The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 26
Chapter XXVI · Vol. III, pp. 1348–1349
1 Tyrus, for insulting over the distress of Jerusalem, is threatened with destruction. 7 The power of Nebuchadrezzar against her. 15 The mourning and astonishment of the princes of the sea at her fall.
1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year,1 ina the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, because that bTyrus hath said against Jerusalem,2 Aha,c she is broken that was the dgates of the people;3 shee is turned unto me;4 I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:
A.M. cir. 3416. B.C. cir. 588.
b ch.xxvii.xxviii. Is.23.1. Je.25.22; 47.4. Am.1.9,10. Zec.9.3,4.
2 Jerusalem was the commercial rival of Tyre. Tyre therefore rejoices in her fall; a joy as foolish as it was malignant, inasmuch as general prosperity is the best, nay, under Providence, the only security for individual success.—C.
c ch.25.2,3,6; 36.2. Ps.35.21; 83.2,4.
d La.1.1. Ex.23.17. Jn.13.20. Ac.2.5,9-11.
3 Gates of the people—the great market-place of the nations.—C.
e Je.49.1. ch.35.10. Joel 3.4-6. Ps.83.12.
4 She is turned unto me. Her traffic is now turned into the Tyrian market. The spoils of Jerusalem, and most probably some of the poor captives, were also carried to Tyre for sale. See ch.27.13, compare Joel 3.4-6. 'Aha! she is broken; the merchandise of the people is turned unto me; she that was full is become desolate' (Boothroyd).—C.
3 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, gBehold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause hmany nations to come up against thee, as the isea causeth his waves to come up.
g ch.38.3. Is.xxiii. Je.25.9,22; 47.4,7. Ps.83.7,13-18. Joel 3.6,8. Am.1.9,10. Zec.9.1-4.
h Je.25.9; 34.1; 51.27,42, with Is.8.7,8. Da.9.26; 11.24.
i Is.5.30.
4 And they jshall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: kI will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
5 Itl shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD; and nit shall become a spoil to the nations.
l ver.4,14,19; ch.27.32.
n ver.12.
6 And her daughters5 which are in the 6field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 For thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus oNebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a pking of kings, from the north, qwith horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.
8 Her shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field; and she shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount7 against thee, and lift up the buckler8 against thee.
r ver.6.
s ch.21.22. 2 Sa.20.15. Je.52.4; 33.4.
7 Or, pour out the engine of shot.
8 Shall lift up the buckler. A species of shield which the besiegers 'lifted up' to cover their heads from any missiles from the walls.—C.
9 And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes9 he shall break down thy towers.
9 Axes. 'Battering-rams.'—Hewlet.
10 Byt reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.1
t Na.2.3,4,9; 3.2,3. ch.23.24. Je.47.3.
1 Heb. according to the enterings of a city broken up.
11 With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets:2 he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall ugo down to the ground.
2 The reference to the horsemen in the streets would seem to apply only to continental Tyre, but ver.5,12; ch.27.4; 28.8 evidently refer to an insular city.—C.
u Is.26.5.
12 And vthey shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses:3 and they shall lay thy stones,4 and thy timber, and thy dust, in the midst of the water.5
3 Heb. houses of thy desire.
4 The rubbish was thrown into the sea, or ch.27.26,27,34; ver.19.
5 The ruins of ancient Tyre were actually employed by Alexander of Macedon to make a mound in the sea, by means of which he advanced his army to the walls of the insular city.—C.
v ver.5. Mat.6.19. 1 Ti.6.17. Pr.11.4,24. Re.18.11-13. Zec.9.3,4.
13 Andx I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
x Is.24.8,9; 14.11. Je.7.34; 16.9; 25.10. Ho.2.11. Re.18.22,23, with ch.28.13. Is.23.7,16.
14 Andy I will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more:6 for zI the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
A.M. cir. 3416. B.C. cir. 588.
y See ver.4,5,12.
6 With Is.23.17,18. Mat.15.21. Ac.21.7. Tyre, which the Chaldeans utterly destroyed, was not rebuilt, but another city of the same name built in an adjacent island.
