Ezekiel 27 commentary

EZEKIEL 27 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
A Lament Over Tyre
1 The word of the Lord came to me:
BARNES, "The dirge of Tyre written in poetical form. Tyre is compared to a
fair vessel, to whose equipment the various nations of the world contribute,
launching forth in majesty, to be wrecked and to perish. The nations
enumerated point out Tyre as the center of commerce between the eastern
and western world. This position, occupied for a short time by Jerusalem,
was long maintained by Tyre, until the erection of Alexandria supplanted
her in this traffic. Compare the dirge of Babylon Isa. 14:3-23; in each case
the city named represents the world-power antagonistic to God.
GILL, "The word of the Lord came again unto me,.... Upon the same subject,
the destruction of Tyre:
HENRY 1-2, "Here, I. The prophet is ordered to take up a lamentation for
Tyrus, Eze_27:2. It was yet in the height of its prosperity, and there
appeared not the least symptom of its decay; yet the prophet must lament it,
because its prosperity is its snare, is the cause of its pride and security,
which will make its fall the more grievous. Even those that live at ease are to
be lamented if they be not preparing for trouble. He must lament it because
its ruin is hastening on apace; it is sure, it is near; and though the prophet
foretel it, and justify God in it, yet he must lament it. Note, We ought to
mourn for the miseries of other nations, as well as for our own, out of an
affection for mankind in general; it is a part of the honour we owe to all men
to bewail their calamities, even those which they have brought upon
1

themselves by their own folly.
II. He is directed what to say, and to say it in the name of the Lord
Jehovah, a name not unknown in Tyre, and which shall be better known,
Eze_26:6.
1. He must upbraid Tyre with her pride: O Tyrus! thou hast said, I am of
perfect beauty (Eze_27:3), of universal beauty (so the word is), every way
accomplished, and therefore every where admired. Zion, that had the
beauty of holiness, is called indeed the perfection of beauty (Psa_50:2);
that is the beauty of the Lord. But Tyre, because well-built and well-filled
with money and trade, will set up for a perfect beauty. Note, It is the folly of
the children of this world to value themselves on the pomp and pleasure
they live in, to call themselves beauties for the sake of them, and, if in these
they excel others, to think themselves perfect. But God takes notice of the
vain conceits men have of themselves in their prosperity when the mind is
lifted up with the condition, and often, for the humbling of the spirit, finds a
way to bring down the estate. Let none reckon themselves beautified any
further than they are sanctified, nor say that they are of perfect beauty till
they come to heaven.
2. He must upbraid Tyre with her prosperity, which was the matter of her
pride. In elegies it is usual to insert encomiums of those whose fall we
lament; the prophet, accordingly, praises Tyre for all that she had that was
praiseworthy. He has nothing to say of her religion, her piety, her charity,
her being a refuge to the distressed or using her interest to do good offices
among her neighbours; but she lived great, and had a great trade, and all
the trading part of mankind made court to her. The prophet must describe
her height and magnificence, that God may be the more glorified in her fall,
as the God who looks upon every one that is proud and abases him, hides
the proud in the dust together, and binds their faces in secret, Job_40:12.
JAMISON, "Eze_27:1-36. Tyre’s former greatness, suggesting a
lamentation over her sad downfall.
K&D 1-9, "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.
2

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. ‫ת‬ֹ‫א‬ ‫ב‬ ְ‫מ‬ ‫ָם‬‫י‬, approaches or entrances of the sea, are
harbours into which ships sail and from which they depart, just as ‫יר‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ ‫א‬ ‫ב‬ ְ‫מ‬
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.).)
‫תי‬ ֶ‫ב‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ֹ‫י‬, 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 ‫ת‬ ֶ‫ל‬ֶ‫כ‬ֹ‫ר‬ with '‫ל‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫יּ‬ ִ‫א‬ ‫ר‬ may be accounted for from the primary
meaning of ‫ל‬ ַ‫כ‬ ָ‫,ר‬ 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
3

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). ‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ‫ת‬ֹ‫ח‬ ֻ‫,ל‬ a dual form, like
‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ‫ת‬ֹ‫מ‬ֹ‫ח‬ 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 (‫ט‬ ‫שּׁ‬ ִ‫מ‬ as well as ‫ט‬ ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫מ‬ in Eze_
27:29 from ‫,שׁוּט‬ to row), and the rowing benches (or deck) were of ivory
inlaid in box. ‫שׁ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ק‬ 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 ‫שׁ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫,ק‬
the object being to picture the ship as possessing all possible splendour. The
expression ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֻ‫שּׁ‬ ַ‫תּ־א‬ ַ‫,בּ‬ occasions some difficulty, partly on account of the use
of the word ‫ת‬ ַ‫,בּ‬ and partly in connection with the meaning of ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֻ‫שּׁ‬ ַ‫א‬ ,
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:
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“Vel quale per artem
Inclusum buxo, aut Oricia terebintho
Lucet ebur.”
But the use of ‫ת‬ ַ‫בּ‬ 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: ‫פּין‬ ַ‫ד‬ ‫דאשׁכרעין‬
‫מכבשׁין‬ ‫ן‬ ֵ‫שׁ‬ ְ‫ב‬ ‫יל‬ ִ‫פ‬ ְ‫,ד‬ 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 ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֻ‫שּׁ‬ ַ‫א‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫,בּ‬ ivory in
‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֻ‫שּׁ‬ ַ‫א‬ ְ‫,תּ‬ 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 ‫שּׁוּר‬ ַ‫א‬ ְ‫תּ‬ is mentioned among the trees growing upon Lebanon,
whereas here the ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֻ‫שּׁ‬ ַ‫א‬ ְ‫תּ‬ are described as coming from the islands of the
‫ם‬ ִ‫יּ‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ִ‫,כּ‬ 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. ‫ם‬ ִ‫יּ‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ִ‫כּ‬ are the Κιτιεῖς, the inhabitants of the
port of Κίτιον in Cyprus; then the Cyprians generally; and here, as in Jer_
2:10, where ‫ים‬ִ‫יּ‬ ִ‫א‬ of the ‫ם‬ ִ‫יּ‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ִ‫כּ‬ 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 ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֻ‫שּׁ‬ ַ‫א‬ ְ‫תּ‬ 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
(‫ה‬ ָ‫מ‬ ְ‫ק‬ ִ‫,ר‬ see comm. on Exo_26:36), i.e., woven in mixed colours, probably not
merely in stripes, but woven with figures and flowers.”
5

(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 (‫ֵס‬‫נ‬). 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.). ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫פ‬ ִ‫,מ‬ 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 (‫ֵס‬‫נ‬) being also extended is included under the
term ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫פ‬ ִ‫מ‬ (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 (‫ת‬ ֶ‫ל‬ֵ‫כ‬ ְ‫ת‬ and ‫ן‬ ָ‫ָמ‬‫גּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫,א‬ 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 (‫ים‬ ִ‫ל‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫,)ח‬ 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.
6

COFFMAN, "Verse 1
PROPHECY OF THE SINKING OF THE MAJESTIC SHIP; TYRE
The prophet Ezekiel suddenly emerges in this chapter as a man of almost
unbelievable ability, information, and knowledge of world geography, agricultural
and manufacturing products associated with the nations of the whole world, and of
the art of ship-building. It is not known just how much of this incredible store of
knowledge was due to the divine inspiration of the prophet, and how much of it was
derived from his own personal knowledge. We do not pretend to know the full
answer to that question.
It is evident, as McFadyen noted that, "The dirge over Tyre is a brilliant poem, the
central paragraph of which is in prose, containing a gorgeous account of the
commercial commodities featured in the commerce of Tyre, together with the
various origins of the commodities and the goods for which they were
exchanged!."[1]
Plumptre called this chapter "without parallel in the history of literature."[2] Cooke
labeled it, "One of the finest of Ezekiel's compositions."[3]
Keil divided the chapter into three sections: a presentation of the glory of Tyre
under the figure of a majestic Merchant Ship (1-11), an account of the commodities
involved in Tyre's extensive commerce with the nations of the world (12-25), and the
dramatic prophecy of her sudden disaster (26-36).[4]
THE GLORY OF THE MAJESTIC SHIP TYRE
Ezekiel 27:1-11
7

