And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, [that] the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
Ezekiel 26 opens with a date, not a message. The date is the point: God's word reaches the prophet just as Jerusalem falls. What follows is a three-chapter judgment on Tyre, the rich trading city that saw the disaster as a business opportunity.
Ezekiel dates his prophecies, and he always counts from the same starting point.
Ezekiel had been carried into captivity with king Jehoiachin — at least, he was one of those made captive at that time. He regularly dates his prophecies from that period. That is an important thing to notice, so that we may understand the revelations made to him. For himself there is no longer any question of dates or of kings, of Judah or of Israel. The people of God are in captivity among the Gentiles.
One writer notices that the month is missing here, and finds meaning in the number itself.
The date of the prophecy is the eleventh year of Jehoiachin's captivity, on the first of the month. The month itself is not given, if we have the true text here. What can we make of this eleventh year? Is it marked by not being yet the full twelve, which speaks of the visible government of God that is to come? In fact, all this judgment that Ezekiel speaks of falls short of the full end that prophecy mostly has in view. Yet here there is surely the shadow of it. The blow has fallen upon Jerusalem, and Tyre is quite ready to take advantage of it.
Chapter 26 belongs to a block. Chapters 25 to 32 all deal with the nations around Israel.
Ezekiel 25 to 32 deal with God's threatened judgments on the nations round about Israel. They are judged for their past conduct towards His people, and for their present spirit of hatred to them. They would rejoice at the destruction of Jerusalem and the setting aside of God's earthly sanctuary. He would let them know that though His earthly people had failed, He still was God. If judgment fell upon His own people because of their sin, His hand would also be upon those who hated the objects of His love.
Another writer notes that these chapters no longer follow the time order of the first half of the book. He sees design in that.
Ezekiel 24 leads on to Ezekiel 25-32. These chapters take up the nations around the land, or inside it, which the Lord Jehovah deals with. But they no longer follow the time order used in the first half of the book... The arrangement is due to no disturbing cause, but to God's design above man's thought (or want of thought) and care.
Tyre gets a prophecy of its own, running three chapters. The reason is that Tyre stands for something bigger than itself.
In a certain sense Tyre stood on Israel's territory. But it has another character, and it is the subject of a separate prophecy (Ezekiel 26-28). It represents the world and its riches, in contrast with Israel as the people of God. And it rejoices, not like the others out of personal hatred. Its interests were the opposite of Israel's, and the destruction of what held back its career gave free course to its natural selfishness. It is worth noticing in these prophecies how God lays open all the thoughts of man about His people, and what they have been towards Him.
That difference matters. Tyre's offence was of a different kind.
The lesson is all the more serious because Tyre does not appear to have been driven by plain hostility against Israel. It was commercial greed instead. Tyre saw a chance of gain in the disasters of the chosen people. This drew the city into an opposition to Israel which Jehovah resented. For His chastening of His people gives no licence to the selfish greed that would profit by their troubles or their downfall.
The city's own name carries the irony.
Tyre means "a rock." This island city stood on a rock. For its particular purposes it did not need land that produced goods. It needed a good gathering point, where the products of other regions could come and be exchanged. In the vastness of its resources, Tyre might indeed look on itself as a rock that could not be shaken... But God takes up its character in the result, and declares that it shall be a rock — a rock and nothing more. It shall be "a bare rock," or "cliff," as the word He uses means. And the word for "bare" really means "dry" — dried by the sun.
The name was a boast. God lets the city keep the name, and takes everything else away.
- Dated — The word comes on a set day, counted from the prophet's own captivity, with Jerusalem's fall as fresh news.
- Exposed — Tyre was ready to profit from a neighbour's ruin. God lays open all the thoughts of man about His people.
- Greed — Tyre's sin was not hatred but profit. God chastens His people; that is no licence for others to cash in.
- Reversal — The city thought itself an unshakeable rock. God leaves it a rock and nothing more.
- Purpose — The judgments teach the nations one thing: though His people had failed, He is still God.
Son of man, because Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken, the gate of the peoples! she is turned unto me I shall be replenished [now] she is laid waste;
Jerusalem lay in ruins, and the trading city of Tyre saw an opening. God takes the words she spoke over her fallen neighbour as the reason He turns against her.
Judgment can fall on a motive. Here it falls on a merchant's eye fixed on a neighbour's disaster.
