Ezekiel 27:12

27:1-25 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, who gives power to get wealth.

Ezekiel 27:12-15 . Tarshish was thy merchant — Trafficked with thee. Of Tarshish, see note on Isaiah 2:16 ; Isaiah 23:1 . Javan, Tubal, and Meshech — By Javan is to be understood Greece, in which sense Alexander is styled king of Javan, or Greece, Daniel 8:21 . So the LXX. translate it here, and in that place of Daniel. And all Greece, except Peloponnesus, was anciently called Ionia. Tubal and Meshech are names usually joined together in Scripture. Two of Japhet’s sons are so called, Genesis 10:2 . Bochart and Bishop Newcome, with others, suppose them to be the people afterward called Tibareni and Moschi, who are generally mentioned together, and were situated near the Euxine sea. They traded the persons of men — In buying and selling slaves in the markets. Bochart observes, that Pontus, to which the Tibareni extended themselves, was remarkable for slaves, and that the Grecian slaves were the most valuable of any. And vessels of brass in thy market — The Hebrew word נחשׁת here, generally translated brass, likewise signifies steel, and is so rendered by our interpreters, Psalm 18:34 . And we may very well understand it so here; for the Chalybes, a people so called from their steel manufactures, lived in the neighbourhood of the Tibareni and Moschi, for which reason steel is called the northern iron, Jeremiah 15:12 . By Togarmah, Bochart supposes Cappadocia is meant.

Michaelis, however, prefers Armenia, which abounded in horses, and among the inhabitants of which a tradition prevailed, that they were descended from Thorgom. By Dedan, the above-mentioned critics, with Bishop Newcome, understand a city in the Persian gulf, now called Daden. To this place the inhabitants of the eastern isles, or seacoasts, brought their wares. Many isles were, or rather, had, the merchandise of thy hand — That is, many isles took thy manufactures, or bought commodities of thee; and, by way of return for them, brought thee in ivory, and other rarities from India, whither they traded. They brought these by way of present, says our translation; but it was rather by way of price, or return, for the commodities exported, and so it is rendered in some versions.

(12) Traded in thy fairs. —Tarshish, Tartessus in Spain, was famous in antiquity for the metals enumerated, especially silver. The word for “fairs” occurs only in this chapter ( Ezekiel 27:14 ; Ezekiel 27:16 ; Ezekiel 27:19 ; Ezekiel 27:22 ; Ezekiel 27:33 ). In the last case it is translated wares, as it should be throughout. The idea of the word is “something left with another in place of something else given in exchange,” in accordance with the habits of ancient commerce, which consisted chiefly in barter. Translate the clause, exchanged for thy wares. Ezekiel 27:12-23 give a general survey of the nations with whom the Tyrians were connected in commerce, omitting those already mentioned in the previous section. To avoid monotony, the prophet also constantly alternates in the use of synonymous words.

Verse 12. - Tarahish . The description of the city is followed by a catalogue raisonnee of the countries with which she traded. Here we are on more certain ground, there being a general consensus that Tarshish, the Greek Tartessus, indicates the coast of Spain, which was pre-eminent in the ancient world for the metals named ( Jeremiah 10:9 ). The ships of Tarshish ( 1 Kings 22:48 ; Isaiah 2:16 ) were the larger merchant-vessels that were made for this distant traffic. Like all such names, it was probably used with considerable latitude, and it is worth noting that both the LXX. and the Vulgate give Carthaginians . Probably the chief Phoenician colonies in Spain, notably, of course, Carthago Nova, were offshoots from Carthage, in which, by the way, we trace the old Hebrew Kirjath (equivalent to "city"). Traded in thy fairs ; better, with the Revised Version, traded for thy wares ; i.e. they bartered their mineral treasures for the goods brought by the Tyrian merchants. The same Hebrew word appears in Vers. 14, 16, 19, 22, 23, but is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament, and may have been a technical word in Tyrian commerce. The LXX. gives ἀγορά ; the Vulgate, nundinae , which seems to have suggested the Revised Version. Ezekiel 27:12

12 . The name Tarshish (Tartessus) was given to the district of country lying outside the Straits of Gibraltar on the lower Baetis, the Guadalquiver (Wadi el Kebîr, great river). with silver … in thy fairs ] Rather apparently: silver … they brought as thy wares. There is no evidence that the word means “fairs;” in Ezekiel 27:27; Ezekiel 27:34 the things so named fall into the waters of the sea. The representation is that all things brought to Tyre were hers, the nations offered them to her as tribute ( Ezekiel 27:15 ). Spain was famous for the metals mentioned; cf. for silver, Jeremiah 10:9 . Probably Tarshish served as an entrepôt for such products found further north, as in the Cassiterides (Scilly Islands) and Cornwall. 12–25 . 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 little difference of sense and are generally used alternately, e.g. one word in Ezekiel 27:12; Ezekiel 27:15-16; Ezekiel 27:18; Ezekiel 27:21 , the other in Ezekiel 27:13; Ezekiel 27:15; Ezekiel 27:17; Ezekiel 27:20; Ezekiel 27:22 seq . Two words also are used in the sense of wares or goods, though hardly differing in meaning. These also are used alternately so as to diversify the phraseology, e.g. the one in Ezekiel 27:12; Ezekiel 27:14; Ezekiel 27:16; Ezekiel 27:18; Ezekiel 27:22 , the other in Ezekiel 27:13 (15), 17, 19, with other variants of the same sense. Gesen. attributed various senses to these words, as: 1, traffic, trading, 2, fair, market-place, and 3, gain, wealth. The words do not appear to differ in meaning, and neither of the two probably has any other sense than the general one of wares. 3. Again, the language is diversified by the adoption of a variety of constructions. The word “give,” which receives an extraordinary extension of usage in Ez. and in later Heb. in general (cf. its use in the Apocalypse), is employed in the sense of put, bring, render, &c. That it ever means to “sell” (Ges.) is without evidence. The various constructions employed are seen in Ezekiel 27:12; Ezekiel 27:22 (acc. and prep. b , cf Ezekiel 27:13; Ezekiel 27:17 ); in Ezekiel 27:16; Ezekiel 27:18 (double prep. b ), and in Ezekiel 27:14 (double accus.).

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 by Tyre.

Tarshish; the city or country for the inhabitants; some say Carthaginians, others Tarsus in Cilicia; others with more probability say it is Tartessus, an ancient town on the mouth of the river Baetis; or rather, over against it, in an island, (where Gades, now Cadiz,) a convenient port to export the rich metals that were brought down the Baetis from the country abounding with them, and through which their Baetis ran, and the inhabitants of this Tartessus furnished the Tyrians with them. Spain was full of silver and iron; these were the product of the country. Tin; it is probable they fetched this from some islands over against the own country is most noted for tin and lead, which some say was fetched by the Phoenicians; if so, for aught I see to the contrary, the Tartessians, who were a people before ever the Tyrians came into those parts, might first trade here, and fetch it hence, and carry it to Tyre, the voyage being neither long or dangerous enough between that island and our Cornwall, to render the thing difficult or the conjecture improbable.

12. Tarshish—Tartessus in Spain, a country famed for various metals, which were exported to Tyre. Much of the "tin" probably was conveyed by the Phœnicians from Cornwall to Tarshish. traded in thy fairs—"did barter with thee" [Fairbairn]; from a root, "to leave," something left in barter for something else.