Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 27:6
[Of] the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches [of] ivory, [brought] out of the isles of Chittim.
6. The oars of the great ship were made of oaks of Bashan; cf. Isa 2:13; Zec 11:2. The term “oars” occurs in another form, Eze 27:27, but probably with no difference of meaning. The rest of Eze 27:6 should read: thy deck they made of ivory (inlaid) in sherbin wood from the isles of Chittim (the words bath teasshur should no doubt be read bitheasshur, in theasshur). This tree is mentioned as growing in Lebanon, Isa 41:19; Isa 60:13; it is usually considered to be the tree called in Arabic sherbn, a species of cedar. Others contend for box or larch. The term “deck” is literally “board,” e.g. of the boards of the sanctuary, Exo 26:15 seq. Chittim is Cyprus, called after the town Kition (Larnaka), but probably the name embraced the coasts of Asia Minor and Greece or perhaps even of Italy ( Dan 11:30 ; 1Ma 1:1; 1Ma 8:5 ).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The company … ivory – Rather, thy benches (or, deck) made they of ivory with boxwood (or, larch), i. e., boxwood inlaid with ivory.
The isles – (or, coasts) of Chittim is a phrase used constantly for Greece and the Grecian islands. It may probably be extended to other islands in the Mediterranean sea Gen 10:5, and there ivory may have been brought from the coasts of North Africa.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Of the oaks of Bashan] Some translate alder, others the pine.
The company of the Ashurites] The word 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Oaks; of pines, say some; of chesnut-trees, say others: but, since oaks, and those of Bashan, are famous in sacred dendrology, I know not why we should not keep to our own version, since the primary notation of the Hebrew leads us to it.
The company of the Ashurites: as we read these words, there arise many difficulties in the expounding them. If the conjecture of the learned Bochart be well considered, it will seem very probable the words would be better rendered thus; Thy benches they have made of ivory, with box brought out, &c. For the isles of Chittim afforded many amid large box trees, Whereas ivory, or the elephants tooth, we know, is the merchandise of other countries, and the elephant a foreigner to all the parts of Europe; nor are the teeth of elephants of that largeness to afford breadth for seats and benches; nor shall we find any such company of Ashurites, if we inquire for them. I shall therefore subscribe to that learned man in the opinion, that here are two words read divided, and by mistake translated as divided words, which ought to have been read in one word, and so translated as it is in Isa 41:19, where we translate , box; then all is plain, and the sense this, That from the isles, and parts about the Ionian, gean, and other seas of the Mediterranean, where this box tree is native, as in Corsica, Apulia, &c. and of great growth and firmness, fit to saw into boards for benches, they were conveyed to Tyrus, where their artists inlaid these box boards with ivory, and made them beautiful seats in their galleys and ships.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Bashancelebrated for itsoaks, as Lebanon was for its cedars.
the company of . . .Ashuritesthe most skilful workmen summoned from Assyria.Rather, as the Hebrew orthography requires, “They havemade thy (rowing) benches of ivory inlaid in the daughter ofcedars” [MAURER],or, the best boxwood. FAIRBAIRN,with BOCHART, reads theHebrew two words as one: “Thy plankwork (deck:instead of ‘benches,’ as the Hebrew is singular) theymade ivory with boxes.” English Version, withMAURER’S correction, issimpler.
ChittimCyprus andMacedonia, from which, PLINYtells us, the best boxwood came [GROTIUS].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars,…. To row the ships with; for their ships probably were no other than galleys, which were rowed with oars, as were the ships of first invention. Bashan was a country in Judea where oaks grew; see Isa 2:13. The country of Judea in general was famous for oaks; it abounded with them in the times of Homer t, who speaks of Typho being buried in a country abounding with oaks, among the rich or fat people of Judea; and he seems to design Bashan particularly, of which Og was king, whom he calls Typho, and of whose bed he makes mention in the same place; hence several places in Judea had their names from the oaks which grew, there, as Elonmoreh, Allonbachuth, Elonmeonenim, Elontabor, and Elonbethhanan, Ge 12:6 and which one would have thought were fitter to make their ships of; but of these only their oars were made:
the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim; the benches for the towers to sit on, or for others in the cabin and decks; but that these should be wholly of ivory is not very probable; nor was ivory brought from the isles of Chittim, but from other parts; nor is it easy to say who the company of the Ashurites were; some say the Assyrians; but why they should be so called is not plain. Jarchi makes to be but one word, which signifies box trees, as it is used in Isa 41:19 and he supposes that these benches, or be they what they will, were made of box trees covered or inlaid with ivory. So the Targum,
“the lintels of thy gates (the hatches) were planks of box tree inlaid with ivory;”
which box, and not the ivory, was brought from the isles of Chittim; either from Cyprus, where was a place called Citium; or from Macedonia, from whence box was fetched; or from the province of Apulia, as the Targum; where there might be plenty of it, as in Corsica, and other places, where particularly the best box grows, as Pliny u says. Jerom interprets Cittin of Italy; and Ben Gorion says w that Cittim are the Romans.
