the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Commerce
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or The idea conveyed by this word is represented in the Sacred Writings by the word trade.
Commerce, in its usual acceptation, means the exchange of one thing for another—the exchange of what we have to spare for what we want, in whatever country it is produced. The origin of commerce must have been nearly coeval with the world. As pasturage and agriculture were the only employments of the first inhabitants, so cattle, flocks, and the fruits of the earth were the only objects of the first commerce, or that species of it called barter. It would appear that some progress had been made in manufactures in the ages before the flood. The building of a city or village by Cain, however insignificant the houses may have been, supposes the existence of some mechanical knowledge. The musical instruments, such as harps and organs, the works in brass and in iron exhibited by the succeeding generations, confirm the belief that the arts were considerably advanced. The construction of Noah's ark, a ship of three decks, covered over with pitch, and much larger than any modern effort of architecture, proves that many separate trades were at that period carried on. There must have been parties who supplied Noah and his three sons with the great quantity and variety of materials which they required, and this they would do in exchange for other commodities, and perhaps money. That enormous pile of building, the tower of Babel, was constructed of bricks, the process of making which, appears to have been well understood.
Such of the descendants of Noah as lived near the water may be presumed to have made use of vessels built in imitation of the ark—if, as some think, that was the first floating vessel ever seen in the world—but on a smaller scale, for the purpose of crossing rivers. In the course of time the descendants of his son Japhet settled in 'the isles of the Gentiles,' by which are understood the islands at the east end of the Mediterranean sea, and those between Asia Minor and Greece, whence their colonies spread into Greece, Italy, and other western lands.
Sidon, which afterwards became so celebrated for the wonderful mercantile exertions of its inhabitants, was founded about 2200 years before the Christian era. The neighboring mountains, being covered with excellent cedar-trees, furnished the best and most durable timber for ship-building. The inhabitants of Sidon accordingly built numerous ships, and exported the produce of the adjoining country, and the various articles of their own manufacture, such as fine linen, embroidery, tapestry, metals, glass, both colored and figured, cut, or carved, and even mirrors. They were unrivalled by the inhabitants of the Mediterranean coasts in works of taste, elegance, and luxury. Their great and universally acknowledged pre-eminence in the arts procured for the Phoenicians, whose principal seaport was Sidon, the honor of being esteemed, among the Greeks and other nations, as the inventors of commerce, ship-building, navigation, the application of astronomy to nautical purposes, and particularly as the discoverers of several stars nearer to the north pole than an that were known to other nations; of naval war, writing, arithmetic, book-keeping, measures and weights; to which it is probable they might have added money.
Egypt appears to have excelled all the neighboring countries in agriculture, and particularly in its abundant crops of corn. The fame of its fertility induced Abraham to remove thither with his numerous family ().
The earliest accounts of bargain and sale reach no higher than the time of Abraham, and his transaction with Ephron. He is said to have weighed unto him '400 shekels of silver, current money with the merchant' (). The word merchant implies that the standard of money was fixed by usage among merchants, who comprised a numerous and respectable class of the community. Manufactures were by this time so far advanced, that not only those more immediately connected with agriculture, such as flour ground from corn, wine, oil, butter, and also the most necessary articles of clothing and furniture, but even those of luxury and magnificence, were much in use, as appears by the earrings, bracelets of gold and of silver, and other precious things presented by Abraham's steward to Rebekah (; ).
In the book of Job, whose author, in the opinion of the most learned commentators, resided in Arabia, and was contemporary with the earlier portion of Biblical history, much light is thrown upon the commerce, manufactures, and science of the age and country in which he lived. There is mention of gold, iron, brass, lead, crystal, jewels, the art of weaving, merchants, gold brought from Ophir, which implies commerce with a remote country, and topazes from Ethiopia; ship-building, so far improved that some ships were distinguished for the velocity of their motion; writing in a book, and engraving letters or writing on plates of lead and on stone with iron pens, and also seal-engraving; fishing with hooks, and nets, and spears; musical instruments, the harp, and organ; astronomy, and names given to particular stars. These notices tend to prove that, although the patriarchal system of making pasturage the chief object of attention was still maintained by many of the greatest inhabitants where the author of the book of Job resided, the sciences were actively cultivated, the useful and ornamental arts in an advanced state, and commerce prosecuted with diligence and success.
The inhabitants of Arabia appear to have availed themselves, at a very early period, of their advantageous situation between the two fertile and opulent countries of India and Egypt, and to have obtained the exclusive monopoly of a very profitable carrying trade between those countries. They were a class of people who gave their whole attention to merchandise as a regular and established profession, and traveled with caravans between Arabia and Egypt, carrying upon the backs of camels the spiceries of India, the balm of Canaan, and the myrrh produced in their own country, or of a superior quality from the opposite coast of Abyssinia—all of which were in great demand among the Egyptians for embalming the dead, in their religious ceremonies, and for ministering to the pleasures of that superstitious and luxurious people. The merchants of one of these caravans bought Joseph from his brothers for twenty pieces of silver, and carried him into Egypt. The southern Arabs were eminent traders, and enjoyed a large proportion, and in general the entire monopoly, of the trade between India and the western world, from the earliest ages, until the system of that important commerce was totally overturned when the inhabitants of Europe discovered a direct route to India by the Cape of Good Hope.
