Ezekiel 26

Ezekiel 26 OF TYREEzekiel devotes eight chapters of his book to oracles against foreign nations. Jerusalem had fallen. Yet before Ezekiel related this fact to his readers, he recorded the revelation that God will some day judge the heathen nations and cities around Judah. Ezekiel speaks of seven different nations in all. Having warned the small neighboring states of Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia (Ezekiel 25:1-17), Ezekiel denounced the two commercial centers of the day, Tyre and Sidon (Ezekiel 26:1 to Ezekiel 28:26). The final blast is directed against Egypt (Ezekiel 29:1 to Ezekiel 32:32). Some commentators express surprise that Babylon is not singled out in this section for condemnation. Ezekiel deliberately refrained from announcing the destruction of that nation, for to do so would have been too glaring a provocation. However, it did not demand great intelligence to conclude that if God was going to pour out his judgment upon these nations, Babylon surely could not altogether escape. Jeremiah already had written a lengthy condemnation of Babylon, so one from Ezekiel was unnecessary. Furthermore, an anti-Babylon oracle by Ezekiel might have stirred up the exiles to foolish resistance to the Babylonian government. Ezekiel organizes the oracles against foreign nations topically rather than chronologically. The Phoenician seaport cities of Tyre and Sidon first come under the purview of the prophet. Tyre, the more important of the two cities, receives far more attention— seventy-six verses as compared to but four verses devoted to Sidon. The lengthy Tyre material is itself divided into four distinct messages. The first two speak of the city itself, the last two of the king of that city. H.L. Ellison has offered the interesting suggestion that Ezekiel saw in the fall of the commercial city of Tyre a picture of the fall of Babylon, a similar commercial metropolis. To appreciate the prophecies regarding Tyre, one needs to be familiar with some of the geography of the place. Tyre is located a mere thirty-five miles as the crow flies from the Sea of Galilee, and only a hundred miles or so from Jerusalem. Ancient merchants traversed this distance by camel in a few days. Tyre was situated in a most advantageous location on the Mediterranean Sea coast. The city possessed two excellent harbors, one on the mainland where a portion of the city was built, and the other on an off-shore island where the main fortress was located. It was this rocky island that gave the city its Hebrew name sor, “rock.” The island city helped double the trading capacity of Tyre as well as provide a last refuge for the citizens in time of attack. The Phoenicians were the merchants of antiquity. Export products included glassware and dyed materials. A beautiful purple dye was made from a shellfish native to the area. Tyre was a prize that conquerors desired above all others. Tyre seems to have suffered less damage than the other states of Syria- Palestine during the Assyrian era, although she had to pay heavy tribute to maintain her commercial freedom. The prediction of Tyre’ s destruction can be divided into four paragraphs, each introduced by the traditional messenger formula, thus says the Lord GOD.DATE OF THE ORACLEEze_26:1 It came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying… The Tyre material is dated to the eleventh year of Jehoiachin’ s captivity. The month is not stated in the text, but it was likely the sixth month. If it was the first day of the sixth month on which the oracles against Tyre were composed, the date would be September 18, 587 B.C. About twenty months have elapsed since the last events and prophecies recorded in the book (cf. 24:1-2 and 26:1). The siege of Jerusalem had been under way for about nine months at the time Ezekiel delivered his Tyre messages. REASON FOR THE Eze_26:2-6 Tyre’s Gloating (Ezekiel 26:2-3 a): Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem: Aha! She who was the gates of peoples is broken; it has turned unto me; I will be filled with the one who has been laid waste. (3) Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre. The first paragraph of the Tyre oracle is couched in the because . . . therefore pattern of the previous chapter. Tyre’ s offense was that she had gloated over the fall of Jerusalem. That brought down on her the wrath of Yahweh, in fulfillment of Gen 12:3. Proverbs 17:5 declares: whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

Jerusalem had been the gates of the peoples, a major trading center at the intersection of international trade-routes. The caravan tolls that once filled Jerusalem’ s coffers came to Tyre now that the capital of Judah had been laid waste. A bit of greed and selfishness is evidenced in the joyous exclamation, I will be filled (Ezekiel 26:2). Because of this greed and arrogant pride, the God of Israel declared himself to be an adversary of Tyre (Ezekiel 26:3 a).Five Predictions (Ezekiel 26:3-6): Five specific predictions concerning the future of Tyre are contained in Ezekiel 26:3-6. Prediction #1 (Ezekiel 26:3): I will bring up against you many nations, as the sea causes its waves to come up. Many nations will come against Tyre. Wave after wave of enemy soldiers will storm that place (v 3b). Commencing with the attack of Nebuchadnezzar, Tyre experienced at least five major assaults: Alexander the Great attacked the place in 332 B.C. He succeeded in conquering the city after a siege of seven months.