t ‘, . Homer. Iliad. 2. Vid. Dickinson, Delphi Phoenicix. c. 2. p. 13, 16. u Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 16. w Heb. Hist. l. 1. c. 1. p. 7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(6) The company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory.The literal rendering of this clause (with two words of doubtful meaning left blank) is, they made thy . . . of tooth (ivory), daughter of . . . The sense will depend upon the filling up of these blanks. For the first there need be no difficulty. The word is used in Exo. 26:16 of the boards of the tabernacle, and here it is undoubtedly used of some planking about the ship; but it is in the singular number. It is hardly likely, therefore, to mean benches (i.e., seats for the oarsmen), since there were usually two or three tiers of these on each side of the ship. It is now generally taken collectively of the planking of the deck. If the Hebrew text, as it stands, is quite correct, we must read the other word daughter of Ashurites, for there is no authority for rendering daughter by company. It is difficult or impossible to make any intelligible sense of this; but if the two Hebrew words now written separately be joined together, we shall have in box-wood, the word being the same as in Isa. 60:13. There will still be a little doubt, as there is so often in Scripture, as to the exact wood intended, whether box-wood or the sherbin-cedar; but the general sense is plain they have made thy deck of ivory, inlaid in box-wood.
Isles of Chittim.Chittim is the Old Testament name for Cyprus, and hence isles of Chittim (as in Jer. 2:10) stands for the islands and coasts whose fleets, in coming to the East, made their rendezvous at Cyprus. Thither were brought both the ivory from the African coast and the precious woods from various quarters.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. The company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim R.V., “they have made thy benches [deck] of ivory inlaid in boxwood [larch], from the isles of Kittim.” Kittim, or Chittim, is generally connected with Kition in Cyprus and supposed to mean in a general sense “Cyprians.” (Compare Num 24:24.) Hommel, however, connects the word with the well-known Kheta, or Hittites, though specially applied to Cilicia or Cyprus; Jensen, with a Phoenician word, Kitti, referring to a people dwelling west of Cyprus; “perhaps the Greeks of Europe in Greece as well as in the regions west of it, perhaps all the other inhabitants of Italy included.” The isles of Chittim “certainly had a broad meaning in later times, being used much as ‘the Indies’ in the time of Elizabeth” (Dan 11:30). Phoenicia enjoyed a great reputation for its work in ivory (1Ki 22:39; Psa 45:8). The “oaks of Bashan” were always celebrated (Isa 2:13; Zec 11:2).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 27:6. Of the oaks of Bashan Bishop Newton observes upon this description of Tyre, that Cleopatra, sailing down the river Cydnus to meet Mark Antony, was not attended with greater finery and magnificence; nor have historians and poets painted the one in more lively colours than the prophet the other. Instead of, The company of the Ashurites, &c. Houbigant reads, They have made thy seats of ivory, inclosed in box, brought from the Italian islands.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 27:6 [Of] the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches [of] ivory, [brought] out of the isles of Chittim.
Ver. 6. Of the cakes of Bashan. ] Those very best of the best. See Eze 27:5 .
Out of the isles of Chittim,
“ Pulcherrima regna
Luxuries vitiis, odiisque superbia vertit. ”
– Claudian.
the company of the Ashurites, &c. = a daughter (or branch) of the Ashurites, &c. Ginsburg thinks this clause should read, “they have made thy benches with ivory [and] box = wood (or cypress)”; reading bith’ashshurim instead of bath-‘aehshurim (= a daughter, or branch of the Ashurites), dividing and pointing the words differently. See note on Eze 31:3; and compare Isa 41:19; Isa 60:13.
Chittim. Probably Cyprus.
the oaks: Isa 2:13, Zec 11:2
the company: etc. or, they have made thy hatches of ivory well trodden, Rather, “thy benches have they made of ivory inlaid with box, from the isles of Chittim.” Vulgate, de insulis Italie “from the islands of Italy,” which were always famous for box-trees.
company: Heb. daughters
the isles: Gen 10:4, Kittim, Num 24:24, Jer 2:10
Reciprocal: Gen 25:3 – Asshurim Num 21:33 – Bashan 1Ki 10:18 – ivory 1Ki 22:39 – the ivory house 1Ch 1:7 – Kittim Psa 37:31 – steps Isa 11:11 – the islands Isa 23:1 – the land Isa 23:12 – pass Isa 23:17 – and she shall Dan 11:18 – the isles Dan 11:30 – the ships
Eze 27:6. The oak timber was another good material connected with the building and propelling of ships in the special item of oars, for those parts would require strength to resist the strain of pulling. Cedar and fir are not so strong, but that quality was not important for the body of a ship; it was lighter in weight and hence better adapted to a vessel that was to float on water. The benches refers to the decks which were made of ivory, and this is another indication of the citys luxurious condition.
27:6 [Of] the oaks of Bashan have they made thy oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches [of] ivory, [brought] out of the isles of {c} Chittim.
(c) Which is taken for Greece and Italy.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes