Ivory
IVORY
Mentioned in the reign of Solomon, and referred to in Psa 45:1-17, as used in decorating palaces. Solomon, who traded to India, brought thence elephants and ivory to Judea. “For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish, with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver and ivory,” 1Ki 10:22 2Ch 9:21 . Solomon had a throne decorated with ivory, and inlaid with gold, these beautiful materials relieving the splendor and heightening the luster of each other, 1Ki 10:18 . Ivory, as is well known, is the substance of the tusks of elephants, and hence it is always called in Hebrew, tooth.As to the “ivory houses,” 1Ki 22:39 1Sa 3:15, they may have had ornaments of ivory, as they sometimes have of gold, silver, or other precious materials, in such abundance as to be named from the article of their decoration; as the emperor Nero’s palace was named aurea, or golden, because overlaid with gold. This method of ornamenting buildings or apartments was very ancient among the Greeks, and is mentioned by Homer. See Eze 27:6,15 1Sa 6:4 Jer 18:12 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Ivory
(adj. , noun , fr. [Note: fragment, from.] ; Skr. [Note: Sanskrit.] ebhas, Lat. ebur, Fr. ivoire)
Ivory was prized by all the civilized nations of antiquity. The OT contains a dozen references to its beauty and value. Every article of ivory (Rev 18:12) was found in the market of the apocalyptic Babylon (Rome). It was used for the adornment of palaces, for sculpture, for the inlaying of furniture and chariots, for numberless domestic and decorative objects. Ebur Indicum (Hor. Car. i. xxxi. 6; cf. Verg. Georg. i. 57) was known to everyone. Statues (Georg. i. 480), sceptres (Ov. Met. i. 178), lyres (Hor. Car. ii, xi. 22), scabbards (Ov. Met. iv. 148), sword-hilts (Verg. aen. xi. 11), seals (Cic. Verr. ii. iv. 1), couches (Hor. Sat. ii. vi. 103), doors (Verg. aen. vi. 148), curule chairs (Hor. Ep. I. vi. 54) are samples of Roman workmanship in ivory. As the substance is so hard and durable, many ivory works of art have come down from the ancient world.
James Strahan.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
ivory
The tusks of the elephant and other animals, a tough, white, elastic substance, capable of a high polish. Since prehistoric times it has been used in the arts: diptychs of ivory are among the first examples of Christian art; plaques were made for book covers; cylindrical pyxes were made of carved ivory; bishops’ chairs were overlaid with the same material. During the Middle Ages pyxes, tabernacles, caskets, statuettes, etc., were made of ivory.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Ivory
Ivory (French ivoire; Italian avorio; Latin ebur), dentine, the tusks of the elephant, hippopotamus, walrus, and other animals: a tough and elastic substance, of a creamy white, taking a high and lasting polish, largely employed in the arts since pre-historic times, and used extensively in making or adorning ecclesiastical objects by the primitive and medieval Christians. In the museums of Europe there are examples of pre-historic incised and carved ivories, and also many specimens of Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, and Roman bas-reliefs, statues, diptychs, plaques, and caskets. The classical authors frequently allude to ivory, and the Old Testament terms with references to its employment, even using its attributes as poetic qualifications, in the same way as the church does to-day in the Litany of Loretto (“Tower of ivory”). As soon as the Christians were free to display the symbols of their faith and illustrate its history pictorially, they adopted the art then in vogue for this purpose, and among their first aesthetic expressions, carved ivory diptychs were the most important; they followed closely the designs used in consular diptychs, excepting that symbolism and poetic imagery took the place of representations of mythological subjects. They consisted of two plates of ivory, hinged so as to fold together like a book; the inside of each leaf was slightly counter- sunk, with a narrow raised margin, so as to hold the wax that received the writing, while the outside of the leaves was profusely adorned with carvings. They were used for various purposes, such as listing the names of the baptized, bishops, martyrs, saints, and benefactors, and of the living and the dead who were to be prayed for.
