Ezekiel 27:6

Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. OF THE OAKS OF BASHAN HAVE THEY MADE THINE OARS. Bashan was celebrated for its oaks, as Lebanon was for its cedars. THE COMPANY OF THE ASHURITES HAVE MADE THY BENCHES OF IVORY - the most skill 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 beat boxwood [ bat (H1323) 'ashuriym (H839)]. Fairbairn, with the Chaldee, and one of DeRossi's manuscripts and Bochart, reads the Hebrew two words as one [bitª'ashuwriym, the plural of tª'ashuwr ...

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 27:6. _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....

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 Genesis 10:5, and there ivory may have been brought from the coasts of North Africa....

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

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 Isaiah 2:13. The country of Judea in general was famous for oaks; it abounded with them in the times of Homer t, who speaks of Typho being buried in a country abounding with oaks, among the rich or fat people of Judea; and he seems to design Bashan particularly, of which Og was king, whom he calls Typho, and of whose bed he makes mention in the same place; hence several places in Judea had their names from the oaks which grew, there, as Elonmoreh, Allonbachuth, Elonmeonenim, Elontabor, and Elonbethhanan, Genesis 12:6 and which one would have thought were fitter to make t

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 COMPANY OF THE ASHURITES, &c.. a daughter (or branch) of the Ashurites, &c. Ginsburg thinks this clause should read, "they have made thy benches with ivory [and] box. wood (or cypress)"; reading _bith'ashshurim_ instead of _bath-'aehshurim_ (=. daughter, or branch of the Ashurites), dividing and pointing the words differently. See note on Ezekiel 31:3. and compare Isaiah 41:19; Isaiah 60:13. CHITTIM. Probably Cyprus....

The oars of the great ship were made of oaks of Bashan; cf. Isaiah 2:13; Zechariah 11:2. The term "oars" occurs in another form, Ezekiel 27:27, but probably with no difference of meaning. The rest of Ezekiel 27:6 should read: THY DECK THEY MADE OF IVORY (inlaid) IN SHERBIN WOOD FROM THE ISLES OF CHITTIM (the words bath teasshur should no doubt be read _bitheasshur_, in theasshur). This tree is mentioned as growing in Lebanon, Isaiah 41:19; Isaiah 60:13; it