Tarshish, and—Uphaz— Tarshish was a place at this time celebrated through all the East for its commerce. Calmet has endeavoured to prove, in his dissertation upon Ophir, that the gold of Uphaz was the same with that of the river Pison; and Bochart supposes Uphaz to be the same with Ophir in India, near Zeilan, a place famous for gold.
Blue and purple is their clothing— The splendor and magnificence of dress seems among the ancients to have consisted very much in the richness of the colours; the art of dying to perfection, which was esteemed a matter of great skill, being known and practised by very few. The excellency of the Tyrian purple is celebrated by both sacred and profane authors; and the blue, which from many passages of Scripture we find to have been in great request, was also imported from remote countries as an article of expensive luxury. See Ezekiel 27:7; Ezekiel 27:24.