Ivory

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IVORY (shçn, lit. ‘tooth’; and shenhabbîm, ‘elephants’ teeth’ [but reading doubtful], 1Ki_10:22, 2Ch_9:21).—Ivory has been valued from the earliest times. In Solomon’s day the Israelites imported it from Ophir (1Ki_10:22): it was used in the decorations of palaces (1Ki_22:39). The ‘tower of ivory’ (Son_7:4) may also have been a building decorated with ivory. Solomon had a throne of ivory (1Ki_10:18-20). ‘Beds of ivory,’ such as are mentioned in Amo_6:4, were, according to a cuneiform inscription, included in the tribute paid by Hezekiah to Sennacherib.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

sheen, "tooth" or "tusk", namely, of the elephant. There is no Hebrew word in Scripture for the elephant, for the Israelites knew of the elephant first only by its ivory, which was imported from Africa and India. The African elephant exceeds the Indian in the size of the ear and of the tusks, the latter of which are often eight or ten feet long and weigh from 100 to 120 lbs. From the resemblance of its tusks to horns Eze_27:15 has "horns of ivory." "Palaces of ivory" mean ornamented with ivory (Psa_45:8). So Ahab's palace (1Ki_22:39).
Amos (Amo_3:15) foretells the destruction of the luxurious "houses of ivory" having their walls, doors, and ceilings inlaid with it; also "beds of ivory" (Amo_6:4), i.e. veneered with it. In 1Ki_10:22 and 2Ch_9:21 sheen habbim is the term "the teeth of elephants"; Sanskrit ibhas, Coptic eboy, Assyrian habba in the inscriptions. Gesenius would read sheen habenim, "ivory (and) ebony." On the Assyrian obelisk in the British Museum tribute bearers are seen carrying tusks; specimens of carvings in ivory were found in Nimrud, and tablets inlaid with blue and opaque glass. "All manner vessels of ivory" are in mystic Babylon (Rev_18:12).
Solomon made a great throne of ivory overlaid with gold (1Ki_10:18-20); the ivory was brought in the navy of Tarshish, probably from the S. coasts of Arabia, which maintained from ancient times commercial intercourse with both India and Ethiopia. In Eze_27:6 we read "the Ashurites have made thy (Tyre's) benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim"; rather, as the Hebrew orthography requires, "they have made thy (rowing) benches of ivory, inlaid in the daughter of cedars" or "the best boxwood" (bath ashurim), from Cyprus and Macedonia, from whence the best boxwood came (Pliny).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Ivory. The word translated "ivory" literally signifies the "tooth" of any animal, and hence, more especially denotes the substance of the projecting tusks of elephants. The skilled work-men of Hiram, king of Tyre, fashioned the great ivory throne of Solomon, and overlaid it with pure gold. 1Ki_10:18; 2Ch_9:17.
The ivory thus employed was supplied by the caravans of Dedan, Isa_21:13; Eze_27:15, or was brought, with apes and peacocks, by the navy of Tarshish. 1Ki_10:22.
The "ivory house" of Ahab, 1Ki_22:39, was probably a palace, the walls of which were panelled with ivory, like the palace of Menelaus described by Homer. Odys. iv. 73. Beds inlaid or veneered with ivory were in use among the Hebrews. Amo_6:4.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

שנהבים ; from שן , a tooth, and הבים , elephants; ελεφαντινος, Rev_18:12. 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,”
1Ki_10:22; 2Ch_9:21. 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, 1Ki_10:18. Cabinets and wardrobes were ornamented with ivory, by what is called marquetry, Psa_45:8.
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 ναοι of Diana, mentioned Act_19:24, 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, 1Ki_22:39; 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, Eze_27:24. Dr. Durell, in his note on Psa_45:8, 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 Lacedaemon:—
Χαλκου τε στεροπην, καδδωματα ηχηεντα
Χρυσου τ', ηλεκτρου τε, και αργυρου, η δ' ελεφαντος.
Odyss. v. 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 Athenaeus, says, that, in the island of Ceos, one of the Cyclades, the houses of the great men “glister with gold and ivory.”
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

