Ezekiel 27:9

The ancients 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 occupy thy merchandise. THE ANCIENTS OF GEBAL - a Phoenician city and region between Beirut and Tripolis, famed for skilled workmen (margin, , 'the Giblites;' ). WERE IN THEE THY CALKERS - stoppers of chinks in a vessel: carrying on the metaphor as to Tyre. ALL THE SHIPS OF THE SEA WITH THEIR MARINERS WERE IN THEE TO OCCUPY THY MERCHANDISE - i:e., to exchange merchandise with thee....

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 27:9. _THE ANCIENTS OF GEBAL_] This was a city of Phoenicia, near Mount Libanus, Joshua 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_....

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....

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 ANCIENTS OF GEBAL,.... A promontory of the Phoenicians, the same with the Gabale of Pliny n, and with the land of the Giblites, Joshua 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...

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 =

ANCIENTS. elders. GEBAL. Now Jebeil, on the coast between Beirut and Tripolis. OCCUPY. barter, or trade....

_ancients of Gebal_ The ELDERS, a title of honour or office, the magistrates. Probably also the "wise men thereof" is a semi-official title (cf. Ezekiel 27:8). The power of Tyre was exerted over all her dependencies (Ezekiel 26:17), in which men of the highest position entered all ranks of her service. Gebal (the classical Byblos, now Jubeil) is situated not far from the river Adonis (Ibrahim) somewhat over 20 miles N. of Beirut (Jos 13:5; 1 Kings 5:18, R.V.). The town was devoted to the worship of Beltis (Astarte) and Adonis, cf. on ch. Ezekiel 8:14. The name appears in the Assyrian inscriptions, Del., _Parad_. p. 283....