Antigonus besieged Tyre in 314 B.C. and conquered the city after a siege of fifteen months. The Arabs captured the city in A.D. 636. The place was retaken by the Crusaders in A.D. 1124. Finally, the Arabs recaptured Tyre in A.D. 1291.Prediction #2 (Ezekiel 26:4): They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. Tyre will be made a bare rock.

The proud walls and towers will be broken down (Ezekiel 26:4). Alexander the Great scraped the old mainland site of Tyre clean. With the debris and rubble he built a peninsula out into the sea. By means of this mole, he was able to make a land assault on the island fortress. Prediction #3 (Ezekiel 26:5 a): She will become a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it (oracle of the LORD). Fisherman will spread their nets over the site of Tyre. The dry rocky island will be a suitable place for such activity. The presence of fishnets implies fishermen. Hence, the prophet is not suggesting that the site of Tyre will be totally abandoned. A small fishing village exists upon the ancient ruins of Tyre today. Prediction #4 (Ezekiel 26:5 b): She will become a spoil for the nations. Tyre will become spoil for the nations (Ezekiel 26:5 b). History records that each successive wave of attackers enriched itself at the expense of Tyre. Prediction #5 (Ezekiel 26:6): Her daughters who are in the field will be slain with the sword. They will know that I am the LORD. Satellite towns and villages (her daughters) on the mainland will be slain by the sword, i.e., destroyed by warfare. Nebuchadnezzar took the mainland city of Tyre and the surrounding towns and villages during his campaign in that region. All of the five blows mentioned above will befall Tyre for two reasons: (1) the God who cannot lie had so decreed it in a solemn oracle (v 5); and (2) the God of Israel will thereby be vindicated in the eyes of the Phoenician peoples (v 6).AGENTS OF Ezekiel 26:7-14 Assault by Nebuchadnezzar (Ezekiel 26:7-11): The generalized predictions regarding the fate of Tyre are amplified in vv 7-14. The successive waves of attack against Tyre are initiated by Babylon. His approach (Ezekiel 26:7): For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to bring Nebuchadrezzar against Tyre, king of Babylon, from the north, king of kings, with horses and chariots, horsemen, a company, even much people. The sixth specific prediction of the Tyre oracle is that Nebuchadrezzar. will destroy the mainland city of Tyre. The Chaldean king is here called king of kings because he had dominion over dozens of vassal kingdoms (cf. Daniel 2:37; Ezra 7:12). Nebuchadnezzar will approach Tyre from the north around the hump of the Fertile Crescent. Armed to the teeth, Nebuchadrezzar’ s cavalry, chariots and innumerable infantry will approach Tyre (Ezekiel 25:7).His siege (Ezekiel 26:8-9): He will slay with the sword your daughters in the field.

He will make movable towers against you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up shields against you. (Ezekiel 25:9) He will set his battering rams against your walls. Your towers he will break down by his axes. First, the mainland towns and villages— Tyre’ s daughters— will fall. The attack on the island fortress was to follow the standard siege tactics of that day. Forts or siege towers will be erected to allow the attacking soldiers to be elevated to the level of the wall where they more easily could engage the defenders. Mounds of earth and rubble were heaped up about the city to accomplish the same purpose.

Large shields linked together provided protection for the besiegers (Ezekiel 25:8). Battering rams were used to attempt to penetrate the stone walls. Axe-like swords were used to destroy other fortifications (Ezekiel 25:9). His conquest (Ezekiel 26:10-11): Because of the multitude of his horses, their dust will cover you. At the noise of his horsemen, wheels, and chariots your walls will shake, when he enters into your gates as men enter a city through a breach. (11) With the hoofs of his horses he will tread down all your streets. He will slay your people with the sword. The pillars of your strength will go down to the ground. In hyperbolic language typical of such battle scenes, Ezekiel paints the picture of the coming conqueror. Clouds of dust, generated by the approach of innumerable horses, will billow up over the walls.

The walls of the city will seem to shake from the pounding hoofs and speeding chariots. The hostile conqueror will enter into the gates of the trembling city as men enter a city through a breach, i.e., without resistance (v 10). Within the captured city, a merciless slaughter will take place. Cavalry units will be dispatched down every street to slay all who might be found there. The sacred and symbolic pillars, that had been erected in honor of the national god Melqart, will come crashing to the ground (Ezekiel 26:11). Successors of Nebuchadnezzar (Ezekiel 26:12-14): The destruction of Tyre was not to be accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar alone. Verse 3 already has alluded to the many nations that will be involved. This suggests that the destruction of Tyre will be spread over the centuries.

