Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 27:4
Thy borders [are] in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
4. borders midst of the seas ] lit. heart of the seas, a phrase which appears to mean not “far out at sea,” but, in the deep waters of the sea, ch. Eze 28:2; Eze 28:8; Exo 15:8; Jon 2:3; Psa 46:2. The term “borders” seems to mean station, moorings ( Eze 27:25). The proud ship was conscious of her beauty. The ship is a figure for the maritime city, the mistress of trade, built upon an ocean rock, as if moored in the sea. The city was without doubt beautiful (ch. Eze 28:12); a similar phrase is used of Jerusalem, Psa 50:2 (Psa 48:2); Lam 2:15.
Eze 27:5-6 the ship’s timbers.
made thy ship boards ] built thy planks. The word is dual, referring to the two ribs of the ship, corresponding to one another.
fir trees of Senir ] Or, cypresses. The tree is mentioned as furnishing, along with the cedar, the principal material for building the Temple, 1Ki 5:8. Senir was the Amorite name of Hermon, which the Sidonians called Sirion (Deu 3:9). According to Schrader ( KAT. on Deu 3:9; 1Ki 5:13) both names were used by the Assyrians. The name Hermon possibly signifies “sacred” mountain, being due to its ancient sanctuary. Senir, and Sirion, is supposed to mean “coat of mail.”
On “mast” cf. Isa 33:23. Whether an actual cedar was ever used to be the mast of “some great ammiral” may be uncertain; the prophet, though more exact than most prophets, is also a poet.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 4. Thy builders have perfected thy beauty.] Under the allegory of a beautiful ship, the prophet, here and in the following verses, paints the glory of this ancient city. Horace describes the commonwealth of Rome by the same allegory, and is as minute in his description, Carm. lib. i. Od. xiv: –
O navis, referent in mare te novi
Fluctus? O quid agis? Fortiter occupa
Portum. Nonne video, ut
Nudum remigio latus,
Et malus celeri saucius Africo,
Antennaeque gemant? ac sine funibus
Vix durare carinae
Possint imperiosius
AEquor! non tibi sunt integra lintea;
Non Di, quos iterum pressa votes malo:
Quamvis Pontica pinus,
Sylvae filia nobilis,
Jactes et genus, et nomen inutile
Nil pictis timidus navita puppibus
Fidit. Tu, nisi, ventis
Debes ludibrium, cave.
Unhappy vessel, shall the waves again
Tumultuous bear thee to the faithless main?
What, would thy madness thus with storms to sport?
Cast firm your anchor in the friendly port.
Behold thy naked decks, the wounded mast,
And sail-yards groan beneath the southern blast.
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Weak borders, which an enemy easily breaks through, are a great defect in a state; well, Tyre, thou art well secured here, thine are in the sea that surrounds and secureth thee.
Thy builders; thy first founders, whoever they were; Agenor king of Phoenice chose wisely to build a city in safety: or by builders may be meant those who in aftertimes did add to the first foundation: these were masters of their art, and added this to the natural strength and beauty of the place; thus thou art perfected at home.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Tyre, in consonance with herseagirt position, separated by a strait of half a mile from themainland, is described as a ship built of the best material, andmanned with the best mariners and skilful pilots, but at last wreckedin tempestuous seas (Eze 27:26).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, Fixed by the Lord himself, and which could never be removed. Tyre stood about half a mile 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 perfected by other builders, who made it the most beautiful city in all those parts; unless this is to be understood 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 immediately spoken of without any other antecedent.
q Ex Trago, l. 18. c. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Thy borders Cornill reads, by a little change, the anchorage.
Thy builders have perfected thy beauty Here begins a most beautiful picture of Tyre as a ship. Compare a very ancient description of a ship, written in Akkadian, which comes from Babylon:
Its helm is of cedar (?) wood,
Its serpentlike oar has a handle of gold,
Its mast is pointed with turquoise,
Its side is of cedar from its forest,
Its awning is the palm (?) wood of Delvan, etc.
Sayce, Hibbert Lectures.
Compare also Iliad, 2:484-770, and Horace, Lib. I, Ode 14.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
I have not interrupted the reading of the whole Chapter, for from the beginning to the close of the Chapter, it is but one and the same subject. The riches, trade, and commerce of Tyrus, fills the whole of the verses. The Reader will find cause on the perusal to lament, as the Prophet was commanded to do, that a place abounding with so many blessings, should have abounded also with so much sin . But alas! what is human nature universally considered in the present fallen state!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 27:4 Thy borders [are] in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
Ver. 4. Thy borders are in the midst of the sea. ] Wherewith thou art compassed and crowned, as it were, Isa 23:8 being half a mile distant from the continent, till first Nebuchadnezzar, and then Alexander the Great, by casting earth, wood, and stones into the sea, made of it an island, a peninsula, &c.
Thy builders.
a Lib. xviii., lib. viii.
b Ant., cap. 2.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
builders = sons. Compare Iea. 62. c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
midst: Heb. heart, Eze 26:5
Reciprocal: Isa 23:2 – the isle Eze 27:3 – O thou Eze 27:11 – they have Eze 27:25 – glorious Eze 28:2 – in the midst Eze 28:12 – Thou sealest Eze 28:15 – perfect Eze 32:19 – dost
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 27:4. Borders means boundaries and the main thought in the verse is that Tyrus had full use of the sea for her traffic. Her builders or workmen and men in the service of the city used the advantages of the sea to bring their beloved metropolis to the highest possible perfection.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Ezekiel described Tyre as a large, beautiful merchant ship. [Note: See Edwin M. Good, "Ezekiel’s Ship: Some Extended Metaphors in the Old Testament," Semitics 1 (1970):79-103.] He used this figure to portray Tyre’s pride and her prominence and dominance as a maritime power.
"The earliest Phoenician ships each had 50 oarsmen and were quite fast. The later commercial ships were much longer and had a crew of up to 200 with two or three banks of oars on each side." [Note: Dyer, "Ezekiel," p. 1280.]
The limits of this "ship of state" were those of the sea itself, and its builders had made it into a magnificent enterprise. The materials that had gone into its construction had been of the finest quality.