Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 27:19

Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.

19. Dan also and Javan ] This is certainly incorrect; none of the verses begins with and or also, and any reference to Dan is out of the question. The word rendered “going to and fro” was translated by Ges. “spun,” i.e. yarn (and so R.V.): Wedan and Javan brought as thy wares yarn. The word is more probably a proper name and to be rendered from Uzal. Uzal (Gen 10:27) is supposed to be identical with San‘a, the capital of Yemen in S. Arabia. LXX. omits wedan and for Javan reads “wine” (a similar word). The text is probably in disorder. In all other cases the phrase “brought as thy wares” ends the verse, and possibly the first words of Eze 27:19 should be attached to Eze 27:18. So LXX. which reads Eze 27:19, “from Uzal (Azel) came wrought-iron” &c. Corn. follows LXX., supplying all the words after Helbon out of the Assyrian wine lists: wine of Helbon and Zimin and Arnaban they brought to thy market. From Uzal came wrought iron &c. As the verse stands it may read: “Wedan and Javan of Uzal furnished thy wares; bright iron, cassia and calamus were among thy goods” though the most serious objections occur to the rendering. The “bright iron” may refer to sword blades, for which Yemen was famous. The calamus or sweet cane (Jer 6:20; Isa 43:24) supplied one of the ingredients of the holy oil for anointing the priests (Exo 30:23-24), and so did the cassia.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 19. Dan also and Javan] It is probable that both these words mean some of the Grecian islands.

Going to and fro] They both took and brought-imported and exported: but meuzal, from uzal, may be a proper name. What place is signified I cannot tell, unless it be Azal, a name, according to Kamoos, of the capital of Arabia Felix.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

If it were the tribe of Dan, it must be understood of a time before the captivity of the ten tribes; but there is a learned man tells us of Dana a city of Taprobana, or the island Zeilan mentioned by Ptolemy, and this learned man will have this meant.

Javan; not Javan or Greece, saith that learned man, but another Javan in the isle Meroe in remote parts of Egypt, where is a principal town Uzal, or Asel, from whence these merchants came, and therefore styled Javan of Uzal, or Jayan Meuzal. And if the cassia or calamus, mentioned in the verse, were the wares brought in by the Danites and Javanites, I should go as far as Meroe and Taprobana to send them; but if the cassia and calamus were brought up at Tyre, I would believe they lived nearer, that they were Grecian pedlars, or in a northern dialect merchants, that bought them, and were meant in the text.

Bright iron; polished, as we see now an art, which so much betters the common sort of iron, and refines it, that it is of great value.

Cassia and calamus are sweet drugs.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

19. Dan alsoNone of the otherplaces enumerated commence with the copula (“also”; Hebrew,ve). Moreover, the products specified, “cassia, calamus,”apply rather to places in Arabia. Therefore, FAIRBAIRNtranslates, “Vedan”; perhaps the modern Aden, near thestraits of Bab-el-man-deb. GROTIUSrefers it to Dana, mentioned by PTOLEMY.

Javannot the Greeks ofEurope or Asia Minor, but of a Greek settlement inArabia.

going to and frorather,as Hebrew admits, “from Uzal.” This is addedto “Javan,” to mark which Javan is meant (Ge10:27). The metropolis of Arabia Felix, or Yemen; called alsoSanaa [BOCHART]. EnglishVersion gives a good sense, thus: All peoples, whether near asthe Israelite “Dan,” or far as the Greeks or “Javan,”who were wont to “go to and fro” from their love oftraffic, frequented thy marts, bringing bright iron, &c., theseproducts not being necessarily represented as those of Dan or Javan.

bright ironYemen isstill famed for its sword blades.

