Ezekiel 27:11

The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect. THE GAMMADIMS WERE IN THY TOWERS - rather, as the Tyrians were Syro-Phoenicians, from a Syriac root meaning daring, 'men of daring' (Ludovicus de Dieu). There was probably a root [gaamad], daring, akin to the Syriac. 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 danger,' or short sword such as Ehud used, with two edges and of a cubit length, in killing Eglon (Judges 3:16), 'short-swordsmen.' Thus, the name comes from [ gomed (H1574)] a cubit: or, in the former interpretation, an arm, 'men powerfu...

1-25 Those who live at ease are to be lamented, if they are not prepared for trouble. Let none reckon themselves beautified, any further than they are sanctified. The account of the trade of Tyre intimates, that God's eye is upon men when employed in worldly business. Not only when at church, praying and hearing, but when in markets and fairs, buying and selling. In all our dealings we should keep a conscience void of offence. God, as the common Father of mankind, makes one country abound in one commodity, and another in another, serviceable to the necessity or to the comfort and ornament of human life. See what a blessing trade and merchandise are to mankind, when followed in the fear of God. Besides necessaries, an abundance of things are made valuable only by custom; yet God allows us to use them. But when riches increase, men are apt to set their hearts upon them, and forget the Lord...

Verse Ezekiel 27:11. _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 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_ is a proof that _soldiers_ are meant, and persons of skill and prowess too....

The prophet here leaves the allegory of the ship to describe the armies of the Tyrians composed of mercenary soldiers. Ezekiel 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 Genesis 10:13. The union here of “Lud with Phut,” an undoubtedly African tribe (compare...

EXPOSITION 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 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 t

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 Isaiah 62:6, these were the men of the same place before mentioned, Ezekiel 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 the

Ezekiel 27:1. Ezekiel 27:1 give an interesting description of the world-wide commerce and glory of this proud world city. “Sic transit gloria mundi,” thus passeth the glory of the world! Of the proud and wicked mistress of the sea nothing but ruins remain and her very site is no longer known. What her past glory was is made known by the prophet, yet Ezekiel never had been to that city, nor did he have any knowledge of her grandeur, her great wealth and far reaching commerce. God revealed all unto him. The description of her great commerce reminds us of that coming world-system as described in the last book of the Bible, the Revelation. Babylon the Great will be both an ecclesiastical and commercial world center. Her commerce is just like the commerce of Tyrus...

EZEKIEL 27. THE DIRGE OVER TYRE. The interest of the brilliant poem that follows is greatly enhanced by the description of the commerce of Tyre in a passage (Ezekiel 27:9_ b_ - Ezekiel 27:25_ a_) remarkable alike for its textual difficulty and for its importance as a source for our knowledge of the trade of the ancient world. Tyre is compared to a gallant ship, of finished beauty, with equipments the finest and costliest, manned and piloted by the most skilful of sailors (Ezekiel 27:1). In Ezekiel 27:5, Senir = Herman. In Ezekiel 27:6, Kittim =

MEN. sons. Gammadims: or, valiant men....

_with thine army_ It is scarcely possible to render: _men of Arvad, they were_thine army. Some proper name seems required: the men of Arvad and of … Cornill conjectures Hethlon (Ezekiel 47:15; Ezekiel 48:1), others, Cilicia. _the Gammadims_ A proper name is certainly to be expected, but no place, Gammad, is known. Some have suggested "they of Gomer," but an adj. is not formed from Gomer; Corn., Zemarites, Genesis 10:18. Others take the word as an appellative: _brave warriors_....