That these diptychs suggested ivory plaques for book covers, reliquary doors and triptych shrines, is obvious; hundreds of plaques are in existence, dating from the time of Constantine to the sixteenth century, and many of them are exquisite works of art; in the British Museum there is one, six inches by four, divided into thirty panels, less than an inch square, and each compartment contains a scene from the life of the Blessed virgin, all being beautiful examples of ivory sculpture. Another use the early Christians found for ivory was the making of cylindrical pyxes from a cross section of the elephant tusk; upon the covers, they carved figures of Our Lord, St. Peter, and St. Paul, and on the side the Apostles and biblical subjects. Again, somewhat later, no doubt remembering that Solomon made “a great throne of ivory” (1 Kings 10:18), they overlaid their episcopal chairs with carved ivory tablets, as may be seen at Ravenna in the chair of St. Maximian, archbishop of that city (546). After the fifth century, possibly before, ivory crosiers were in use; eighty or more of them are now in existence, including those said to have belonged to a number of the saints. At the same time liturgical combs of ivory were in use. A beautiful example, the comb of St. Lupus (623), is in the treasury of St-Etienne at Lens. Representations of the Crucifixion in ivory upon various objects, are common, but not the crucifix. Most of the crucifixes date from the seventeenth century, and of these there are many, but of the earlier ones, only five have survived the action of time and the fanaticism of the Reformers. During the whole of the Middle Ages ivory was extensively used for paxes (instrumenta pacis), tabernacles, portable altars, caskets, holy-water buckets, statuettes, rosary-beads, seals, and the decoration of ecclesiastical furniture.
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CARYL COLEMAN Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIIICopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Ivory
(, shenhabbim’, elephant’s tooth; see A. Benary, in the Besrliner Lit. Jahrb Ucher, 1831, No. 96; 1Ki 10:22; 2Ch 9:21; and so explained by the Targum, , and Sept. ) also simply , a tooth, Psa 45:8; Eze 27:15; Amo 6:4; N.T. , of ivory, Rev 18:12). It is remarkable that no word in Biblical Hebrew denotes an elephant, unless the latter portion of the compound shem-habbim be supposed to have this meaning. Gesenius derives it from the Sanscrit ibhas, an elephant; Keil (on 1Ki 10:22) from the Coptic eboy; while Sir Henry Rawlinson mentions a word habba, which he met with in the Assyrian inscriptions, and which he understands to mean the large animal, the term being applied both to the elephant and the camel (Journ. (of As. Soc. 12:463). It is suggested in Gesenius’s Thesaurus (s.v.) that the original reading may have been , ivory, ebony (compare Eze 27:15). By some of the ancient nations these tusks were imagined to be horns (Eze 27:15; Pliny, 8:4; 18:1), though Diodorus Siculus (1, 55) correctly calls them teeth. As they were first acquainted with elephants through their ivory which was an important article of commerce, the shape of the tusks, in all probability, led them into this error. They are genuine teeth, combining in themselves, and occupying, in the upper jaw, the whole mass of secretions which hi other animals form the upper incisor and laniary teeth. They are useful for defense and offence, and for holding down green branches, or rooting up water-plants; but still they are not absolutely necessary, since there is a variety of elephant in the Indian forests entirely destitute of tusks, and the females in most of the races are either without them, or have them very small; not turned downwards, as Bochart states, but rather straight, as correctly described by Pliny. Only two species of elephants are recognized the African and the Indian easily distinguished from each other by the size of the ear, which in the former is much larger than in the latter. The tusks of the African elephant attain sometimes a length of 8 or even 10 feet, and a weight of 100 to 120 pounds; but those of the Indian elephant are much shorter and lighter, while in the females they often scarcely project beyond the lips. Elephant’s tooth, or simply elephant, is a common name for ivory, not only in the Oriental languages and in Greek, but also in the Western tongues, although in all of them teeth of other species may be included. There can be no doubt, for example, that the harder and more accessible ivory obtained from the hippopotamus wars known in Egypt at least as early as that obtained from the elephant. This kind of ivory does not split, and therefore was anciently most useful for military instruments. SEE ELEPHANT.