calamusaromatic cane.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Dan also and Javan, going to and fro, occupied in thy fairs,…. Either the inhabitants of the tribe of Dan in general; or of Laish, sometime called Dan, and in later times Caesarea Philippi, which was in that tribe: though Grotius thinks that Taprobane, or the isle of Zeilan, is meant, where, and not in Dan, were the things after mentioned, in plenty; and where also, according to Ptolemy t, was a city called Dana or Dagana: and Bochart takes Javan not to be Greece, but a people of a country in Arabia, the metropolis of which was Uzal; and so he renders it, as some of the Greek versions do, Javan of Uzal, or Asel, to distinguish it from the other Javan, Eze 27:13, where also, and not in Greece, the sweet spices grew, which these are said to trade in:

bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market; brought from the above places; polished iron or steel, and the sweet spices of cassia and calamus, or the aromatic cane or reed, which came from afar, Jer 6:20.

t Geograph. l. 7. c. 4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(19) Dan also and Javan.This is the only instance in this enumeration in which the name of a people is introduced with a conjunction. Besides this structural difficulty, there seems no appropriateness in the name Dan, a tribe of Israel long since carried into captivity. The city Dan was of quite too little prominence to be mentioned here. It is probable, therefore, that what our translators have taken for the conjunction is really a part of the name Vedan, a place in Arabia not elsewhere mentioned, but which some suppose to be Aden. Javan does not here stand for Greece, but for an Arabian place or tribe, which there is reason to think is Yemen.

Going to and fro.The margin is better, Menzal, or ratherthe first letter being a prepositionfront Uzal, the ancient Sanaa, afterwards the capital of Yemen. Yemen was famous for its sword-blades, which may be meant by the bright (literally, wrought) iron, and also for its spices brought from India.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

19. Dan and Javan fairs R.V. reads, “Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for thy wares.” For Javan see note Eze 27:13. Kautzsch renders “Wedan and Javan of Uzal [Gen 10:27 ] furnished thy wares.” Uzal would be identified with Sana in Arabia. There are iron mines in central Arabia (Doughty), and the steel of Sana is still held in high repute; but according to this interpretation the “Javan” seems out of place. MacPherson (Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1898) identifies this with the Dedan of Eze 27:15, which he believes to be the same mentioned Eze 25:13; but this makes this place too conspicuous among the countries bringing tribute to Tyre. The text is very difficult, but Halevy seems to have offered the best suggestion. He changes one letter and identifies Dan with Rodan ( Revue Semitique, April, 1894. Compare note Eze 27:15). This would join Rhodes and Cyprus (Eze 27:13) or Rhodes and the Greeks of Asia Minor as traders with Tyre.

Bright iron R.V., margin, “wrought iron.” Rhodes was famous from ancient times for its artificers, its ships, and its arms. At this very period the isles of Greece were capturing from Phoenicia the commerce of the world. (See Introduction to Daniel, III, 2.) Halevy believes the words translated bright cassia, and calamus are technical terms for iron in the triple form of cakes (pig iron), flexible plates, and bars ( Journal Asiatique and Revue Semitique).

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for your wares,

Wrought iron, cassia and calamus were among your merchandise.”

Vedan and this Javan are both unknown. The latter may have been a Greek conclave in Arabia. They would appear in context to lie between Syria/Israel and Arabia.

However alternative renderings have been suggested. ‘we dan’ could be read as ‘and casks’ (we danne) and ‘we jawan me’uzal’ as ‘and wine (jayin) from Uzal (or Izalla)’, thus continuing the theme of wine from Damascus. Uzal may be connected with modern Sana, the capital of Yemen.

However, cassia was a fragrant aromatic substance used in the anointing oil of Exo 30:23-24, as was calamus, or ‘sweet cane’ (compare Isa 43:24; Jer 6:20). In Jeremiah the latter is connected with Arabia which favours reading ‘Vedan and Javan’ as places in Arabia.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eze 27:19 Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.

Ver. 19. Dan also. ] Anciently called Laish. Jdg 18:29 Javan, or the Grecians, were great travellers. a

Going to and fro. ] Discursatory.

“ Impiger extremos currit mercator ad Indos. ”

– Horat.

See Trapp on “ Psa 38:11 “

a Graecus vagabundus. – Vatab.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)