Tyre does not appear to have been driven by simple hostility against Israel. It was rather commercial greed, which saw a chance of advantage in the disasters of the chosen people. This drew the city into an opposition to Israel that Jehovah resented. God does chasten His people. But that is no licence for the selfish greed that would profit by their troubles or their fall.
Tyre's word for Jerusalem is a trader's word: a gate where nations come and goods change hands. Tyre's own name means rock, and the judgment plays on it.
Jerusalem has been judged. In many ways she was a centre of attraction for the peoples around — "the gate of the peoples," as Tyre calls her… Tyre is a merchant through and through. Even his stated aim is to serve. No doubt his first aim is to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. He finds in people's need the opportunity for his own gain, and that is the cause of his judgment here… The habit of gathering riches out of other people's need hardens the heart — no one needs telling that. So it was with Tyre: and for this she is judged… Tyre means "a rock." This island city was built on a rock… With such vast resources, Tyre might indeed look on itself as a rock that could not be shaken. The greater the needs of others, the more the streams of supply from every quarter served it. But God takes up its character in the result, and declares it shall be a rock — a rock and nothing more — "a bare rock." The word for "bare" means dry, dried by the sun.
Tyre's arithmetic was simple: one trading centre falls, the trade comes here. God answers the sum with the very nations she was counting on.
The blow has fallen on Jerusalem, and Tyre is quite ready to take advantage of it. She is proud of her position and counts on her many sources of strength. So she can sit apart, hoping to profit by what she does not fear. But, as God tells her, it is only an empty dream. She has watched many nations come to replenish her. Now those same nations have come up against her with the unstoppable force of the waves of the sea… She has so often profited by the spoil of the nations; in turn she herself will become a spoil for the nations.
Tyre and Israel had once been bound together by their kings. Gain was worth more to Tyre than that bond.
When Jerusalem was destroyed, many may well have fled to Tyre for refuge. But hope of gain made Tyre forget the covenant of brotherhood, and she handed the fugitives over to the cruel Edomites. Tyre did not remember the covenant of brotherhood — that is the prophet's charge against her (Amos 1:9). David and Hiram, king of Tyre, made a covenant, and Solomon confirmed it; Hiram called him "my brother" (see 2 Sam. 5 and 1 Kings 5 — 9).
These were not empty words. Tyre stood for something bigger than one city, and history settled the matter.
That godless city… represents the world with its riches and lusts. It hated God and God's people. It was glad when Israel fell, because that left her freer to indulge her own selfishness. God checks her triumph: "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre" (Ezek. 26:3). "I will make you a bare rock. You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt" (Ezek. 26:14). "Though you be sought for, you will never be found again" (Ezek. 26:21). Alexander the Great was the means of carrying this out (B.C. 332).
Commentators do not leave Tyre in the past. They look at modern trade and name what drives it.
The opposition that Tyre showed has carried on into modern times. The commerce so famous in that city has spread its wings over the cities of our own day. They follow in Tyre's steps, and with the same unrighteousness they await the same doom… The worship of money rules the age. Under its influence the truth is twisted, and becomes the profession of greedy men who suppose that gain is godliness.
- Motive. Tyre's sin was not open hatred but calculation. Commercial greed saw gain in a neighbour's ruin.
- No excuse. God chastens His own people, but no one may turn their fall into gain.
- Broken bond. Hope of gain made Tyre forget a covenant of brotherhood that went back to David, Hiram and Solomon.
- Reversal. She counted on the nations to replenish her. They came against her instead, and her rock was left bare.
- Warning. Tyre stands for a world run by the spirit of gain, and the verdict spoken over her still stands over that spirit.
therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I am against thee, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up.
Tyre watched Jerusalem fall and saw profit in it. With her rival's trade routes broken, business would flow her way. This verse is God's answer. Why does He stand against a merchant city for its glee, and what do the waves in His reply tell us?
The verse opens with "therefore." It is a reply. One writer sets the two speeches side by side:
Did Tyre say that Jerusalem was broken, "I shall be replenished now that she is laid waste"? The Lord Jehovah replies, "I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you." Her doom is pronounced. Her very dust will be scraped from her. Her daughters in the field — probably the colonies she planted — will be killed by the sword. So they would know that it was Jehovah.
Tyre did not attack Israel. Her guilt was quieter and more familiar:
In Tyre we find no direct enmity to Israel. Tyre is a merchant through and through; his stated aim is even to serve. No doubt his first aim is to serve himself. He has not the true spirit of service for God. Instead he finds in the need of man the opportunity for his own gain. This is what we find as the cause of his judgment here... The habit of gaining riches from the need of others hardens the heart, there is little need to say.