The Egyptians at a very early period made use of this material in decoration. The cover of a small ivory box in the Egyptian collection at the Louvre is inscribed with the praenomen Nefer-ka-re, or Neper-cheres, adopted by a dynasty found in the upper line of the tablet of Abydos, and attributed by M. Bunsen to the fifth. In the time of Thothmes III ivory was imported in considerable quantities into Egypt, either in boats laden with ivory and ebony’ from Ethiopia, or else in tusks and cups from the Ruten-nu. The celebrated car at Florence has its linchpins tipped with ivory (Birch, in Trans. of Roy. Soc. of Lit. 3, 2nd series). The specimens of Egyptian ivory work, which are found in the principal museums of Europe, are, most of them, in the opinion of Mr. Birch, of a date anterior to the Persian invasion, and some even as old as the 18th dynasty. The practice of inlaying or covering the walls with ivory and other valuable substances was in very extensive use among the Egyptians, who used it likewise for ornamenting articles of furniture, as may be seen in the British Museum. Amongst the articles of household furniture there is a seat with four turned legs inlaid with ivory, brought from Thebes; also a high-backed chair on lion-footed legs; the back solid, inlaid with panels of darker wood, with lotus towers of ivory. The ivory used by the Egyptians was principally brought from Ethiopia (Herod. 3:114), though their elephants were originally from Asia. The Ethiopians, according to Diodorus Siculus (i, 55), brought to Sesostris ebony and gold, and the teeth of elephants. Among the tribute paid by them to the Persian kings were twenty large tusks of ivory (Herod. 3:97).
The processions of human figures bearing presents, etc., still extant on the walls of palaces and tombs, attest, by the black, crisp-haired bearers of huge teeth, that some of these came from Ethiopia or Central Africa; and by white men similarly laden, who also bring an Asiatic elephant and a white bear, that others came from the East. In the Periplus of the Red Sea (c. 4), attributed to Arrian, Coloe (Calai) is said to be the chief mart for ivory. It was thence carried down to Adouli (Zulla, or Thulla), a port on the Red Sea, about three days’ journey from Coloe, together with the hides of hippopotami, tortoise-shell, apes, and slaves (Pliny, 6:34). The elephants and rhinoceroses from which it was obtained were killed further up the country, and few were taken near the sea, or in the neighborhood of Adouli. At Ptolemais Theron was found a little ivory like that of Adouli (Periplus, c. 3). Ptolemy Philadelphus made this port the depot of the elephant trade (Pliny, 6:34). According to Pliny (8, 10), ivory was so plentiful on the borders of Ethiopia that the natives made doorposts of it, and even fences and stalls for their cattle. The author of the Periplus (c. 16) mentions Rhapta as another station of the ivory trade, but the ivory brought down to this port is said to have been of an inferior quality, and for the most part found in the woods, damaged by rain, or collected from animals drowned by the overflow of the rivers at the equinoxes (Smith, Dict. of Class. Geography, s.v. Rhapta). The Egyptian merchants traded for ivory and onyx stones to Barygraza the port to which was carried down the commerce of Western India from Ozene (Periplzas, c. 49).
The Assyrians appear to have carried on a great traffic in ivory. Their early conquests in India had made them familiar with it, and (according to one rendering of the passage) their artists supplied the luxurious Tyrians with carvings in ivory from the isles of Chittim (Eze 27:6). On the obelisk in the British Museum the captives or tribute-bearers are represented as carrying tusks. Among the merchandise of Babylon enumerated in Rev 18:12 are included all manner vessels of ivory. Mr. Layard discovered several ornaments made from ivory in the Assyrian mounds (Nineveh, 2, 15), but they are of uncertain date, and exhibit marks of Egyptian workmanship (ib. p. 163, 168). Many specimens of Assyrian carving in ivory have been found in the excavations at Nimrod, and among the rest some tablets richly inlaid with blue and opaque glass, lapislazuli, etc. (Bonomi, Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 334; comp. Son 5:14). Part of an ivory staff, apparently a scepter, and several entire elephants’ tusks, were discovered by Mr. Layard in the last stage of decay, and it was with extreme difficulty that these interesting relics could be restored (Nini. and Bab. p. 195).
