*H Thou therefore, O son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre:
Ver. 2. Lamentation. Such canticles were usual, and very poetical.
*H And say to Tyre that dwelleth at the entry of the sea, being the mart of the people for many islands: Thus saith the Lord God: O Tyre, thou hast said: I am of perfect beauty,
Ver. 3. Entry, whence merchants may proceed from an excellent harbour to any place.
*H And situate in the heart of the sea. Thy neighbours, that built thee, have perfected thy beauty:
Ver. 4. Neighbours of Sidon. Jos. xix. 29. C. — Sept. "thy children." Prot. "thy builders." H. — The description of the Tyrian grandeur, shews their more woeful ruin. W.
*H With fir trees of Sanir they have built thee with all sea planks: they have taken cedars from Libanus to make thee masts.
Ver. 5. Thee. Heb. "all thy ship-boards." Sept. Prot. H. — S. Jerom has divided (C.) leuthim, "decks of the sea," as yam denotes the sea. H.
*H They have cut thy oars out of the oaks of Basan: and they have made thee benches of Indian ivory and cabins with things brought from the islands of Italy.
Ver. 6. Benches. Sept. "temples." — Italy. Heb. Cetim. Macedonia. Boch. C. — All distant places were styled islands, (H.) when they went by water to them.
*H Fine broidered linen from Egypt was woven for thy sail, to be spread on thy mast: blue and purple from the islands of Elisa, were made thy covering.
Ver. 7. Linen. Cotton, (Ex. xxv. 4.) used for standards. Sept. "for bed coverlets," or for sails. — Mast. Cleopatra and Caligula were still more sumptuous in their sails. — Elisa, or Elis, famous for purple: yet Tyre was more so.
*H The inhabitants of Sidon, and the Arabians were thy rowers: thy wise men, O Tyre, were thy pilots.
Ver. 8. Aradians. Sidon and Arad were then subject to Tyre, and supplied rowers. — Pilots. They studied no other science.
*H The ancients of Gebal, and the wise men thereof furnished mariners for the service of thy various furniture: all the ships of the sea, and their mariners were thy factors.
Ver. 9. Gebal. Sept. "Biblos," which is the same. 3 K. v. 18. — Furnished. Heb. "were in thee to repair thy breaches." Sept. "strengthened thy designs."
*H The Persians, and Lydians, and the Libyans were thy soldiers in thy army: they hung up the buckler and the helmet in thee for thy ornament.
Ver. 10. Lybians. Heb. "Phut." They had been expelled by the Cyreneans. Tyre had in her pay the most warlike nations of Persia, &c. Cyrus soon after shook off the yoke of the Medes, and conquered the Lydians. — Hung up. v. 11. This was very usual. Cant. iv. 4. Is. xxii. 8. C.
*H The men of Arad were with thy army upon thy walls round about: the Pygmeans also that were in thy towers, hung up their quivers on thy walls round about: they perfected thy beauty.
Ver. 11. The Pygmeans. That is, strong and valiant men. In Heb. Gammadim. Ch. — He does not speak of those fabulous men hardly a cubit high. Gomed signifying a "cubit," has caused them to be styled so here. Sept. "guards;" or Sym. "Medes." Ezechiel (xxxviii. 6.) speaks of the Gomerim.
*H The Carthaginians thy merchants supplied thy fairs with a multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead,
Ver. 12. Carthaginians. Heb. "Tharsis," in Cilicia; (Gen. x. 4. C.) or distant merchants, who came by sea. H.
*H Greece, Thubal, and Mosoch, they were thy merchants, they brought to thy people slaves and vessels of brass.
Ver. 13. Slaves. Those from Greece were much esteemed. C. — Alas! thirty thousand Tyrians were themselves thus sold by Alexander! H.
*H From the house of Thogorma they brought horses, and horsemen, and mules to thy market.
Ver. 14. Horses. Those of Sarmatia (C.) were in high repute. Pliny viii. 42.
*H The men of Dedan were thy merchants: many islands were the traffic of thy hand, they exchanged for thy price teeth of ivory and ebony.
Ver. 15. Dedan. Sept. "Rhodians;" or rather Arabs are meant. v. 20. They might receive ivory from Ethiopia. — Teeth. Heb. "horns or tusks," which the elephant casts every year. The ivory is less brittle. 3 K. x. 18. C. — Ebony; a hard black wood, like horn. Bochart.
*H The Syrian was thy merchant: by reason of the multitude of thy works, they set forth precious stories, and purple, and broidered works, and fine linen, and silk, and chodchod in thy market.
Ver. 16. Syrian: always much addicted to commerce. S. Jer. — Sept. read Adam for Aram, as if the traffic in men was meant: (C.) "ivory, and to those who brought, thou gavest thy rewards. (16) Men of thy traffic," &c. H. — Linen. Heb. buts, "silk" extracted from the pinna fish. 1 Par. xv. 27. Silk. Heb. ramoth, may rather denote unicorns. Job xxviii. 18. C. — Chodchod. It is the Hebrew name for some precious stone, but of what kind in particular, interpreters are not agreed. Ch. — Some say the carbuncle, &c. S. Jerom renders it the jasper. Is. liv. 12. W. — Here he confesses he knows not the meaning. C.
*H Juda and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants with the best corn: they set forth balm, and honey, and oil and rosin in thy fairs.
Ver. 17. Rosin. Our version generally renders this, balm. H. — It was much used to heal. Jer. viii. 22. Gen. xxxvii. 25.
*H The men of Damascus were thy merchants in the multitude of thy works, the multitude of divers riches, in rich wine, in wool of the best colour.
Ver. 18. Rich. Heb. Chelbon; perhaps the city Chelba. Jud. i. 31. The kings of Persia used this wine, and planted vines at Damascus on purpose.
*H Dan, and Greece, and Mosel have set forth in thy marts wrought iron: stacte, and calamus were in thy market.
Ver. 19. Dan: the citizens of Peneas, the tribe of Dan was in captivity. Grotius places these nations in Zeilan, (C.) or Ceylon. H.
*H The men of Dedan were thy merchants in tapestry for seats.
Ver. 20. Seats, such as the Turks still use, or to throw over horses instead of saddles.
*H Haran, and Chene, and Eden were thy merchants; Saba, Assur, and Chelmad sold to thee.
Ver. 23. Haran, or Charæ, famous for the residence of Abraham and the defeat of Crassus. — Eden, the province where Paradise was situated.
*H They were thy merchants in divers manners, with bales of blue cloth, and of embroidered work, and of precious riches, which were wrapped up and bound with cords: they had cedars also in thy merchandise.
Ver. 24. Cords, in boxes, which had then no locks.
*H The ships of the sea, were thy chief in thy merchandise: and thou wast replenished, and glorified exceedingly in the heart of the sea.
Ver. 25. Sea. Heb. Tharsis, in Cilicia; or large, and fit for long voyages. Thine were the best. C.
*H Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the south wind hath broken thee in the heart of the sea.
Ver. 26. South. Heb. kodim, (H.) "eastern," or rather "burning," here means Nabuchodonosor, who came from the north, (C. xxvi. 7. C.) or east. The fall of Tyre is described as a shipwreck. H.
*H And they shall mourn over thee with a loud voice and shall cry bitterly: and they shall cast up dust upon their heads and shall be sprinkled with ashes.
Ver. 30. Ashes. They followed the same customs as the Jews. C. — The latter were ordered to avoid cutting the hair, like them; yet did so. Deut. xiv. Is. xxii. 22. W.
*H The merchants of people have hissed at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.
Ver. 36. Hissed, through pity and astonishment. C.