"The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying, And thou, son of man, take up a
lamentation over Tyre; and say unto Tyre, O thou that dwellest at the entry of the
sea, that art the merchant of the peoples unto many isles, thus saith the Lord
Jehovah: Thou, O Tyre, hast said, I am perfect in beauty. Thy borders are in the
heart of the seas; thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy
planks of fir trees from Senir; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a
mast for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; they have made thy
benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the isles of Kittim. Of fine linen broidered
work from Egypt was thy sail, that it might be to thee for an ensign; blue and purple
from the isles of Elishah was thine awning. The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad
were thy rowers: thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee, they were thy pilots. The old
men of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee, thy calkers: all the ships of the
sea with their mariners were in thee to deal in thy merchandise. Persia and Lud and
Put were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee;
they set forth thy comeliness. The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy
walls round about; they have perfected thy beauty."
"O thou that dwellest at the entry of the sea ..." (Ezekiel 27:3). Here we have
another example of scholarly fiddling with the Biblical text in which they perverted
the Word of God, changing what the sacred text says into what the translators
thought the Holy Spirit should have said! This passage reads entrances into the sea,
not entry.[5] Tyre had two great harbors, the Sidonian on the north, and the
Egyptian harbor on the south. Thus "entrances of the sea" is correct.
Another example of the same type of error by translators appears in Acts 17:40
(KJV), where translators changed "rudders" to "rudder," erroneously believing
that ancient ships had only a single rudder. (See a full comment on this in our New
Testament Series, Vol. 5 (Acts), pp. 503,504.)
Please do not misunderstand this comment as downgrading the efforts of scholars to
aid us in the understanding of the Bible. Their work is absolutely indispensable. It is
true that errors like the ones cited here occur, but the scholars are confronted with a
nearly impossible task. The sacred text of this very chapter, in its transmission to us
through many centuries has been severely damaged and obscured in some places,
8

leaving part of it unintelligible until emendations and corrections of it have been
studied in order to arrive at the meaning. "This very chapter is remarkable for its
textual difficulties."[6]
Also, it should be remembered that, in those cases where the scholars have added
words, those additions appear in the versions as italics; and in instances where a
presumably better term is substituted for a word in the original, the original word is
generally given as an alternate reading in the margin, or in a footnote. Then, also,
there are many cases in which former errors are corrected in subsequent versions,
as in the case of Acts 27:40.
Nevertheless, a word of warning should be issued with regard to many "corrupt
translations," especially of the New Testament, which are, in many passages,
intentional perversions of the truth, slanted to favor the theological bias of certain
groups.
"I am perfect in beauty ..." (Ezekiel 27:3). "Simply put, her pride and self-adulation
knew no bounds, and she was inordinately arrogant."[7]
"Fir-trees from Senir ..." (Ezekiel 27:5). "Senir was the Amorite" name for Mount
Hermon (as in Deuteronomy 3:9)."[8]
"Of the oaks of Bashan... thine oars ..." (Ezekiel 27:6). Special varieties of trees were
sought for every part of the magnificent ship. We are reminded that the hulk of The
Mayflower was made of the "Oaks of Devonshire."
"Benches of boxwood inlaid with ivory ..." (Ezekiel 27:6). The word which is here
translated as "benches" is also rendered as "deck,"[9] or "boards,"[10] or "cabin."
That the wood was precious is seen in the fact that it was used in the framing of the
tabernacle (Exodus 26:15,16; and Numbers 3:36; 4:31). The exact kind of wood here
called "boxwood" is not certainly known. Skinner thought that it was probably, "A
variety of cedar imported from Cyprus."[11] Kittim in this verse is the same as
9

Cyprus.
"The isles of Elishah ..." (Ezekiel 27:7). "This is the equivalent of the Greek Aeolis
on the western coast of Asia Minor."[12] Tyre, having somewhat depleted the
supply of the murex mollusk in the waters of Phoenicia, found an additional,
abundant supply of these in the Greek isles. They were important in the making of
purple dye.
"Inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers ..." (Ezekiel 27:8). "'Arvad' was
an island off the coast of Sidon, now called Ruad (Genesis 10:18)."[13]
Some radical critics would like to delete the prose section which immediately follows
Ezekiel 27:11, as some kind of a later addition to the prophecy; but as Beasley-
Murray said, "That is not sufficient reason for denying its authenticity."[14]
"Persia and Lud and Put were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the
shield and buckler in thee ..." (Ezekiel 27:10).
"We should seek Lud in Africa (Jeremiah 46:9; Genesis 10:13; Isaiah 66:19); and
Put is on the African coast of the Red Sea."[15]
The great riches of Tyre enabled her to employ mercenary soldiers from as far away
as Persia. From Jeremiah 46:9, it appears that Egypt also employed mercenaries
from these same sources. "Thus Tyre had become a magnificent world-wide empire,
which was able to procure the commerce and cooperation of the nations all over the
world of that era."[16]
"Thine army upon thy walls ..." (Ezekiel 27:11). Keil called attention to the fact
that, "A distinction is made between the mercenaries from Lud, Put, etc., called
`men of war' in 5:10, and the other soldiers who 'manned the walls" of the city.
These from the local Arvad would have been considered more loyal to Tyre. The
10

more distant mercenaries were entrusted with battles more removed from the city
itself."[17]
PETT, "Introduction
Chapter 27 The Second Oracle Against Tyre.
In this oracle Tyre, who is seen as describing herself as ‘perfect in beauty’, is likened
to a mighty ship which being overloaded will finally become a wreck and will sink
beneath the waves at which all will bewail her loss. It is in the form of a poem, with
a prose section inserted. The poetic metre is found in Ezekiel 27:3-9 and Ezekiel
27:25-36. In the previous oracle it was her greed that was condemned, here it is her
vanity. Tyre had great pride and conceit in herself, and this was a further reason for
her judgment by God (compare Psalms 10:4; Proverbs 6:17; Proverbs 8:13;
Proverbs 16:18).
Tyrian ships had keels (unlike Egyptian ships) and carried large cargoes. A
document from Ugarit (c 1200 BC) refers to one as having a cargo of 450 tonnes as
though it was nothing unusual. It would thus have to depend largely on sail power
with oars only used for a fairly short time in emergency situations. As regards
rigging, the Tyrian ships in the time of Ezekiel, as seen in Assyrian representations,
had one mast with one yard and carried a square sail. The planks, masts and yards
were made of fir, pine or cedar, and the sails of linen, but the fibre of papyrus was
employed as well as flax in the manufacture of sail-cloth. The sail had also to serve
"for an ensign". The flag proper does not seem to have been used in ancient
navigation. Its purpose was served by the sail.
The description here is magnificent. Tyre is seen as the centre and shipmaster of
world trade, trading north, south, east and west. It brings out her own view of
herself. (Translation is not always certain, partly due to the unusual technical terms
used and the metric requirements of poetry).
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Verses 1-9
‘The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying, “And you, son of man, take up a
lamentation for Tyre. And say to Tyre:
“You, O Tyre, have said,
‘I am perfect in beauty.
Your borders are in the heart of the seas,
Your builders have perfected your beauty.
They made all your planks, of fir trees from Senir,
They took cedars from Lebanon, to make a mast for you.
Of oaks of Bashan, they made your oars
They made your benches (or ‘decks’) of ivory, inlaid in boxwood, from the isles of
Kittim (Cyprus)
Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt was your sail, that it may serve for an ensign.
Blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah was your awning,
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The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were your rowers,
Your skilled men, O Tyre, were in you, they were your rope-pullers (those who
manned the sail and steering),
The elders of Gebal and its skilled men were in you as your caulkers (seam
repairers),
All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you,
To exchange for your merchandise.’
This opening of the lamentation describes Tyre in her splendour as she saw herself.
Perfect in beauty, surrounded by sea, made perfect by her shipbuilders,
manufactured of the finest materials, supplied and moulded by the best sources and
workmen, and crewed by the most expert sailors. And always crowded with
merchants from other ships bartering for their goods. It was an idealistic picture of
Tyre in her pride.
Senir (see Deuteronomy 3:9) was Mount Hermon, supplying the fir trees. The cedars
of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan were famous for their size and strength. Egypt
were clearly expert sail-makers. Elishah may be the Alasia of extra-Biblical sources
such as the Amarna letters and Egyptian and cuneiform inscriptions (Ugarit;
Alalah; Boghaz Koi). It was an exporter of copper. Some have identified it with
Enkomi and its surrounding area on the east coast of Cyprus where excavations
have revealed an important trading centre of the late Bronze age.
Arvad is modern Ruad, a small island three kilometres (two miles) off the coast of
Syria, and eighty kilometres (fifty miles) north of Byblos (Gebal). It was a barren
13

