The men of Dedan traded with you. Many coastlands were your own special markets; they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony.
This verse sits inside a long trade list. Ezekiel names supplier after supplier, and records what each one brought into Tyre. Behind the tusks, the black wood and the far-off coastlands lies the question the chapter keeps pressing: what is all this wealth worth in the end?
Where the verse sits in the sweep of trade
Verse 15 is one step in a deliberate tour of the compass. One commentator follows the route: west, then far east, then north, then south — where Dedan appears:
William KellyFrom 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.
Which Dedan?
Dedan appears twice in this chapter — here and again in verse 20. One commentator holds that these are two different peoples, and that what they traded helps tell them apart:
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.
after
Ancient versions did not all agree here. The Greek Old Testament read a different people altogether in this verse, and one writer judges that reading plainly wrong:
William KellyThe Sept. has the same people for Dedan in Ezek. 27:15, which is assuredly an error.
The coastlands as markets
The "many coastlands" of this verse are not scenery. In the language of the prophets, islands stand for something specific:
Walter ScottThe Jews saw islands as sources of wealth, as centres of trade and commerce (Isa. 23:2; Ezek. 27:3-15).
Ivory and ebony
The two named imports belong together, and they arrived together at Tyre's docks:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe well-known hard black wood: it was imported with ivory into Tyre.
One writer sees more than luxury goods here. He reads Dedan's trade as a picture of what human progress offers:
after
Numerical Bible NotesNext 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!
What happened to all of it
The cargo of verse 15 ended as everything in this chapter ends. Tyre's rise was slow; its fall was not:
William KellyTyre 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 same cargo, listed again
Ivory and costly wood appear again in Revelation 18, among the goods of Babylon. One writer groups that list by what each item serves:
Walter ScottThe 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.
Summary
- Cargo. Dedan lay to the south. Its ebony, a hard black wood, came into Tyre along with ivory.
- Coastlands. The "many coastlands" were markets. In the language of the prophets, islands stand for wealth and trade.
- Veneer. Dedan's goods were used for veneer — an outside that hides what lies beneath. One writer asks how much of our education and civilization is the same.
- Collapse. Tyre gathered it all slowly and lost it fast. Nebuchadnezzar struck first; Alexander struck last.
- Repeat. Ivory and precious wood appear again among Babylon's goods in Revelation 18. That list ends with trade in human beings.