Ezekiel 27:12 - Exposition

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 Ezekiel 27:14 , Ezekiel 27:16 , Ezekiel 27:19 , Ezekiel 27:22 , Ezekiel 27:23 , 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.