God compares the nations to waves. That image turns the source of Tyre's supply into the instrument of her ruin:
She is proud of her position. Counting on her many sources of strength, she can sit apart, hoping to profit from what she does not fear. But, as God tells her, it is only a vain dream. She has seen many nations coming again and again to replenish her. Now those same nations come up against her with the unstoppable force of the waves of the sea. They rise over her defences, destroy her walls, and break down her towers. She who has so often profited by the spoil of the nations shall in turn be a spoil for the nations.
Her name holds the irony of the judgment:
Tyre means "a rock." This island city was built on a rock. For its particular purposes it did not need productive land where it stood. It needed a good meeting point where the goods of other places could come and be exchanged. Given the immensity of its resources, Tyre might well look on itself as a rock that could not be shaken. The greater the needs of others, the more the streams of supply from all quarters served it. But God takes up its character in the result, and declares that it shall be a rock — a rock and nothing more — "a bare rock."
The verse says "many nations," not one. Commentators read the fulfilment as coming in stages:
God did not carry out this great judgment all at once. Nebuchadnezzar came against her first, as verses 7-11 predict. He besieged Tyre on the mainland and took the city after thirteen years. But the part of Tyre built on the island in the sea escaped, because Tyre's fleet protected it. Then came seventy years for her when she was forgotten, as Isaiah predicted (23:15). After these years passed, Tyre saw a startling revival. The island city became more powerful and more wicked than before.
The final blow came later still. Nebuchadnezzar's siege "was the beginning of the end." Then came "another siege by the Greek king Alexander," which "brought down her strength" (F. W. Grant).
Tyre's story did not end with the city. One writer traces the same money-hungry spirit into our own day:
The opposition that Tyre showed has carried on into modern times. The commerce so famous in that city has spread its wings over the cities of our day. They follow in Tyre's steps with the same unrighteousness, and they await the same doom... The spirit of Mammon rules the age. Under its influence men twist the truth. It becomes the profession of greedy men, who suppose that gain is godliness.
- Cause — God judges Tyre for appetite. She turned another city's ruin into her own opening, and gain drawn from others' need hardens the heart.
- Sentence — "Therefore" ties God's reply to Tyre's boast. What she said against Jerusalem, He now says against her: I am against you.
- Instrument — The nations once came in to replenish her. Now they roll in against her like waves. Her supply becomes her sentence.
- Irony — Her name means "a rock," and she felt unshakable; God leaves her a bare rock and nothing more.
- Reach — The waves came in stages: Nebuchadnezzar first, Alexander last. The spirit of Tyre still trades today, under the same verdict.
And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. And I will scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock.
Ezekiel 26 opens with Tyre gloating over Jerusalem's fall, and this verse is God's answer: He will strip the rich merchant city down to the bare rock it was built on. Why is a trading city judged so heavily for what it said, and has history done what these words say?
Commenting on the picture behind "bare rock," F. W. Grant starts from the city's own name:
Tyre means "a rock." This island city was built upon a rock… With its huge resources, Tyre could well look on itself as a rock that could not be shaken. The greater the needs of others, the more the streams of supply from every quarter served it. But God takes up its character in the end, and declares that it shall be a rock — a rock and nothing more — "a bare rock," or "cliff," as the word He uses means. The word for "bare" really means "dry" — dried by the sun.
Her offence was in what she said when Jerusalem fell. The same writer traces the judgment back to a settled habit of mind:
Tyre is a merchant at heart; even his stated aim is to serve. No doubt his first aim is to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. Instead he finds in the need of other people the chance for his own gain. This is the cause of his judgment here… She says against Jerusalem: "Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste." How common such rejoicing is among merchants at all times! It hardly needs saying: making a habit of getting rich from other people's needs hardens the heart.
The nations that once poured wealth into Tyre are the nations now sent against her:
Proud of her position and counting on her many sources of strength, she can sit apart, hoping to profit from what she does not fear. But, as God tells her, it is only an empty dream. The many nations she has seen coming again and again to replenish her have now come up against her with the unstoppable force of the waves of the sea. They come to overtop her defences, destroy her walls, and break down her towers. She who has so often profited by the spoil of the nations shall in turn be a spoil for the nations. Her doom is to declare the name of the Lord — the name she has despised.
