שנבים; from שז, _a tooth_, and הבים, _elephants_; ἐλεφάντινος,
Rev. xviii, 12. The first time that ivory is mentioned in Scripture is
in the reign of Solomon. If the forty-fifth Psalm was written before the
Canticles, and before Solomon had constructed his royal and magnificent
throne, then that contains the first mention of this commodity. It is
spoken of as used in decorating those boxes of perfume, whose odours
were employed to exhilarate the king’s spirits. It is probable that
Solomon, who traded to India, first brought thence elephants and ivory
to Judea. “For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish, with the navy of
Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold and
silver, and ivory,” 1 Kings x, 22; 2 Chron. ix, 21. It seems that
Solomon had a throne decorated with ivory, and inlaid with gold; the
beauty of these materials relieving the splendour, and heightening the
lustre of each other, 1 Kings x, 18. Cabinets and wardrobes were
ornamented with ivory, by what is called marquetry, Psalm xlv, 8.
_Quale per artem
Inclusum buxo aut Oricia terebintho
Lucet ebur._
VIRGIL.
“So shines a gem, illustrious to behold,
On some fair virgin’s neck, enchased in gold:
So the surrounding ebon’s darker hue
Improves the polish'd ivory to the view.”
PITT.
These were named “houses of ivory,” probably because made in the form of
a house, or palace; as the silver ναοὶ of Diana, mentioned Acts xix, 24,
were in the form of her temple at Ephesus; and as we have now ivory
models of the Chinese pagodas, or temples. In this sense we may
understand what is said of the ivory house which Ahab made, 1 Kings
xxii, 39; for the Hebrew word translated “_house_ is used,” as Dr.
Taylor well observes, for “a place, or case, wherein any thing lieth, is
contained, or laid up.” Ezekiel gives the name of house to chests of
rich apparel, Ezek. xxvii, 24. Dr. Durell, in his note on Psalm xlv, 8,
quotes places from Homer and Euripides, where the same appropriation is
made. Hesiod makes the same. As to dwelling houses, the most, I think,
we can suppose in regard to them is, that they might have ornaments of
ivory, as they sometimes have of gold, silver, or other precious
materials, in such abundance as to derive an appellation from the
article of their decoration; as the Emperor Nero’s palace, mentioned by
Suetonius, was named _aurea_, or “golden,” because _lita auro_,
“overlaid with gold.” This method of ornamental buildings, or
apartments, was very ancient among the Greeks. Homer mentions ivory as
employed in the palace of Menelaus at Lacedæmon:--
Χαλκοῦ τε στεροπὴν, καδδώματα ἠχήεντα
Χρυσοῦ τ’, ἠλέκτρȣ τε, καὶ ἀργύρȣ ἠ δ’ ἐλέφαντος.
_Odyss._ iv, 72.
“Above, beneath, around the palace, shines
The sumless treasure of exhausted mines;
The spoils of elephants the roof inlay,
And studded amber darts a golden ray.”
Bacchylides, cited by Athenæus, says, that, in the island of Ceos, one
of the Cyclades, the houses of the great men “glister with gold and
ivory.”
Rev. xviii, 12. The first time that ivory is mentioned in Scripture is
in the reign of Solomon. If the forty-fifth Psalm was written before the
Canticles, and before Solomon had constructed his royal and magnificent
throne, then that contains the first mention of this commodity. It is
spoken of as used in decorating those boxes of perfume, whose odours
were employed to exhilarate the king’s spirits. It is probable that
Solomon, who traded to India, first brought thence elephants and ivory
to Judea. “For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish, with the navy of
Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold and
silver, and ivory,” 1 Kings x, 22; 2 Chron. ix, 21. It seems that
Solomon had a throne decorated with ivory, and inlaid with gold; the
beauty of these materials relieving the splendour, and heightening the
lustre of each other, 1 Kings x, 18. Cabinets and wardrobes were
ornamented with ivory, by what is called marquetry, Psalm xlv, 8.
_Quale per artem
Inclusum buxo aut Oricia terebintho
Lucet ebur._
VIRGIL.
“So shines a gem, illustrious to behold,
On some fair virgin’s neck, enchased in gold:
So the surrounding ebon’s darker hue
Improves the polish'd ivory to the view.”
PITT.
These were named “houses of ivory,” probably because made in the form of
a house, or palace; as the silver ναοὶ of Diana, mentioned Acts xix, 24,
were in the form of her temple at Ephesus; and as we have now ivory
models of the Chinese pagodas, or temples. In this sense we may
understand what is said of the ivory house which Ahab made, 1 Kings
xxii, 39; for the Hebrew word translated “_house_ is used,” as Dr.
Taylor well observes, for “a place, or case, wherein any thing lieth, is
contained, or laid up.” Ezekiel gives the name of house to chests of
rich apparel, Ezek. xxvii, 24. Dr. Durell, in his note on Psalm xlv, 8,
quotes places from Homer and Euripides, where the same appropriation is
made. Hesiod makes the same. As to dwelling houses, the most, I think,
we can suppose in regard to them is, that they might have ornaments of
ivory, as they sometimes have of gold, silver, or other precious
materials, in such abundance as to derive an appellation from the
article of their decoration; as the Emperor Nero’s palace, mentioned by
Suetonius, was named _aurea_, or “golden,” because _lita auro_,
“overlaid with gold.” This method of ornamental buildings, or
apartments, was very ancient among the Greeks. Homer mentions ivory as
employed in the palace of Menelaus at Lacedæmon:--
Χαλκοῦ τε στεροπὴν, καδδώματα ἠχήεντα
Χρυσοῦ τ’, ἠλέκτρȣ τε, καὶ ἀργύρȣ ἠ δ’ ἐλέφαντος.
_Odyss._ iv, 72.
“Above, beneath, around the palace, shines
The sumless treasure of exhausted mines;
The spoils of elephants the roof inlay,
And studded amber darts a golden ray.”
Bacchylides, cited by Athenæus, says, that, in the island of Ceos, one
of the Cyclades, the houses of the great men “glister with gold and
ivory.”