ı̄?vō̇-ri ((1) שׁן, shēn, ?tooth? (translated ?ivory,? 1Ki_10:18; 1Ki_22:39; 2Ch_9:17; Psa_45:8; Son_5:14; Son_7:4; Eze_27:6, Eze_27:15; Amo_3:15; Amo_6:4); (2) שׁנהבּים, shenhabbı̄m; Septuagint ὀδόντες ἐλεφάντινοι, odóntes elephántinoi, ?elephants' teeth? (1Ki_10:22; 2Ch_9:21); (3) ἐλεφάντινος, elephántinos, ?of ivory? (Rev_18:12)): Shēn occurs often, meaning ?tooth? of man or beast. In the passages cited it is translated in English Versions of the Bible ?ivory? (of ?crag,? 1Sa_14:4, 1Sa_14:5; ?cliff,? Job_39:28 twice; ?flesh-hook of three teeth,? 1Sa_2:13). Shenhabbı̄m is thought to be a contracted form of shen hā-'ibbı̄m, i.e. hā, the article, and 'ibbı̄m, plural of 'ibbāh or 'ibbā'; compare Egyptian ab, ebu, ?elephant,? and compare Latin ebur, ?ivory? (see Liddell and Scott, under the word ἐλέφας, eléphas). On the other hand, it may be a question whether -bı̄m is not a singular form connected with the Arabic fı̂l, ?elephant.? If the word for ?elephant? is not contained in shenhabbı̄m, it occurs nowhere in the Hebrew Bible.
Ivory was probably obtained, as now, mainly from the African elephant. It was rare and expensive. It is mentioned in connection with the magnificence of Solomon (1Ki_10:18, 1Ki_10:22), being brought by the ships of Tarshish (2Ch_9:17, 2Ch_9:21). An ?ivory house? of Ahab is mentioned in 1Ki_22:39. It is mentioned among the luxuries of Israel in the denunciations of Amos (Amo_3:15; Amo_6:4). It occurs in the figurative language of Psa_45:8; Son_5:14; Son_7:4. It is used for ornamentation of the ships of the Tyrians (Eze_27:6), who obtain it with ebony through the men of Dedan (Eze_27:15). It is among the merchandise of Babylon (Rev_18:12).
We do not learn of the use of elephants in war until a few centuries before the Christian era. In 1 Macc 8:6, there is a reference to the defeat of Antiochus the Great, ?having an hundred and twenty elephants,? by Scipio Africanus in 190 bc. 1 Macc 1:17 speaks of the invasion of Egypt by Antiochus Epiphanes with an army in which there were elephants. 1 Macc 6:28-47 has a detailed account of a battle between Antiochus Eupator and Judas Maccabeus at Bethsura (Beth-zur). There were 32 elephants. Upon the ?beasts? (θηρία, thērı́a) there were ?strong towers of wood?; ?There were also upon every one two and thirty strong men, that fought upon them, beside the Indian that ruled him.?
In Job_40:15, the King James Version margin has for ?behemoth,? ?the elephant, as some think.?

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Ivory (1Ki_10:22; 2Ch_9:21; Rev_18:12). 'Elephant's tooth,' or simply 'elephant,' is a common name for ivory, not only in the Oriental languages and in Greek, but also in the Western tongues; although in all of them teeth of other species may be included. Elephants' teeth were largely imported as merchandise, and also brought as tribute into Egypt. The processions of human figures bearing presents, etc., still extant on the walls of palaces and tombs, attest by the black crisp-haired bearers of huge teeth, that some of these came from Ethiopia or Central Africa; and by white men similarly laden, who also bring an Asiatic elephant and a white bear, that others came from the East. Phoenician traders had ivory in such abundance, that the chief seats of their galleys were inlaid with it. In the Scriptures, according to the Chaldee Paraphrase, Jacob's bed was made of this substance (Gen_49:33); we find king Solomon importing it from Tarshish (1Ki_10:22); and if Psa_45:8 was written before his reign, ivory was extensively used in the furniture of royal residences at a still earlier period. The tusks of African elephants are generally much longer than those of the Asiatic; and it may be observed in this place, that the ancients, as well as the moderns, are mistaken when they assert elephants' tusks to be a kind of horns. They are genuine teeth, combining in themselves, and occupying, in the upper jaw, the whole mass of secretions which in other animals form the upper incisor and laniary teeth. They are useful for defense and offence, and for holding down green branches, or rooting up water-plants; but still they are not absolutely necessary, since there is a variety of elephant in the Indian forests entirely destitute of tusks, and the females in most of the races are either without them or have them very small; not turned downwards, as Bochart states, but rather straight, as correctly described by Pliny.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Psa_45:8 (b) Some think that this refers to the mouth, the ivory being the teeth, and the fragrance, the praise and worship that comes from the mouth.

Son_5:14 (c) This describes the unusual value and the striking beauty which the bride saw in the bridegroom. Words that lovers use are not always first class diction. The heart pours out its affection in words that best express the feelings. (See also Son_7:4).

