Ezekiel 27:3–15

From verse 12 we enter upon her foreign trade, beginning with Tarshish itself and ending with its ships in verse 25. In these early days Tarshish seems to have given its name to ships that sailed anywhere — at any rate, on long voyages. It worked much like our own term "East Indiamen."

Now we come to the commerce of Tyre and what it represents for us. We find Tarshish first and last in the list, and it appears to give its character to the whole.

A place ships sailed to from Palestine. Some think it refers to a Spanish city named Tartessus. That would be a fitting place to get silver, iron, tin, and lead. Jonah took a ship at Joppa to sail to Tarshish, which also points to a place west of Palestine. But other passages speak of apes and peacocks brought by ships of Tarshish, and these are linked with Ezion-geber, on the Gulf of Akaba, a branch of the Red Sea. So the ships from this port probably sailed south to some other place, which no one has identified.

It appears we need not doubt an original settlement on the south shore of Spain. The Phoenicians later had factories there too. From there their ships brought silver, iron, tin, and lead to Tyre, as Ezek. 27:12 tells us. The ships of Tarshish were the most famous for merchandise in ancient times.

He has, as we see here, silver, the money merchants use; and iron, the great material for making tools… Then he has tin, which literally means "alloy." However useful tin is for human ends, Scripture describes it as impurity — as much that seems very useful surely is. Last comes lead, which in Scripture stands for hardly anything but dross or weight. There is no gold in this catalogue… Here is the restless spirit of one adrift from God — a prodigal. How often are "the substantial gains of commerce," as they are called, only a prodigal wasting of the Father's goods!

Is it a mere catalogue? Is it only a record of where, as a matter of history, she found the goods she traded in, and of the goods themselves? Little else seems ever to have been made of it. But are we not warranted to seek for something more? The difficulties are certainly greater here than elsewhere. Many who shrink from allegory will doubtless brand any interpretation offered as far-fetched.

This city is the picture of the world's commercial glory — wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident… Tyre and the Tyrians formed the centre of trade in the ancient world. It was the marketplace for all the goods and luxuries of that day, and the link between west and east through "the ships of Tarshish."

Thorns and thistles the earth was to bring forth, and man to eat bread in the sweat of his brow. Satan would get around that sentence by gathering the different products of the earth and filling the eye and mind with them. He would try to hide the thorns by spreading a carpet of Tyrian merchandise over them.

Not that in itself it was sin; for we read that her merchandise in the coming day is to be used for the Lord (Isa. 23:17-18).

From verse 12 we enter on her foreign trade, beginning with Tarshish itself and ending with its ships in verse 25... In verse 13 we have quite a different class of merchandise... Here we stretch to the far east from the west.

Son of Japheth. His descendants are thought to have settled on the south-east side of the Euxine, or Black Sea, and went by the name Tibareni. They sent slaves and brass to Tyre. Their descendants with Rosh and Meshech will be among the enemies of the Jews in a future day, and will be destroyed.

So we find these three sellers here with their vessels of brass and their human merchandise too. We will see how prominent they are in the great alliance against Jehovah and Israel that Ezekiel speaks of later.

Tyre is the merchant above all; his stated aim is even to serve. No doubt his first aim is to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. He finds in man's need the chance for his own gain, and that is the cause of his judgment here... Gaining riches from the need of others is a habit that hardens the heart — that hardly needs saying. So it is with Tyre here, and for this she is judged.

God said of them, "You have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples," and they had sold the people of Judah to the Greeks. Joel 3:5-6.

As the civilized world climbed out of the swamp of idol-worship, trade caught it in its net, and it became aware of the riches that commerce would pile up. Satan uses Tyre to display the glory and riches of the world, so she becomes a tool against God... The earth was to bring forth thorns and thistles, and man was to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow. Satan would set that sentence aside by gathering the different products of the earth and filling the eye and mind with them. He would try to hide the thorns by spreading a carpet of Tyrian goods over them.

The description of her great commerce reminds us of that coming world-system as described in the last book of the Bible, the Revelation. Babylon the Great will be both an ecclesiastical and commercial world center. Her commerce is just like the commerce of Tyrus (Rev. 18:12-13).

Everything was merchandise to her... And if the bodies and the souls of men could add to this enjoyment in any way, they too would be traded. Everything then becomes a matter of gain, of pleasure, and of the commerce of this world... Nothing is sadder than to see everything turned into a matter of selling and buying. This is the end of everything in this world, and everything gives way when gain is the question... There is reason to fear that the hearts of Christians may be carried away by these principles, for the principles of the world take hold of Christian hearts, up to a point.

From verse 12 we come to her foreign trade. It begins with Tarshish itself and ends with its ships in verse 25… Verse 13 gives a quite different kind of merchandise… Here we stretch from the west to the far east. Then in verse 14 we have north Armenia… Then we come down to the south.

In the same way, the men of Dedan in Ezekiel 27:15 appear to be Cushites on the Persian Gulf, where the island of Dadan still keeps the name. Their imports and exports fit that. The Dedan set apart in verse 20 seems to come from the line of Shem, through Keturah.

The Sept. has the same people for Dedan in Ezek. 27:15, which is assuredly an error.

The Jews saw islands as sources of wealth, as centres of trade and commerce (Isa. 23:2; Ezek. 27:3-15).

The well-known hard black wood: it was imported with ivory into Tyre.

Next we have the sons of Dedan. If the name means what we said it means earlier, they stand for that "progress," such as it is, which the world can show. It is striking that what they trade in is mostly material used for veneer — an outside that does not truly show what lies beneath. How much of what is called education goes for this, and how much of what is counted civilization consists in it!

Tyre had risen slowly to this huge, concentrated trade. How quickly it all fell to ruin when Nebuchadnezzar struck the first blow — and beyond recovery when Alexander the Great struck the last!

The mixed character of the merchandise — the produce of every country — shows how wide Babylon's influence is. It shows how she draws the world's riches to herself as to a centre… (3) Costly furniture, such as vessels made from the most precious woods, ivory, and metals… (7) Shameful trade in the bodies and souls of men.