Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_100.lzh/6_137.TXT

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traded in with her in her fairs and markets, ver. l2--25.
then follows an account of her destruction, ver. 26, 27.
the lamentation of pilots and mariners because of it,
ver. 28--32. and of the kings and inhabitants of the
isles, and merchants of the people, ver. 33--36.
Ver. 1. The word of the Lord came again unto me,
&c.] Upon the same subject, the destruction of Tyro:
salting; as follows:
Ver. 2. Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation
for Tyrus.] Compose an elegy, and sing it; make a
mournful noise, and deliver out a funeral ditty; such
as the proeficee, or mournful women, made at funerals,
in which they said all they could in praise of the dead,
and made very doleful lamentations for them: this the
pfirophet was to do in a prophetic manner, for the con-
rmation of what was propbosSed of by him; and it
may teach us, that even wicked men are to be pitied,
when in distress and calamity.
Ver. 3. And say unto Tyrus, 0 thou that art situate at
the entry of the sea, &c.] Of the Mediterranean sea;
at the eastern part of it, not above half a mile from the
continent; and so fit for a sea-port, and a harbour for
shipping; so mystical Tyro sits on many w, aters, Rev.
xvii. 2: which art a merchant of the people for many
isles; the inhabitants of many isles brought the pro-
duce of them to her; who took them off their hands,
or sold them for them to others; these came from
several quarters to trade with her in her markets ;and
who supplied other isles and countries with all sorts
of commodities, for which they either resorted to her,
or she sent by ships unto them; so Rome is represented
as the seat of merchandise, Roy. xviii. 7, 11, lc2, 13:
thus saith the Lord God, 0 Tyrus, thou hast said; in
thine heart, in the pride of it, and with thy mouth,
praising and commending thyself; which is not right:
I am of perfect beauty: built on a good foundation, a
rock; surrounded with walls and towers; the streets
arranged in order, and filled with goodly houses;
having a good harbour for shipping, and being a mart
for all manner of merchandise, Jerusalem being de-
stroyed, Tyro assumes her character, Psal. xlviii. 2. and
!. 2. Latn. iS. 15.
Vet. 4. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas,
Fixed by the Lord himself, andwhich could never be
removed. Tyro stood about four furlongs-from the
continent, surrounded with the waters of the sea, till it
was made a peninsula by Alexander: thy builders have
perfected thy beauty. The Sidonians were the first
builders of the city, as Justin {q} says; who began and
carried on the building of it to the utmost of their
knowledge and skill; and which was afterwards per-
fected by other builders, who made it the most beau-
tiful city in all those parts; unless this is to be under-
stood of her shipbuilders, who brought the art of
building ships in her to such a perfection, as made her
famous throughout the world; since they are imme-
diately spoken of without any other antecedent.
Vet. 5. They have made all thy ship-boards of fir-
trees of Senir, &c.] The same with Sion and. Hermon,
which the Sidonians called Sirion, and the Amorites
Shenir, Deut. iii. 9. and iv. 48. here, it seems, grew the
best of fir-trees, of which the Tyrians made boards
and planks for shipping; of these the two sides of the
ship, as the word {r}here used in the dual number is
thought to signify, or the fore and hind decks, were
m/tde. The Targum is, "with fir-trees of Senir they
"built for thee all thy bridges ;" the planks from
'which they went from one ship to another; but these
are of too small consequence to be mentioned; rather
the main of the ship is intended, which was built of
fir-planks; but our oaken ones are much preferable:
they have taken cedars from Lebanon, to make masts
for thee; large poles for the yards and sails to be
fastened to, tbr receiving the wind necessary in navi-
gation; called the main-mast, the fore-mast, the mizen-
mast, and the boitsprit; all these are only in large ves-
sels; whether the Tyrians had all of these is not certain;
 some they had, and which were made of the cedars of
Lebanon; which, being large tall trees, were fit for this
purpose. The Tyrians ' are said to be the first inventors
of navigation.
Ver. 6. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine
oars, &c.] To row the ships with; for their ships
probably were uo other than galleys, which were rowed
with oars, as were the ships of first invention. Bashan
was a country in Judea where oaks grew; see Isa. iS.
13. The country of Judea in general was thmous for
oaks; it abounded with them in the times of Homer{t},
who speaks of Typho being buried in a country
abounding with oaks, among the rich or fat people of
Judea; and he seems to design Bashan particularly,
of which Og was king, whom he calls Typho, and of
whose bed he makes mention in the same place; hence
several places in Judea had their names from the oaks
which grew, there, as Elon-moreh, Allon-bachuth,
E!on-meonenim, Elon-tabor., and Elon-beth-hanan,
Gen. xii. 6. and xxxv. 8. Judg. ix. 37. 1 Sam. x. 3.
I Kings iv. 9.' and which one would have thought Were
fitter to make-their ships of;. but of these only their
oars were made: the company of the Ashurites have made
thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim ;
the benches for the towers to sit on, or for others in
the cabin and decks; but that these should be
wholly of ivory is not very probable; nor was ivory
brought from the isles of Chittim, but from other
parts; nor is it easy to say who the company of the
Ashurites were; some say the Assyrians; but why
they should be so called is not plain. Jarchi makes
\^Myrva tb\^  to be but one word, which signifies box-
trees, as it is used in Isa. xli. 19. and he supposes that
these benches, or be they what they will, were made of
box-trees covered or inlaid with ivory. So the Targum,
"the lintels of thy gates {the hatches) were planks of
"box-tree inlaid with iv9ry ;" which box, and not
the ivory, was brought from the isles of Chittim;
either from Cyprus, where was a place called Citium;
or from Macedonia, from whence box was fetched;
or from the province of Apulia, as the Targum; where
there might be plenty of it, as in Corsica, and other
places, where particularly the best box grows,as Pliny ·

{q} Ex Trogo, I. 18. c. 3.
{r} \^Mytwxl\^ tabulata duplicia, Munster; duas tabulas, Vatablus.
{s} Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros. Catullus.
{t} \~cwrw enidruoent', ioudhv en pioni dhmw\~ Homer. Iliad. 2. Vid.
Dickinson, Delphi Phoeniciz. c. 2. p. 13, 16.
{u} Nat. Hist. I. 10. c. 16.