Nebuchadnezzar did besiege Tyre, and his siege lasted thirteen years (587-574 B.C.). However, while he appears to have conquered the mainland suburbs of Tyre, he was never able to conquer the island fortress. Ezekiel was very much aware that Nebuchadnezzar would not be able to capture the entire city (Ezekiel 29:17-20). For this reason God will give to him the land of Egypt. Nonetheless, the long struggle against the Babylonians exhausted the power and resources of Tyre.Tyre’s capitulation in 574 B.C. meant the end of Phoenician national life. During the Persian period, Tyre lost to Sidon its dominating position on the coast.

She also lost her most important trading colonies. However, Tyre continued to survive as a trading and shipping center throughout the Persian period. An important shift in pronouns from he to they occurs in v 12. At this point the prophet begins to describe a second stage of Tyre’ s destruction. The first half of v 12 amplifies prediction #4 mentioned above; the latter half of the verse expands on prediction #2. Verse 14a combines and repeats predictions #2 and #3.City plundered (Ezekiel 26:12 a): They will make spoil of your wealth, and confiscate your merchandise. The wealth of Tyre will fall into the hands of the enemy. City demolished (Ezekiel 26:12 b): They will break down your walls, and tear down your delightful houses. They will put your stones, your timber and your dust in the midst of the water. The walls and luxurious houses will be torn down. The stone, timber and even the dust of the place will be pushed into the water of the Mediterranean Sea. The allusion in Ezekiel 26:12-14 a is likely to the armies of Alexander the Great. The Macedonian conqueror attacked the city in 332 B.C. He easily conquered the mainland city, as Nebuchadnezzar had done 250 years earlier. Alexander utterly demolished the place. Then by means of an amazing engineering feat, Alexander accomplished what Nebuchadnezzar had failed to accomplish, viz., he conquered the island fortress. Using the debris from the mainland city, Alexander constructed a causeway half a mile long and two hundred feet wide across the straits. For a time the Tyrians resisted heroically. They utilized fire ships to damage the construction work. Using catapults, they flung on their attackers pots of burning naphtha, sulfur and red-hot sand. Alexander was forced quickly to assemble a fleet of over three hundred ships to protect the construction crews and blockade the city. After about seven months, the young general grew impatient with the entire operation.

He finally ordered floating batteries to be constructed upon which rams were mounted. His naval vessels were able thereby to force their way into the two island harbors. His troops quickly scaled the walls and captured the city. Eight thousand citizens of Tyre were slaughtered, thirty thousand were sold into slavery. Later, two thousand more were hanged. The mole that the armies of Alexander built partly from houses and monuments torn down on the mainland, still remains.

It connects what formerly was an island to the mainland. City silenced (Ezekiel 26:13): I will cause the noise of your songs to cease. The sound of your harps will be heard no more. The joyous sounds of once vibrant Tyre will be silenced. City abandoned (Ezekiel 26:14 a): I will make you a bare rock. You will become a place for the spreading of nets. The island fortress will be nothing but a barren rock upon which fishermen will spread their nets. City abandoned (Ezekiel 26:14 b): You will be built no more; for I the LORD have spoken (oracle of the Lord GOD). Prediction #7 is that Tyre will never be rebuilt (Ezekiel 26:14 b). After the destruction by Alexander the Great, several successive cities were built on at least part of the ground once occupied by ancient Tyre. After the Phoenician city of Tyre was conquered by the Moslems, however, it was never rebuilt. The Phoenicians disappeared from history. The insignificant villages built by the Moslems on the site can in no wise be equated with Phoenician Tyre any more than a modern American city could be considered the resurrection of some ancient Indian village that might have once occupied the site. A further consideration is that a city in biblical days was not considered to be built (or rebuilt) until it had walls. A wall-less fishing village could not be considered a resurrection of ancient Tyre.RESULT OF TYRE’ S Ezekiel 26:15-18 Effect on Trading Partners (Ezekiel 26:15-16): A rhetorical question (26:15): Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Will not the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter occurs in your midst? A whole network of satellite trading colonies will be affected by the fall of Tyre. The coastal states along the Mediterranean will quake in consternation at the news of the fall of Tyre. A dramatic description (Ezekiel 26:16): Then all the princes of the sea will go down from upon their thrones. They will remove their robes, and strip off their woven garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling. Upon the ground they will sit. They will tremble continually, and be appalled over you. Again using prophetic hyperbole, the prophet describes the rulers of the trading partners removing their royal robes. They clothed themselves with trembling, i.e., they took on the demeanor of mourners. They will sit on the ground trembling, visibly shaken by the news that such a powerful overlord had been destroyed.

