Ezekiel 27:14 Komentář

Still we are attending the funeral of Tyre and the lamentations made for the fall of that renowned city. In this chapter we have, I. A large account of the dignity, wealth, and splendour of Tyre, while it was in its strength, the vast trade it drove, and the interest it had among the nations (v. 1-25), which is designed to make its ruin the more lamentable. II. A prediction of its fall and ruin, and the confusion and consternation which all its neighbours shall thereby be put into (Eze 27:26-36). And this is intended to stain the pride of all worldly glory, and, by setting the one over-against the other, to let us see the vanity and uncertainty of the riches, honours, and pleasures of the world, and what little reason we have to place our happiness in them or to be confident of the continuance of them; so that all this is written for our learning.

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 27 This chapter contains a lamentation on Tyre; setting forth her former grandeur, riches, and commerce; her ruin and destruction; and the concern of others on that account. The prophet is bid to take up his lamentation concerning it, Eze 27:1, observing her situation and magnificence, of which she boasted, Eze 27:3, describing the excellency of her shipping and naval stores, Eze 27:5, declaring who were her mariners, pilots, and caulkers, Eze 27:8, her military men, Eze 27:10 her several merchants, and the things they traded in with her in her fairs and markets, Eze 27:12, then follows an account of her destruction, Eze 27:26, the lamentation of pilots and mariners because of it, Eze 27:28, and of the kings and inhabitants of the isles, and merchants of the people, Eze 27:33.

The men of Dedan were thy merchants,.... Not Dedan in Idumea or Edom, but in Arabia, from Dedan the son of Raamah, Gen 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 Ch2 9:21, but Ben Melech much better interprets it of a tree, called in Arabia "ebenus". Solinus makes it peculiar to India (d); and so Virgil (e). (d) Polyhistor. c. 65. (e) "----Sola India nigrum fert ebenum.----" Virgil. Georgic. 1. 2.

(Vers. 13, 14.) Greece, Tubal, and Meshech themselves brought slaves and bronze vessels to your people. From the house of Togarmah they brought horses and horsemen, and mules to your market. Also, Greece and its surroundings, your merchants brought souls of men and bronze vessels to your market. From the house of Togarmah, they brought horses, horsemen, and mules to your trading post. Jones says that the Hebrews called Javan, and Tubal, that is, the Eastern Iberians, or those from the Western part of Hispania, who are called by this name from the river Iberus, and Meshech, whom we understand to be the Cappadocians, of which their metropolis, which later was named Caesarea by Augustus Caesar, is still called in their language Mazaca. They made valuable trade for Tyre, bringing slaves and bronze vessels from Corinth to Tyre, and horses, horsemen, and mules from the house of Togarmah, that is, from Phrygia, which once had a great abundance of those. The Hebrews say that Greece, that is, Javan, means both 'is' and 'is not', which properly refers to secular wisdom. If they find something right, they call it 'is'; if they find it to be in the opposite direction, they call it 'is not'. They discuss many things themselves about the blessings of nature and about duties, self-control, and the despising of riches, which the Stoics properly claim for themselves. And they seem to make the souls of the people whom they deceive profitable. They have bronze vessels, which they present to the people of Tyre, that they may supplant them with the opinion of false teaching. Also, from the house of Thogorma, which means stranger and foreigner, horses will be brought to the market and fair, and both horsemen and mules, of which it is written: A deceitful horse for safety (Ps. 32:17). And in another place: All who mount horses have slumbered (Ps. 76:7). And in the Psalms: Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding (Ps. 32:9). Therefore, Doeg the accuser and slayer of the priests was the chief of many (2 Sam. 22), and these are from the house of foreigners and strangers, who do not eat the flesh of lambs, of which it is written: A stranger and a hired servant shall not eat of it (Exod. 12:43); so that all the markets of Tyre may be filled with these goods. Your sons, O Dadan, are your merchants. For some, interpreting the Seventy, have translated the sons of the Rhodians as, perhaps, by a similarity of the first letters, instead of Dadan, they read Radan, which is itself the largest of the Cyclades, and once was a most powerful city in the Ionian Sea, glorious in naval warfare, and the safest harbor for all merchants. And because the Rhodians are turned into our language, it is now said tropologically of those who perceive the truth of judgment but do not do it, as the apostle said: Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are that judges. For in judging another, you condemn yourself. For you do the same things that you judge (Rom. II, 1). But it is better to give the name of Dadan to another place, as it is in Hebrew and among other interpreters.

This chapter may be considered as the second part of the prophecy concerning Tyre. The prophet pursues his subject in the manner of those ancient lamentations or funeral songs, in which the praeficiae or mourning women first recounted whatever was great or praiseworthy in the deceased, and then mourned his fall. Here the riches, glory, and extensive commerce of Tyre are enlarged upon, vv. 1-25. Her downfall is then described in a beautiful allegory, executed in a few words, with astonishing brevity, propriety, and perspicuity, Eze 27:26; upon which all the maritime and commercial world are represented as grieved and astonished at her fate, and greatly alarmed for their own, Eze 27:27-36. Besides the view which this chapter gives of the conduct of Providence, and the example with which it furnishes the critic and men of taste of a very elegant and highly finished piece of composition, it likewise affords the antiquary a very curious and interesting account of the wealth and commerce of ancient times. And to the mind that looks for "a city that hath foundations," what a picture does the whole present of the mutability and inanity of all earthly things! Many of the places mentioned in ancient history have, like Tyre, long ago lost their political consequence; the geographical situation of others cannot be traced; they have sunk in the deep waters of oblivion; the east wind hath carried them away.

Togarmah - The Sarmatians. Some think Cappadocia. With these they dealt in horses, mules, and horsemen; or probably draught horses and war horses are intended.

TYRE'S FORMER GREATNESS, SUGGESTING A LAMENTATION OVER HER SAD DOWNFALL. (Eze. 27:1-36) lamentation--a funeral dirge, eulogizing her great attributes, to make the contrast the greater between her former and her latter state.

Togarmah--Armenia: descended from Gomer (Gen 10:3). Their mountainous region south of the Caucasus was celebrated for horses. horsemen--rather, "riding-horses," as distinct from "horses" for chariots [FAIRBAIRN].