In the early ages of Greece ivory was frequently employed for purposes of ornament. The trappings of horses were studded with it (Homer, II. 5, 584): it was used for the handles of keys (Odyssey, 21, 7) and for the bosses of shields (Hes. Sc. Herc. 141, 142). The ivory house of Ahab (1Ki 22:39) was probably a palace; the walls of which were paneled with ivory, like the palace of Menelaus described by Homer (Odys. 4, 73; compare Eurip. Aph. Aul. 583, . Comp. also Amo 3:15, and Psa 45:8, unless the ivory palaces in the latter passage were perfume-boxes made of that material, as been conjectured). It is difficult to determine whether the tower of ivory of Son 7:4 is merely a figure of speech, or whether it had its original among the things that were. Beds inlaid or veneered with ivory were in use among the Hebrews (Amos 6, 4; compare Homer, Od. 23, 200), as also among the Egyptians (Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 3, 169). The practice of inlaying and veneering wood with ivory and tortoise-shell is described by Pliny (16, 84).
By the luxurious Phoenicians ivory was employed to ornament the boxwood rowing-benches (or hatches according to some) of their galleys (Eze 27:6). The skilled workmen of Hiram, king of Tyre, fashioned the great ivory throne of Solomon, and overlaid it with pure gold (1Ki 10:18; 2Ch 9:17). The ivory thus employed was supplied by the caravans of Dedan (Isa 21:13; Eze 27:15), or was brought from the East Indies, with apes and peacocks, by the navy of Tarshish (1Ki 10:22). As an instance of the superabundant possession and barbarian use of elephants’ teeth may be mentioned the octagonal ivory hunting tower built by Akbar, about twenty-four miles west of Agra: it is still standing, and bristles with 128 enormous tusks disposed in ascending lines, sixteen on each face. Mr. Roberts, remarking on the words of Amos (6, 4), they that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon couches, refers the last word, in conformity with the Tamuld version, to swinging cots, often mentioned in the early tales of India, and still plentifully used by the wealthy. But it does not appear that they were known in Western Asia, or that figures of them occur on Egyptian bas-reliefs. It is more likely that palkies (those luxurious traveling litters) are meant, which were borne on men’s shoulders, while the person within was stretched at ease. They were in common use even among the Romans, for Cicero fell into his assassin’s hands while he was attempting to escape in one of them towards Naples. Among the Romnans, inlaying with ivory seems to have become, at length, rather a common method of ornamenting the interiors (of the mansions of the wealthy; for Horace mentions it as an evidence of his humble way of life that no walls inlaid with ivory adorned his house.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Ivory
(Heb. pl. shenhabbim, the “tusks of elephants”) was early used in decorations by the Egyptians, and a great trade in it was carried on by the Assyrians (Ezek. 27:6; Rev. 18:12). It was used by the Phoenicians to ornament the box-wood rowing-benches of their galleys, and Hiram’s skilled workmen made Solomon’s throne of ivory (1 Kings 10:18). It was brought by the caravans of Dedan (Isa. 21:13), and from the East Indies by the navy of Tarshish (1 Kings 10:22). Many specimens of ancient Egyptian and Assyrian ivory-work have been preserved. The word _habbim_ is derived from the Sanscrit _ibhas_, meaning “elephant,” preceded by the Hebrew article (ha); and hence it is argued that Ophir, from which it and the other articles mentioned in 1 Kings 10:22 were brought, was in India.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Ivory
sheen, “tooth” or “tusk”, namely, of the elephant. There is no Hebrew word in Scripture for the elephant, for the Israelites knew of the elephant first only by its ivory, which was imported from Africa and India. The African elephant exceeds the Indian in the size of the ear and of the tusks, the latter of which are often eight or ten feet long and weigh from 100 to 120 lbs. From the resemblance of its tusks to horns Eze 27:15 has “horns of ivory.” “Palaces of ivory” mean ornamented with ivory (Psa 45:8). So Ahab’s palace (1Ki 22:39).