Arno C. Gaebelein shows the judgment falling in stages:
This great judgment was not carried out all at once. Nebuchadnezzar came against her first, as predicted in verses 7-11. He besieged Tyre on the mainland and took the city after thirteen years. The part of Tyre built on the island in the sea escaped, protected by the Tyrian fleet. Then came seventy years in which she was forgotten, as Isaiah predicted (23:15). After those years had passed Tyre saw a startling revival. The island city became more powerful and more wicked than before… The mainland Tyre, however, remained in ruins.
The scraping of her dust came in a later stage:
Alexander the Great came against the city built on the island. He took the city after seven months by building a causeway, which let his forces enter. In building this causeway, Alexander used the ruins of the old city. He laid the stones, the timber, and the very dust of the destroyed city into the sea to build the causeway that brought the utter ruin of the wealthy city.
H. H. Snell reports what travellers found on the site:
Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches sheltering in the vaults and living mostly by fishing. Divine providence seems to keep them there, as a visible argument of how God has fulfilled His word about Tyre: that it should be "a bare rock… a place for the spreading of nets." To this hour everything has happened according to the word of the Lord God.
Set beside Jerusalem, Tyre stands for more than one ancient port:
Ezekiel 26:2 shows that Tyre, the merchant city of the world, was the rival of Jerusalem, the city of God. So Babylon is the rival of the new Jerusalem. God was known in the palaces of Jerusalem; in Tyre, the god of this world. There the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride in possessions could be satisfied.
- Rock claimed. Tyre's name meant rock, and she counted herself a rock that could not be shaken.
- Rock exposed. Her gain came from other people's need, and her cheer at Jerusalem's fall showed how hard that trade had made her.
- Rock besieged. The nations that had filled her came against her like waves; the spoiler became the spoil.
- Rock scraped. Nebuchadnezzar began it on the mainland; Alexander finished it by casting her stones, timber and dust into the sea.
- Rock bare. What is left is fishermen drying nets on stone — a standing argument that God's word is done just as He spoke it.
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 for the nations.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And her daughters that are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.
Tyre watched Jerusalem fall and counted her own profit. God's sentence on that merchant city reaches past her sea walls to the towns she planted inland, and it ends by telling us why: they will know who the LORD is.
The judgment has a stated cause, and it is about money. Tyre saw a rival trading gate broken and licked her lips.
Jerusalem has been judged — Jerusalem, in many ways a centre of attraction for the people around, "the gate of the peoples," as Tyre calls her. Tyre says against Jerusalem: "Aha, she is broken, the gate of the peoples; she is turned to me. I shall be replenished now that she is laid waste." How easily we understand it! How common such rejoicing is among merchants, in every age! Making a habit of getting rich from the need of others hardens the heart; that hardly needs saying. So it is with Tyre here: and for this she is judged.
The "daughters on the mainland" are not children. Kelly takes them to be the colonies Tyre had planted, and he links their fall to the closing words of the verse.
Her doom is pronounced. Her very dust will be scraped from her. She herself will be like the top of a rock where nets are spread, out in the middle of the sea. Her daughters in the field — I take these to be the colonies she planted — will be killed by the sword. So they should know that it was Jehovah.
Tyre stood in two parts: one on the mainland, one on an island offshore.
Nebuchadnezzar came first against her as predicted in verses 7-11. He besieged Tyre on the mainland and took the city after thirteen years. But the part of Tyre built on the island in the sea escaped, protected by Tyre's fleet.
The sentence matches the crime.
She has watched many nations come to her again and again to supply her. Now those same nations come up against her with the unstoppable force of the sea waves. They rise over her defences, destroy her walls, and break down her towers. She who has so often profited by the spoil of the nations shall in turn be a spoil for the nations.
The sword in this verse begins a work that took centuries to finish.
The siege by Nebuchadnezzar was the beginning of the end. There was a revival after this, however, and another siege by the Greek king Alexander. This broke her strength for good. A remnant of the city lasted a long time, wasting and drying up more and more, until the end came. Today, as we can see, nothing is left but a bare rock, used only for spreading nets.
The same closing words end many of Ezekiel's judgments on the nations. Writing about Edom, Darby weighs what kind of knowing they describe.
So this knowledge of Jehovah comes by the judgment itself. It is not a spiritual knowledge of Him that follows from it. For when all the earth rejoices, Edom will be left desolate. It is through judgment that all the nations will know that Jehovah is God.
Tyre stands for more than one city.
