Yechezkel 27:15

15 The Bnei Dedan were thy merchants; many coastlands were the market of thine yad; they brought thee for a payment karnot (tusks) of shen (ivory) and ebony.

Yechezkel 27:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 27:15

The men of Dedan were thy merchants
Not Dedan in Idumea or Edom, but in Arabia, from Dedan the son of Raamah, ( Genesis 10:7 ) : many isles were the merchandise of thine hands;
that is, many isles took off their manufactures from them, in lieu of what they brought them, which were as follow: they brought thee for a present;
that they might have the liberty of trading in their fairs and markets; or rather for a reward, or as a price, for the goods they had of them: horns of ivory and ebony;
Kimchi reads them as separate things; and which the Targum confirms, "horns, ivory, and ebony"; elks' horns, or horns of goats, as the Targum; and "ivory", or the teeth of elephants; and "ebony", which is a wood of a very black colour, hard and heavy, and of which many things are made. The Targum takes it for the name of a fowl, and renders it peacocks; so Jarchi; see ( 2 Chronicles 9:21 ) , but Ben Melech much better interprets it of a tree, called in Arabia "ebenus". Solinus makes it peculiar to India ^F4; and so Virgil ^F5.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Polyhistor. c. 65.
F5 "----Sola India nigrum fert ebenum.----" Virgil. Georgic. 1. 2.

Yechezkel 27:15 In-Context

13 Yavan, Tuval, and Meshech, they were thy merchants; they traded the nefesh adam and kelim (vessels) of nechoshet for thy merchandise.

14 They of the Bais Togarmah traded for thy wares with susim and parash and peradim (mules).

15 The Bnei Dedan were thy merchants; many coastlands were the market of thine yad; they brought thee for a payment karnot (tusks) of shen (ivory) and ebony.

16 Aram (Syria) was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the goods of thy making; they gave thee for thy wares emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies.

17 Yehudah, and Eretz Yisroel, they were thy merchants; they traded for thy merchandise chittim (wheat) of Minnit, and balsam oil, and devash, and shemen, and balm.