Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 17:4
He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants.
A land of traffick – The land of Babylon.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. The top of his young twigs] The princes of Judah.
A land of traffic] Chaldea.
A city of merchants] Babylon; for which this city was the most celebrated of all the cities of the east. Its situation procured it innumerable advantages; its two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Persian Gulf, gave it communication with the richest and the most distant nations.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Cropped off; as a gardener that crops off the goodliest scions, and carrieth them away to graft on some other stock. The top; both the king of Judah, now eighteen years old, and the nobles and chief of the land.
Into a land of traffic; into Babylon, which was a city of mighty trade, explained timber by being a city of merchants, and peculiarly of merchants that traded in sweet spices and odoriferous gums.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. land of traffic . . .merchantsBabylon (2Ki 24:15;2Ki 24:16), famous for itstransport traffic on the Tigris and Euphrates. Also, by itsconnection with the Persian Gulf, it carried on much commerce withIndia.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He cropped off the top of his young twigs,…. By which are meant the princes of the land, or the several branches of the royal family; the top of which was King Jeconiah, who was but young and tender, being but eighteen years of age when he began his reign, and this was within three months after; and who was no more able to withstand the force of the king of Babylon, than a tender twig so ravenous a bird as an eagle, 2Ki 24:8; whose superior power and strength is signified by the cropping off of a tender twig:
and carried it into a land of traffic; not into the land of Canaan, as the Septuagint, and some other versions, literally render it; but into Babylon, which was become a place of great merchandise, through the great concourse of people to it, and the large additions made to the empire:
he set it in a city of merchants; meaning the city of Babylon, perhaps in particular, as distinct from the country before mentioned: the word for “merchants” signifies “apothecaries” or “druggists” p; and may design such merchants as traded in sweet spices and aromatic drugs. The words may be rendered, “and brought it out of the land of Canaan” q; out of which Jeconiah and his nobles were carried by the king of Babylon; so the particle sometimes signifies “from”, or “out of”, as in 1Ki 8:30; and others r, “and in a city of merchants he set it”; in Babylon, famous for merchants; whom the Jews, being captives, were obliged to attend in a servile manner.
p “aromatariorum”, Junius & Tremellius, Polinus. So Stockius, p. 1017. q “tetra Chanaan”, Texelius, Phoenix, l. 3. c. 4. sect. 6. p. 205. r Vid. Noldii Concord. Part. Ebr. p. 56.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
WE began yesterday to explain the saying of the Prophet, that an eagle came to mount Lebanon, and there cropped off the top of a cedar, that is, the highest bough. Some interpreters seem to me to labor in vain about the word Lebanon. They think it means Jerusalem, and cite the passage in Zechariah where it is said, Open thy gates, O Lebanon. (Zec 11:1.) But Zecharia does not speak of the city here, but of the temple, because it was built of a great mass of cedar. But here Ezekiel means the land, and names Lebanon rather than other places, not only because that mountain was the remarkable ornament of the region on account of its lofty cedars, and balsam and aromatic trees, but because this was needful to complete his allegory. If he had said that an eagle had come to a city, it would have been absurd. Hence we see that the word Lebanon is taken for that part of Judea in which the most beautiful trees spring up and flourish. But he says, that it plucked off a bough, from the top of the cedars, because Nebuchadnezzar, who is intended by the eagle took away King Jeconiah as we said yesterday. Hence King Jeconiah is compared to a very lofty bough of a cedar, because at that time all thought that the kingdom was superior to every danger; for the Jews boasted that they were under God’s protection, and that the city was impregnable: hence that occurrence was incredible. Now the Prophet adds, that the eagle plucked off the head or summit of the boughs, as the Hebrews call the tender shoots; and here the word means the tender branches: and it means, as we shall afterwards see, the elders who were dragged away into exile. It took away the head into the land of the merchant We said that this was a mere appellative here, chnaan, because it follows a little afterwards in the plural number: בציר רכלימ שמו, begnir-reklim shemo, in the city of merchants he set it: he says, then, that the boughs were placed in a city of merchants. This name was given to Babylon, not only because it was a celebrated mart of trade, but because it was a firm and strong place of custody through the multitude of inhabitants, so that it was not easy to draw captives from it. For any one could easily be rescued from a solitude without resistance; but in a great concourse it is not so easy to plan or attempt anything. I do not doubt, therefore, that the Prophet means that the higher classes of the kingdom, together with Jeconiah, were shut up in firm custody that they should not escape. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Into a land of traffick.Literally, a land of Canaan, the word being sometimes used for merchant or merchandise, as in Hos. 12:8 (Engl. 7); Isa. 23:8; Zep. 1:11. The parallelism of the next clause shows that this is its meaning here. Babylon has already been called Canaan in Eze. 16:29, probably from its commercial character.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Land of traffic Compare Eze 16:29, where Chaldea is called “the merchants’ land.” Modern discoveries in Babylon have emphasized the appropriateness of the title, for literally tons of clay tablets have been digged up containing bills and deeds and business contracts of all sorts.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 17:4. Carried it into a land of traffick Babylon and the country round it, being the seat of universal monarchy, must of consequence have been a place of great trade. Strabo tells us, that the merchants who travelled by land to Babylon, went through the country of the Arabians called Scenitae; and their vessels of great burden came up the Euphrates to the walls of the city from the Persian Gulf: in short, the multitude of the people, and the riches of Babylon, brought from all quarters of the world great numbers of merchants.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 17:4 He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
Ver. 4. He cropped off the top of his young twigs, ] i.e., The nobles carried into captivity with their king, as is to be seen Eze 17:12 . So true is that saying of the Rabbis, Nulla est obiectio in lege quae non habet solutionem in latere, There is no riddle in the law that hath not a solution by the sides of it; and so little cause had that Jesuit, Barradius, to borrow an argument from this text to prove the Scriptures to be a riddle and obscure.
And carried it into a land of traffic.
He set it in a city of merchants.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
top = topmost.
traffick. Babylon.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the top: The princes of Judah.
into: Isa 43:14, Isa 47:15, Jer 51:13, Rev 18:3, Rev 18:11-19
a land: Chaldea
a city: Babylon, which by means of the Euphrates and Tigris, had communications with the richest and most distant nations.
Reciprocal: Gen 42:34 – traffic Eze 31:3 – a cedar
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 17:4. This verse is a prediction of the captivity that was soon to be effected over the leading citizens of Jerusalem. Land of traffic was literally true of Babylon. Situated at the Euphrates and Tigris, and also not far from the gulf, she was in a position to deal with the merchants of the world.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
17:4 He cropped off the top of its young twigs, and carried it into a land of {b} trade; he set it in a city of merchants.
(b) Meaning to Babylon.