Effect on Neighboring Princes (Ezekiel 26:17-18): Sadness (Ezekiel 26:17): They will take up for you a lamentation, and say to you: How sad that the one who was populated from the seas, has been destroyed— the famous city, that was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, that caused their terror to be on all its inhabitants. News of the demise of Tyre will evoke a lament from neighboring princes. How sad it is, they will wail. The most famous and most powerful of all the seafaring people had been destroyed! Fear (Ezekiel 26:18): Now will the islands tremble in the day of your fall. The islands that are in the sea will be frightened because of your departure. If Tyre had fallen, who will be next? The shipping communities on the islands and coastlands of the Mediterranean will tremble as they contemplated their own prospects for survival.DOOM OF TYREEze_26:19-21 Desolation (Ezekiel 26:19): For thus says the Lord GOD: When I will make you a desolation, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I will bring up the deep upon you, and the great waters will cover you; Tyre will become as desolate as an uninhabited city. The sea will wash over the bare rock that once was covered with the palaces of merchant princes. Death (Ezekiel 26:20): then will I bring you down with them that go down to the pit, to the people of old. I will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, like the places that are desolate from of old, with those who go down to the pit, in order that you may not be inhabited. But I will set glory in the land of the living. The prophet apparently thought of the sinking into the depth of the water as leading to the world of the dead that lay beneath. Tyre will descend into the nether world— the pit— the abode of the dead. Translated out of the realm of the poetical, Tyre will die. Descent into the pit is a frequent metaphor for death in Ezekiel and in other prophets. In the pit of death, Tyre will join the people of old, the dead of former ages, the inhabitants of other cities left desolate. From the time of its destruction, the city will not be re-inhabited. But while Tyre with all its pomp and power will exist only in the spirit world beyond, God will manifest his glory in the land of the living, i.e., in this present world. The everlasting kingdom of God in all of its power and glory will be established. Prediction #8 is that Tyre will be depopulated. You will not be inhabited (Ezekiel 26:20). Again, the prediction applies to Phoenician Tyre, not subsequent villages that may have had the same name or partially occupied the same site. Disappearance (Ezekiel 26:21): I will make you a terror. You will be no more. Though you be sought for, you will never be found again (oracle of the Lord GOD). God will use the destruction of Tyre to bring terror to the hearts of other pompous powers (I will make you a terror). The once proud metropolis will leave no trace of her former glory. Tyre will be in the abode of the dead.

