Ezekiel 27:24

These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. THESE WERE THY MERCHANTS IN ALL SORTS OF THINGS - Hebrew, 'perfections;' exquisite articles of finery (Grotius). BLUE CLOTHES - rather, 'dark purple mantle,' or 'cloaks;' literally, wrappings [ gªlowmiym (H1545)]. For "blue" the Hebrew is hyacinth-coloured; not our hyacinth, but a spring violet of a dark purple colour. IN CHESTS OF RICH APPAREL, BOUND WITH CORDS - rather, treasures or repositories of 'damask stuffs, consisting of variegated threads woven together in figures' (Henderson). MADE OF CEDAR - the "chests" were made of cedar, in order to last the longer; and also it keeps off decay, and has a...

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 27:24. _THESE_ WERE _THY MERCHANTS IN ALL SORTS_ OF THINGS] The above people traded with the Tyrians in a great variety of the most valuable merchandise: _blue_ or _purple cloth, boxes of cedar,_ _covered with skins, and bound with silken cords, and sealed with_ _an engraved seal, finely cut, c_. See the _Chaldee_....

The thread broken at Ezekiel 27:8 is taken up, and the various nations are enumerated which traded with Tyre. Ezekiel 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 Genesis 23:16). FAIRS - Or, “wares” Ezekiel 27:33. The word occurs only in this chapter. The foreign merchants gave their wares in return for the products delivered to them

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

THESE WERE THY MERCHANTS IN ALL SORTS OF THINGS,.... Either all before mentioned throughout the chapter, or rather those only in the preceding verse; also these were merchants in various things after mentioned, and which were the best and most perfect of the kind, as the word d used signifies: IN BLUE CLOTHS, AND BROIDERED WORK; these the Assyrians took of them, a colour in which they much delighted; see Ezekiel 23:6: AND IN CHESTS OF RICH APPAREL BOUND WITH CORDS, AND MADE OF CEDAR, AMONG THY MERCHANDISE; rich apparel, such as scarlet cloaks, as the Targum, and blue cloths as before; these were well packed up in chests made of "cedar", which they had from Lebanon, and so fit to be put on board a ship, and carried into any part of the world. The Targum adds, "and sealed with a signet;'' as things well packed up and bound someti

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 =

The market of Tyre Several things are to be observed in this passage: 1. The representation is not that Tyre is traded with by the nations, though this is the fact lying under the figures employed. The nations are not customers of Tyre. Tyre neither buys nor sells, nor does she exchange one article for another. The nations are _her_merchants, who bring to her wares from every land; or they are her dependents, and the merchandise which they bring is a tribute which they render her (Ezekiel 27:15). They are her subjects, ministering to her luxury, bringing wares to her, and enriching her. The counterpart to this idea is that she enriches many peoples by bestowing her wealth upon them (Ezekiel 27:33). 2. The passage is artistic. Two words are employed for "to trade," "to be a merchant." The words have

II. THE LAMENTATION OVER TYRE 27:1-36 Chapter 27 consists of an allegorical dirge song artistically interrupted by a prose section. Tyre is pictured as a beautiful ship superbly fitted out and manned by a skilled crew (Ezekiel 27:3-11). In the prose section the ship is said to stop at various ports to collect her cargo (Ezekiel 27:12-25 a). The ship becomes so laden with merchandise that she sinks into the depths of a stormy sea (Ezekiel 27:25 b - Ezekiel 27:36). This exquisite composition stresses the abiding truth that worldly wealth is transitory and ultimately self-defeating to those who worship it....