Ezekiel 27:3

3. entry of the sea] lit. entries, reference possibly being to the two harbours of Tyre, one of which was to the N.-E. of the island, called the Sidonian harbour, because looking towards Sidon; and the other on the S. or S.-E. of the island, the exact position of which is uncertain owing to the silting which has taken place. See plate in Rawlinson, Phœnicia, p. 71.

people for many isles] peoples unto many coasts, or, countries, cf. Eze_27:3; Eze_27:6; Eze_27:15. Her traffic with the peoples extended to many and distant coastlands.

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 27:3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, [which art] a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I [am] of perfect beauty.

Ver. 3. O thou that art situated at the entry of the sea.] As now the city of Venice is,

“ Media insuperabilis unda. ”

Environed with her embracing Neptune, to whom (as the ceremony of throwing a ring into the sea implieth, saith one) she marrieth herself with yearly nuptials. But hath she so learned Christ? and doth not the Nebuchadnezzar of Constantinople now threaten her sore?

Thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.] So that nothing can be added to me: I am ocellus orbis. But who made thee to differ? Is not all thy beauty borrowed? will not this thy bulging wall down ere long?

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.

Which servest all the world with thy merchandise.

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

situate at the entry of the sea--literally, plural, "entrances," that is, ports or havens; referring to the double port of Tyre, at which vessels entered round the north and south ends of the island, so that ships could find a ready entrance from whatever point the wind might blow (compare Eze 28:2).

merchant of . . . people for many isles--that is, a mercantile emporium of the peoples of many seacoasts, both from the east and from the west (Isa 23:3), "a mart of nations."

of perfect beauty-- (Eze 28:12).

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 3. The entry of the sea] Tyre was a small island, or rather rock, in the sea, at a short distance from the main land. We have already seen that there was another Tyre on the main land; but they are both considered as one city.

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

(3) At the entry of the sea.—The word for “entry” in the original is plural, and means the approaches to the sea, or harbours. Tyre had two of these, both remarkably good: the “Egyptian,” facing the south, and the “Sidonian,” facing the north, the latter having also an outer harbour or roadstead, formed by a ledge off the north-west extremity of the island. The former is now completely, and the latter nearly, filled up with sand and ruins.

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

Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, Fixed by the Lord himself, and which could never be removed. Tyre stood about half a mile from the continent, surrounded with the waters of the sea, till it was made a peninsula by Alexander:

thy builders have perfected thy beauty. The Sidonians were the first builders of the city, as Justin (q) says; who began and carried on the building of it to the utmost of their knowledge and skill; and which was afterwards perfected by other builders, who made it the most beautiful city in all those parts; unless this is to be understood of her shipbuilders, who brought the art of building ships in her to such a perfection, as made her famous throughout the world; since they are immediately spoken of without any other antecedent.

(q) Ex Trago, l. 18. c. 3.

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

Entry - literally, “entries.” Ancient Tyre had two ports, that called the Sidonian to the north, the Egyptian to the south; the former exists to the present day. The term “entry of the sea” is naturally enough applied to a harbor as a place from which ships enter and return from the sea. The city was known in the earliest times as “Tyre the port.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Entry, whence merchants may proceed from an excellent harbour to any place.

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).

Personate Tyre as near thee, and hearing what thou sayest unto or of her; describe her, that she may know thou speakest to her.

That art situate; that dwellest, so the Hebrew.

The entry, Heb. entrances, she was but four furlongs, or five hundred paces, or half our English mile, from the continent, as it were in the very door of the sea, far enough off to have convenient harbors between her and the continent, and to be out of danger of sudden or easy surprises.

A merchant; a rich and populous emporium or mart for all commodities, either to vend or buy to islanders, or those that dwell on firm land.

Thou hast said; in thy riches, strength, alliances, and trade, thou art grown proud, thou hast thought and said too a great deal more than becomes a changeable state.

I am of perfect beauty: thou hast boasted of the excellency of thy government, the strength of thy city, the inaccessibleness of thy situation, nearness, strength, and obligations of thy allies, and as if nothing were wanting to perpetuate thy glory and happiness, poor self-flattering Tyre! But let us view particulars.

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

3. At the entry — Literally, entries. Tyre was built on an island having a double harbor.

A merchant — See note Eze_26:2.

I am of perfect beauty — This was the verdict of all antiquity. Travelers tried in vain to describe this princess of the seas. (Compare Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 40:311, etc.) “Greatly Dionysus rejoiced when he saw the city which the ocean god had bound with the liquid girdle of the waves. In shape she was like the crescent moon. As he looked it seemed a double wonder, since Tyre lies in the sea and is bound by the waves and yet belongs to the land. She seemed like a maiden floating motionless, half submerged in the waters.” A letter written in the fourteenth century B.C. reads, “Behold the palace of the city of Tyre: there is no palace of any other governor like unto it.” (For further description of Tyre see notes Eze_26:2; Eze_28:2; Eze_28:12. Compare Scholar Gypsy, Arnold.)

