Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy
merchants
The inhabitants of Judah and Israel; the two tribes of Judah and
Benjamin, and the other ten tribes of Israel, they all
merchandised with the Tyrians, being near unto them: they
traded in thy market wheat of Minnith;
the name of a place, ( Judges 11:33
) , where probably the best wheat grew; so the Targum renders it;
the Tyrians were supplied with wheat from the land of Israel, in
the times of Solomon, long before this, ( 1 Kings 5:11
) as they were in the times of Herod, long after, ( Acts 12:20 ) , it was
four miles from Esbus or Heshbon, in the way to Philadelphia,
according to Eusebius: and Pannag;
which some take to be the name of a place, where the best wheat
also was; which some say was Phoenicia, or the land of Canaan.
The Septuagint render it "ointments": and the Latin interpreter
of the Targum "balsam"; with which agrees Josephus ben Gorion
F11, who says that at Jericho grew the
balsam tree, from whence came a precious oil, which oil is
"pannag": and Hillerus F12 translates it balsam: it follows,
and honey, and oil:
with which the land of Canaan abounded; for it was a land of oil
olive and honey, a land that flowed with milk and honey, (
Deuteronomy 8:8 ) so
that they had enough for themselves, and to spare for their
neighbours, and which they carried to the market of Tyre:
and balm;
or balsam, of which there was plenty at Gilead, and near Jericho,
however at the latter; we read of the balm of Gilead, ( Jeremiah
8:22 ) ( 46:11 ) .
The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it "rosin"; and
so the Targum; and this the Tyrians might make use of in their
ships F13. The balm, or balsam plant, was
peculiar to Judea, as Pliny F14; at least it was the place
of it until transplanted into other countries; and so says
Solinus F15.