Ezekiel 27:11

11 Men of Arvad and Cilicia guarded your city walls all around. were in your watchtowers and hung their shields around your walls. They made your beauty perfect.

Ezekiel 27:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 27:11

The men of Arvad, with thine army were upon thy walls round
about
Placed there for the defence of the city, to watch against an enemy, lest it should be surprised; here they were upon the patrol day and night; see ( Isaiah 62:6 ) , these were the men of the same place before mentioned, ( Ezekiel 27:8 ) which furnished Tyre both with mariners and soldiers: and the Gammadims were in thy towers:
not the Medes, as Symmachus renders it; nor the Cappadocians, as the Targum; much less were they images of their tutelar gods, as Spencer thinks, of a cubit long; nor "pygmies", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; which to mention would not be to the honour of their militia; though Kimchi and Ben Melech call them dwarfs, men of a small stature, of a cubit high, from whence they are supposed to have their name; so Schindler F17: rather they were the inhabitants of some place in Phoenicia; either of Ancon; which in Greek signifies a cubit, as Gamad does in Hebrew; or of Gammade, the same which Pliny F18 corruptly calls Gamale. Hillerus F19 thinks the word signifies "ambidexters", or left handed men, such as Ehud: they hanged their shields upon thy walls roundabout.
Kimchi and Ben Melech observe it was a custom in some places to hang such weapons upon the tops of towers, and upon the walls of them; which might be done, either that they might be ready to take up and make use of, whenever occasion required; or to dismay their enemies, and to show them that they were provided for them: they have made thy beauty perfect;
besides the beauty of her buildings and shipping, there was the beauty of her militia; which was increased by the soldiers from Persia, Lydia, and Lybia, and added to by the men of Arvad, but completed by the Gammadim; and particularly being glided, as probably they were, looked very glittering and beautiful in the rays of the sun.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 Lexic. Pentaglott. col. 319, 320.
F18 Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 91.
F19 Onomast. Sacr. p. 159.

Ezekiel 27:11 In-Context

9 Workers of Byblos were with you, putting caulkn in your ship's seams. All the ships of the sea and their sailors came alongside to trade with you.
10 "'Men of Persia, Lydia, and Put were warriors in your navy and hung their shields and helmets on your sides. They made you look beautiful.
11 Men of Arvad and Cilicia guarded your city walls all around. were in your watchtowers and hung their shields around your walls. They made your beauty perfect.
12 "'People of Tarshish became traders for you because of your great wealth. They traded your goods for silver, iron, tin, and lead.
13 "'People of Greece, Tubal, and Meshech became merchants for you. They traded your goods for slaves and items of bronze.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.