Fir trees of Senir - Senir is a mountain which the Sidonians called Sirion, and the Hebrews Hermon, Deuteronomy 3:9 . It was beyond Jordan, and extended from Libanus to the mountains of Gilead. read more
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. read more
Fine linen - שש shesh , cotton cloth. In this sense the word is generally to be understood. To be thy sail - Probably the flag - ensign or pennant, is meant. Blue and purple from the isles of Elishah - Elis, a part of the Peloponnesus. read more
The beauty, glory, and replenishment of the city of Tyre. This portion of Ezekiel's writings evinces a very remarkable acquaintance with the geography and the economics of the then known world. Perhaps the prophet, living in the heart of a great Oriental monarchy, and in intercourse not only with his countrymen, but with men of various nationalities, may have acquired something more of a cosmopolitan habit of mind than was common among the Jews. Certain it is that the commercial relations... read more
Wreck of a stately ship. There is a striking resemblance between a gallant ship and an empire. Many persons and orders are united in a state under one governor or captain. There is a unity amid diversity. A state, like a ship, has interchange of interests with other nations. Upon the skill and prudence of the pilot depends the prosperity of empire or ship. The whole life of Tyre was poured into the channel of commerce. Hence the figure would be readily appreciated. I. THE COMPONENT ... read more
A celebration of remarkable prosperity. "The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus," etc. "We have here," says Hengstenberg," the lamentation over the fall of Tyre, announced in the foregoing chapter. First, its present glory is presented at full length to the view ( Ezekiel 27:1-25 ); then its fall, the importance of which can only be understood from the knowledge of its glory. We must profoundly know the gloria mundi if we... read more
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... read more
A lamentation for Tyre. In the previous chapter the prophet denounced judgment on Tyre; in this chapter he utters a lamentation over the doomed city. The one is in the spirit of vengeance, the other in the spirit of sympathy. The prophet thus reveals to us two elements in the Divine treatment of sin—first the wrath that punishes, then the tenderness that commiserates. I. TYRE IS IN A LAMENTABLE CONDITION . At present she is wealthy and prosperous. But the prophet looks into... read more
We begin with the picture of the city, situate at the entry (Hebrew, entries ) , or harbors of the sea. Of these Tyre had two—the northern, known as the Sidonian; the southern, as the Egyptian. There she dwelt, a merchant of the peoples , that came, in the wider sense of the word (see Ezekiel 26:15 ), from the isles of the Mediterranean. I am perfect in beauty. The boast here put into the mouth of the city appears afterwards as the utterance of its ruler, or as applied to him ( ... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 27:4
Thy builders have perfected thy beauty - Under the allegory of a beautiful ship, the prophet, here and in the following verses, paints the glory of this ancient city. Horace describes the commonwealth of Rome by the same allegory, and is as minute in his description, Carm. lib. 1. Od. xiv: - O navis, referent in mare te novi Fluctus? O quid agis? Fortiter occupa Portum. Nonne video, ut Nudum remigio latus, Et malus celeri saucius Africo, Antennaeque gemant? ac sine funibus ... read more