Amo_3:15 (b) This is descriptive of the destruction that awaits the wealth and the provisions for ease and comfort made by the ungodly.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Ivory
(שֶׁנְהִבַּים, shenhabbim', elephant's tooth; see A. Benary, in the Besrliner Lit. Jahrb Ucher, 1831, No. 96; 1Ki_10:22; 2Ch_9:21; and so explained by the Targum, שֵׁן דְּפַיל, and Sept. ὀδόντες ἐλεφάντινοις) also simply שֵׁן, a tooth, Psa_45:8; Eze_27:15; Amo_6:4; N.T. ἐλεφάντινος, of ivory, Rev_18:12). It is remarkable that no word in Biblical Hebrew denotes an elephant, unless the latter portion of the compound shem-habbim be supposed to have this meaning. Gesenius derives it from the Sanscrit ibhas, “an elephant;” Keil (on 1Ki_10:22) from the Coptic eboy; while Sir Henry Rawlinson mentions a word habba, which he met with in the Assyrian inscriptions, and which he understands to mean “the large animal,” the term being applied both to the elephant and the camel (Journ. (of As. Soc. 12:463). It is suggested in Gesenius's Thesaurus (s.v.) that the original reading may have been שֵׁן הָבְנַים, “ivory, ebony” (compare Eze_27:15). By some of the ancient nations these tusks were imagined to be horns (Eze_27:15; Pliny, 8:4; 18:1), though Diodorus Siculus (1, 55) correctly calls them teeth. As they were first acquainted with elephants through their ivory which was an important article of commerce, the shape of the tusks, in all probability, led them into this error. They are genuine teeth, combining in themselves, and occupying, in the upper jaw, the whole mass of secretions which hi other animals form the upper incisor and laniary teeth. They are useful for defense and offence, and for holding down green branches, or rooting up water-plants; but still they are not absolutely necessary, since there is a variety of elephant in the Indian forests entirely destitute of tusks, and the females in most of the races are either without them, or have them very small; not turned downwards, as Bochart states, but rather straight, as correctly described by Pliny. Only two species of elephants are recognized — the African and the Indian easily distinguished from each other by the size of the ear, which in the former is much larger than in the latter. The tusks of the African elephant attain sometimes a length of 8 or even 10 feet, and a weight of 100 to 120 pounds; but those of the Indian elephant are much shorter and lighter, while in the females they often scarcely project beyond the lips. “Elephant's tooth,” or simply “elephant,” is a common name for ivory, not only in the Oriental languages and in Greek, but also in the Western tongues, although in all of them teeth of other species may be included. There can be no doubt, for example, that the harder and more accessible ivory obtained from the hippopotamus wars known in Egypt at least as early as that obtained from the elephant. This kind of ivory does not split, and therefore was anciently most useful for military instruments. SEE ELEPHANT.
The Egyptians at a very early period made use of this material in decoration. The cover of a small ivory box in the Egyptian collection at the Louvre is “inscribed with the praenomen Nefer-ka-re, or Neper-cheres, adopted by a dynasty found in the upper line of the tablet of Abydos, and attributed by M. Bunsen to the fifth…. In the time of Thothmes III ivory was imported in considerable quantities into Egypt, either ‘in boats laden with ivory and ebony' from Ethiopia, or else in tusks and cups from the Ruten-nu…. The celebrated car at Florence has its linchpins tipped with ivory” (Birch, in Trans. of Roy. Soc. of Lit. 3, 2nd series). The specimens of Egyptian ivory work, which are found in the principal museums of Europe, are, most of them, in the opinion of Mr. Birch, of a date anterior to the Persian invasion, and some even as old as the 18th dynasty. The practice of inlaying or covering the walls with ivory and other valuable substances was in very extensive use among the Egyptians, who used it likewise for ornamenting articles of furniture, as may be seen in the British Museum. Amongst the articles of household furniture there is a seat with four turned legs inlaid with ivory, brought from Thebes; also a high-backed chair on lion-footed legs; the back solid, inlaid with panels of darker wood, with lotus towers of ivory. The ivory used by the Egyptians was principally brought from Ethiopia (Herod. 3:114), though their elephants were originally from Asia. The Ethiopians, according to Diodorus Siculus (i, 55), brought to Sesostris “ebony and gold, and the teeth of elephants.” Among the tribute paid by them to the Persian kings were “twenty large tusks of ivory” (Herod. 3:97).
