Ezekiel 27:21

Eze 27:21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these [were they] thy merchants.

Ver. 21. They occupied with thee in lambs.] Heb., They were the merchants of thy hand, or at thy hand, for cattle could not be carried far.

In these were they thy merchants.] Merchants are as useful in a commonwealth as mechanics, for exporting and importing commodities; only they must observe the gospel standard, "Whatever ye would that men should do to you, do ye the same to them."

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.

Eze 27:21-24. Arabia, &c., occupied with thee — Hebrew, ידן סחרי, were the merchants of thy hand; that is, they took off thy manufactures (see Eze 27:15) in exchange for cattle, in which their substance chiefly consisted. Of Kedar and its flocks, see notes on Isa 21:16-17; Isa 60:7. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah — These were people of Arabia Felix, dwelling near the Persian gulf. They traded in the rich products of their own country, namely, spices, precious stones, and gold, in which it abounded: see note on 1Ki 10:1; 1Ki 10:10. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden — By Haran here, it seems, the place is meant where Abraham dwelt when he came out of Ur of the Chaldees, (see Gen 11:31,) called Charræ by the Romans, and noted for the defeat of Crassus. Canneh some suppose to be the same place that is called Calneh, Amo 6:2, or Calno, Isa 10:9, a city near the Euphrates. Others take it for Ctesiphon, a noted city situate upon the river Tigris. Eden is joined with Haran, 2Ki 19:12, as it is here. The merchants of Sheba — There were two Shebas, as there were two Dedans; one descended from Raamah. (Gen 10:7,) the other from Jokshan, Abraham’s son, Gen 25:3. As the 22d verse is explained of the former, so the latter may be understood here: they were both in Arabia. And Chilmad — Both the Chaldee and LXX. explain this by Carmania. In chests of rich apparel, &c. — The rich apparel here spoken of was carefully packed up in chests of cedar, to give these clothes a fine scent, and preserve them from putrefaction.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, were merchants whose merchandise passed through thine hands.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Arabia--the nomadic tribes of Arabia, among which Kedar was pre-eminent.

occupied with thee--literally, "of thy hand," that is, they traded with thee for wares, the product of thy hand (see on Eze 27:15-16).

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 21. Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar] Arabia Deserta, on the confines of the Dead Sea. The Kedarenes inhabited the same country. These brought lambs, rams, and goats for the consumption of the city.

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

(21) Arabia . . . Kedar.—Arabia is never used in the Old Testament for the whole of the country now called by that name, but only for the desert part of it occupied by nomadic tribes. Kedar is the name of a nomadic pastoral race descended from Ishmael (Gen_25:13; comp. Isa_60:7).

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

21. occupied with thee] Lit. were the merchants of thy hand, i.e. serving thee. Cf. Isa_60:7, “all the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee.” The Arab nomads were rich in flocks. Kedar (Gen_25:13, second son of Ishmael) was an important people toward the N. of Arabia. In Isa_60:7 they are named along with the Nabatheans; in Jer_49:28 they are threatened with destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, as they were threatened at an earlier time with an attack from the Assyrians (Isa_21:16). Outside of scripture they are mentioned first in the inscriptions of Assurbanipal (667–626 b.c.), where they are represented as dwelling between the gulf of Akaba and Babylon. Cf. the ref. Jer_2:10.

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.

The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants,.... This Sheba was the son of Raamah, Gen 10:7 who settled in Arabia Felix; where, according to Ptolemy (x), is a city called Rhegma; and so Raamah is pronounced in the Septuagint version of Gen 10:7,

they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices; as with myrrh and frankincense, with which they abounded: Pliny (y) says that the Arabians paid annually to the kings of Persia a thousand talents of frankincense; and that the Sabaeans (z) boiled their food, some with wood of frankincense, and others with wood of myrrh:

and with all precious stones, and gold; as jaspers, emeralds, carbuncles, and others, which Pliny (a) says are found in Arabia; and mention is made of the gold of Sheba, Psa 72:15 and Bochart thinks that Ophir, from whence the famous gold of that name was fetched, was in Arabia Felix; and it may be observed, that the queen of Sheba gave great quantities of gold, of spices, and of precious stones, to Solomon; and that he had much of these kinds yearly from the spice merchants, and kings of Arabia, Kg1 10:10; see Gill on Isa 60:6.

(x) Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. (y) Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 17. (z) "----Solis est thurea virga Sabaeis". Virgil. Georgic. l. 2. (a) Nat. Hist. l. 37.

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

CHAPTER XXVII.

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).

Arabia; a large country, and distinguished into Desert, or sandy, which cannot keep au honest man, but affords thieves enough; next the Stony, or Petraea, which afforded good pasturage for sheep and goats; and the third Felix, or happy, most remote from Tyre.

The princes; for there were many such among those Kedarens, or Scenites, who dwelt in tents, bred and fed cattle, and carried them to Tyre market; furnished the shambles at Tyre, and their altars too for sacrifices.

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

21. Arabia — It is only recently that Arabia has been explored and its inscriptions examined. The result shows us why this country occupied such an important place in the ancient world. Two great kingdoms have been revealed in South Arabia: one, that of Saba (Sheba), reaching back to Solomon’s time, while the Minaean probably precedes it by many centuries (Glaser, Hommel). The inscriptions prove that this people had rather a high civilization, lived in walled towns, built magnificent temples, carried on agriculture, mining, and manufactures, had an elaborate code of civil law, honored women, who could even rule as queens, cultivated the fine arts, and enjoyed an extended commerce. Incense was the chief export and the basis of the nation’s wealth. Mr. Bent has discovered that it is still produced at Dhofar at the rate of nine thousand hundredweight annually and myrrh also in large quantities (Nineteenth Century, October, 1895). Gold was another leading export, the mines being located in central Arabia. (Compare Eze_27:22.)

Kedar — a nomadic tribe in northern Arabia (Psa_120:5; Son_1:5) famous for its flocks, yet possessing “villages” (Isa_42:11.) In Assyrian inscriptions this tribe is located between Babylon and the Gulf of Akaba. (Compare Jer_2:10; Isa_60:7; Jer_49:28.) It may have been the king of these “Arabs” that Cambyses had to conciliate before crossing the desert. The term “Arab” in the Assyrian, as in the Bible writings, had a limited application and did not refer to the entire Sinaitic peninsula (Herodotus, Eze_3:5).

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

Arabia. The word, commonly in connection with Dedan, is used in the limited sense which attaches to it in the Old Testament. (2Ch_9:14; Isa_21:13; for Jer_25:24) the tribes of whatin Greek and Roman geography were known as Arabia Deserts. Kedar. The name (equivalent to "black-skinned") appears as that of the second son of Ishmael. (Gen_25:13) The black tents of Kedar (Son_1:5) indicate a nomadic tribe of the Bedouin type, famous, as in Isa_60:7 and Jer_49:28, Jer_49:29, for their flocks of sheep and camels. They appear, also, as having cities and villages Isa_42:11. The name is used in later rabbinic writings for all the inhabitants of Arabia.

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

with lambs [Heb. בְכָרִים,] lambs. Jonathan renders: with cattle, and so too did he render (II Kings 3: 4): “one hundred thousand bulls,” (כָּרִים) of Mesha, king of Moab.

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.