Phenicia: (Acts 21:2) Phenice
(Acts 11:19; 15:3) R.V., Phoenicia, Gr. phoinix, " a
palm", the land of palm-trees; a strip of land of an average breadth
of about 20 miles along the shores of the Mediterranean, from the
river Eleutherus in the north to the promotory of Carmel in the
south, about 120 miles in length. This name is not found in the Old
Testament, and in the New Testament it is mentioned only in the
passages above referred to. "In the Egyptian inscriptions Phoenicia
is called Keft, the inhabitants being Kefa; and since Keft-ur, or
'Greater Phoenicia,' was the name given to the delta of the Nile from
the Phoenician colonies settled upon it, the Philistines who came
from Caphtor or Keft-ur must have been of Phoenician origin" (comp.)
(Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:4; Amos 9:7) Sayce's Bible and the Monuments. Phoenicia
lay in the very centre of the old world, and was the natural entrepot
for commerce with foreign nations. It was the "England of antiquity."
"The trade routes from all Asia converged on the Phoenician coast;
the centres of commerce on the Euphrates and Tigris forwarding their
goods by way of Tyre to the Nile, to Arabia, and to the west; and, on
the other hand, the productions of the vast regions bordering the
Mediterranean passing through the Canaanite capital to the eastern
world." It was "situate at the entry of the sea, a merchant of the
people for many isles"
(Ezekiel 27:3,4) The far-reaching commercial
activity of the Phoenicians, especially with Tarshish and the western
world, enriched them with vast wealth, which introduced boundless
luxury and developed among them a great activity in all manner of
arts and manufactures.
(See TYRE)
The Phoenicians were the most enterprising merchants of the old world,
establishing colonies at various places, of which Carthage was the
chief. They were a Canaanite branch of the race of Ham, and are
frequently called Sidonians, from their principal city of Sidon. None
could "skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians"
(1 Kings 5:6) King
Hiram rendered important service to Solomon in connection with the
planning and building of the temple, casting for him all the vessels
for the temple service, and the two pillars which stood in the front
of the porch, and "the molten sea"
(1 Kings 7:21-23) Singular marks
have been found by recent exploration on the great stones that form
the substructure of the temple. These marks, both painted and
engraved, have been regarded as made by the workmen in the quarries,
and as probably intended to indicate the place of these stones in the
building. "The Biblical account
(1 Kings 5:17,18) is accurately
descriptive of the massive masonry now existing at the south-eastern
angle (of the temple area), and standing on the native rock 80 feet
below the present surface. The Royal Engineers found, buried deeply
among the rubbish of many centuries, great stones, costly and hewed
stones, forming the foundation of the sanctuary wall; while Phoenician
fragments of pottery and Phoenician marks painted on the massive
blocks seem to proclaim that the stones were prepared in the quarry by
the cunning workmen of Hiram, the king of Tyre."
(See TEMPLE)
The Phoenicians have been usually regarded as the inventors of
alphabetic writing. The Egyptians expressed their thoughts by certain
symbols, called "hieroglyphics", i.e., sacred carvings, so styled
because used almost exclusively on sacred subjects. The recent
discovery, however, of inscriptions in Southern Arabia (Yemen and
Hadramaut), known as Hemyaritic, in connection with various philogical
considerations, has led some to the conclusion that the Phoenician
alphabet was derived from the Mineans (admitting the antiquity of the
kingdom of Ma'in,)
(Judges 10:12; 2 Chronicles 26:7) Thus the Phoenician
alphabet ceases to be the mother alphabet. Sayce thinks "it is more
than possible that the Egyptians themselves were emigrants from
Southern Arabia."
(See MOABITE STONE)
"The Phoenicians were renowned in ancient times for the manufacture of
glass, and some of the specimens of this work that have been preserved
are still the wonder of mankind...In the matter of shipping, whether
ship-building be thought of or traffic upon the sea, the Phoenicians
surpassed all other nations." "The name Phoenicia is of uncertain
origin, though it may be derived from Fenkhu, the name given in the
Egyptian inscriptions to the natives of Palestine. Among the chief
Phoenician cities were Tyre and Sidon, Gebal north of Beirut, Arvad or
Arados and Zemar."