15 Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus, Shall not the isles ashake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
16 Then all the bprinces of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and clay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling;7 they shall sit upon the ground, and shall dtremble at every moment, and be eastonished at thee.
b Is.23.2,6,8,10. ch.27.35,30-32; 32.10. Re.18.11,17,19. 2 Ki.6.30. Job 2.12,13.
c Jonah 3.6.
7 Heb. tremblings, Job 2.13. ch.7.17. Da.5.6.
d ch.32.10.
e ch.27.35.
17 And they shall take up a glamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed that wast inhabited of seafaring men,8 theh renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!
18 Nowi shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.9
i ver.15; ch.27.29,30. Is.23.14. Re.18.15,16.
9 Is.23.7,10. Job 3.4,8. Thy terrible ruin and leaving thy ancient city.
19 For thus saith the Lord GOD, When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep1 upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;2
1 The Chaldean army, ver.3,7. Je.25.9; 34.1; 51.27,40,42, with Da.9.26; 11.22,40. Is.8.7,8. Re.17.15; 18.21.
2 The 'great waters,' literally, covered ancient Tyre, though it was situated on the continent. See ver.12. Or the 'great waters' may figuratively represent the multitudinous army of Nebuchadnezzar. See Re.17.15.—C.
20 When jI shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall 3set glory in the land of the living;4
j Nu.16.30,33. Ps.28.1. Lu.10.15. ch.32.18,24,25,27,29,30.
3 Restore the Jews to their own land, to be the glory of the earth, or glorify myself in thy destruction, Is.4.5. Zec.2.8. ch.20.6; 28.25,26. Mal.3.17, or ch.38.16,23; 39.7,21,27.
4 I shall exhibit the glory of my name to living men, by the terrible judgments whereby I have laid you among the dead.—C.
21 I will make thee a terror,5 and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shaltk thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.6
5 Heb. terrors, ver.14; ch.27.36; 28.19.
k Ps.37.36. Je.51.64. Re.18.20. ch.27.36; ver.4,5,12,14,18,19.
6 The principal parts of this prophecy concern Old Tyre, which was situated on the mainland close to the shore, opposite the island on which the more modern city was built. Of this old city not a vestige now remains. The stones and the very rubbish have all been removed. They were swept off by the soldiers of Alexander, thrown into the narrow channel which formerly divided the island from the mainland, and an artificial isthmus was thus formed giving access to the new city. Thus was the prophecy fulfilled, 'They shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the water;' and thus too has the prediction been realized, 'Thou shalt be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again.'—P.
Notes
Ver. 5. A place for the spreading of nets. 'The whole village of Tyre consists of fifty to sixty poor families, who live on the produce of their little ground and a trifling fishery' (see Volney's Travels).—What an instructive lesson to the believer, to behold an avowed infidel thus compelled by stubborn facts to bow to the spirit of prophecy. (See also Bruce's and Shaw's Travels.) C.
Ver. 14. Thou shalt be built no more. There has arisen here a difficulty in the minds of some expositors; for it is historically notorious that insular Tyre was rebuilt after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, and recovered much, if not the whole, of its former magnificence. The solution of the difficulty lies in the fact, that two cities are addressed under one name, see ver. 11, and that the continental city never was rebuilt, but sunk into a mere village—a state of obscurity, dependence, and poverty, from which it has never emerged. C.
Reflections.—God highly resents our taking pleasure in the death or decay of others for the sake of our own carnal advantage. And there is little reason to boast of or trust in created enjoyments, when the most wealthy and powerful cities may quickly be so ruined, as that the place where they stood shall not be known. So weak is human strength, so fading human greatness, and so tottering the rocky foundations of cities! Alas, the dreadful effects of sin, especially in hell! And how just is it that they who, priding themselves in their own strength, took pleasure to affright their inferiors, by the display of it, should likewise affright and astonish them by the suddenness or strangeness of their punishments! It is common for worldly men to lament the death of great rather than of good men. And marvellously will God connect his own glory, and the restoration of his people, with the ruinous destruction of his and their enemies.