Merchant
The Hebrew word so rendered is from a root meaning “to travel about,” “to migrate,” and hence “a traveller.” In the East, in ancient times, merchants travelled about with their merchandise from place to place (Gen 37:25; Job 6:18), and carried on their trade mainly by bartering (Gen 37:28; Gen 39:1). After the Hebrews became settled in Palestine they began to engage in commercial pursuits, which gradually expanded (Gen 49:13; Deut 33:18; Judg 5:17), till in the time of Solomon they are found in the chief marts of the world (1 Kgs 9:26; 1 Kgs 10:11, 1 Kgs 10:26, 1 Kgs 10:28; 1 Kgs 22:48; 2 Chr 1:16; 2 Chr 9:10, 2 Chr 9:21). After Solomon’s time their trade with foreign nations began to decline. After the Exile it again expanded into wider foreign relations, because now the Jews were scattered in many lands.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