rock covered with fortifications and houses. The island was about 245 metres (800
feet) long by 150 metres (500 feet) wide, later certainly surrounded by a massive
wall, and an artificial harbour was constructed on the East toward the mainland. It
was a sailing and trading centre, full of skilled seamen and spoken of admiringly by
the Assyrians who earlier dominated it. Gebal, whose ruins lie at Jebeil, was known
in Greek as Byblos. It was another Phoenician maritime city. Its inhabitants were
clearly especially skilled at caulking vessels.
2 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning Tyre.
CLARKE, "Take up a lamentation for Tyrus - This is a singular and
curious chapter. It gives a very circumstantial account of the trade of Tyre
with different parts of the world, and the different sorts of merchandise in
which she trafficked. The places and the imports are as regularly entered
here as they could have been in a European custom-house.
GILL, "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.
JAMISON, "lamentation — a funeral dirge, eulogizing her great attributes,
to make the contrast the greater between her former and her latter state.
COKE, "Ezekiel 27:2. Take up a lamentation, &c.— This alludes to the melancholy
14

songs used at funerals, concerning which we spoke in our comment on the
Lamentations; and wherein the women recounted every thing which was valuable or
praise-worthy in the deceased, and then lamented his loss. Though indeed the
prophet dwells more upon the punishment denounced against this place, than in
deploring its calamity, and rather excites terror than pity; yet, notwithstanding this,
he follows the plan and manner of those funeral dirges. For he recounts, as is usual
in those compositions, the former glory, power, and riches of Tyre, and, by means of
the contrast augments the greatness of her calamities. See Bishop Lowth's 23rd
Prelection.
BI 1-32, "Take up a lamentation for Tyrus.
A proud city
The men of the world are wise, choosing the fittest places for their own
advantage and interest. Let us learn so much of the men of the world, to be
wise for our spiritual interest, and seat ourselves near the waters of the
sanctuary, that so, trading with God and Christ, we may abound with
spiritual treasure.
2. Outward excellences lift up men’s hearts, beget vain confidences, and
cause them to boast. This is the great wickedness of cities enriched by
God, that they forget Him, and glory in external excellences.
3. No situation, strength, or outward advantage can secure proud cities.
4. Artists will put forth themselves to the utmost to show their skill. “Thy
builders have perfected thy beauty”; they concealed not their art; what
skill soever they had in architecture, they strove to manifest the same.
(W. Greenhill, M. A.)
The sin of Tyre
To Ezekiel, as to the prophets generally, Tyre is the representative of
commercial greatness, and the truth which he here seeks to illustrate is that
the abnormal development of the mercantile spirit had in her case
destroyed the capacity of faith in that which is truly Divine. The real god of
Tyre was not Baal nor Melkarth, but the king, or any other object that might
serve as a symbol of her civic greatness. Her religion was one that embodied
itself in no outward ritual; it was the enthusiasm which was kindled in the
heart of every citizen of Tyre by the magnificence of the imperial city to
which he belonged. The state of mind which Ezekiel regards as
characteristic of Tyre was perhaps the inevitable outcome of a high
civilisation informed by no loftier religious conceptions than those common
to heathenism. It is the idea which afterwards found expression in the
deification of the Roman emperors—the idea that the state is the only power
higher than the individual to which he can look for the furtherance of his
15

material and spiritual interests, the only: power, therefore, which rightly
claims his homage and his reverence. None the less, it is a state of mind
which is destructive of all that is essential to living religion; and Tyre in her
proud self-sufficiency was perhaps further from a true knowledge of God
than the barbarous tribes who in all sincerity worshipped the rude idols
which represented the invisible power that ruled their destinies. And in
exposing the irreligious spirit which lay at the heart of the Tyrian
civilisation the prophet lays his finger on the spiritual danger which attends
the successful pursuit of the finite interests of human life. The thought of
God, the sense of an immediate relation of the spirit of man to the Eternal
and the Infinite, are easily displaced from men’s minds by undue
admiration for the achievements of a culture based on material progress,
and supplying every need of human nature except the very deepest, the need
of God. The commercial spirit is indeed but one of the forms in which men
devote themselves to the service of this present world; but in any
community where it reigns supreme we may confidently look for the same
signs of religious decay which Ezekiel detected in Tyre in his own day. At all
events, his message is not superfluous in an age and country where energies
are well-nigh exhausted in the accumulation of the means of living, and
whose social problems all run up into the great question of the distribution
of wealth. (John Skinner, M. A.)
The fate of Tyre
Why was Tyrus rebuked and stripped and humbled? Because it came to pass
in the case of Tyrus, as it comes to pass in our case, that too much
prosperity begets a spirit of sneering. And God will not have any sneering in
His school. How did Tyrus sneer? She sneered religiously, which is the
worst kind of sneering. “Because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem,
Aha.” That “Aha” cost Tyrus her life. He who sneers at Jerusalem challenges
God; he who mocks the humble poor defies high Heaven. Tyrus versus
Jerusalem,—the case so limited, Jerusalem might go down; but so long as
Jerusalem stands for godliness, the true worship, the right conception of
things, he who offends Jerusalem has to fight Omnipotence. Can Tyrus fail?
When Tyrus fails all the islands of the sea know of it: “Then all the princes
of the sea shall come down,” etc. Behold them all!—princes of Polynesia
coming down from their thrones, stripping themselves, themselves folding
up the garments and putting them away, and then replacing the garments
embroidered and golden with garments of trembling. Why? Because famed
Tyrus has fallen. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen. We should learn from
ruins. O vain man, poor boaster, you shall beg tomorrow! You that steep
your arms to the elbows in gold shall write a begging letter ere the year
closes. Riches make to themselves wings and fly away, and the great
Babylon which you have builded is but a bubble in the air. Lay not up for
yourselves riches where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal: have riches in heaven; have riches in the word of
God. See the uselessness of what is called environment. Tyrus had
environment enough; her shipboards, trees of cedar; her masts made of the
cedars of Lebanon; her oars of the oaks of Bashan; fine linen with broidered
16

