Ezek. 27 The riches and large commerce of Tyre, Ezek. 27:1–25. Her great and irrecoverable fall, Ezek. 27:26–36.

Pen a mournful narrative of Tyre’s fall, tell the world what she was, and what she is come to; both city and citizens too.

Personate Tyre as near thee, and hearing what thou sayest unto or of her; describe her, that she may know thou speakest to her. That art situate; that dwellest, so the Hebrew. The entry, Heb.

Weak borders, which an enemy easily breaks through, are a great defect in a state; well, Tyre, thou art well secured here, thine are in the sea that surrounds and secureth thee.

They; thy shipwrights. Ship-boards; the planks, and benches, or transoms, for their ships. Of fir trees; of the best and finest fir trees of Senir, i.e. Hermen, Deut. 3:9.

Oaks; of pines, say some; of chesnut-trees, say others: but, since oaks, and those of Bashan, are famous in sacred dendrology, I know not why we should not keep to our own version, since the primary notation of the Hebrew leads us to it.

Fine linen; whereas thrift teaches us to use the coarse linen for like purposes, these prodigal Tyrians used the finest silken sails, as we may render the words.

Zidon; an ancient town and haven of Phoenicia, not far from Tyre. Arvad; better known by its other name Aradus, an island belonging to Phoenicia, some say twenty, others say seven, furlongs from the continent.

The ancients; old experienced workmen. Of Gebal; a town of Phoenicia near the sea, one of the four principal towns, to which belonged a jurisdiction over a fourth part of Phoenicia, mentioned Ps. 83:7, among the conspirators against Israel and the Giblites, 1 Kings 5:18.

They of Persia; Persians, excellent archers. Of Lud; Lydians; not those Croesus was king over, but those that dwelt in Egypt about the lake Marcotis, or higher towards Ethiopia, if they were not of that country, Ethiopians themselves.

Arvad: see Ezek. 27:8. With thine army; mixed with other hired soldiers, made up these military forces. Upon thy walls round about; kept guard upon the walls. The Gammadims; some say pigmies or dwarfs, because the Hebrew word is a cubit; but the whole story of such cubit-men is fabulous.

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…

Javan; the Grecians, particularly the Ionians. Tubal; the Asiatic Iberians, &c. the Albanians toward the Caspian Sea. Meshech; the Cappadocians, with the Moschi, who dwelt about Cholcis, the country now called Mingrelia.

Of the house; of the country. Togarmah; Armenia the Lesser, or Phrygia, Galatia, or Cappadocia, or Paphlagonia; all which countries, as they are neighbours to each other, so they abounded in horses; and as they had many for number, so they had good for quality, and furnished their neighbours; it is…

Dedan: see Ezek. 25:13. This Dedan was in Arabia, built by Dedan the son of Regina, not far from the Persian Gulf, and now called Daden, whence through the Red Sea they might convey their own merchandise. Many isles, in the Indian Seas and in the Red Sea, traded with thee.

The multitude of the wares of thy making; the abundance of the Tyrian manufacture for all uses, which the Syrians could have no where else. With emeralds; rather, for emeralds, a rich and lovely stone; or carbuncles, as others have it. Purple, or violet-coloured, clothes. Broidered work: see Ezek.

Judah; the two tribes, or kingdom of Judah. The land of Israel; the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes until their dispersion. Minnith; the name of some rich and excellent wheat country; it is mentioned in Judg.

Damascus; a very ancient and wealthy city of Syria, and the royal city. The wares of thy making; see the phrase Ezek. 27:16. For the multitude of all riches: though the Tyrians had many rich and lovely commodities, yet it pleased the Damascenes to bring chiefly two of their commodities in exchange,…

If it were the tribe of Dan, it must be understood of a time before the captivity of the ten tribes; but there is a learned man tells us of Dana a city of Taprobana, or the island Zeilan mentioned by Ptolemy, and this learned man will have this meant.

Dedan, the posterity of Abraham by Keturah, who dwelt in Arabia, and were sheep-masters, and no doubt knew how to snake fine clothes of their wool. Precious clothes, with which they lined their chariots, and covered them; also they used them for saddle-cloths, &c.

Arabia; a large country, and distinguished into Desert, or sandy, which cannot keep au honest man, but affords thieves enough; next the Stony, or Petraea, which afforded good pasturage for sheep and goats; and the third Felix, or happy, most remote from Tyre.

Sheba; a country in Arabia Felix, whence the queen came that visited Solomon. Raamah; it is read Rhegma by change of v into G, as in Gomorrah, another people of the same Arabia. This Rhegma, brother to Sheba, settled near him in that fruitful land, and built towns there, and grew to fame.

Haran; Haran or Charran in Mesopotamia, where Abraham dwelt. Canneh; no where else mentioned, supposed to be the same with Calneh, Gen. 10:10, afterwards Ctesiphon, a pleasant city on Tigris, some three miles from Seleucia.

These, either last named, or all that have been mentioned, though I conjecture the first is the true meaning, those rich, stately, and sumptuous nations traded with Tyre. All sorts of things, of rich, precious things.

Ships of Tarshish; the ships from all parts of the sea, which came to thee, and traded with thee, praised thee, boasted of thee. Did sing of thee; had their songs of praise, which were made to commend thy state.

Thy rowers, governors and counsellors, have brought thee, unadvisedly, into great waters, dangers and difficulties, in which thou art like to be shipwrecked, in which thou wilt perish.

Thy riches; not the vast treasures of the public, nor the great wealth of private citizens, shall purchase Tyre a continued prosperity. Thy fairs; these shall be interrupted by the siege, and none that frequented them shall prevail for access to them.

The lesser cities on terra firma shall be alarmed with summons of their governors to put themselves in a posture of defence. Or, the waves, an elegant hyperbole, thus read; The very waves, which roar and terrify, shall hear and tremble at a stranger and more doleful cry than their own.

In the allegory of a miserable shipwreck, the prophet sets forth Tyre’s fall, and in this verse he represents them all shifting out of the shattered sinking ship, in great confusion, and greater fear; the slaves quit the oars, the mariners throw up the tacklings, pilots leave the helm, all make for…

Shall cause their voice to be heard; with greatest cries they shall make the country echo forth their sorrows. Against thee; either standing on higher ground over against the shipwrecked city; or rather, for thee, those Eastern people did use to lift up their voice in mourning, Job 2:12, Jer.

It was the custom of the heathen, to either pull off with their hands, or cut off, the hair of their heads in great mournings, which God forbade to his people, Lev. 21:5, Deut. 14:1. Thus do Tyre’s mourners in baldness express their sorrow and despair.

In their wailing; in their sorrowful speeches of Tyre. Shall take up into their mouths, or with a composed, significant, and comprehensive form of speech, to show much grief in few words.

Thy wares, brought home from all coasts. Went forth out of the seas; were landed, brought on shore for the mart. Thou filledst; there was enough to supply to the full.

In the time; so soon as, or ever after the unhappy day. Broken; shattered to pieces. The seas; the powers of the Babylonians, that, like seas, shall swell, roar, and break in upon thee. In the depths of the waters; in the deepest afflictions, and by sorest oppressions and violence.

The isles; strictly and in a larger sense the seacoasts. Astonished; wondering it ever should be effected that Tyre should fall. Sore afraid: knowing how they are much less able to resist and defend themselves, and not knowing where that mighty conqueror would next try his arms and fortune.

Hiss: this usually is an expression of scorn and contempt poured forth on the person hissed at; if thus understood, the meaning is, there should be some among Tyre’s customers that would rejoice at her fall, and flout at her, either perhaps wronged by her in their trade, Ezek.