No one will be able to find her in the land of the living.Prediction #9 is that Tyre will never be found again (Ezekiel 26:21). Does the prophet mean to say that the city will be so destroyed that its very location will be lost? It is difficult to believe that the actual location of the city could be lost when it formerly occupied an island completely. Probably the meaning is that Phoenician Tyre, once destroyed, will never be found. The glorious and glamorous city will disappear forever. Ezekiel Chapter Twenty-SixVerse 1 AGAINST TYREIt is of interest that, “In the Hebrew Bible, there is a marginal note at the beginning of this chapter, which reads, half of the book.'"[1]Regarding the date of this chapter, Keil identified it as "the year in which Jerusalem fell."[2] Alexander gave that date as 587-586 B.C.[3]Ezekiel gave more space to God's prophecies against Tyre than did any other sacred writer. The prophecy which begins in this chapter is concluded in <a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/28/19" class="green-link">Ezekiel 28:19</a>. This may have been due to the importance of Tyre at that particular time. As was true of all the other nations against whom God directed his prophecies, it was their paganism which required the destruction in which God judged them. Salvation for mankind could never have been accomplished without the general knowledge of all mankind that God is, and that there is none else besides Him. The necessity for the destructive punishment of Israel had given her pagan neighbors the excuse to claim that the True God had been defeated; therefore, the pagan nations themselves were destroyed. Tyre, and its sister city Sidon were pagan to the center of their existence. It was Jezebel, the daughter of Eth-Baal, king of the Sidonians, who brought the whole pagan institution into Israel in the days of Ahab, precipitating the contest with Elijah on Mount Carmel. Incidentally, that development demonstrated the godless influence of Israel's apostate kings and their foreign wives. Jezebel was the wife of Ahab. Tyre was an exceedingly strong city, the citadel of which was located on a rock-bound island 1,200 yards off the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. There were numerous villages and cities on the mainland that were commercially and politically related to Tyre. "Tyre was the incarnation of unrestrained commercialism."[4]They were the vulture-like scavengers on the fringes of every battlefield, waiting to make a deal to buy the prisoners of war and sell them at a profit. On one occasion they had even sold the Israelites to Edom (<a href="/bible/parallel/AMO/1/9" class="green-link">Amos 1:9</a>). Back in the days of Solomon, they had formed a covenant ('the brotherly covenant') with Israel, and therefore they probably had some knowledge of Jehovah. In addition to the supporting cities and villages on the mainland, Tyre had also established a wide network of commercial establishments all over the Mediterranean world, which some believe included Tarshish on the coast of Spain; and, at one time, Carthage paid a yearly tribute to Tyre.[5] The chief representatives of Tyre in all of such centers were important leaders, called princes’ in this chapter, “the merchant princes” of antiquity. Tyre was primarily a merchandiser, a tradesman; but another source of her wealth was the manufacture of a rare purple dye, made from the murex shell, which came from a tiny shellfish abundant in that area.[6] No doubt Lydia (Acts 16), a “seller of purple” had her connections with Tyre. The chapter naturally falls into four divisions: (1) the announcement of Tyre’s ruin (Ezekiel 26:1-6), (2) Nebuchadnezzar named as the destroyer (Ezekiel 26:7-14), (3) the world-wide shock at Tyre’s fall, and (4) the permanence of the city’s ruin (Ezekiel 26:19-21). Ezekiel 26:1-6“And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, because that Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gate of the people; she is turned unto me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste: therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah; and she shall become a spoil to the nations. And her daughters that are in the field shall be slain with the sword: and they shall know that I am Jehovah.““She … that was the gate of the people …” (Ezekiel 26:2). There were several ways in which Jerusalem was indeed the “gate of the people.” Due to Jerusalem’s location as a kind of center-piece for three continents, she sat astride the principle trade-routes of the world, able to impose taxes upon all who passed through her borders. The cruel selfishness of those old slave-traders in Tyre led them to look with greedy delight upon any disaster that befell Jerusalem. The word “gate” (Ezekiel 26:2) is often translated “gates”; and Keil believed that, “The plural was used to indicate the folding doors which formed the gate.'"[7] However, to us, it appears that the several toll-stations on all the roads passing through Palestine is a more logical understanding of the plural. All such seats of custom were under the control of Jerusalem until its fall. The rejoicing of Tyre over the fall of Jerusalem indicated that, "Tyre considered herself the heiress of Jerusalem. The fall of the world's only spiritual center, enhanced the importance of the secular center."[8]Although not stated here, the full meaning of Tyre's remarks should probably be understood as carrying the thought that, "Now she is turned to me and to my gods!" They shall destroy the walls of Tyre (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/4" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:4</a>); I will scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/4" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:4</a>); she shall become a spoil to the nations (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/5" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:5</a>); many nations shall come up against thee, as the waves of the sea (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/3" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:3</a>). All of these prophecies were most circumstantially fulfilled. Cooke alleged that the siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar was "probably inconclusive."[9] However, it went on for a period of thirteen years (586 B. C. to 573 B.C.)[10] and any worse "defeat" than such a siege can hardly be imagined. Furthermore, "It is evident that Nebuchadnezzar did indeed establish authority over Tyre, because an ancient inscription dated in 564/563 B.C. mentions a Babylonian high commissioner, alongside Tyre's native king (evidently a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar)."[11]It should be noted that a final end of Tyre was not to come in a single overthrow; it would be the result of "many nations," coming against the proud city "as the waves of the sea." First, there was Nebuchadnezzar (586-573 B.C); the Persians next subjugated Tyre in 525 B.C.;[12] then, there was Alexander the Great (332 B.C.); and Tyre's remaining history continued to show the continuing waves’ of destruction. These included their submission to the Antiochus III, to Rome in the days of that empire, and to the Saracens in the fourteenth century A.D.[13] Is not this indeed “as the sea causeth her waves to come up?” That Tyre would become as a bare rock is demonstrated by the condition of the place now, and for centuries previously. That God would scrape her dust from her took place when Alexander the Great built a great mole out to the island fortress, took it, and then scraped the whole city into the ocean! A few commentators, quoting Ezekiel 29:18, insist that “this prophecy was not fulfilled.” However, in that passage Ezekiel was referring only to a “single wave” of the many that came against Tyre. Besides that, there are indeed Biblical examples of prophecies that were not fulfilled. God’s promise through Jonah to overthrow Nineveh in forty days was not fulfilled. Why? Nineveh repented! Furthermore, we cannot rule out the possibility of an unrecorded repentance by Tyre. “It is possible that Tyre was spared because of an unrecorded repentance."[14] It would be helpful if some of our radical “scholars” would read Jeremiah 18:7-10.

We have no evidence whatever that Tyre ever repented; but they certainly had some knowledge of the Lord; and it is no more unreasonable that, at one time or another, they indeed might have repented, than that Nineveh herself did so! Our view here is that every Word of God’s prophecy against Tyre came to pass exactly as he promised. Verse 7 “For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: For behold I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field; and he shall make forts against thee, and cast up a mound against thee, and raise up the buckler against thee. And he shall set his battering engines against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. By 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 wagons, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets; he shall slay thy people with the sword; and the pillars of thy strength shall go down to the ground. And they 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; and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the waters.

