Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
The verse names Haran, Canneh, Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad among the peoples and places that traded with Tyre as its merchants. They were Assyria, Chaldea, and the peoples about the Tigris and the Euphrates, bringing all sorts of goods in blue clothes and broidered work and rich apparel in chests of cedar bound with cords, showing the wide reach of Tyre's commerce as a great center and emporium of the ancient world. Chilmad means closed, and was a country on the Euphrates. The prophecy foretold both that commercial greatness and its later ruin, when the proud commercial metropolis would be brought down and its site become a place for spreading nets, a fulfilled ruin still evident. That extensive trade is a model of Babylon's corrupt commercialism reaching across the earth, and Tyre's judgment warns modern cities and people who forget and defy God that such defiance brings calamity, calling them not to a temporary impulse to improve but to a settled principle of doing right.
Tyre's Trade and Setting
The verse lists Haran and Canneh and Eden with the merchants of Sheba and Asshur and Chilmad as those who served Tyre as its merchants bringing goods to the city. The name Chilmad means closed, and it was a country on the Euphrates. These places were Assyria and Chaldea and the peoples about the Tigris and the Euphrates, bringing all sorts of things in blue clothes and broidered work and rich apparel in chests made of cedar and bound with cords.
The list shows the wide reach of Tyre's commerce. It belongs to Tyre's worldwide fair trade 2,500 years ago, when all nations traded there in all manner of merchandise. It pictures Tyre as a great center of commerce and a commercial emporium of Phoenicia, one of the greatest and most famous cities of the ancient world, marked by great wealth and commercial greatness.
The verse belongs in Ezekiel 25 to 31, the section containing prophecies against foreign nations in which Ammon and Moab and Tyre and Egypt pass under the prophet's vision. It belongs specifically to the prophecy in Ezekiel 27 concerning Tyre.
Prophecy Fulfilled and Warning
Ezekiel 27:23 stands within the prophecy concerning Tyre, the great commercial city of the ancient world and an ancient commercial metropolis whose commercial greatness and later ruin were both foretold. Its pride and power were to be brought down, and its very site was to become a place for spreading nets. The ruins that remain illustrate fulfilled prophecy and serve as an object lesson of it. The chapter belongs to the prophecies of other nations in Ezekiel 25 to 31, in which Ammon, Moab, Tyre, and Egypt pass under the prophet's vision, and as part of the prophecy concerning Tyre its fulfilment is evident today.
The naming of merchants from many places shows the wide reach of Tyre's commerce 2,500 years ago. That extensive trade is a model for Babylon's corrupt commercialism, which reaches across the earth. That latter commercialism treats even human bodies and souls as commodities.
Tyre is thus set forth as a proud, prosperous city whose distant trading partners, merchants, and trade did not protect it from judgment. Its fate warns modern cities and places that forget and defy God. Open defiance of God brings calamity upon cities and people who forget or defy Him.
Warnings of judgment should lead such cities not merely to a temporary impulse to improve, but to a settled principle of doing what is right.
The verse names Haran, Canneh, Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad among the peoples and places that traded with Tyre as its merchants. They were Assyria, Chaldea, and the peoples about the Tigris and the Euphrates, bringing all sorts of goods in blue clothes and broidered work and rich apparel in chests of cedar bound with cords, showing the wide reach of Tyre's commerce as a great center and emporium of the ancient world. Chilmad means closed, and was a country on the Euphrates. The prophecy foretold both that commercial greatness and its later ruin, when the proud commercial metropolis would be brought down and its site become a place for spreading nets, a fulfilled ruin still evident. That extensive trade is a model of Babylon's corrupt commercialism reaching across the earth, and Tyre's judgment warns modern cities and people who forget and defy God that such defiance brings calamity, calling them not to a temporary impulse to improve but to a settled principle of doing right.
Tyre's Trade and Setting
The verse lists Haran and Canneh and Eden with the merchants of Sheba and Asshur and Chilmad as those who served Tyre as its merchants bringing goods to the city. The name Chilmad means closed, and it was a country on the Euphrates. These places were Assyria and Chaldea and the peoples about the Tigris and the Euphrates, bringing all sorts of things in blue clothes and broidered work and rich apparel in chests made of cedar and bound with cords.
The list shows the wide reach of Tyre's commerce. It belongs to Tyre's worldwide fair trade 2,500 years ago, when all nations traded there in all manner of merchandise. It pictures Tyre as a great center of commerce and a commercial emporium of Phoenicia, one of the greatest and most famous cities of the ancient world, marked by great wealth and commercial greatness.
The verse belongs in Ezekiel 25 to 31, the section containing prophecies against foreign nations in which Ammon and Moab and Tyre and Egypt pass under the prophet's vision. It belongs specifically to the prophecy in Ezekiel 27 concerning Tyre.
Prophecy Fulfilled and Warning
Ezekiel 27:23 stands within the prophecy concerning Tyre, the great commercial city of the ancient world and an ancient commercial metropolis whose commercial greatness and later ruin were both foretold. Its pride and power were to be brought down, and its very site was to become a place for spreading nets. The ruins that remain illustrate fulfilled prophecy and serve as an object lesson of it. The chapter belongs to the prophecies of other nations in Ezekiel 25 to 31, in which Ammon, Moab, Tyre, and Egypt pass under the prophet's vision, and as part of the prophecy concerning Tyre its fulfilment is evident today.
The naming of merchants from many places shows the wide reach of Tyre's commerce 2,500 years ago. That extensive trade is a model for Babylon's corrupt commercialism, which reaches across the earth. That latter commercialism treats even human bodies and souls as commodities.
Tyre is thus set forth as a proud, prosperous city whose distant trading partners, merchants, and trade did not protect it from judgment. Its fate warns modern cities and places that forget and defy God. Open defiance of God brings calamity upon cities and people who forget or defy Him.
Warnings of judgment should lead such cities not merely to a temporary impulse to improve, but to a settled principle of doing what is right.