Amos (Amo 3:15) foretells the destruction of the luxurious “houses of ivory” having their walls, doors, and ceilings inlaid with it; also “beds of ivory” (Amo 6:4), i.e. veneered with it. In 1Ki 10:22 and 2Ch 9:21 sheen habbim is the term “the teeth of elephants”; Sanskrit ibhas, Coptic eboy, Assyrian habba in the inscriptions. Gesenius would read sheen habenim, “ivory (and) ebony.” On the Assyrian obelisk in the British Museum tribute bearers are seen carrying tusks; specimens of carvings in ivory were found in Nimrud, and tablets inlaid with blue and opaque glass. “All manner vessels of ivory” are in mystic Babylon (Rev 18:12).
Solomon made a great throne of ivory overlaid with gold (1Ki 10:18-20); the ivory was brought in the navy of Tarshish, probably from the S. coasts of Arabia, which maintained from ancient times commercial intercourse with both India and Ethiopia. In Eze 27:6 we read “the Ashurites have made thy (Tyre’s) benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim”; rather, as the Hebrew orthography requires, “they have made thy (rowing) benches of ivory, inlaid in the daughter of cedars” or “the best boxwood” (bath ashurim), from Cyprus and Macedonia, from whence the best boxwood came (Pliny).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Ivory
IVORY (shn, lit. tooth; and shenhabbm, elephants teeth [but reading doubtful], 1Ki 10:22, 2Ch 9:21).Ivory has been valued from the earliest times. In Solomons day the Israelites imported it from Ophir (1Ki 10:22): it was used in the decorations of palaces (1Ki 22:39). The tower of ivory (Son 7:4) may also have been a building decorated with ivory. Solomon had a throne of ivory (1Ki 10:18-20). Beds of ivory, such as are mentioned in Amo 6:4, were, according to a cuneiform inscription, included in the tribute paid by Hezekiah to Sennacherib.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Ivory
vo-ri ((1) , shen, tooth (translated ivory, 1Ki 10:18; 1Ki 22:39; 2Ch 9:17; Psa 45:8; Son 5:14; Son 7:4; Eze 27:6, Eze 27:15; Amo 3:15; Amo 6:4); (2) , shenhabbm; Septuagint , odontes elephantinoi, elephants’ teeth (1Ki 10:22; 2Ch 9:21); (3) , elephantinos, of ivory (Rev 18:12)): Shen occurs often, meaning tooth of man or beast. In the passages cited it is translated in English Versions of the Bible ivory (of crag, 1Sa 14:4, 1Sa 14:5; cliff, Job 39:28 twice; flesh-hook of three teeth, 1Sa 2:13). Shenhabbm is thought to be a contracted form of shen ha-‘ibbm, i.e. ha, the article, and ‘ibbm, plural of ‘ibbah or ‘ibba’; compare Egyptian ab, ebu, elephant, and compare Latin ebur, ivory (see Liddell and Scott, under the word , elephas). On the other hand, it may be a question whether -bm is not a singular form connected with the Arabic fl, elephant. If the word for elephant is not contained in shenhabbm, it occurs nowhere in the Hebrew Bible.
Ivory was probably obtained, as now, mainly from the African elephant. It was rare and expensive. It is mentioned in connection with the magnificence of Solomon (1Ki 10:18, 1Ki 10:22), being brought by the ships of Tarshish (2Ch 9:17, 2Ch 9:21). An ivory house of Ahab is mentioned in 1Ki 22:39. It is mentioned among the luxuries of Israel in the denunciations of Amos (Amo 3:15; Amo 6:4). It occurs in the figurative language of Psa 45:8; Son 5:14; Son 7:4. It is used for ornamentation of the ships of the Tyrians (Eze 27:6), who obtain it with ebony through the men of Dedan (Eze 27:15). It is among the merchandise of Babylon (Rev 18:12).
