Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 27:6

"Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the isles of Kittim." — Ezekiel 27:6 (ASV)

The company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory.—The literal rendering of this clause (with two words of doubtful meaning left blank) is, they made thy ... of tooth (ivory), daughter of ... The sense will depend upon filling these blanks.

For the first blank, there need be no difficulty. The word is used in Exodus 26:16 for the boards of the tabernacle, and here it is undoubtedly used for some planking about the ship; however, it is in the singular number.

It is hardly likely, therefore, to mean “benches” (that is, seats for the oarsmen), since there were usually two or three tiers of these on each side of the ship. It is now generally taken collectively as the planking of the deck.

If the Hebrew text, as it stands, is quite correct, we must read the other word as “daughter of Ashurites,” for there is no authority for rendering “daughter” as company. It is difficult or impossible to make any intelligible sense of this.

However, if the two Hebrew words now written separately are joined together, we will have “in box-wood,” the word being the same as in Isaiah 60:13. There will still be a little doubt, as there so often is in Scripture, about the exact wood intended—whether box-wood or the sherbin-cedar; but the general sense is plain— “they have made thy deck of ivory, inlaid in box-wood.”

Isles of Chittim.—Chittim is the Old Testament name for Cyprus, and hence isles of Chittim stands for the islands and coasts whose fleets, when coming to the East, made their rendezvous at Cyprus. There, both the ivory from the African coast and the precious woods from various quarters were brought.