work from Egypt, blue and purple from the isles of Elishah; treasure upon
treasure. So much for environment! We think if we had more pictures on
the walls we should pray more; if we had a larger garden behind the house
we should be more spiritually minded. It is not so. A man’s heaven is in his
heart; a man’s hell is within. Moreover, what is environment? Who are we
that we should define environment and say, Under such and such
circumstances such and such moral issues would take place? Never! unless
there be something more. Only the Spirit can make man right, and only
Christ, according to the faith, to the Christianity which I solemnly accept,
can get at the spirit with renewing and sanctifying energy. All other teachers
are reformers. Christ is a Saviour. When Christ gets into a man’s heart, all
the rest follows—all the cleanliness comes the same day, and on the morrow
comes music, and on the third day comes the dawn of heaven. (J. Parker, D.
D.)
The position of Tyre on land and sea
Part of the city was on an island, and part on the mainland. Alexander, the
conqueror, was much embarrassed when he found so much of the city was
on an island, for he had no ships. But his military genius was not to be
balked. Having marched his army to the beach, he ordered them to tear up
the city on the mainland and throw it into the water, and build a causeway
two hundred feet wide to the island. So they took that part of the city which
was on the mainland, and with it built a causeway of timber and brick and
stone, on which his army marched to the capture of that part of the city
which was on the island, as though a hostile army should put Brooklyn into
the East River, and over it march to the capture of New York. That Tyrian
causeway of ruins which Alexander’s army built is still there, and by alluvial
deposits has permanently united the island to the mainland, so that it is no
longer an island but a promontory. The sand, the greatest of all undertakers
for burying cities, having covered up for the most part Baalbec and Palmyra
and Thebes and Memphis and Carthage and Babylon and Luxor and
Jericho, the sand, so small and yet so mighty, is now gradually giving rites of
sepulture to what was left of Tyre. But, oh, what a magnificent city it once
was! Mistress of the sea! Queen of international commerce! All nations
casting their crowns at her feet! Where we have in our sailing vessels
benches of wood, she had benches of ivory. Where we have for our masts of
ships sails of coarse canvas, she had sails of richest embroidery. (T. De Witt
Talmage.)
Responsibility of city rulers
Cities are not necessarily evils, as has sometimes been argued. They have
been the birthplace of civilisation. In them popular liberty has lifted up its
voice. Witness Genoa, Pisa, Venice. The entrance of the representatives of
the cities in the legislatures of Europe was the deathblow to feudal
kingdoms. Cities are the patronisers of art and literature. Cities hold the
world’s sceptre. Africa was Carthage, Greece was Athens, England is
17

London, France is Paris, Italy is Rome.
I. Commercial ethics are always affected by the moral or immoral character
of those who have principal supremacy. Officials that wink at fraud, and
that have neither censure nor arraignment for glittering dishonesties,
always weaken the pulse of commercial honour.
II. So also of the educational interests of a city. There are cities where
educational affairs are settled in the low caucus in the abandoned parts of
the cities, by men full of ignorance and rum. It ought not to be so; but in
many cities it is so. I hear the tramp of the coming generations. What that
great multitude of youth shall be for this world and the next will be affected
very much by the character of our public schools. Instead of driving the
Bible out, you had better drive the Bible further in.
III. The character of officials in a city affects the domestic circle. In a city
where grog shops have their own way, and gambling hells are not interfered
with, and for fear of losing political influence officials close their eyes to
festering abominations—in all those cities the home interests need to make
imploration. The family circles of the city must inevitably be affected by the
moral character or the immoral character of those who rule over them.
IV. The religious interests of a city are thus affected. The Church today has
to contend with evils that the civil law ought to smite; and while I would not
have the civil government in anywise relax its energy in the arrest and
punishment of crime, I would have a thousand-fold more energy put forth
in the drying up of the fountains of iniquity. The Church of God asks no
pecuniary aid from political power; but it does ask that, in addition to all the
evils we must necessarily contend against, we shall not have to fight also
municipal negligence. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
God’s observation of our business hours
“Thus said the Lord.” This account of the trade of Tyre intimates to us that
God’s eye is upon men, and that He takes cognisance of what they do when
they are employed in their worldly business, not only when they are at
church, praying and hearing, but when they are in their markets and fairs,
and upon the exchange, buying and selling, which is a good reason why we
should in all our dealings keep a conscience void of offence, and have our
eye always upon Him whose eye is always upon us. (M. Henry.)
PULPIT, "Ezekiel 27:2
Take up a lamentation for Tyrus. The dirge over the merchant-city that
follows, the doom sic transit gloria mundi, worked out with a fullness of
detail which reminds us of the Homeric catalogue of ships ('Iliad,'
2:484-770), is almost, if not altogether, without a parallel in the history of
literature. It can scarcely have rested on anything but personal knowledge.
Ezekiel, we must believe, had, at some time or other in his life, trod the
18

sinful streets of the great city, and noted the mingled crowd of many nations
and in many costumes that he met there, just as we infer from Dante's vivid
description of the dockyards of Venice ('Inf.,' 21.7-15) that he had visited
that city. Apart from its poetic or prophetic interest, it is for us almost the
locus classicus as to the geography and commerce of that old world of which
Tyre was in some sense the center. We may compare it, from that point of
view, with the ethnological statements in Genesis 10:1-32.; just as, from the
standpoint of prophecy, it has to be compared with Isaiah's "burden"
against Babylon (Isaiah 13:1-22; Isaiah 14:1-32.), and with St. John's
representation of Rome as the spiritual Babylon of the Apocalypse
(Revelation 18:1-24.).
3 Say to Tyre, situated at the gateway to the sea,
merchant of peoples on many coasts, ‘This is what
the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘You say, Tyre,
“I am perfect in beauty.”
BARNES, "Entry - literally, “entries.” Ancient Tyre had two ports, that
called the Sidonian to the north, the Egyptian to the south; the former exists
to the present day. The term “entry of the sea” is naturally enough applied
to a harbor as a place from which ships enter and return from the sea. The
city was known in the earliest times as “Tyre the port.”
CLARKE, "The entry of the sea - Tyre was a small island, or rather rock, in
19

the sea, at a short distance from the main land. We have already seen that
there was another Tyre on the main land; but they are both considered as
one city.
GILL, "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, Rev_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, Rev_
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, Psa_48:2.
HENRY, " The city of Tyre was advantageously situated, at the entry of the
sea (Eze_27:3), having many commodious harbours each way, not as cities
seated on rivers, which the shipping can come but one way to. It stood at the
east end of the Mediterranean, very convenient for trade by land into all the
Levant parts; so that she became a merchant of the people for many isles.
Lying between Greece and Asia, it became the great emporium, or mart-
town, the rendezvous of merchants from all parts: They borders are in the
heart of the seas, Eze_27:4. It was surrounded with water, which was a
great advantage to its trade; it was the darling of the sea, laid in its bosom,
in its heart. Note, It is a great convenience, upon many accounts, to live in
an island: seas are the most ancient land-mark, not which our fathers have
set, but the God of our fathers, and which cannot be removed as other land-
marks may, nor so easily got over. The people so situated may the more
easily dwell alone, if they please, as not reckoned among the nations, and
yet, if they please, may the more easily traffic abroad and keep a
correspondence with the nations. We therefore of this island must own that
he who determines the bounds of men's habitations has determined well for
us.
20

