*^tron'; othe1""ef:rence to the trade ^om F7ion. sober to Opbir U the statement that fZsha^lhat made an unsuccessful attenint to jenosnapii^i. Probably in the troubles at
SeTlo^ of Soloinon's r:Sn,'judah lost its free ^e^ to the Red Sea, and the trailic ce.-ised once f^iQ Otherwi.se what we read of the commeice oTi^lomon's reign will hold good, ^n -ry.ng^ le^ PTees for the period of the monarchy. Ihe Sfwences of the prophets of the eighth century to the prosi^rity and luxury of the two kingdoms . , K a»-M and loaa clearly rcler to the same traffic. The
kinu had sh.ps that f'"' *? 'J"?;, 7 k 22« • Jehoshaphat made tion of the sf .tt-fli f^ 0?hir' (Herzfeld, Ilawlrll,csch. der diips ot Tarshish to. go to Ol'"^ .^."(^^^o „„ ., ch 0-n.
,ih"ir[Sft^l^loSoi^L2£edHa-^^
Vn^, o^„f Chron.'i'th'^TeS^nce to Tadmor In the latter ■. due to a migunderetttudii g ot the tormer.
under Uzziah, Joth:im, and Ahaz of Judah, and unaer ^"';" • , . ■ , demand for foreign Jeroboam II. oi i»raei, umnj' a. "v- o6. 7. n
ously affected its commerce. fradina
It is doubtful whether the Israelites had trading vessels on the Mediterranean before the bxile. H«z eld a c p. 17) contends for a considerable Sari[C^fe^traffi'c mainly in the hands of Zebulun. In the Song of Deborah we read in RV of J g & • Aiid Dan, wh.v did he remain in shM'S? Asher sat still at the haven (m. shore) ot the sea. And abode by his creeks.'
This nassa-^e seems to imply seafaring habits on ulTpaTof-the tribes on the Med^^eiranea^coa.
}' h ''°r;nv;«'shy"oPr to re*^d/r^e first 'meadows for mix snips . ui t .up shins''
line ' Why does he live nei-hbour to the smps^ Moore), or 'Why does he fear the ships ^£^». too must be the northern Dan.-In the Blessing of Ja"ob (n.c. 1000-850) RV ^«"^''^'\^° f,'"" . Zebulun shall dwell at the haven ("Vfjf,'^^) o the Be^ And he shall he for an haven (m beach) 01 snips , And his Ijorder shall be upon Zidon.
RV translates Dt 33'»- '»-
• Eejoice, Zebulun, in thy going oat ; ^^;S'c='Jiirhe''/eo';euntothemount^^^^ There *all thev offer sacnfices of r-ghteobsnesa. For the" shall suck the abu.idance of the seag. And th4 hidden treasures of the sand.
Puie 'i^mdes ' werellied ' to the mountain ' to a is never mentioned by pre-ex lie ^"'X^Ttraelites.
I ^^btfiii if ^:^^^,::''^^jt^^
^^"Ta'Vnte est on tie commerce of Solomon """'h Trdv have mentioned Mediterranean would surelv nave mc who e, there-
trallic if it liad existed On the w uo fore the extant evidence f ai s to pro\e ^ ,. Is aelites had trading vessels on h«/IulUer_
*''*■ *■ . gi8.» is perhape an interpolation.
TRADE AND COMMERCE
TRADE A:\D COiMMERCE 805
Another question is as to liow far, in the time of tlie monarchy, tlie comiiierce of Israel was in Israelite hands. The fact that in Job 41' and Pr 31" ' Canaanite,' and in Hos 12' ' Canaan,' is used to mean 'merchant'; and apparently in Is 23", Zeph 1" 'Canaan' is used for ' the merchant people,' suggests that in early times the trade of Israel was largely carried on by the Phcenicians. Tlie various codes and the prophets make scant reference to trade. In view of the keen interest in the comnierce of Tyre shown by Is 23, Ezk 2G. 27, we should have expected more detailed notice of Israelite trade if it had been largely in native hands. Hos 12', indeed, ' He [Epliraim] is a trafficker [lit. ' Canaan '],' * implies the develop- ment of native commercial activity in the Northern Kingdom in the last period of its independence. But this seems to have been a new development, speedily cut short by the fall of Samaria. Again, Lzk '2l)^ represents 'lyre as exulting over the fall of Jerusalem, ' the gate of the peoples,' and ex- pecting to prolit — perhaps commercially — by her ruin : ' I shitll be replenished, now that she is laid waste.' No doubt, Jerusalem was to some extent a commercial city. On tlie other liand, it is to a Canaanite merchant that the Israelite housewife sells her cloth (Pr 31**) ; the merchant is not men- tioned amongst the notables in such lists as Is 3- ' ; and, except Solomon and his agents, no Israelite merchants are mentioned before the Exile. Probably much of the internal traffic, and most of the import and export trade, were in the hands of Phoenicians and other foreigners.
The restored Jewish community in Palestine during the Persian period was small and poor (Hag 1'-" 2"'- ", Zee 7' 8^- «■ '", Mai 3•^ Neh P '2" i'' 5), and its commerce must have been very limited. Still the Jewish settlement was a city, — Jerusalem and its territory, — and a city implies local and other trade (so Neh 3^'- '^ 13"*'^, where we find the trade partly in the hands of the ' men of Tyre'). There is evidence that during this period Dor, Jo|)pa, and Ashkelon were held by the Phoenicians ((i. A. Smith, IIGIIL 12'J). Prob- ably must of the external and some of the internal trade of the Jewish community in Palestine was in the hands of the Phoenicians. When Jonah set sail from Joppa for Tarshish, it was in a Gentile ship (Jon P).