Ezekiel 27:19

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‘âa, 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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27:19 Greeks from Uzal: Uzal may have been a town in the foothills of Anatolia. • Cassia and calamus were expensive perfumes.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Dan also--None of the other places enumerated commence with the copula ("also"; Hebrew, ve). Moreover, the products specified, "cassia, calamus," apply rather to places in Arabia. Therefore, FAIRBAIRN translates, "Vedan"; perhaps the modern Aden, near the straits of Bab-el-man-deb. GROTIUS refers it to Dana, mentioned by PTOLEMY.

Javan--not the Greeks of Europe or Asia Minor, but of a Greek settlement in Arabia.

going to and fro--rather, as Hebrew admits, "from Uzal." This is added to "Javan," to mark which Javan is meant (Gen 10:27). The metropolis of Arabia Felix, or Yemen; called also Sanaa [BOCHART]. English Version gives a good sense, thus: All peoples, whether near as the Israelite "Dan," or far as the Greeks or "Javan," who were wont to "go to and fro" from their love of traffic, frequented thy marts, bringing bright iron, &c., these products not being necessarily represented as those of Dan or Javan.

bright iron--Yemen is still famed for its sword blades.

calamus--aromatic cane.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 מאוזל 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 rather—the first letter being a preposition—front 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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Dedan was thy merchant in precious cloths for chariots. Or, "cloths of freedom" (u); such as freemen and even nobles wore; and yet so extravagant were the Tyrians, that they bought these to line or cover their chariots with; this is different from the Dedan in Eze 27:15, and is either Dedan in Edom or Idumea, Jer 49:8, or in Arabia, the inhabitants of which descended from Dedan, a grandson of Abraham, Gen 25:3, which agrees with the following.

(u) "pannis libertatis", Vatablus, Piscator; "ingenuorem", Junius & Tremellius. So Ben Melech, and R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 30. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Dan: the citizens of Peneas, the tribe of Dan was in captivity. Grotius places these nations in Zeilan, (Calmet) or Ceylon. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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).

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Dan also; Hebrew, Vedan. The Authorized Version, following the Vulgate, takes the first syllable as the common conjunction "and;" but no other verse in the chapter begins in this way, and the Revised Version is probably right in giving the Hebrew word as its stands. Dan, it may be added, was hardly likely to have been singled out of all the tribes after the mention of Judah and Israel, especially as it had shared in the exile of the ten tribes. Smend identifies it with Waddan, between Mecca and Medina, or with Aden. Javan, too. already named in Ver. 13, can scarcely here be Greece, though it may possibly refer to Greek traders. It also has been identified conjecturally with an Arabian city. The words, going to and fro, have been rendered "from Uzal", (Gen_10:27) the ancient name of the capital of Yemen, in Arabia; or, as in the Revised Version, with yarn. The bright iron describes the steel used for sword-blades, for which Yemen was famous. Cassia (Exo_30:24; Psa_45:8) and calamus (Exo_30:23; Son_4:14) both belong to the class of perfumes for which Arabia was famous. It is probably the Acorns fragraas, the "sweet cane" of Isa_43:24; Jer_6:20.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Javan - In the isle of Meroe, in Egypt.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to Tyre.

General Information:

The words "you" and "your" in these verses refer to Tyre.

Dan ... Javan ... Izal ... Dedan ... Arabia ... Kedar

These are names of places. (See: How to Translate Names)

Dan and Javan

This is a metonym for the people of Dan and Javan. AT: "The people of Dan and Javan" (See: Metonymy)

wrought iron

a form of iron that can be shaped with a hammer

cinnamon

This is a type of spice that comes from the bark of a tree. "Cassia" is another name for this spice. (See: Translate Unknowns)

calamus

a type of grass that people used as perfume and for medicine (See: Translate Unknowns)

Dedan was

This is a metonym for the people of Dedan. AT: "The people of Dedan were" (See: Metonymy)

saddle blankets

A saddle blanket is a piece of cloth that people place on a horse beneath a saddle or seat.

Arabia

This is a metonym for the people of Arabia. AT: "The people of Arabia" or "The Arabians" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

Dan

Arabia

chief

lamb

ewe

goat

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Vedan and Javan They are states.

spun silk [Heb. מְאוּזָל,] spun silk thread.

iron wrought into ingots [Heb. עָשּׁוֹת,] made like ingots (עֲשָּׁשִּׁיוֹת) mas(s)es or mas(s)iz in Old French, ingots, massive, and that is iron of Cush.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.