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HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT

EZECHIEL 27

 

CHAPTER XXVII.

 

Ver. 2. Lamentation. Such canticles were usual, and very poetical.

 

Ver. 3. Entry, whence merchants may proceed from an excellent harbour to any place.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Ver. 8. Aradians. Sidon and Arad were then subject to Tyre, and supplied rowers. --- Pilots. They studied no other science.

 

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."

 

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.

 

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.

 

Ver. 12. Carthaginians. Heb. "Tharsis," in Cilicia; (Gen. x. 4. C.) or distant merchants, who came by sea. H.

 

Ver. 13. Slaves. Those from Greece were much esteemed. C. --- Alas! thirty thousand Tyrians were themselves thus sold by Alexander! H.

 

Ver. 14. Horses. Those of Sarmatia (C.) were in high repute. Pliny viii. 42.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Ver. 17. Rosin. Our version generally renders this, balm. H. --- It was much used to heal. Jer. viii. 22. Gen. xxxvii. 25.

 

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.

 

Ver. 19. Dan: the citizens of Peneas, the tribe of Dan was in captivity. Grotius places these nations in Zeilan, (C.) or Ceylon. H.

 

Ver. 20. Seats, such as the Turks still use, or to throw over horses instead of saddles.

 

Ver. 23. Haran, or Charæ, famous for the residence of Abraham and the defeat of Crassus. --- Eden, the province where Paradise was situated.

 

Ver. 24. Cords, in boxes, which had then no locks.

 

Ver. 25. Sea. Heb. Tharsis, in Cilicia; or large, and fit for long voyages. Thine were the best. C.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Ver. 36. Hissed, through pity and astonishment. C.

 

 

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