JAMISON, "situate at the entry of the sea — literally, plural, “entrances,”
that is, ports or havens; referring to the double port of Tyre, at which
vessels entered round the north and south ends of the island, so that ships
could find a ready entrance from whatever point the wind might blow
(compare Eze_28:2).
merchant of ... people for many isles — that is, a mercantile emporium of
the peoples of many seacoasts, both from the east and from the west (Isa_
23:3), “a mart of nations.”
of perfect beauty — (Eze_28:12).
PULPIT, "We begin with the picture of the city, situate at the entry
(Hebrew, entries), or harbors of the sea. Of these Tyre had two—the
northern, known as the Sidonian; the southern, as the Egyptian. There she
dwelt, a merchant of the peoples, that came, in the wider sense of the word
(see Ezekiel 26:15), from the isles of the Mediterranean. I am perfect in
beauty. The boast here put into the mouth of the city appears afterwards as
the utterance of its ruler, or as applied to him (Ezekiel 28:2, Ezekiel
28:15-17). We are reminded of Genoa, la superba.
4
Your domain was on the high seas;
your builders brought your beauty to
perfection.
CLARKE, "Thy builders have perfected thy beauty - Under the allegory of
a beautiful ship, the prophet, here and in the following verses, paints the
glory of this ancient city. Horace describes the commonwealth of Rome by
the same allegory, and is as minute in his description, Carm. lib. 1. Od. xiv: -
O navis, referent in mare te novi
Fluctus? O quid agis? Fortiter occupa
21

Portum. Nonne video, ut
Nudum remigio latus,
Et malus celeri saucius Africo,
Antennaeque gemant? ac sine funibus
Vix durare carinae Possint imperiosius
Aequor! non tibi sunt integra lintea;
Non Di, quos iterum pressa votes malo:
Quamvis Pontica pinus,
Sylvae filia nobilis,
Jactes et genus, et nomen inutile
Nil pictis timidus navita puppibus
Fidit. Tu, nisi, ventis
Debes ludibrium, cave.
Unhappy vessel, shall the waves again
Tumultuous bear thee to the faithless main?
What, would thy madness thus with storms to sport?
Cast firm your anchor in the friendly port.
Behold thy naked decks, the wounded mast,
And sail-yards groan beneath the southern blast.
Nor, without ropes, thy keel can longer brave
The rushing fury of the imperious wave:
Torn are thy sails; thy guardian gods are lost,
Whom you might call, in future tempests tost.
What, though majestic in your pride you stood,
A noble daughter of the Pontic wood,
You now may vainly boast an empty name,
Of birth conspicuous in the rolls of fame.
The mariner, when storms around him rise,
No longer on a painted stern relies.
Ah! yet take heed, lest these new tempests sweep,
In sportive rage, thy glories to the deep.
Francis.
I give this as a striking parallel to many passages in this chapter.
GILL, "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
22

any other antecedent.
HENRY, "It was curiously built, according as the fashion then was; and,
being a city on a hill, it made a glorious show and tempted the ships that
sailed by into her ports (Eze_27:4): They builders have perfected thy
beauty; they have so improved in architecture that nothing appears in the
buildings of Tyre that can be found fault with; and yet it wants that
perfection of beauty into which the Lord does and will build up his
Jerusalem.
JAMISON, "Tyre, in consonance with her seagirt position, separated by a
strait of half a mile from the mainland, is described as a ship built of the
best material, and manned with the best mariners and skilful pilots, but at
last wrecked in tempestuous seas (Eze_27:26).
PULPIT, "In the midst of the seas; literally, in the heart (Revised Version).
The words were true of the island-city, but Ezekiel has already present to his
thoughts the idealized picture of the city under the figure of its stateliest
ship. The builders are ship-builders, and in the verses that follow we have a
picture of the Bucentaur of the Venice of the ancient world.
5
They made all your timbers
of juniper from Senir[a];
they took a cedar from Lebanon
to make a mast for you.
23

BARNES, "Fir-trees (or, cypress) of Senir - The name by which the
Amorites knew Mount Hermon.
CLARKE, "Fir trees of Senir - Senir is a mountain which the Sidonians
called Sirion, and the Hebrews Hermon, Deu_3:9. It was beyond Jordan,
and extended from Libanus to the mountains of Gilead.
GILL, "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, Deu_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.
HENRY 5-7, " It had its haven replenished with abundance of gallant
ships, Isa_33:21. The ship-carpenters did their part, as well as the house-
carpenters theirs. The Tyrians are thought to be the first that invented the
art of navigation; at least they improved it, and brought it to as great a
perfection perhaps as it could be without the loadstone. [1.] They made the
boards, or planks, for the hulk of the ship, of fir-trees fetched from Senir, a
mount in the land of Israel, joined with Hermon, Son_4:8. Planks of fir
were smooth and light, but not so lasting as our English oak. [2.] They had
cedars from Lebanon, another mountain of Israel, for their masts, Eze_
27:5. [3.] They had oaks from Bashan (Isa_2:13), to make oars of; for it is
probable that their ships were mostly galleys, that go with oars. The people
of Israel built few ships for themselves, but they furnished the Tyrians with
timber for shipping. Thus one country uses what another produced, and so
they are serviceable one to another, and cannot say to each other, I have no
24

need of thee. [4.] Such magnificence did they affect in building their ships
that they made the very benches of ivory, which they fetched from the isles
of Chittim, from Italy or Greece, and had workmen from the Ashurites or
Assyrians to make them, so rich would they have their state-rooms in their
ships to be. [5.] So very prodigal were they that they made their sails of fine
linen fetched from Egypt, and that embroidered too, Eze_27:7. Or it may be
meant of their flags (which they hoisted to notify what city they belonged
to), which were very costly. The word signifies a banner as well as a sail. [6.]
They hung those rooms on ship-board with blue and purple, the richest
cloths and richest colours they could get from the isles they traded with. For
though Tyre was itself famous for purple, which is therefore called the
Tyrian dye, yet they must have that which was far-fetched.
JAMISON, "Senir — the Amorite name of Hermon, or the southern height
of Anti-libanus (Deu_3:9); the Sidonian name was Sirion. “All thy ...
boards”; dual in Hebrew, “double-boards,” namely, placed in a double
order on the two sides of which the ship consisted [Vatablus]. Or, referring
to the two sides or the two ends, the prow and the stern, which every ship
has [Munster].
cedars — most suited for “masts,” from their height and durability.
COKE, "Ezekiel 27:5. Thy ship-boards—of Senir— Senir is the ancient name for
Hermon. See Deuteronomy 3:9.
Masts— Though cedars have a thick and not a lofty trunk, masts consisting of
different parts may be made of different cedars duly sized, or properly shaped if of
too large a size.
PULPIT, "Fir trees of Senti. The name appears in Deuteronomy 3:9 and Song of
Solomon 4:8 as Shenir; in 1 Chronicles 5:23 it is spelt as here. From Deuteronomy
3:9 we learn that it was the Amorite name for Hermon, as Sirion was the Sidonian
name. In 1 Kings 5:10 Hiram King of Tyro appears as supplying Solomon with the
fir and cedar timber mentioned here for the erection of his palace, the house of the
forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7:2). The fir tree was more commonly used for ships, the
cedar for houses (Virgil, 'Georg.,' 2.444). The Hebrew for "boards" is unique in its
form as a plural with a dual form superadded to indicate that each plank had its
counterpart on the other side of the ship.
25

