Ezekiel 27:5

Eze 27:5 They have made all thy [ship] boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.

Ver. 5. They have made all thy ship boards.] Of the most precious materials, which, with thy rich freight, did incite and entice the arch-pirate to surprise and make prize of thee.

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 27:5-7. They have made thy ship-boards — The decks of thy ships; of fir-trees of Senir — By these are meant, the fir-trees which grew upon mount Hermon, which was anciently called Shenir, or Senir. They have taken cedars to make masts for thee — Though cedars have a thick, and not a lofty trunk, masts consisting of different parts may be made of different cedars duly sized, or properly shaped if of too large a size. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars — That they might be strong. The company of the Ashurites — That is, the Assyrians; have made thy benches of ivory — “Perhaps the seats in the cabins of the royal galleys.” Instead of the company of the Ashurites, &c., Bishop Newcome (with R. Salerno, Bochart, Houbigant, and some others, using a different pointing of the Hebrew word so rendered) reads the latter part of the verse thus: Thy benches have they made of ivory, inlaid in box from the isles of Chittim — That is, the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean. In this sense the Chaldee understands the clause. Corsica, with which no doubt the Tyrians traded, was famous for the box-tree; and we may easily allow that the benches of some of the Tyrian ships were adorned with streaks of ivory inlaid in that kind of wood which certainly would appear very beautiful. So Virgil would have thought, who uses such an emblem to set forth the beauty of young Ascanius:

“ — — Quale per artem Inclusum buxo, aut Oricia terebintho Lucet ebur.” — — — — ÆN. 10:135.

“Distinguish’d from the crowd he shines a gem Enchased in gold, or polish’d ivory set Amidst the meaner foil of sable jet.” — DRYDEN.

Fine linen with broidered work, &c., from Egypt — “Fine linen was one of the principal commodities of Egypt, and was a habit used for persons of the best quality; which shows to what an excess of vanity the Tyrians were come, to use such costly manufactures for sails to their ships. Suetonius, in his Life of Caligula, cap. 37, reckons this among several instances of that emperor’s extravagance, that he furnished his pleasure-boats with costly sails, and other expensive ornaments.” Blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee — “Blue and purple are elsewhere reckoned among those colours which set off the richest attire. The common clothing of the Tyrians was of these kinds, which were brought from the islands of the Ægean sea, particularly Coos, famed for purple among heathen authors. Elishah denotes the countries upon the coast of Greece: a part of Peloponnesus retains the name of Elis among the Greek writers.” — Lowth.

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

This mountain was called Hermon, but the Amorites called it Senir, Deut. 3:9.

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

Senir--the Amorite name of Hermon, or the southern height of Anti-libanus (Deu 3:9); the Sidonian name was Sirion. "All thy . . . boards"; dual in Hebrew, "double-boards," namely, placed in a double order on the two sides of which the ship consisted [VATABLUS]. Or, referring to the two sides or the two ends, the prow and the stern, which every ship has [MUNSTER].

cedars--most suited for "masts," from their height and durability.

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 5. Fir trees of Senir] Senir is a mountain which the Sidonians called Sirion, and the Hebrews Hermon, De 3:9. It was beyond Jordan, and extended from Libanus to the mountains of Gilead.

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

(5) Ship boards.—Planking for the sides of the ship. The word in the original is in the dual, with reference to its two sides. Senir was the Amorite name of Hermon, or Antilebanon, called by the Sido-nians Sirion (Deu_3:9). Ezekiel wished to use a foreign name, and the latter may at this time have become obsolete. The timber brought thence for the ship’s planking, and called fir, was the same with that furnished by Hiram to Solomon for the floor of the Temple (1Ki_6:15), and may have been either “fir” (spruce?) or cypress. The Scripture names of trees are not always well identified. Both were esteemed among the ancients for ship-building, especially the cypress, on account of its lightness, durability, and freedom from the attacks of worms.

