Trade and Merchant
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Ezek. 17:4)—commerce in the ancient Near East moved both by caravan and by sea. The merchants to whom Joseph was sold traveled with aromatics from Gilead toward Egypt (Gen. 37:25–28). Arabian routes linked Egypt and the Levant with southern Arabia and lands farther east, while Phoenician ports, especially Sidon and Tyre, became leading centers of maritime exchange. Ezekiel 27 gives a wide-ranging catalogue of Tyre’s trading partners and goods. Egypt likewise exported and redistributed products through Mediterranean and Red Sea networks.
James 4:13 reflects the familiar practice of merchants planning to travel from city to city for profit, while warning that all such plans remain subject to the will of God.