27:6. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.—The prominent tares, leaders (oaks), whom other tares follow and worship, and who are fruitful in producing more tares (Bashan means fruitful), are the mechanism (oars) for making thee move and progress among the people. The company of free-thinkers (Ashurite means freemen) have made thy white (supposedly righteous) seats (ivory signifies dreams—of immediate spirit life when they die) to be the seats (seats of the mighty), of the rowers who work the oars.
27:7. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.—Thy ensigns, banners, sails, over thee, to be driven by the winds of error, are false righteousness (linen), with innumerable works of self-righteousness (broidered work), and of worldliness (Egypt); thou wast covered with the faithfulness (blue) and royalty (purple) of the worst of earth's pagan peoples (Elishah, descended from Javan, European, the most cruel and ferocious people of earth, as shown by their history, including this furious world-war.)
27:8. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners; thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.—The adherents of the belong-to-a-church or go-to-hell idea (Zidon meant “fortress,” and the idea is the fortress of ecclesiasticism), and the supporters of the falsely comforting refuge of Platonic immortality of the soul (Arvad means refuge, and Platonic heathen philosophy is the refuge of philosophic Christendom) were thy mariners, the ones who “worked” thy oars; thy philosophers (wise ones), from Plato to Nietsche, charted thy evil course, and were the real “sky-pilots” for the rowers to row by.
27:9. The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.—The doctors of divinity (ancients of Gebal) (Psa. 83:7) and the creed builders said enough on both sides of any question for theological authorities (calkers) to keep the people (sea) from getting on the inside, or having any real participation in thy affairs. In the middle of verse 9 the figure changes back to that of the prosperous mercantile city that Tyre was. All the independent religious and philosophical churches and other organizations (ships) of the sea (peoples and nations) with their sky-pilots (mariners) were in thee, O Christendom, thou aggregation [pg 495] of confused and contradictory philosophies, to receive, hold and disseminate thy teachings, doctrines, traditions, fables and philosophies (merchandise).
27:10. They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war; they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.—Believers in the hell-fire superstition (Persians were fire worshippers), and middle-course, conservative worldly men of sin (the people of Lud and Phut were dark-skinned men, living probably west of Egypt, type of worldly compromisers with sin) were in thine army, those that fight the bad fight of error for thee; in thee they hung the shield of credulity (faith) and the helmet of a false salvation; they extolled the loveliness of thy philosophy.
27:11. The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadim were in thy towers; they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.—The believers in human immortality, thy philosophic refuge (Arvad means “refuge”) with thine army just mentioned were the wall of thy defense and thy watchmen, college professors, economists (the Gammadim are thought to mean watchmen or guards) were in thy watch towers; upon thy walls, in the minds of thy supporters (walls) they hanged their shields of credulity; they have made thy philosophies and sophistries seem perfectly beautiful.
27:12. Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.—Thy preachers (merchants, trading in philosophy for gain) were a hard proposition (Tarshish means hard), with an abundant supply of teachings regarded worth while by the world; with worldly truth—silver—with strong earthly authority—iron—with actually worthless philosophies (tin was as the dross of silver) and with downright wicked doctrines (lead symbolized wickedness—Zech. 5:7-8) they taught and preached (traded) in thy preaching places (fairs).
27:13. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.—Believers in Greek philosophy (Javan represented the Greek race), and believers in the most far-fetched and uncouth ideas, such as monkey-born evolution (Tubal and Meshech were the remotest and rudest of nations), were thy preachers (merchants). They sold men into bondage to sin, and presented teachings of human perfection (brass) attainable otherwise than through Christ. Brass should be translated copper, and signifies perfect human nature.—T. 18.
27:14. They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.—The representatives of the rudest and crudest ideas (Togarmah) preached in thy churches with doctrines (horses) and with followers of the doctrines and with mixed human and spirit nature ideas (mules).
27:15. The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present, horns of ivory and ebony.—Men of low ideals (Dedan means low) were thy preachers; many revolutionary republics (islands) were thy preaching places; they presented thee with dreams, visions (ivory) of power (horns), good and bad (ebony).