And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. And I will make thee a bare rock: thou shalt be a place for the spreading of nets; thou shalt be built no more: for I Jehovah have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.” NAMED AS THE “He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field.” (Ezekiel 26:8). “These daughters were the suburbs and dependences on the mainland."[15] In these supporting villages were located many of those “pleasant houses,” riches, and merchandise, which fell to the operations of Nebuchadnezzar. As for the promise that these should never more be rebuilt, this was certainly true of all that was scraped into the sea for the purpose of building the mole out to the walls of the citadel on the island. “A roof of shields …” (Ezekiel 26:8). This is called “the buckler” in our version. “It refers to what the Romans called a testudo'."[16] It was a portable light roof covered with military shields, under the protection of which soldiers could deploy their battering rams against an enemy wall. "Thy pillars shall be brought down to the ground ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/11" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:11</a>). "This is probably reference to the pillars associated with the temple of Melkart, the pagan god worshipped in Tyre. Not even he could save the city."[17] These pillars were described by Herodotus. "One was of opal, the other of emerald; they had been erected in honor of the god Melkarth (a variable spelling)."[18]"Thou shalt be built no more ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/14" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:14</a>) This was literally fulfilled as regards the continental city of Tyre.[19] "That part of the city that lay on the rocky island, recovered after a lapse of seventy years, as predicted by the prophet Isaiah (<a href="/bible/parallel/ISA/23/17" class="green-link">Isaiah 23:17-18</a>)."[20]Verse 15 "Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to Tyre: Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at thee. And they shall take up a lamentation over thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that west inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city that was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, that caused their terror to be on all that dwelt there! Now shall the isles tremble in the days of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be dismayed at thy departure."ALARM AND SHOCK AT THE NEWS OF TYRE'S FALL"The isles ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/15" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:15</a>; <a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/18" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:18</a>). These refer to all of the islands and coastlands of the Mediterranean Sea, which long had been under the domination of Tyre. "The renowned city that caused her terror to fall upon all ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/17" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:17</a>). The heartless old slave traders of Tyre had been the terror of mankind, but for the thirteen year siege against them by Nebuchadnezzar, they allowed the evil slave trade to rest! "The princes shall come down from their thrones ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/26/15" class="green-link">Ezekiel 26:15</a>). These merchant princes were not actually kings. They were agents of Tyre, and the meaning here is that the source of their power, wealth, and glory had dried up. They were therefore downgraded and humiliated. "The mourning of these princes’ indicated that they had better judgment than the rulers of Tyre. Those in Tyre could not realize that the destruction of Jerusalem meant the same fate awaited them; but these ‘princes’ realized that they also were involved in the fate of Tyre."[21]“They shall tremble every moment …” (Ezekiel 26:16) “This means that they were trembling and fearful continually."[22]Verse 19 “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and the great waters shall cover thee; then will I bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make thee to dwell in the nether part of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, that thou be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living. I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt no more have any being; though thou be sought for, yet shall thou never be found again, saith the Lord Jehovah.“In a passage like this, we can understand why the New Testament declares that, “Christ Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10) Certainly, the glorious hope of eternal life and the restored fellowship of lost Mankind with the Creator is nowhere visible in a passage such as this. “This passage gives the impression that the pit is identical with Sheol, the realm of the dead, which appears here as a place of no return and of utter lostness. The resurrection does not appear here, but simply a murky, shadowy, existence alongside the peoples of old and the ruins of the past."[23] Of course, there are other passages, here and there, throughout the Old Testament which indeed give glimpses of the resurrection from the dead; and for these we humbly thank God and praise his holy name; but the tragic passage here is not one of those passages. In the practical sense, “Tyre is here compared to the dead who are placed in their tombs and then are heard no more in the land of the living."[24]“To the people of old time …” (Ezekiel 26:20). Keil saw in this, “A reference to the people of the `old world,’ that is the generation of the Ante-Diluvians."[25] This suggests an obvious analogy. That godless world that lived prior to the Great Deluge was covered with the “great waters,” even as the rains of Tyre were scraped into the sea and the “great waters” covered them, thus providing for Tyre, “Its everlasting dwelling-place, among the rains of that primeval world which was destroyed by the flood, and beside that godless race of the Ante-Diluvians."[26]“Yet thou shalt never be found again …” (Ezekiel 26:21). This prophecy of the total disappearance of Tyre was literally fulfilled in the disappearance of the continental city of Tyre. “It is true that the insular Tyre afterward attained some distinction, but the ancient continental city never recovered from her ruin."[27]

Ezekiel 26:1

Ezekiel 26:1. The chapters in the “interval” (see “General remarks” at the beginning of Chapter 25) are interspersed with dates, but they are not always chronological. All of them, however, are dated from the captivity of Jeboiachin at which time Ezekiel was taken to Babylon. The present chapter is the eleventh year since that event, and it happens to be the last year of the reign of Zedekiah. There is no particular connection between these dates and the predictions uttered against the various nations. All we know is that the Lord saw fit to give us some of the dates.