That godless city, mentioned by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels, represents the world with its riches and lusts. It hated God and God's people, and was glad of Israel's fall, because it left her freer to indulge her own selfishness.
- Cause — Tyre gloated over a neighbour's ruin and expected to grow rich by it. Getting rich from other people's need hardens the heart.
- Measure — The city that lived off the spoil of nations becomes a spoil for the nations. The punishment mirrors the sin.
- Reach — The sword does not stop at the island. Her "daughters on the mainland" — the colonies she planted — fall with her.
- Timing — Nebuchadnezzar's siege is the beginning of the end, not the end. The bare rock came only after centuries.
- Purpose — In the end they "know that I am the LORD." That knowledge comes by the judgment itself, not by any spiritual knowledge of Him that follows it.
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I will bring from the north, against Tyre, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, the king of kings, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and an assemblage, and much people.
Tyre was a rich merchant city by the sea, and this verse is God's answer to her. He names the man He will bring against her, and that naming settles who is really behind the army.
One writer traces Tyre's judgment to the way she made her living:
Tyre is essentially the merchant; his stated aim is even to serve. No doubt his first aim is to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. Instead he finds in man's need the opportunity for his own gain. This is what we find as the cause of his judgment here. The habit of gaining riches from the need of others hardens the heart, as hardly needs saying. So it is with Tyre here, and for this she is judged.
The verse begins with God, not with Babylon. Through this whole part of Ezekiel, one man's hand carries out what God announces:
First of all, the prophecy names the instrument of Tyre's destruction: Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. But we must not confuse this with the full end that Jehovah Himself makes of her, as in the fourteenth verse. The siege by Nebuchadnezzar was the beginning of the end... Nebuchadnezzar is here, however, as all through this part of Ezekiel, the special instrument of the divine judgment.
Daniel used the same title to Nebuchadnezzar's face. One commentator explains what lay behind it:
Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was a direct gift from God. As Daniel said, "You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory." No one could say this of any of the three kingdoms that followed. They come on the scene in a providential way, as God permits, for the government of the earth and according to His ordering. But their heads were in no sense the direct holders of power, as Nebuchadnezzar was. He was nearest God in this outward sense. His responsibility was therefore all the greater.
Judah's own king had held that place before him:
It was no longer Zedekiah, My servant, but Nebuchadnezzar, My servant. The children of Israel and of Judah were about to lose their special place as His nation too. It was now a question, not of being His servant as a special honour, but merely in providence. Nebuchadnezzar, the idolatrous Gentile, could be His servant in this way as much as anyone else.
Horses and chariots belong to a land attack. Tyre stood in two parts, and only one of them fell here:
This great judgment was not carried out all at once. Nebuchadnezzar came against her first, as predicted in verses 7-11. He besieged Tyre on the mainland and after thirteen years took the city. The part of Tyre built on the island in the sea escaped, protected by the fleet of Tyre. Then came seventy years for her, when she was forgotten, as Isaiah predicted (23:15). After these years had passed, Tyre saw a startling revival. The island city became more powerful and wicked than before. The mainland Tyre, however, remained in ruins.
The same campaigns that broke the nations also cleared the ground for mercy:
Nebuchadnezzar is seen as carrying out the judgment of God on Jerusalem, and he is His servant for that purpose... At the same time God sets His land free by these very judgments from all the nations that wrongfully held it... These judgments came on rebellious Jerusalem and on the nations. Their result would at the same time be the re-establishment of Israel, according to promise and by the power of God in grace.
Tyre's trade outlived her city. One writer reads this as a notice to every trading power since:
The opposition that Tyre showed has carried on into modern times. The commerce that was so famous in that city has spread its wing over the cities of our day. They follow in the steps of Tyre, and with the same unrighteousness they await the same doom.
- Cause. Tyre is judged for profiting from other people's need. That habit of gain hardens the heart.
- Sender. God brings the army. Nebuchadnezzar is the instrument, not the source.
- Servant. The title "king of kings" marks a real grant of power from God. With it, the honour of being called His servant passed from Judah's king to a pagan one.
- Stages. Nebuchadnezzar's thirteen-year siege took the mainland city only. The island part escaped, and the ruin came in stages.
- Sequel. These judgments clear God's land and point to Israel's restoration. They also warn every trading power since.
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 lift up the target against thee;
God names the siege works before a spade touches the ground: a wall, a mound, a roof of shields around the island city of Tyre. Two questions follow. Who are the "daughters" outside the walls, and why is a trading city the target?
