Ezekiel 27:17
Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.
Judah and the land of Israel were merchants of Tyre who supplied its market and fairs with wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. Their goods were only one part of a worldwide trade in which all nations brought all manner of merchandise to Tyre in her glory, showing her as a great commercial city and metropolis of the Mediterranean and a center of extensive trade. The verse belongs to the lamentation and prophecy concerning Tyre in Ezekiel 26-28, which foretells the utter ruin of the proud commercial city until it would become a place for spreading nets. That ruin of the ancient commercial metropolis stands fulfilled and evident today as an object lesson of fulfilled prophecy, warning that cities which forget and defy God may face judgment. In this setting the commerce described becomes a picture of corrupt, self-exalting commercialism applied to Babylon's worldwide trading system.
Tyre's Commerce Described
Judah and the land of Israel were merchants of Tyre, trading in her market and fairs. They supplied wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. Their traffic was one part of a worldwide trade in which all nations brought all manner of merchandise to Tyre in her glory before her fall. That gathering of goods from across the region shows the reach and variety of Tyre's commerce.
The chapter vividly sets forth the wealth and greatness of Tyre as a great commercial city and metropolis. She was a merchant city of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia and a center of extensive, widespread trade. The honey in her market was debash, a beverage like dibs made as unfermented grape juice preserved by boiling it down to half or a third of its original volume and diluted with water before drinking. The Tyre so described as a great trading city was a major center of commerce in Nehemiah's time.
Judgment Foretold and Applied
The verse stands in the lamentation over Tyre in Ezekiel 26-28. That lamentation belongs to the prophecies concerning other nations in Ezekiel 25-31, in which Ammon, Moab, Tyre, and Egypt pass under the prophet's vision. Within that setting it is a prophecy about Tyre as a merchant city of the Mediterranean and a major commercial city of Phoenicia. The prophecy foretells the utter ruin and destruction of Tyre. The great commercial city in its pride was to be brought down, and its place to become a site for spreading nets.
The ruin of that ancient commercial metropolis is evident today as a fulfilled prophecy. Its ruins stand as an object lesson of fulfilled prophecy, the ancient commercial metropolis laid low as foretold. The warning and judgment of Tyre is a lesson that cities which forget and defy God may face judgment. The naming of Judah and the land of Israel as merchants supplying wheat of Minnith and Pannag and honey and oil and balm contributes to the chapter's picture of Tyre as a center of widespread trade. That commerce is depicted as corrupt, self-exalting commercialism, and is applied to Babylon's worldwide trading system.
Judah and the land of Israel were among the merchants in Tyre's fairs, trading wheat and honey and oil and balm in her market. They were one part of a worldwide trade in which all nations brought all manner of merchandise to Tyre in her glory before her fall. Those fairs prove that world's fairs are not modern but existed at Tyre 2,500 years ago.