Ezekiel 26:2

Ezekiel 26:2. Phoenicia was a narrow tract of country north of Palestine and lying along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Its principal cities were Tyrus (or Tyre) and Sidon and es-pecially the former. Because of its outstanding importance It has been referred to in the prophecies and histories, even when the writers may have been considering the country in general. There are several chapters devoted to this nation and city beginning with this verse. See Ezekiel 25:3 for the meaning of aha, Gates of the -people is a figurative expression used because of the position of the city as a commercial center. Turned unto me. The first person is used because Tyrus is the speaker, gloating over her imagined supremacy in her traffic against Jerusalem,

Ezekiel 26:3

Ezekiel 26:3. Therefore expresses the conclusion of the Lord against Tyrus. He decrees that many nations were to come against this city, so many and so powerful that it is compared to the waves of the sea dashing up against the land.

Ezekiel 26:4

Ezekiel 26:4. In connection with this verse I shall make a quotation from Smith’s Bible Dictionary, and I request the reader to note especially the words walls, dust and rock as he reads the quotation because they are important words in the verse of the present paragraph, “ At that time [Alexander’s attack in 332 B.C.l Tyre was situated on an island half a mile from the mainland: it was completely surrounded by prodigious [huge] walls, the loftiest portion of which on the side fronting the mainland reached a height of not less than 150 feet; and notwithstanding the persevering efforts of Alexander, he could not have sue ceeded iu his attempt if the harbor of Tyre to the north had not been blockaded by the Cyprians and that to the south by the Phoenicians, thus affording an opportunity to Alexander for uniting the island to the main-land by an enormous mole. (The materials for this he obtained from the remains of old Tyre, scraping the very dust from her rocks into the sea, as prophesied by Ezekiel. Ezekiel 26:3-4; Ezekiel 26:12; Ezekiel 26:21, more than 250 years be-fore.)”

Ezekiel 26:5

Ezekiel 26:5. Spreading of nets refers to the act of washing out their nets by fishermen and spreading them out to dry. Such a use of a place would indicate that the region was practically barren, its inhabitants having been either slain or deported. Midst of the sea has reference to the new city of Tyre that was built on an island half a mile out into the sea when the inhabitants of the city on the mainland realized they were losing the contest to Nebuchadnezzar. Become a spoil to the nations means the reduced condition of the city would expose her to the nations who would take advantage of her lot and take her possessions to themselves. In corroboration of the many statements in this verse and elsewhere about Tyre, I shall give a quotation from history.

The emphasis will be mine, added for the purpose of directing the attention of the reader to words of special significance. “ With Jerusalem subdued. Nebuchadnezzar pushed with all his force the siege of the Phoenician city of Tyre, whose investment [formation of a siege] had been commenced several years before.

In striking language the prophet Ezekiel (29:18) describes the length and hardness of the siege: ‘ every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled.’ After thirteen years Nebu-chadnezzar was apparently forced to raise the siege.” Myers, Ancient History, page 72. “ Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the great merchant-city, Tyre, which was still rich and strong enough to hold out for thirteen years. Ezekiel says that Nebuchadnezzar and his host had no reward for their heavy service against Tyre, and the presumption is that the city capitulated [ surrendered] on favorable terms.” Britannica, Volume 18, page 808. “Accordingly, at the time we are speaking of, she (Tyre) was in a condition to resist, thirteen years together, a monarch to whose yoke all the rest of the East had submitted. It was not till after so many years that Nebuchadnezzar made himself master of Tyre. His troops suffered incredible hardships before it; so that, according to the prophet’ s expression, ‘ every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled,’ Before the city was reduced to the last extremity, its inhabitants retired, with the greatest- part of their effects, into a neighboring ISLE, half a mile from the shore, where they built a new city; the name and glory of which extinguished the remembrance of the old one, which from thenceforward became a mere village, retaining the name of ancient Tyre. Nebuchadnezzar and his army having undergone the utmost fatigues during so long and difficult a siege, and having found nothing in the place to requite them, for the service they bad rendered to Almighty God in executing his vengeance upon the city. God was pleased to promise by the mouth of Ezekiel that he would give them the spoils of Egypt for a recompence.” Rollin’ s Ancient History, volume 1, page 472. “ The Tyrians also offered submission, but refused to allow Alexander [The Great] to enter the city and sacrifice in the temple of Hercules.

Alexander was determined to make an example of the first sign of opposition that did not proceed from Persian officials, and at once began the siege. It lasted seven months, and, though the king, with enormous toil, drove a mole [huge wail laid in the sea] from the mainland to the island, he made little progress till the Persians were mad enough to dismiss the fleet and give him com-mand of the sea through his Cyprian and Phoenician allies.