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

Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars,.... To row the ships with; for their ships probably were no other than galleys, which were rowed with oars, as were the ships of first invention. Bashan was a country in Judea where oaks grew; see Isa 2:13. The country of Judea in general was famous for oaks; it abounded with them in the times of Homer (t), who speaks of Typho being buried in a country abounding with oaks, among the rich or fat people of Judea; and he seems to design Bashan particularly, of which Og was king, whom he calls Typho, and of whose bed he makes mention in the same place; hence several places in Judea had their names from the oaks which grew, there, as Elonmoreh, Allonbachuth, Elonmeonenim, Elontabor, and Elonbethhanan, Gen 12:6 and which one would have thought were fitter to make their ships of; but of these only their oars were made:

the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim; the benches for the towers to sit on, or for others in the cabin and decks; but that these should be wholly of ivory is not very probable; nor was ivory brought from the isles of Chittim, but from other parts; nor is it easy to say who the company of the Ashurites were; some say the Assyrians; but why they should be so called is not plain. Jarchi makes to be but one word, which signifies box trees, as it is used in Isa 41:19 and he supposes that these benches, or be they what they will, were made of box trees covered or inlaid with ivory. So the Targum,

"the lintels of thy gates (the hatches) were planks of box tree inlaid with ivory;''

which box, and not the ivory, was brought from the isles of Chittim; either from Cyprus, where was a place called Citium; or from Macedonia, from whence box was fetched; or from the province of Apulia, as the Targum; where there might be plenty of it, as in Corsica, and other places, where particularly the best box grows, as Pliny (u) says. Jerom interprets Cittin of Italy; and Ben Gorion says (w) that Cittim are the Romans.

(t) ', . Homer. Iliad. 2. Vid. Dickinson, Delphi Phoenicix. c. 2. p. 13, 16. (u) Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 16. (w) Heb. Hist. l. 1. c. 1. p. 7.

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

Fir-trees (or, cypress) of Senir - The name by which the Amorites knew Mount Hermon.

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

Thee. Hebrew, "all thy ship-boards." (Septuagint) (Protestants) (Haydock) --- St. Jerome has divided (Calmet) leuthim, "decks of the sea," as yam denotes the sea. (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).

They; thy shipwrights.

Ship-boards; the planks, and benches, or transoms, for their ships.

Of fir trees; of the best and finest fir trees

of Senir, i.e. Hermen, Deu 3:9.

Cedars, for height, strength, durableness, and pleasing smell, beside smoothness of grain, and fitness for curious carvings, the best of trees.

From Lebanon, whose cedars excelled others.

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

5. Fir trees [or, cypress] of Senir — Senir, or Shenir, was the Amorite name for Mount Hermon (Deu_3:9). Assyrian, Shaniru.

Cedars from Lebanon to make masts — Literally, a mast. The Egyptians and Hebrews, as well as the Phoenicians, depended upon Lebanon for their best timber. (See note Eze_26:2; compare 1Ki_5:10; 1Ki_7:2.)

The cedar was ordinarily used for houses and fir trees for ships. Only the largest ideal ship — such as the prophet pictures Tyre to be — would need a cedar for a mast.

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

Fir trees of Senti. The name appears in Deu_3:9 and Son_4:8 as Shenir; in 1Ch_5:23 it is spelt as here Deu_3:9 we learn that it was the Amorite name for Hermon, as Sirion was the Sidonian name in 1Ki_5:10 Hiram King of Tyro appears as supplying Solomon with the fir and cedar timber mentioned here for the erection of his palace, the house of the forest of Lebanon. (1Ki_7:2) The fir tree was more commonly used for ships, the cedar for houses (Virgil, "Georg.," 2:444). The Hebrew for "boards" is unique in its form as a plural with a dual form superadded to indicate that each plank had its counterpart on the other side of the ship.

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

They - The shipwrights. Shipboards - The planks and benches, or transoms for their ships. Fir-trees - Of the best and finest fir- trees. Lebanon - Whose cedars excelled others.

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

junipers from Senir Since it was built on the sea and was destroyed by the sea, the prophet compares it to a superior ship whose cargo in its hold was too heavy for it, and which sank by the east wind.

all the planks the planks from which the ship was made.

cedars from Lebanon the name of the forest where the cedars are prevalent.

a mast [Heb. תֹּרֶן.] This is the tall, upright pole that is thrust into the ship, upon which they hang the sail, which is called voile in French. Also, there are holes at its top, through which is drawn the rope by which they pull the ship. [“Pole” is] mast in Old French.

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.