Tyre was more than the city on the island. She had planted colonies, and one writer takes the "daughters" to mean exactly those:
God pronounces her doom. He will scrape her very dust from her and make her like the top of a rock, a place for spreading nets in the middle of the sea. Her daughters on the mainland — that is, I suppose, the colonies she planted — will be killed by the sword. So they would know that it was Jehovah.
This explains the shape of Nebuchadnezzar's campaign:
He besieged Tyre on the mainland, and after thirteen years he took the city. But the part of Tyre standing on the island in the sea escaped, protected by the fleet of Tyre.
Every tool of ancient siege craft comes to bear, and the outcome is never in doubt:
The great imperial power of the world would put an end to the offshoots of Tyre. It would surround that marketplace of the nations with every device of siege, and break down its walls and towers with axes and engines of war. His success is certain, and so is the slaughter of the Tyrians and the plunder of their wealth and merchandise.
Nebuchadnezzar builds the mound, but he did not plan it:
When you read these prophecies, it is important to notice how Nebuchadnezzar is regarded. He is the servant of God, carrying out His judgment both on Jerusalem and on the nations around, and so clearing the land of Israel of them.
One writer traces the judgment back to what kind of city Tyre was. She serves, but she serves herself:
She has not the true spirit of service for God. She finds in people's need the opportunity for her own gain, and this is what we find as the cause of her judgment here... She says against Jerusalem: "Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste."... Making a habit of gathering riches out of other people's need hardens the heart — that hardly needs saying. So it was with Tyre: and for this she is judged.
The mound and the shields of this verse open a judgment that took centuries to finish:
The siege by Nebuchadnezzar was the beginning of the end. There was a revival after this, however, and another siege by the Greek king Alexander. This brought down her strength for good. A remnant of the city remained a long time, wasting and drying up more and more until the end came. Today, as we see, nothing is left but a bare rock, used only for spreading nets.
One writer gathers what travellers found at the site:
The town is "surrounded by rocks, on the ledges of which are scattered the fragments of ancient columns"... Its inhabitants now are only a few poor people sheltering in the vaults and living mostly by fishing. They seem to be kept there by divine Providence, as a visible argument that God has fulfilled His word about Tyre: that she should be "a bare rock" and "a place for the spreading of nets."
Tyre stands for more than herself. She is "the commercial glory of the world which passes away" (W. T. P. Wolston).
- Cause — Tyre profits from a neighbour's ruin. Gathering riches out of other people's need hardens the heart.
- Sentence — God names the siege wall, the mound and the shields before they exist. The siege is His plan.
- Servant — Nebuchadnezzar swings the axe. These prophecies regard him as the servant who carries out God's judgment.
- Stages — The colonies fall first. The mainland city falls after thirteen years. This siege is only the beginning of the end.
- Sequel — Today Tyre is a bare rock where fishermen dry nets. It is visible proof that God kept His word, and a warning to every commercial glory of the world.
and he shall set his engines of attack against thy walls, and with his spikes he shall break down thy towers.
Ezekiel 26:9 zooms in on the machinery of a siege: rams at Tyre's walls, axes at her towers. Two questions follow. Whose hand is behind the siege? And what had this rich trading city done to deserve it?
The verse names the siege equipment of the day.
Machines for discharging missiles. Engines of war were battering rams.
Tyre's quarrel with Israel did not start in plain hatred. It started in money. She watched Jerusalem fall and saw her chance.
Another city in the west has an exceptional importance: the renowned city of Tyre. It drew down on itself Jehovah's displeasure and judgment. The lesson is all the more serious because Tyre does not appear to have been driven by simple hostility against Israel. Instead it was commercial greed, which saw a chance for advantage in the disasters of the chosen people. This lured the city into opposition to Israel, and Jehovah resented it. For His chastening of His people is no licence for the selfish covetousness that would profit by their troubles or downfall.
Tyre felt safe enough to sit back and watch. The nations that kept her rich became the flood that swept over her.
The blow has fallen on Jerusalem, and Tyre is quite ready to take advantage of it. She is proud of her position and counts on her many sources of strength. So she can sit apart, hoping to profit by what she does not fear. But, as God declares to her, it is only an empty dream. She has seen many nations coming again and again to replenish her. Now those same nations have come up against her with the unstoppable force of the waves of the sea. They rise above her defences, destroy her walls, and break down her towers. She who has so often profited from the plunder of the nations shall in turn be plunder for the nations.