We do not learn of the use of elephants in war until a few centuries before the Christian era. In 1 Macc 8:6, there is a reference to the defeat of Antiochus the Great, having an hundred and twenty elephants, by Scipio Africanus in 190 bc. 1 Macc 1:17 speaks of the invasion of Egypt by Antiochus Epiphanes with an army in which there were elephants. 1 Macc 6:28-47 has a detailed account of a battle between Antiochus Eupator and Judas Maccabeus at Bethsura (Beth-zur). There were 32 elephants. Upon the beasts (, thera) there were strong towers of wood; There were also upon every one two and thirty strong men, that fought upon them, beside the Indian that ruled him.
In Job 40:15, the King James Version margin has for behemoth, the elephant, as some think.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Ivory
Ivory (1Ki 10:22; 2Ch 9:21; Rev 18:12). ‘Elephant’s tooth,’ or simply ‘elephant,’ is a common name for ivory, not only in the Oriental languages and in Greek, but also in the Western tongues; although in all of them teeth of other species may be included. Elephants’ teeth were largely imported as merchandise, and also brought as tribute into Egypt. The processions of human figures bearing presents, etc., still extant on the walls of palaces and tombs, attest by the black crisp-haired bearers of huge teeth, that some of these came from Ethiopia or Central Africa; and by white men similarly laden, who also bring an Asiatic elephant and a white bear, that others came from the East. Phoenician traders had ivory in such abundance, that the chief seats of their galleys were inlaid with it. In the Scriptures, according to the Chaldee Paraphrase, Jacob’s bed was made of this substance (Gen 49:33); we find king Solomon importing it from Tarshish (1Ki 10:22); and if Psa 45:8 was written before his reign, ivory was extensively used in the furniture of royal residences at a still earlier period. The tusks of African elephants are generally much longer than those of the Asiatic; and it may be observed in this place, that the ancients, as well as the moderns, are mistaken when they assert elephants’ tusks to be a kind of horns. They are genuine teeth, combining in themselves, and occupying, in the upper jaw, the whole mass of secretions which in other animals form the upper incisor and laniary teeth. They are useful for defense and offence, and for holding down green branches, or rooting up water-plants; but still they are not absolutely necessary, since there is a variety of elephant in the Indian forests entirely destitute of tusks, and the females in most of the races are either without them or have them very small; not turned downwards, as Bochart states, but rather straight, as correctly described by Pliny.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Ivory
The well-known substance of which the tusks of the elephant consist. We read of beds of ivory, thrones of ivory, palaces of ivory, ivory houses, and all manner of vessels. The finest specimens were used for carving and the smaller were cut into veneers for covering surfaces.
1Ki 10:18; 1Ki 22:39; Psa 45:8; Son 5:14; Son 7:4; Amo 3:15; Amo 6:4; Rev 18:12. It was imported into Palestine by the Assyrians and was brought by the ships of Solomon. Ancient ivories of Egypt and Assyria have been found.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Ivory
General references
Son 5:14; Son 7:4; Eze 27:15
Exported from Tarshish
1Ki 10:22; 2Ch 9:21
Chittim
Eze 27:6
Ahab’s palace made of
1Ki 22:39
Other houses made of
Psa 45:8; Amo 3:15
Other articles made of:
– Stringed instruments
Psa 45:8
– Thrones
1Ki 10:18; 2Ch 9:17
– Benches
Eze 27:6
– Beds
Amo 6:4
– Vessels
Rev 18:12
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Ivory
Ivory. The word translated “ivory” literally signifies the “tooth” of any animal, and hence, more especially denotes the substance of the projecting tusks of elephants. The skilled work-men of Hiram, king of Tyre, fashioned the great ivory throne of Solomon, and overlaid it with pure gold. 1Ki 10:18; 2Ch 9:17.
