Nor, without ropes, thy keel can longer brave
The rushing fury of the imperious wave:
Torn are thy sails; thy guardian gods are lost,
Whom you might call, in future tempests tost.
What, though majestic in your pride you stood,
A noble daughter of the Pontic wood,
You now may vainly boast an empty name,
Of birth conspicuous in the rolls of fame.
The mariner, when storms around him rise,
No longer on a painted stern relies.
Ah! yet take heed, lest these new tempests sweep,
In sportive rage, thy glories to the deep.
Francis.
I give this as a striking parallel to many passages in this chapter.
Verse 5
Fir trees of Senir - Senir is a mountain which the Sidonians called Sirion, and the Hebrews Hermon, [Deu 3:9]. It was beyond Jordan, and extended from Libanus to the mountains of Gilead.
Verse 6
Of the oaks of Bashan - Some translate alder, others the pine.
The company of the Ashurites - The word אשרים asherim is by several translated boxwood. The seats or benches being made of this wood inlaid with ivory.
Isles of Chittim - The Italian islands; the islands of Greece; Cyprus. Calmet says Macedonia is meant.
Verse 7
Fine linen - שש shesh, cotton cloth. In this sense the word is generally to be understood.
To be thy sail - Probably the flag - ensign or pennant, is meant.
Blue and purple from the isles of Elishah - Elis, a part of the Peloponnesus.
Verse 8
Zidon and Arvad - Or Arad. Two powerful cities on the Phoenician coast, in the neighborhood of Tyre, from which Tyre had her sailors; and the best instructed of her own inhabitants were her pilots or steersmen.
Verse 9
The ancients of Gebal - This was a city of Phoenicia, near Mount Libanus, [Jos 13:5]. It was called Biblos by the Greeks.
Thy calkers - Those who repaired their vessels; paying, as it is termed, pitched hemp into the seams, to prevent the water from oozing through.
To occupy thy merchandise - That is, to be thy agents or factors.
Verse 10
They of Persia - Lud, the Lydians; Phut, a people of Africa, see [Gen 10:6]. From these places they had auxiliary troops; for as they traded with the then known world, were rich, and could afford to give good pay, they no doubt had soldiers and sailors from every part. Skilful and desperate men will go any where after their price.
Verse 11
The Gammadims were in thy towers - Some think these were a people of Phoenicia; others, that tutelar images are meant; others, that the word expresses strong men, Who acted as guards. The Vulgate reads Pygmaei, the pygmies, who were fabled to be a little people of a cubit in height, from גמד gomed. a cubit; and are told that this little people were celebrated for their wars with the cranes; but nothing of this kind can enter into this description. Probably a people inhabiting the promontories of Phoenicia are here intended; and their hanging their shields upon the walls is a proof that soldiers are meant, and persons of skill and prowess too.
Verse 12
Tarshish was thy merchant - After having given an account of the naval and military equipment of this city, he now speaks of the various places and peoples with whom the Tyrians traded, and the different kinds of merchandise imported from those places.
By Tarshish some understand the Carthaginians; some think Tartessus, near the straits of Gibraltar, is meant; others, Tharsis in Cilicia. The place was famous for all the useful metals, silver, iron, tin, and lead. All these they might have had from Britain.
Verse 13
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech - The Ionians, the Tybarenians, and the Cappadocians, or Muscovites.
They traded the persons of men - That is, they trafficked in slaves. The bodies and souls of men were bought and sold in those days, as in our degenerate age. With these also they traded in brazen vessels.
Verse 14
Togarmah - The Sarmatians. Some think Cappadocia. With these they dealt in horses, mules, and horsemen; or probably draught horses and war horses are intended.
Verse 15
The men of Dedan - Dedan was one of the descendants of Abraham by Keturah, and dwelt in Arabia, [Gen 25:3]. Ivory and ebony might come from that quarter. By way of distinction ivory is called both in Hebrew ש shen, and in Arabic shen, the Tooth, as that beautiful substance is the tooth of the elephant.