The processions of human figures bearing presents, etc., still extant on the walls of palaces and tombs, attest, by the black, crisp-haired bearers of huge teeth, that some of these came from Ethiopia or Central Africa; and by white men similarly laden, who also bring an Asiatic elephant and a white bear, that others came from the East. In the Periplus of the Red Sea (c. 4), attributed to Arrian, Coloe (Calai) is said to be “the chief mart for ivory.” It was thence carried down to Adouli (Zulla, or Thulla), a port on the Red Sea, about three days' journey from Coloe, together with the hides of hippopotami, tortoise-shell, apes, and slaves (Pliny, 6:34). The elephants and rhinoceroses from which it was obtained were killed further up the country, and few were taken near the sea, or in the neighborhood of Adouli. At Ptolemais Theron was found a little ivory like that of Adouli (Periplus, c. 3). Ptolemy Philadelphus made this port the depot of the elephant trade (Pliny, 6:34). According to Pliny (8, 10), ivory was so plentiful on the borders of Ethiopia that the natives made doorposts of it, and even fences and stalls for their cattle. The author of the Periplus (c. 16) mentions Rhapta as another station of the ivory trade, but the ivory brought down to this port is said to have been of an inferior quality, and “for the most part found in the woods, damaged by rain, or collected from animals drowned by the overflow of the rivers at the equinoxes” (Smith, Dict. of Class. Geography, s.v. Rhapta). The Egyptian merchants traded for ivory and onyx stones to Barygraza the port to which was carried down the commerce of Western India from Ozene (Periplzas, c. 49).
The Assyrians appear to have carried on a great traffic in ivory. Their early conquests in India had made them familiar with it, and (according to one rendering of the passage) their artists supplied the luxurious Tyrians with carvings in ivory from the isles of Chittim (Eze_27:6). On the obelisk in the British Museum the captives or tribute-bearers are represented as carrying tusks. Among the merchandise of Babylon enumerated in Rev_18:12 are included “all manner vessels of ivory.” Mr. Layard discovered several ornaments made from ivory in the Assyrian mounds (Nineveh, 2, 15), but they are of uncertain date, and exhibit marks of Egyptian workmanship (ib. p. 163, 168). Many specimens of Assyrian carving in ivory have been found in the excavations at Nimrod, and among the rest some tablets “richly inlaid with blue and opaque glass, lapislazuli, etc.” (Bonomi, Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 334; comp. Son_5:14). Part of an ivory staff, apparently a scepter, and several entire elephants' tusks, were discovered by Mr. Layard in the last stage of decay, and it was with extreme difficulty that these interesting relics could be restored (Nini. and Bab. p. 195).
In the early ages of Greece ivory was frequently employed for purposes of ornament. The trappings of horses were studded with it (Homer, II. 5, 584): it was used for the handles of keys (Odyssey, 21, 7) and for the bosses of shields (Hes. Sc. Herc. 141, 142). The “ivory house” of Ahab (1Ki_22:39) was probably a palace; the walls of which were paneled with ivory, like the palace of Menelaus described by Homer (Odys. 4, 73; compare Eurip. Aph. Aul. 583, ἐλεφαντοδέτοι δόμοι. Comp. also Amo_3:15, and Psa_45:8, unless the “ivory palaces” in the latter passage were perfume-boxes made of that material, as been conjectured). It is difficult to determine whether the “tower of ivory” of Son_7:4 is merely a figure of speech, or whether it had its original among the things that were. Beds inlaid or veneered with ivory were in use among the Hebrews (Amos 6, 4; compare Homer, Od. 23, 200), as also among the Egyptians (Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 3, 169). The practice of inlaying and veneering wood with ivory and tortoise-shell is described by Pliny (16, 84).
By the luxurious Phoenicians ivory was employed to ornament the boxwood rowing-benches (or “‘hatches” according to some) of their galleys (Eze_27:6). The skilled workmen of Hiram, king of Tyre, fashioned the great ivory throne of Solomon, and overlaid it with pure gold (1Ki_10:18; 2Ch_9:17). The ivory thus employed was supplied by the caravans of Dedan (Isa_21:13; Eze_27:15), or was brought from the East Indies, with apes and peacocks, by the navy of Tarshish (1Ki_10:22). As an instance of the superabundant possession and barbarian use of elephants' teeth may be mentioned the octagonal ivory hunting tower built by Akbar, about twenty-four miles west of Agra: it is still standing, and bristles with 128 enormous tusks disposed in ascending lines, sixteen on each face. Mr. Roberts, remarking on the words of Amos (6, 4), they “that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon couches,” refers the last word, in conformity with the Tamuld version, to swinging cots, often mentioned in the early tales of India, and still plentifully used by the wealthy. But it does not appear that they were known in Western Asia, or that figures of them occur on Egyptian bas-reliefs. It is more likely that palkies (those luxurious traveling litters) are meant, which were borne on men's shoulders, while the person within was stretched at ease. They were in common use even among the Romans, for Cicero fell into his assassin's hands while he was attempting to escape in one of them towards Naples. Among the Romnans, inlaying with ivory seems to have become, at length, rather a common method of ornamenting the interiors (of the mansions of the wealthy; for Horace mentions it as an evidence of his humble way of life that “no walls inlaid with ivory adorned his house.”

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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