At the period when Joseph's brethren visited Egypt, 'inns' or caravanserais were established for the accommodation of travelers in that country and in the northern parts of Arabia. The more civilized southern parts of the peninsula would no doubt be furnished with caravanserais still more commodious.
During the residence of the Israelites in Egypt manufactures of almost every description were carried to great perfection. Flax, fine linen, garments of cotton, rings and jewels of gold an silver, works in all kinds of materials, chariots for pleasure and chariots for war, are all mentioned by Moses. They had extensive manufactories of bricks. Literature was in a flourishing state; and, in order to give an enlarged idea of the accomplishments of Moses, it is said he was 'learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians' ().
The expulsion of the Canaanites from a great part of their territories by the Israelites under Joshua, led to the gradual establishment of colonies in Cyprus, Rhodes, and several islands in the Ægean Sea; they penetrated into the Euxine or Black Sea, and spreading along the shores of Sicily, Sardinia, Gaul, Spain, and Africa, established numerous trading places, which gradually rose into more or less importance. At this period mention is first made of Tyre as a strong or fortified city, whilst Sidon is dignified with the title of Great.
During the reign of David, king of Israel, that powerful monarch disposed of a part of the wealth obtained by his conquests in purchasing cedar-timber from Hiram, king of Tyre, with whom he kept up a friendly correspondence while he lived. He also hired Tyrian masons and carpenters for carrying on his works. Solomon, the son of David, cultivated the arts of peace, and indulged his taste for magnificence and luxury to a great extent. He employed the wealth collected by his father in works of architecture, and in strengthening and improving his kingdom. He built the famous Temple and fortifications of Jerusalem, and many cities, among which was the celebrated Tadmor or Palmyra. From the king of Tyre he obtained cedar and fir, or cypress-timbers, and large stones cut and prepared for building, which the Tyrians conveyed by water to the most convenient landing-place in Solomon's dominions. Hiram also sent a vast number of workmen to assist and instruct Solomon's people, none of whom had skill 'to hew timber like the Sidonians.' Solomon, in exchange, furnished the Tyrians with corn, wine, and oil, and received a balance in gold. Solomon and Hiram appear to have subsequently entered into a trading speculation or adventure upon a large scale. Tyrian shipwrights were accordingly sent to build vessels for both kings at Eziongeber, Solomon's port on the Red Sea, whither he himself went to animate them with his presence (). These ships, conducted by Tyrian navigators, sailed in company to some rich countries called Ophir and Tarshish. The voyage occupied three years, yet the returns in this new found trade were very great and profitable. This fleet, took in apes, ebony, and parrots on the coasts of Ethiopia, gold at Ophir, or the place of traffic whither the people of Ophir resorted; it traded on both sides of the Red Sea, on the coasts of Arabia and Ethiopia, in all parts of Ethiopia beyond the straits when it had entered the ocean: thence it passed up the Persian Gulf, and might visit the places of trade upon both its shores, and run up the Tigris or the Euphrates as far as these rivers were navigable.
After the reign of Solomon the commerce of the Israelites seems to have very materially declined. An attempt was made by Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and Ahaziah, king of Israel, to effect its revival; but the ships which they built at Eziongeber having been wrecked in the harbor, the undertaking was abandoned. It does not appear that they had any assistance from the Phoenicians in fitting out this fleet. Great efforts were made by the Egyptians to extend the commerce of their country, among which not the least considerable was the unsuccessful attempt to construct a canal from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf.
The rising prosperity of Tyre soon eclipsed the ancient and long-flourishing commercial city of Sidon. About 600 years before Christ her commercial splendor appears to have been at its height, and is graphically described by (Ezekiel 27). The imports into Tyre were fine linen from Egypt; blue and purple from the isles of Elisha; silver, iron, tin, and lead from Tarshish—the south part of Spain; slaves and brazen vessels from Javan or Greece, Tubal and Meshech; horses, slaves bred to horsemanship, and mules from Togarmah; emeralds, purple, embroidery, fine linen, corals, and agates from Syria; corn, balm, honey, oil, and gums from the Israelites; wine and wool from Damascus, polished ironware, precious oils, and cinnamon from Dan, Javan, and Mezo; magnificent carpets from Dedan; sheep and goats from the pastoral tribes of Arabia; costly spices, some the produce of India, precious stones, and gold from the merchants of Sheba or Sabrea, and Ramah or Regma, countries in the south part of Arabia; blue cloths, embroidered works, rich apparel in corded cedar-chests, supposed to be original India packages, and other goods from Sheba, Ashur, and Chilmad, and from Haran, Canneh, and Eden, trading ports on the south coast of Arabia. The vast wealth that thus flowed into Tyre from all quarters brought with it its too general concomitants—extravagance, dissipation, and relaxation of morals.
The subjection of Tyre, 'the renowned city which was strong in the sea, whose merchants were princes, whose traffickers were the honorable of the earth,' by Cyrus, and its subsequent overthrow by Alexander, after a determined and most formidable resistance, terminated alike the grandeur of that city and the history of ancient commerce, as far as they are alluded to in Scripture.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Commerce'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/c/commerce.html.