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

We begin with the picture of the city, situate at the entry (Hebrew, entries), or harbors of the sea. Of these Tyro had two the northern, known as the Sidonian; the southern, as the Egyptian. There she dwelt, a merchant of the peoples, that came, in the wider sense of the word, (see Eze_26:15) from the isles of the Mediterranean. I am perfect in beauty. The boast here put into the mouth of the city appears afterwards as the utterance of its ruler, or as applied to him. (Eze_28:2, Eze_28:15-17) We are reminded of Genoa, la superba.

Ver. 3 (last clause, "Thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty"). AEstheticism as a religion.

The craze for aestheticism has been exalted into the creed of a new religion. It is well so see once for all what this means, and how hollow, foolish, and fatal are its pretensions.

I AeSTHETICISM AS A RELIGION IS THE WORSHIP OF BEAUTY.

1. It is more than the enjoyment of beauty, which is innocent and even helpful to a right appreciation of God"s wonderful works. Beauty implies harmony and refinement; it excludes everything harsh and coarse. So far it is good.

2. Aestheticism is more than the effort to produce beauty. This aim of art is good.

3. It is more also than the consecration of beauty to the service of religion. This is right; we should bring our best to God; religion should be honored with the homage rendered to it by art.

4. But aestheticism as a religion makes an idol of the sacrifice, by putting the beauty, which should be enlisted in the service of God, in the place of God himself. It is bowing the knee to beauty. It sees nothing higher than the perfection of grace and color and melody. This is as much idolatry as the Hottentot"s adoration of a hideous fetish.

II AeSTHETICISM AS A RELIGION MAY BE JOINED TO THE GREATEST ERRORS. The beautiful is not always the true. There are lovely lies and there are ugly truths. By exalting the idea of the beautiful above all else, we sacrifice truth wherever the two do not agree. Thus the sterner facts of life are ignored and its less attractive duties left out of account.

III AeSTHETICISM AS A RELIGION RISKS MORALITY. It is satisfied with something lower than the beauty of holiness. If it rose to the celestial beauty, it could not afford to discard goodness, for all beauty that admits evil is corrupted with moral ugliness; but this is not perceived by the religion of aestheticism. Therefore there is a degradation of the very idea of beauty. Too often this is in danger of falling even lower, till Beauty becomes a tempter to sin.

IV AeSTHETICISM AS A RELIGION WILL NOT SATISFY THE SOUL. A man cannot live on the perpetual contemplation of a lily. Too much beauty cloys. The soul needs the sustenance of solid truth. It requires inward spiritual grace. In the hour of temptation and in the season of great sorrow the religion of beauty utterly fails. It may charm the sentimental; it has no spell for the suffering; it cannot save the fallen; it has no evangel.

V AeSTHETICISM AS A RELIGION CANNOT AVERT RUIN. Tyre was proud of her beauty and confident in it. But this was only a piece of senseless self-deception. Her imposing palaces did not keep back the invader; they rather invited his ruthless armies. She found no security in the vain boast, "I am of perfect beauty." There is no redemption in aestheticism. The sinner will not find here any refuge from the doom of his guilt. It would be a poor diet for unfallen angels; for fallen men it is assuredly no healing balm. Beauty has been brought down to shame and suffering. No culture of art or literature will lift the refined mind out of the danger that threatens "the common herd" of sinners. Cultured and rough people must come through the same strait gate of penitence and walk the same narrow way of the footsteps of Christ if they would hope for salvation.

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

At the entry - Hebrew. Entrances. She was about four furlongs, or half an English mile from the continent, as it were in the very door of the sea.

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

on the seaport [Heb. מְבוֹאֹת יָם, lit. by the entrance of the sea.] By the port where the ships come up to the wall and the gates. Many large cities are situated by the sea, but they are not a [good] place for a port, and the ships cannot approach them.

מְבוֹאֹת יָם is port in Old French, seaport.

trafficker of the peoples So was their custom: the merchants who came there this one from the north, that one from the south were not allowed to conduct commerce with one another. Rather, the inhabitants of the city would purchase from this one and sell to that one.

you said, I am the perfection of beauty Until now, all [were] saying about Jerusalem (Lam. 2:15): “the perfection of beauty”; (ibid.) “the joy of all the earth.” Now you boast, saying, “I am the perfection of beauty,” the ultimate extreme of beauty is incorporated in me.

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.