The rams and axes belong to a named king. But his work was not the whole of Tyre's end.
First comes the instrument of Tyre's destruction: Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon. But we must not confuse this with the full end which Jehovah Himself makes of her, as in the fourteenth verse. The siege by Nebuchadrezzar was the beginning of the end. There was a revival after this, however, and another siege by the Greek king Alexander. This broke her strength, although the remnant of a city remained for a long time. It wasted and dried up more and more until the end came. Today nothing is left but a bare rock, used only for spreading nets.
Before any ram touched stone, the city was already open.
Meanwhile no resistance could succeed. It only made the destruction of those who opposed more complete. As the prophet speaks here, their sins had already made the breach in Tyre for him.
The rubble of the ruined city had a use waiting for it.
In constructing this causeway, Alexander made use of the ruins of the old city. He laid the stones, the timber and the very dust of the destroyed city into the sea. That causeway accomplished the utter ruin of the wealthy city. And so Ezekiel's prophecy was fulfilled.
Tyre's story did not end with Tyre.
The opposition that Tyre showed has carried on into modern times. The commerce so famous in that city has spread its wings over the cities of our day. They follow in the steps of Tyre. With the same unrighteousness, they await the same doom. The present age may not show the same arrogance as the prince of Tyre and the king of Babylon. But the world's commerce in the hands of Satan leads to it.
The tearing down has a purpose behind it.
Man may be forced to accept the sentence of condemnation on himself. He must also accept the passing away of all the false glory which he would like to make real, but cannot. The sentence of God is on it; but, as He says here, that He may set true glory in the land of the living.
- Greed — Tyre's sin was not open hatred. She wanted profit from Jerusalem's ruin. God's chastening of His people gives no one licence to cash in on it.
- Rams — the "engines of war" were battering rams, swung at her walls by a king God Himself had named.
- Breach — the rams only finished an opening her sins had already made. Her walls were down in God's sight before they fell in fact.
- Stages — Nebuchadnezzar struck the beginning of the end. Alexander finished it later, with a causeway built from her own stones and dust.
- Glory — God tears the false splendour down so He may set true glory in the land of the living. Today's trading cities stand under the same warning.
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 wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter through thy gates, as a city is entered into, wherein is made a breach.
Tyre watched Jerusalem fall and counted her own profit. This verse is God's answer, and it raises two questions: who rides in, and why against a trading city?
The verse never names the man riding in. Earlier verses do, and one writer marks his siege as a beginning rather than the end.
First of all, the instrument of Tyre's destruction is named: Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. But we must not confuse this with the full end that Jehovah Himself makes of her, as in verse 14. His siege was the beginning of the end. There was a revival after this, however, and another siege by the Greek king Alexander.
The walls shake under the weight of a full siege. One writer traces it from the siege works to the plunder.
The great imperial power of the world would put an end to the offshoots of Tyre. He would surround that market of the nations with all the equipment of siege works, and break down its walls and towers with his axes and engines of war. He is sure to succeed, sure to slaughter the Tyrians, and sure to plunder their wealth and merchandise.
The verse pictures men walking into a city whose wall is already broken. That breach came in the mainland city, while the island part of Tyre survived.
This great judgment was not all carried out at once. Nebuchadnezzar came against her first, as predicted in verses 7-11. He besieged Tyre on the mainland and took the city after thirteen years. The part of Tyre built on the island in the sea escaped, because Tyre's fleet protected it.
One writer looks past the broken wall to what really opened the city.
No effective resistance was possible. It only made the destruction of those who resisted more complete. As the prophet speaks here, their sins had already made the breach in Tyre for him.
One writer traces her judgment back to how Tyre made her money.
In Tyre we find no direct enmity to Israel... Tyre is a merchant at heart; his stated aim is even to serve. No doubt his aim is first of all to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God, but finds in the need of man the opportunity for his own gain, and this is what we find as the cause of his judgment here... There is little need to say that a habit of gathering riches out of other people's need hardens the heart. So it was with Tyre: and for this she is judged.
The same writer sets Tyre's hope beside God's answer to it.
The blow has fallen on Jerusalem, and Tyre is quite ready to take advantage of it. Proud of her position and counting on her many sources of strength, she can sit apart, hoping to profit from what she does not fear. But, as God declares to her, it is only an empty dream. The many nations she has seen constantly coming to replenish her have now come up against her with the unstoppable force of the waves of the sea. They come to overtop her defences, destroy her walls, and break down her towers. She who has so often profited from the spoil of the nations will in turn be a spoil for the nations.