The town was at length forced in July, 332: 8,000 Tyrians were slain, 30,000 inhabitants sold as slaves, and only a few notables . . . were spared. Tyre thus lost its political existence, and the foundation of Alexandria presently changed the lines of trade and gave a blow perhaps still more fatal to the Phoenician cities.” Brltannica, volume 18, page 809, Myers’ Ancient History, page 275. Josephus, Antiquities, 11-8-3,

Ezekiel 26:6

Ezekiel 26:6. The original for daughters has a very wide range of raeaningB, even including “cities” and “townships.” Land or earth cannot be literally slain bp the sword, so the evident bearing of the clause is that not only will Tyre be attacked and her citizens slain, but the ones living in the surrounding areas will be killed, The purpose is to make the people realize that 1 am, the Lord.

Ezekiel 26:7

Ezekiel 26:7. This verse specifically predicts the attack by Nebuchadnezzar on the city of Tyre. For the historical fulfillment of this prediction, see the long quotation In connection with verses 4, 5. From the north is explained by the historical note offered in connection with Isaiah 14:31 in volume 3 of this Commentary,

Ezekiel 26:8

Ezekiel 26:8. Daughters in the field is explained at verse 6. Fort and mount means the embankments raised against a city, and buckler means a pointed instrument for the purpose of bodily defense in close-up conflict.

Ezekiel 26:9

Ezekiel 26:9. Engines of war were large instruments for the hurling of stones with the intent of battering down the wallB. The towers were the structures erected in the most important places and the axes were for the purpose of cutting them down.

Ezekiel 26:10

Ezekiel 26:10. The great number of horses in the cavalry of the Babylonians is indicated by the dust they could stir up. It was to be so dense that it would envelop the people of Tyre, The noise would not literally shake the walls. The idea is that they would shake at the time of the noise, and the physical cause would be horses and chariots and other instruments and men of the invading army.

Ezekiel 26:11

Ezekiel 26:11. These horses were both the ones that drew the war chariots and those that carried the cavalrymen, The men In both divisions of the service were to use the sword against the common citizens of the city, and likewise the garrisons or fortified groups of soldiers were to be slain.

Ezekiel 26:12

Ezekiel 26:12. The invaders were to take possession of the personal effects and also were to seize upon their commercial wares. They were also destined to wreck the houses, both the ones used for storage and the ones used as homes. Dust in the midst of the water is explained at verse 4.

Ezekiel 26:13

Ezekiel 26:13. In captivity the people of Judah would not feel like singing or playing on their instruments. This state of mind is well described in Ihe 137th Psalm.

Ezekiel 26:14

Ezekiel 26:14. The top of a rock would be a bare spot with no earth or other substance for supporting life. It would be fit only for uses such as the spread ing out of nets for drying. Such a circumstance is used to describe the desolate condition Judah would be In after the Babylonians conquered them.

Ezekiel 26:15

Ezekiel 26:15. The Lord’s feeling against Tyrus was so intense that the city is named 14 times in course of the chapters in this “interval.” Isles is from an original that Strong defines “ a habitable spot,” and it means the people of various areas will shake or be shocked at the downfall of Tyrus.

Ezekiel 26:16

Ezekiel 26:16. Princes of the sea refers to the merchants of Tyrus whose traffic was conducted on the sea. In Isaiah 23:8 they are spoken of as such where the passage says “whose merchants are princes.” Thrones and robes are figurative and so used in view of the control that the merchants of Tyrus had over the sea traffic. In the place of such gorgeous or showy garments they were to wear those of trembling. That will be caused by the attack of the nation that God will bring against them.

Ezekiel 26:17

Ezekiel 26:17. They refers to the people of the “ isles” as explained in verse 15. The lamentation here signifies the same as “shake” in the other verse. The frequent reference to the sea in one form or another is due to the position of Tyrus geographically. The city was located on the shore of the mainland at first, then it was situated on the island half a mile out into the sea. Such a location gave her an advantage over others in regard to sea traffic. But, the City was very boastful of her advantage and became overconfident of her power against other cities.

Ezekiel 26:18

Ezekiel 26:18. The word isles still means habitable spots wherever located, but in this verse it has both meanings. They were isles because they were surrounded by the water of the Mediterranean Sea, and they were inhab-ited spots, hence were “isles” In that sense and their people were concerned in the predictions being made.

Ezekiel 26:19

Ezekiel 26:19. Great waters shall cover thee is both literal and figurative. The enemy army would be so overwhelming that it would be like a flood. And by destroying the walls and other structures of the city, the waters of the sea would actually flow over it.

Ezekiel 26:20

Ezekiel 26:20. Pit means a state of obscurity or forgetfulness, and such a lot was decreed against Tyrus. With the people of old times means people of earlier times who had gone down in defeat under the attacks of hostile forces. Set glory in the land, of the living. By putting an end to the greatness of Tyrus so her glory will he dead, God’ s own glory will shine in the lands where national life still shines.

Ezekiel 26:21

Ezekiel 26:21. Nothing new is contained in this verse; it is a summing up of the desolate condition to be brought by the Lord upon Tyrus.