Verse 15
The men of Dedan were thy merchants ,.... Not Dedan in Idumea or Edom, but in Arabia, from Dedan the son of Raamah, Genesis 10:7 ,
many isles were the merchandise of thine hands ; that is, many isles took off their manufactures from them, in lieu of what they brought them, which were as follow:
they brought thee for a present ; that they might have the liberty of trading in their fairs and markets; or rather for a reward, or as a price, for the goods they had of them:
horns of ivory and ebony ; Kimchi reads them as separate things; and which the Targum confirms, "horns, ivory, and ebony"; elks' horns, or horns of goats, as the Targum; and "ivory", or the teeth of elephants; and "ebony", which is a wood of a very black colour, hard and heavy, and of which many things are made. The Targum takes it for the name of a fowl, and renders it peacocks; so Jarchi; see 2 Chronicles 9:21 , but Ben Melech much better interprets it of a tree, called in Arabia "ebenus". Solinus makes it peculiar to India F4 Polyhistor. c. 65. ; and so Virgil F5 "----Sola India nigrum fert ebenum.----" Virgil. Georgic. 1. 2. .
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