The ivory thus employed was supplied by the caravans of Dedan, Isa 21:13; Eze 27:15, or was brought, with apes and peacocks, by the navy of Tarshish. 1Ki 10:22.
The “ivory house” of Ahab, 1Ki 22:39, was probably a palace, the walls of which were panelled with ivory, like the palace of Menelaus described by Homer. Odys. iv. 73. Beds inlaid or veneered with ivory were in use among the Hebrews. Amo 6:4.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
IVORY
1Ki 10:18; 1Ki 22:39; Psa 45:8; Son 7:4; Eze 27:6; Amo 3:15; Amo 6:4; Rev 18:12
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Ivory
an adjective from elephas (whence Eng., elephant), signifies “of ivory,” Rev 18:12.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Ivory
; from , a tooth, and , elephants; , Rev 18:12. The first time that ivory is mentioned in Scripture is in the reign of Solomon. If the forty-fifth Psalm was written before the Canticles, and before Solomon had constructed his royal and magnificent throne, then that contains the first mention of this commodity. It is spoken of as used in decorating those boxes of perfume whose odours were employed to exhilarate the king’s spirits. It is probable that Solomon, who traded to India, first brought thence elephants and ivory to Judea. For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish, with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, and ivory,
1Ki 10:22; 2Ch 9:21. It seems that Solomon had a throne decorated with ivory, and inlaid with gold; the beauty of these materials relieving the splendour, and heightening the lustre of each other, 1Ki 10:18. Cabinets and wardrobes were ornamented with ivory, by what is called marquetry, Psa 45:8.
Quale per artem
Inclusum buxo aut Oricia terebintho
Lucet ebur. VIRGIL.
So shines a gem, illustrious to behold,
On some fair virgin’s neck, enchased in gold: So the surrounding ebon’s darker hue Improves the polish’d ivory to the view. PITT.
These were named houses of ivory, probably because made in the form of a house, or palace; as the silver of Diana, mentioned Act 19:24, were in the form of her temple at Ephesus; and as we have now ivory models of the Chinese pagodas, or temples. In this sense we may understand what is said of the ivory house which Ahab made, 1Ki 22:39; for the Hebrew word translated house is used, as Dr. Taylor well observes, for a place, or case wherein any thing lieth, is contained, or laid up. Ezekiel gives the name of house to chests of rich apparel, Eze 27:24. Dr. Durell, in his note on Psa 45:8, quotes places from Homer and Euripides, where the same appropriation is made. Hesiod makes the same. As to dwelling houses, the most, I think, we can suppose in regard to them, is, that they might have ornaments of ivory, as they sometimes have of gold, silver, or other precious materials, in such abundance as to derive an appellation from the article of their decoration; as the Emperor Nero’s palace, mentioned by Suetonius, was named aurea, or golden, because lita auro, overlaid with gold. This method of ornamental buildings, or apartments, was very ancient among the Greeks. Homer mentions ivory as employed in the palace of Menelaus, at Lacedaemon:
,
‘, , , ‘ .
Odyss. v. 72.
Above, beneath, around the palace, shines The sumless treasure of exhausted mines; The spoils of elephants the roof inlay,
And studded amber darts a golden ray.
Bacchylides, cited by Athenaeus, says, that, in the island of Ceos, one of the Cyclades, the houses of the great men glister with gold and ivory.
Fuente: Biblical and Theological Dictionary
Ivory
Psa 45:8 (b) Some think that this refers to the mouth, the ivory being the teeth, and the fragrance, the praise and worship that comes from the mouth.
Son 5:14 (c) This describes the unusual value and the striking beauty which the bride saw in the bridegroom. Words that lovers use are not always first class diction. The heart pours out its affection in words that best express the feelings. (See also Son 7:4).
Amo 3:15 (b) This is descriptive of the destruction that awaits the wealth and the provisions for ease and comfort made by the ungodly.