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.