formed one of the principal articles of export (vid., Movers, ut supra, pp. 317ff.). מִפְרָשׁ, literally, spreading out, evidently signifies the sail, which we expect to find mentioned here, and with which the following clause, “to serve thee for a banner,” can be reconciled, inasmuch as it may be assumed either that the sails also served for a banner, because the ships had no actual flag, like those in Wilkinson's engraving, or that the flag (נֵס) being also extended is included under the term מִפְרָשׁ (Hitzig). The covering of the ship, i.e., the awning which was put up above the deck for protection from the heat of the sun, consisted of purple (תְכֵלֶת and אַרְגָּמָן, see the comm. on Exo 25:4) from the islands of Elishah, i.e., of the Grecian Peloponesus, which naturally suggests the Laconian purple so highly valued in antiquity on account of its splendid colour (Plin. Hist. nat. ix. 36, xxi. 8). The account of the building of the ship is followed by the manning, and the attention paid to its condition. The words of Eze 27:8 may be taken as referring quite as much to the ship as to the city, which was in possession of ships, and is mentioned by name in Eze 27:8. The reference to the Sidonians and Arvad, i.e., to the inhabitants of Aradus, a rocky island to the north of Tripolis, as rowers, is not at variance with the latter; since there is no need to understand by the rowers either slaves or servants employed to row, and the Tyrians certainly drew their rowers from the whole of the Phoenician population, whereas the chief men in command of the ships, the captain and pilot (חֹבְלִים), were no doubt as a rule citizens of Tyre. The introduction of the inhabitants of Gebal, i.e., the Byblos of the Greeks, the present Jebail, between Tripolis and Berytus (see the comm. on Jos 13:5), who were noted even in Solomon's time as skilful architects (1 Kings 5:32), as repairers of the leak, decidedly favours the supposition that the idea of the ship is still kept in the foreground; and by the naming of those who took charge of the piloting and condition of the vessel, the thought is expressed that all the cities of Phoenicia assisted to maintain the might and glory of Tyre, since Tyre was supreme in Phoenicia. It is not till Eze 27:9 that the allegory falls into the background. Tyre now appears no longer as a ship, but as a maritime city, into which all the ships of the sea sail, to carry on and improve her commerce.
Eze 27:10, Eze 27:11. Tyre had also made the best provision for its defence. It maintained an army of mercenary troops from foreign countries to protect its colonies and extend its settlements, and entrusted the guarding of the walls of the city to fighting men of Phoenicia. The hired troops specially named in Eze 27:10 are Pharas, Lud, and Phut. פּוּט is no doubt an African tribe, in Coptic Phaiat, the Libyans of the ancients, who had spread themselves over the whole of North Africa as far as Mauretania (see the comm. on Gen 10:6). לוּד is not the Semitic people of that name, the Lydians (Gen 10:22), but here, as in Eze 30:5; Isa 66:19, and Jer 46:9, the Hamitic people of לוּדִים (Gen 10:13), probably a general name for the whole of the Moorish tribes, since לוּד (Eze 30:5) and לוּדִים (Jer 44:9) are mentioned in connection with פּוּט as auxiliaries in the Egyptian army. There is something striking in the reference to פָּרַס, the Persians. Hävernick points to the early intercourse carried on by the Phoenicians with Persia through the Persian Gulf, through which the former would not doubt be able to obtain mercenary soldiers, for which it was a general rule to select tribes as remote as possible. Hitzig objects to this, on the ground that there is no proof that this intercourse with Persian through the Persian Gulf was carried on in Ezekiel's time, and that even if it were, it does not follow that there were any Persian mercenaries. He therefore proposes to understand by פרס, Persians who had settled in Africa in the olden time. But this settlement cannot be inferred with sufficient certainty either from Sallust, Jug. c. 18, or from the occurrence of the African Μάκαι of Herodotus, iv. 175, along with the Asiatic (Ptol. vi. 7. 14), to take it as an explanation of פָּרַס. If we compare Eze 38:5, where Pâras is mentioned in connection with Cush and Phut, Gomer and Togarmah, as auxiliaries in the army of Gog, there can be no doubt that Asiatic Persians are intended there. And we have to take the word in the same sense here; for Hitzig's objections consist of pure conjectures which have no conclusive force. Ezekiel evidently intends to give the names of tribes from the far-off east, west, and south, who were enlisted as mercenaries in the military service of Tyre. Hanging the shields and helmets in the city, to ornament its walls, appears to have been a Phoenician custom, which Solomon also introduced into Judah (1Ki 10:16-17, Son 4:4), and which is mentioned again in the times of the Maccabees (1 Macc. 4:57). - A distinction is drawn in Eze 27:11 between the mercenary troops on the one hand, and the Aradians, and הֵילֵךְ, thine army, the military corps consisting of Tyrians, on the other. The latter appears upon the walls of Tyre, because native troops were employed to watch and defend the city, whilst the mercenaries had to march into the field. The ἁπ. λεγ. גַּמָּדְים (Gammâdim) signifies brave men, as Roediger has conclusively shown from the Syrian usage, in his Addenda to Gesenius' Thes. p. 70f. It is therefore an epitheton of the native troops of Tyre. - With the words, “they (the troops) completed thy beauty,” the picture of the glory of Tyre is rounded off, returning to its starting-point in Eze 27:4 and Eze 27:5.