TYRE had built up an enormous trade between the east and the west, thirty-four districts and towns being mentioned in this chapter as concerned with the city in a business way. Its inhabitants had grown rich through die trade that was carried on, and it is evident that they greatly beautified the place, having confidence in its future. They forgot, as did the rich man in Luke 12:16-21, that God was to be reckoned with.
Situated at the entries of the sea, and trafficking with the peoples of many countries, Tyre had said, “I am perfect in beauty,” and God acknowledges it: “Thy borders are in the heart of the seas; thy builders have perfected thy beauty.” He then likens the famous city to a ship. (verses 5 to 11).
Senir (verse 5) is one of the peaks of Mount Hermon, the snowy mountain north of Palestine, to the east of Lebanon. Bashan is east of the upper reaches of the Jordan, and the “isles of Chittim” refers to Cyprus and other islands belonging to its people. Elishah (verse 7) has not been identified, but is thoUght to have been west of Tyre, somewhere bordering on the Mediterranean Sea.
Verses 8 to 11 show how Tyre drew upon countries both near and far for the carrying on of its great business. Zidon, Arvad and Gebal were Phenician neighbors of Tyre, while Persia, Lud and Phut where distant, the former eastward, and the others southwest (on the north coast of Africa). “Gammadims” in verse 11 is a name not understood; it is thought to mean guards or watchman, rather than the name of a particular place or country.
Verses 12 to 25 name the places (or some of them) from which merchandise, animals and even slaves were brought to Tyre for barter or sale.
“Tarshish dealt with thee by reason of the abundance of all substance; with silver, iron, tin and lead they furnished thy markets” (verse 12, N.T.). This tells of a place whose ships are mentioned a number of times in the Old Testament. (See Psalm 48:7; Isaiah 2:16, and 23:1 as examples.)
It has not been determined where this city was, and there seems a possibility that there were two places so named, one in the far East (Ceylon, perhaps), and the other and chief one in Spain or on the north African coast.
Javan (verse 13) refers to Greece, but in verse 19 it is believed that the same name relates to a place in southern. Arabia. Tubal and Meshech are names of portions of southeastern Russia, near the eastern side of the Black Sea; from there the trade was in “the persons of men”—human slavery—and in vessels of bronze.
What variety there was to be found in the market at Tyre! Metal from Tarshish, horses, horsemen and mules from Togarmah (Armenia); “many isles” paid for their purchases with horns of ivory and ebony; Syria traded with precious stones, purple and embroidered work, fine linen and coral (or pearls); and other countries and districts sent in other merchandise and animals the kinds of which are mentioned in verses 17 to 24.
Verse 25 contains a slight mistranslation; read, “The ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for thy traffic,” and the first part of the verse becomes intelligible.
Verses 20 to 30 tell of the end of all this prosperity. The ship of Tyre (following the figure employed in verses 5 to 11), has been brought into great waters; the east wind of which Psalm 48:7 tells, the Euroclydon of Acts 27:14-29, has broken the vessel in the heart of the seas. All the substance, the markets, the merchandise for barter, and all the people, were going down in the ruin that overtook Tyre, the city of the world’s trade. God is not mentioned; they cared not for Him in their prosperity, and in the day of judgment He was not sought. The sorrow of the world worketh death (2 Corinthians 7:10); despair, not repentance, is the result of this overwhelming disaster when it finally came in B.C. 322.
ML-12/08/1935