Ezekiel 27:12
Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.
Tarshish traded with Tyre as its merchant, supplying silver, iron, tin, and lead to its fairs and markets out of the abundance of every kind of wealth. Tarshish was southern Spain, whose goods came to the fairs of Tyre where all nations traded, though those who held it to be England did so because England produces tin. This trade made Tyre known as the great merchant city and metropolis of the world, immense in wealth and wide in the reach of its commerce. The verse belongs to the lamentation over Tyre in Ezekiel 26-28, which portrays the merchant city and foretells its utter ruin and the bringing down of its pride until it would become a place for spreading nets. Its extensive commerce embodied a corrupt, self-exalting spirit of merchandise that warns cities that forget and defy God that power and prosperity cannot shield them from judgment, a spirit modern Babylon repeats on a worldwide scale in making wealth its god.
Tyre's Commerce with Tarshish
Tarshish was Tyre's merchant, drawn by the multitude of all kinds of riches and trading in its fairs and markets with silver, iron, tin, and lead. The exchange made Tarshish a trading partner bringing abundant wealth to Tyre, with those four metals offered in its marketplace. This commerce belongs to the extended account of Tyre's extensive trade in valuable goods.
The trade shows Tyre's immense wealth and the wide reach of its commerce, since because of its abundant riches Tarshish brought those metals to trade in its marketplace. Those goods from Tarshish formed part of Tyre's abundant riches.
Tyre was a great commercial city and metropolis, the merchant city of the world, whose pride would be brought down in destruction. At that time men of Tyre brought fish and all manner of ware to Jerusalem and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah.
Tarshish was southern Spain, trading in Tyre's fairs in silver and iron and tin and lead. Tyre held fairs where all nations traded in all kinds of merchandise, so world's fairs are not modern but existed at Tyre 2,500 years ago. Tarshish is also identified as England on the ground that England is the great tin producer, though the mines of England furnish but a small percent of the tin of the world, making the verse one of the Scriptures naming a country where tin is found.
Prophecy of Judgment Applied
Ezekiel 27:12 belongs to the lamentation over Tyre in Ezekiel 26-28, which portrays the merchant city and foretells its ruin and utter destruction. The verse identifies Tarshish as a trading partner that brought silver, iron, tin, and lead to Tyre's markets because of its abundant wealth, showing Tyre as a great commercial city and ancient commercial metropolis. Tyre's pride would be brought down and the city destroyed, until it would become a place for spreading nets. The chapter is a lesson for cities that forget and defy God, that their power and prosperity do not protect them from judgment. The warning about Tyre's fate applies to modern cities that defy God, with its account of wealth and commerce in valuable metals standing as part of that warning.
San Francisco is compared to Tyre because it was a major center of commerce supplied with many kinds of goods and receiving merchandise and riches from many places. It too was a major seaport and trade center, receiving and exporting great quantities of goods, merchandise, riches, and wealth, just as Tyre was a wealthy merchant city whose trade with Tarshish brought abundant riches and metals. Tyre's trade in silver, iron, tin, and lead was part of its extensive commerce, whose spirit of merchandise was marked by corrupt, self-exalting trade. Modern Babylon repeats that spirit on a worldwide scale, seeking every commodity and even trading in human bodies and souls while making wealth its god.