And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

And Hiram sent his servants in the fleet, sailors that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

And Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon;

And Hiram sendeth in the navy his servants, shipmen knowing the sea, with servants of Solomon,

Hiram sent his servants, who were experienced seamen, in the sea-force with Solomon's men.

And Hiram sent his servants to that navy, the sailors and those knowledgeable about the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

Shipmen - See 1-Kings 5:6 note. With respect to the acquaintance of the Phoenicians with this particular sea, it may be observed that they are not unlikely to have had trading settlements there, as they had in the Persian Gulf, even at this early period. The commerce with Ophir was probably an established trade, previously either in their hands or in those of the Egyptians, when Solomon determined to have a share in it. The Egyptians had navigated the other arm of the Red Sea, and perhaps its lower parts, from a much more ancient period.

And Hiram sent in his navy his servants,.... And, according to 2-Chronicles 8:18, ships also but how he could send them from Tyre, which lay in the Mediterranean sea, to the above ports in the Red sea, without going a great way round, is not easy to conceive. Perhaps, as Gussetins conjectures (c), Hiram had a port in the Red sea for building and sending out ships, for the sake of his eastern navigation, and from thence he sent them to Solomon's ports in the same sea; but if what R. Japhet (d) observes is true, that the Red sea is mixed with the sea of Joppa by means of the river Rhinocurura, as is remarked by a learned man (e) and who approves of the observation, and thinks it does not deserve the censure Dr. Lightfoot (f) passes on it. If this, I say, can be supported, the difficulty is removed: so Abarbinel asserts (g), that a branch of the Nile flows into the Red sea: and another, passing through Alexandria, runs into the Mediterranean sea. This is the first navy of ships we read of; in the construction of which, as well as in the art of navigation, the Tyrians no doubt were greatly assisting to Solomon's servants, and which appears by what follows; and they are said (h) to be the first that made use of ships; and the invention of ships of burden, or merchant ships, such as these were, is by Pliny (i) ascribed to Hippus the Tyrian: and the Tyrians were famous for merchandise, which they could not carry on with foreign nations without shipping; see Isaiah 23:8, the servants Hiram sent in Solomon's navy were
shipmen that had knowledge of the sea; of sea coasts and ports, of the manner of guiding and managing ships at sea, and of the whole art of navigation, so far as then known, for which the Tyrians were famous; see Ezekiel 27:3,
with the servants of Solomon; to instruct and assist them in naval affairs, they not having been used thereunto.
(c) Ebr. Comment p. 628. (d) In Aben Ezra in Jonah. ii. 5. (e) Texelii Phoenix, l. 3. c. 6. p. 243, 244. (f) Miscellanies, c. 18. vol. 1. p. 1002, 1003. (g) Apud Manasseh, Spes Israelis, sect. 2. p. 20. (h) "Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros", Catullus. (i) Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 56.

Knowledge of the sea - For which the Tyrians were famous. He sent also ships to join with Solomon's, not from Tyre, the city of Phoenicia; but from an island in the Red - sea, called Tyre, because it was a colony of the Tyrians, as Strabo notes.