6
Of oaks from Bashan
they made your oars;
of cypress wood[b] from the coasts of Cyprus
they made your deck, adorned with ivory.
BARNES, "The company ... ivory - Rather, “thy benches (or, deck) made
they of ivory with boxwood” (or, larch), i. e., boxwood inlaid with ivory.
The isles - (or, coasts) of Chittim is a phrase used constantly for Greece
and the Grecian islands. It may probably be extended to other islands in the
Mediterranean sea Gen_10:5, and there ivory may have been brought from
the coasts of North Africa.
CLARKE, "Of the oaks of Bashan - Some translate alder, others the pine.
The company of the Ashurites - The word ‫אשרים‬ asherim is by several
translated boxwood. The seats or benches being made of this wood inlaid
with ivory.
Isles of Chittim - The Italian islands; the islands of Greece; Cyprus. Calmet
says Macedonia is meant.
GILL, "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
26

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, Gen_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
‫אשרים‬ ‫בת‬ 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.
JAMISON, "Bashan — celebrated for its oaks, as Lebanon was for its
cedars.
the company of ... Ashurites — the most skilful workmen summoned from
Assyria. Rather, as the Hebrew orthography requires, “They have made thy
(rowing) benches of ivory inlaid in the daughter of cedars” [Maurer], or,
the best boxwood. Fairbairn, with Bochart, reads the Hebrew two words as
one: “Thy plankwork (deck: instead of ‘benches,’ as the Hebrew is singular)
they made ivory with boxes.” English Version, with Maurer’s correction, is
simpler.
Chittim — Cyprus and Macedonia, from which, Pliny tells us, the best
boxwood came [Grotius].
COKE, "Ezekiel 27:6. Of the oaks of Bashan— Bishop Newton observes upon this
description of Tyre, that Cleopatra, sailing down the river Cydnus to meet Mark
Antony, was not attended with greater finery and magnificence; nor have historians
and poets painted the one in more lively colours than the prophet the other. Instead
27

of, The company of the Ashurites, &c. Houbigant reads, They have made thy seats
of ivory, inclosed in box, brought from the Italian islands.
PULPIT, "The high plateau of Bashan, the region east of the sea of Galilee and the
Jordan, now known as the Hauran, was famous then, as it is now, for its oak forests
and its wild cattle (Psalms 22:12). The company of the Ashurites, etc.; better, with
the Revised Version, they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood. The
Authorized Version follows the present Hebrew text, but the name of the nation
there is not the same as that of the Assyrians, and corresponds with the Ashurites of
2 Samuel 2:9—an obscure tribe of Canaanites, possibly identical with the
Geshurites. A difference of punctuation or spelling (Bithasshurim for Bath-asshu-
rim) gives the meaning which the Revised Version follows; thasshur being used in
Isaiah 41:19 and Isaiah 60:13 for the box tree, or perhaps cypress, or larch, as
forming part of the glory of Lebanon. The use of ivory in ship or house building
seems to have been one of the arts for which Tyre was famous. So we have the ivory
palace of Ahab, after he had married his Sidonian queen (1 Kings 22:39) and those
of the monarch who had married a Tyrian princess in Psalms 45:8 (see also Amos
3:15). For the use of such inlaid wood in later times, see Virgil, 'AEneid,' 10:137.
Either the ivory or the wood is said to come from the isles of Chittim. The word was
about as wide in its use as the "Indies" in the time of Elizabeth. Josephus ('Ant.,'
1.6. 1) identifies it with Cyprus, which perhaps retains a memorial of it in Citium.
The Vulgate, as in Numbers 24:24, identifies it here with Italy, and in Daniel 11:30
translates the "ships of Chittim" as trieres et Romani, while in 1 Macc. 1:1, it is
used of Greece as including Macedonia. In Genesis 10:4 the Kittim appear as
descended from Javan, i.e. are classed as Greeks or Ionians. The ivory which the
Tyrians used probably came from Northern Africa, and may have been supplied
through Carthage or other Phoenician colonies. A supply may have come also from
Ethiopia through Egypt, or from the Red Sea ports, with which the Phoenicians
carried on a trade with Arabia. Inlaid ivory-work, sometimes in wood, sometimes
with enamel, is found both in Egyptian and Assyrian remains ('Dict. Bible,' s.v.
"Ivory").
7
28

Fine embroidered linen from Egypt was your sail
and served as your banner;
your awnings were of blue and purple
from the coasts of Elishah.
BARNES, "Or, “Fine linen Gen_41:42 with embroidery from Egypt was”
thy sail that it might be to thee for a banner. Sails from Egypt were worked
with various figures upon them which served as a device. Their boats had no
separate pennons.
Blue and purple - Tyrian purple was famous. The Tyrians no doubt
imported from the neighboring coasts the mollusks from which they dyed
the fine linen of Egypt.
Isles of Elishah - See Gen_10:4. Elishah is considered equivalent to the
Greek AEolis on the western coast of Asia Minor. This and the islands
adjacent would very naturally have commerce with the Tyrians. In early
days the supply of the murex from the coast of Phoenicia had been
insufficient for the Tyrian manufactures. The isles of Greece abounded in
the mollusks.
That which covered thee - As an awning.
CLARKE, "Fine linen - ‫שש‬ shesh, cotton cloth. In this sense the word is
generally to be understood.
To be thy sail - Probably the flag - ensign or pennant, is meant.
Blue and purple from the isles of Elishah - Elis, a part of the
Peloponnesus.
GILL, "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
29

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 ‫,שש‬ "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 Rev_18:12.
JAMISON, "broidered ... sail — The ancients embroidered their sails often
at great expense, especially the Egyptians, whose linen, still preserved in
mummies, is of the finest texture.
Elishah — Greece; so called from Elis, a large and ancient division of
Peloponnesus. Pausanias says that the best of linen was produced in it, and
in no other part of Greece; called by Homer, Alisium.
that which covered thee — thy awning.
30

COKE, "Ezekiel 27:7. Isles of Elishah— Isles of Greece. It is remarkable that part
of Peloponnesus was named Elis among the Grecian writers. Gebal in the ninth
verse was a province of Phoenicia, near Tyre.
PULPIT, "For the fine linen of Egypt, the Byssus famous in its commerce, see
Genesis 41:42; Exodus 26:36. This, which took the place of the coarse canvas of the
common ships, was made more magnificent by being embroidered with purple or
crimson, with gold borders. The ship of Antony and Cleopatra had purple sails,
which, as they swelled out with the wind, served as a banner. The ancient ships had
no flags or pennons. So the Revised Version renders, of fine linen, was thy sail, that
it might be to thee for an ensign. The word for "sail" in the Authorized Version is
rendered" banner" in Psalms 60:4; Isaiah 13:2, and "ensign" in Isaiah 11:12. The
isles of Elishah. The name appears in Genesis 10:4 as one of the sons of Javan. It has
been identified, on the ground chiefly of similarity of sound, with Ells, Hellas, or
AEolia. Laconia has been suggested as being famous for the murex which supplied
the purple dye. The Targum gives Italy. Sicily also has been conjectured. The murex
is common all over the Mediterranean, but Cythera and Abydos are named as
having been specially famous for it. Probably, as in the case of "Chittim," the word
was used with considerable latitude. The latter clause of the verse describes the
awning over the deck of the queenly ship. Was Ezekiel describing what he had
actually seen in the state-ship of Tyro?
8
Men of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen;
your skilled men, Tyre, were aboard as your
sailors.
31

BARNES, "Arvad - See Gen_10:18. An island off the coast of Sidon, now
called Ruad.
CLARKE, "Zidon and Arvad - Or Arad. Two powerful cities on the
Phoenician coast, in the neighborhood of Tyre, from which Tyre had her
sailors; and the best instructed of her own inhabitants were her pilots or
steersmen.
GILL, "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, Gen_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.
32

HENRY, "These gallant ships were well-manned, by men of great
ingenuity and industry. The pilots and masters of the ships, that had
command in their fleets, were of their own city, such as they could put a
confidence in (Eze_27:8): Thy wise men, O Tyrus! that were in thee, were
thy pilots. But, for common sailors, they had men from other countries; The
inhabitants of Arvad and Zidon were thy mariners. These came from cities
hear them; Zidon was sister to Tyre, not two leagues off, to the northward;
there they bred able seamen, which it is the interest of the maritime powers
to support and give all the countenance they can to. They sent to Gebal in
Syria for calkers, or strengtheners of the clefts or chinks, to stop them when
the ships come home, after long voyages, to be repaired. To do this they had
the ancients and wise men (Eze_27:9); for there is more need of wisdom
and prudence to repair what has gone to decay than to build anew. In public
matters there is occasion for the ancients and wise men to be the repairers
of the breaches and the restorers of paths to dwell in. Nay, all the countries
they traded with were at their service, and were willing to send men into
their pay, to put their youths apprentice in Tyre, or to put them on board
their fleets; so that all the ships in the sea with their mariners were ready
to occupy thy merchandise. Those that give good wages shall have hands at
command.
JAMISON, "Arvad — a small island and city near Phoenicia, now Ruad: its
inhabitants are still noted for seafaring habits.
thy wise men, O Tyrus ... thy pilots — While the men of Arvad, once thy
equals (Gen_10:18), and the Sidonians, once thy superiors, were employed
by thee in subordinate positions as “mariners,” thou madest thine own
skilled men alone to be commanders and pilots. Implying the political and
mercantile superiority of Tyre.
PULPIT, "The two cities are named as tributaries of Tyro from which she
drew her sailors, the Tyrians themselves acting as captains and pilots. Zidon
(now Saida) is named in Genesis 10:15 as the firstborn of Canaan, and was
older than Tyre itself (Isaiah 23:2, Isaiah 23:12). Arvad is identified with the
Greek Aradus, the modern Ruad, an island about two miles from the coast,
about two miles north of the mouth of the river Eleutheros (Nahr-el-Kebir).
It is scarcely a mile in circumference, but was prominent enough to be
named here and in Genesis 10:18; 1 Chronicles 1:16. Opposite to it on the
mainland was the town of Antaradus. For mariners, the Revised Version
gives rowers.
33

9
Veteran craftsmen of Byblos were on board
as shipwrights to caulk your seams.
All the ships of the sea and their sailors
came alongside to trade for your wares.
BARNES, "Gebal - i. e., Byblos (modern Gebeil) in Phoenicia, the chief seat
of the worship of Adonis, and situated on an eminence over-looking the
river Adonis, north of Beirut, not far from the Mediterranean sea. The
“ancients” is a term for the council that presided over maritime cities.
CLARKE, "The ancients of Gebal - This was a city of Phoenicia, near
Mount Libanus, Jos_13:5. It was called Biblos by the Greeks.
Thy calkers - Those who repaired their vessels; paying, as it is termed,
pitched hemp into the seams, to prevent the water from oozing through.
To occupy thy merchandise - That is, to be thy agents or factors.
GILL, "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
34

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 Rev_18:19.
JAMISON, "Gebal — a Phoenician city and region between Beirut and
Tripolis, famed for skilled workmen (1Ki_5:18, Margin; Psa_83:7).
calkers — stoppers of chinks in a vessel: carrying on the metaphor as to
Tyre.
occupy thy merchandise — that is, to exchange merchandise with thee.
PULPIT, "The ancients of Gebal. The word is used in the sense of "elders"
or "senators," the governing body. Gebal, for which the LXX. gives Biblii, is
identified with the Greek Byblus. The name appears in Psalms 83:7 in
connection, among other nations, with Tyre and Asshur, as allied with them
against Israel; in Joshua 13:5 as near Lebanon and Hermon; in 1 Kings 5:18
(margin Revised Version) as among the stonemasons who worked with
Hiram's builders. Byblus was situated on an eminence overlooking the river
Adonis between Beirut and Tripoli. Its modern name, Gebail, retains the old
Semitic form, and its ruins abound in marble and granite columns of
Phoenician and Egyptian workmanship. The work of the caulkers was to
stop the chinks of the ship, and the men of Gebal appear to have been
especially skilful in this. We note that the metaphor of the ship falls into the
background in the latter clause of the verse, and does not appear again.
35

10
“‘Men of Persia, Lydia and Put
served as soldiers in your army.
They hung their shields and helmets on your
walls,
bringing you splendor.
BARNES, "The prophet here leaves the allegory of the ship to describe the
armies of the Tyrians composed of mercenary soldiers.
Eze_27:10
Persia - The name of this people does not occur in the more ancient books
of the Old Testament; but in the books of the exile and after the exile it is
frequent. This exactly corresponds with the record of history. It was just at
the time that Ezekiel wrote that the rude and warlike people of Persia were
rising into notice, soon about to seize, under Cyrus, the empire of the
Asiatic world.
Lud - See Gen_10:13. The union here of “Lud with Phut,” an undoubtedly
African tribe (compare Eze_30:5; Isa_66:19) seems to indicate Lud to be of
Hamitic race, not the Semitic race. Both names occur repeatedly on
Egyptian inscriptions, especially as supplying mercenary soldiers.
Phut - Libyans (see Gen_10:6).
CLARKE, "They of Persia - Lud, the Lydians; Phut, a people of Africa, see
36

Gen_10:6. From these places they had auxiliary troops; for as they traded
with the then known world, were rich, and could afford to give good pay,
they no doubt had soldiers and sailors from every part. Skilful and
desperate men will go any where after their price.
GILL, "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 Son_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.
HENRY 10-11, "Their city was guarded by a military force that was very
considerable, Eze_27:10, Eze_27:11. The Tyrians were themselves wholly
given to trade; but it was necessary that they should have a good army on
foot, and therefore they took those of other states into their pay, such as
were fittest for service, though they had them from afar (which perhaps was
their policy), from Persia, Lud, and Phut. These bore their arms when there
was occasion, and in time of peace hung up the shield and buckler in the
armoury, as it were to proclaim peace, and let the world know that they had
at present no need of them, but they were ready to be taken down whenever
there was occasion for them. Their walls were guarded by the man of
Arvad; their towers were garrisoned by the Gammadim, robust men, that
had a great deal of strength in their arms; yet the vulgar Latin renders it
pygmies, men no longer than one's arm. They hung their shields upon the
walls in their magazines or places of arms; or hung them out upon the walls
of the city, that none might dare to approach them, seeing how well
provided they were with all things necessary for their own defence. “Thus
they set forth thy comeliness (Eze_27:10), and made they beauty perfect,”
Eze_27:11. It contributed as much as any thing to the glory of Tyre that it
37

had those of all the surrounding nations in its service, except the land of
Israel (though it lay next them), which furnished them with timber, but we
do not find that it furnished them with men; that would have trenched upon
the liberty and dignity of the Jewish nation, 2Ch_2:17, 2Ch_2:18. It was also
the glory of Tyre that it had such a militia, so fit for service, and in constant
pay, and such an armoury, like that in the tower of David, where hung the
shields of mighty men, Son_4:4. It is observable that there and here the
armouries are said to be furnished with shields and helmets, defensive
arms, not with swords and spears, offensive, though it is probable that there
were such, to intimate that the military force of a people must be intended
only for their own protection and not to invade and annoy their neighbours,
to secure their own right, not to encroach upon the rights of others.
JAMISON, "Persia ... Phut — warriors from the extreme east and west.
Lud — the Lydians of Asia Minor, near the Meander, famed for archery
(Isa_66:19); rather than those of Ethiopia, as the Lydians of Asia Minor
form a kind of intermediate step between Persia and Phut (the Libyans
about Cyrene, shielded warriors, Jer_46:9, descended from Phut, son of
Ham).
hanged ... shield ... comeliness — Warriors hanged their accoutrements on
the walls for ornament. Divested of the metaphor, it means that it was an
honor to thee to have so many nations supplying thee with hired soldiers.
K&D, "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 ‫ים‬ ִ‫לוּד‬ (Gen_10:13), probably a general name for the
whole of the Moorish tribes, since ‫לוּד‬ (Eze_30:5) and ‫ים‬ ִ‫לוּד‬ (Jer_44:9) are
mentioned in connection with ‫פּוּט‬ as auxiliaries in the Egyptian army. There
is something striking in the reference to ‫ס‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ‫,פּ‬ 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,
38

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 ‫ס‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ‫.פּ‬ 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 ֵ‫יל‬ ֵ‫,ה‬ 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. ‫ים‬ ְ‫ד‬ ָ‫ַמּ‬‫גּ‬ (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.
COKE, "Ezekiel 27:10. Of Lud, and of Phut— Or, Of Ethopia, and of Mauritania,
or Africa. Houbigant renders the latter part of the verse, They hanged the shield
and the helmet upon thy walls, and added to thy comeliness. See the next verse.
PETT 10-11, "Verse 10-11
Tyre’s Mercenaries.
Tyre was wealthy and could pay for her own defence by hiring mercenaries from
distant places.
“Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war,
39

They hung the shield and helmet in you. They set forth your splendour.
The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls round about, and the
Gammadim were in your towers,
They hung their shields on your walls round about, they have perfected your
beauty.”
These were mercenaries from places as widespread as Persia, Lydia in Anatolia
(eastern Turkey) and Put in North Africa (part of Libya? - the Babylonian for
Libya is puta, and see Nahum 3:9), from Arvad to the north (see above) and from
Gamad, possibly the Kumidi of the Amarna letters between Byblos and Arvad.
‘With your army’ should possibly be repointed as Helech (Cilicia). These all
protected Tyre and contributed to her fearsomeness and splendour.
PULPIT, "Persia. The name does not meet us in any Old Testament book before the
exile, Elam taking its place. It was just about the time that Ezekiel wrote that the
Persians were becoming conspicuous through their alliance with the Modes. So we
find it again in Ezekiel 38:5; Daniel 5:28; Daniel 8:20; 2 Chronicles 36:20, 2
Chronicles 36:22; Ezra 1:1; Ezra 4:5; Esther 1:3. Here they are named as
mercenaries in the Tyrian army. Lud. The LXX. and the Vulgate, led by the
similarity of sound, give Lydians. In Genesis 10:13 the Ludim appear as
descendants of Mizraim, while Lud in Genesis 10:22 is joined with Elam and Asshur
as among the sons of Shem. Its combination with "Phut" (i.e. Libya) here and in
Jeremiah 46:9 is in favor of its referring to an African nation (comp. also Ezekiel
30:5; Isaiah 66:19). Phut. Both the LXX. and the Vulgate give Libyans. In Genesis
10:6 the name is joined with Cash and Mizraim. The Lubim (Libyans) are named as
forming part of Shishak's army in 2 Chronicles 12:3; 2 Chronicles 16:8, and in
Nahum 3:9 and Jeremiah 46:9 as closely allied with the Egyptians. Ezekiel names
Phut again as sharing in the fall of Tyre (Ezekiel 30:5), and as serving in the army of
Gog (Ezekiel 38:5). Mr. R. S. Peele is inclined to identify them with the Nubians.
40

11
Men of Arvad and Helek
guarded your walls on every side;
men of Gammad
were in your towers.
They hung their shields around your walls;
they brought your beauty to perfection.
BARNES, "Eze_27:11
Gammadims - Rendered by Septuagint “watchmen;” by others, “brave
warriors;” but more probably the name of some nation of which we have no
record. The custom of hanging shields upon the walls of a town by way of
ornament seems to have been of purely Phoenician origin, and thence
introduced by Solomon into Jerusalem 1Ki_10:16.
CLARKE, "The Gammadims were in thy towers - Some think these were a
people of Phoenicia; others, that tutelar images are meant; others, that the
word expresses strong men, Who acted as guards. The Vulgate reads
Pygmaei, the pygmies, who were fabled to be a little people of a cubit in
height, from ‫גמד‬ gomed. a cubit; and are told that this little people were
celebrated for their wars with the cranes; but nothing of this kind can enter
into this description. Probably a people inhabiting the promontories of
Phoenicia are here intended; and their hanging their shields upon the walls
41

is a proof that soldiers are meant, and persons of skill and prowess too.
GILL, "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.
JAMISON, "Gammadims — rather, as the Tyrians were Syro-Phoenicians,
from a Syriac root, meaning daring, “men of daring” [Ludovicus De Dieu].
It is not likely the keeping of watch “in the towers” would have been
entrusted to foreigners. Others take it from a Hebrew root, “a dagger,” or
short sword (Jdg_3:16), “short-swordsmen.”
COKE, "Ezekiel 27:11. Gammadims— Tutelar images. Spencer. Fuller supposes
these Gammadims to have been Phoenicians. The Hebrew word ‫גמדים‬ gammadim is
derived from ‫גמד‬ gamad, which signifies to be contracted, narrowed, &c. and
42

Parkhurst is of opinion that these people were the inhabitants of the country about
Tripoli in Syria, formerly called the Αγχων or Elbow of Phoenicia, from its being
narrowed, and projecting into the sea in that form. See Parkhurst on the word ‫גמד‬
gamad.
PULPIT. "(For Arvad, see Ezekiel 27:8.) Gammadim. The LXX. translates
"guards" ( φύλακες); the Vulgate, Pygmies, probably as connecting the name with
Gamad (equivalent to "a cubit"). The Targum gives "watchmen;" Gesenius,
"warriors:" Hitzig, "deserters." The name probably indicates that they were the
flower of the Tyrian army—the life-guards (like the "Immortals" of the Persians) of
the merchant-city. On the whole, we must leave the problem as one that we have no
data for solving. The grouping with Arvad, however, suggests a Syrian or
Phoenician tribe. They hanged their shields. The custom seems to have been
specially Phoenician. Solomon introduced it at Jerusalem (So Ezekiel 4:4). The sight
of the walls thus decorated, the shields being sometimes gilt or painted, must have
been sufficiently striking to warrant Ezekiel's phrase that thus the beauty of the city
was "made perfect" by it. The custom reappears in 1 Macc. 4:57.
12 “‘Tarshish did business with you because of
your great wealth of goods; they exchanged silver,
iron, tin and lead for your merchandise.
BARNES, "Eze_27:12
Tarshish - Tartessus in Spain (marginal references). Spain was rich in the
metals named.
Merchant - Especially applied to those who traveled about with caravans
to carry on trade (see Gen_23:16).
Fairs - Or, “wares” Eze_27:33. The word occurs only in this chapter. The
43

foreign merchants gave their wares in return for the products delivered to
them by Tyre.
CLARKE, "Tarshish was thy merchant - After having given an account of
the naval and military equipment of this city, he now speaks of the various
places and peoples with whom the Tyrians traded, and the different kinds of
merchandise imported from those places.
By Tarshish some understand the Carthaginians; some think Tartessus,
near the straits of Gibraltar, is meant; others, Tharsis in Cilicia. The place
was famous for all the useful metals, silver, iron, tin, and lead. All these they
might have had from Britain.
GILL, "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 ‫עזבוניך‬ 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.
HENRY 12-25, "They had a vast trade and a correspondence with all parts
of the known world. Some nations they dealt with in one commodity and
some in another, according as either its products or its manufactures were,
44

Ezekiel 27 commentary

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Ezekiel 27 commentary