God's sentence turned the city's own name against her.
Tyre means "a rock." This island city was built upon a rock... Its resources were so vast that Tyre might well look on itself as a rock that could not be shaken. The greater the needs of others, the more the streams of supply from every quarter served it. But God takes up its character in the result, and declares that it will be a rock — a rock and nothing more — "a bare rock."
The state of the place itself became the proof.
Its present inhabitants are only a few poor people sheltering in the vaults and living mostly by fishing. They seem to be kept there by divine Providence, as visible proof that God has fulfilled His word about Tyre: that He would make her "a bare rock," and "a place for the spreading of nets."
- Cause. Tyre was judged for appetite, not for armies. She profited from other people's ruin, so she became the spoil she once collected.
- Breach. Her sins had opened the city before any army did, so no defence could hold.
- Instrument. Nebuchadnezzar's horses and chariots were God's chosen tool. His thirteen-year siege began the end; it did not finish it.
- Reach. Babylon took the mainland; Alexander later took the island. One sentence, carried out across centuries.
- Result. The city that called itself a rock became a bare rock where nets are spread, just as God said.
With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets; he shall slay thy people by the sword, and the pillars of thy strength shall go down to the ground.
In verses 7–11 God names the man who will carry out what He has announced against Tyre. Horses fill her streets, her people fall by the sword, her proudest supports crash to the ground. Why does a rich trading city, at peace with Israel, meet this?
Tyre never fought Israel. Her judgment grew out of her trade and the heart it gave her.
In Tyre we find no direct hostility to Israel… Tyre is above all the merchant. His stated aim is even to serve. No doubt his first aim is to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. He finds in the need of man the opportunity for his own gain, and this is the cause of his judgment here… The habit of gathering riches from the need of others hardens the heart, there is little need to say. So it is with Tyre here: and for this she is judged.
The rider of those horses has a name. He acts as God's servant, carrying out God's sentence.
As we read these prophecies, it is important to notice that they treat Nebuchadnezzar as the servant of God. He carries out God's judgment both on Jerusalem and on the nations round about, and so frees the land of Israel from them.
But his siege was not the last word. Commentators separate his work from the final end God Himself announces later.
First, the prophecy names Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, as the instrument of Tyre's destruction. But we must not confuse this with the full end which Jehovah Himself makes of her, as in the 14th verse. The siege by Nebuchadrezzar was the beginning of the end. There was a revival after this, however, and another siege by the Greek king Alexander. This brought her strength down for good…
after fix: DELETE
The verse ends with the supports of her strength falling to the ground. Her name and her site both spoke of unshakable safety. God takes that very word and turns it against her.
Tyre means "a rock." This island city stood on a rock. For its own purposes it did not need land that produced things. It needed a good meeting point where goods from other places could come and change hands. With such vast resources, Tyre might indeed look on itself as a rock that could not be shaken… But God takes its character to its end, and declares that it shall be a rock — a rock and nothing more — "a bare rock," or "cliff," as the word He uses means. The word for "bare" really means "dry" — dried by the sun.
This siege struck the part of Tyre that stood on the mainland. The judgment came in stages.
This great judgment was not all carried out at once. Nebuchadnezzar came first against her as predicted in verses 7–11. He besieged Tyre on the mainland and took the city after thirteen years. The part of Tyre that stood on an island in the sea escaped, because Tyre's fleet protected it. Then came for her seventy years when she was forgotten… After these years had passed Tyre saw a startling revival. The island city became more powerful and wicked than before… The mainland Tyre, however, remained in ruins.
Travellers who came to the site much later described what they saw.
Travellers have described the town as surrounded by rocks, with the fragments of ancient columns scattered on their ledges… Another traveller says he found it a mere jumble of broken walls, pillars and vaults, with not so much as one entire house left! The people living there now are only a few poor souls sheltering in the vaults, who live mostly by fishing. Divine providence seems to keep them in the place, as visible proof that God has fulfilled His word about Tyre.
Writers read this city as a picture of something larger than one port on the coast.
This city is the picture of the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt and self-confident. Nebuchadnezzar took it after a long siege, though he did not destroy it… Tyre and the Tyrians formed the centre of the trade of the ancient world… Its fall was bound to bring pain to people everywhere on earth… So Tyre and Sidon remained the best-known and most striking warning of divine judgment, as we may gather from our Lord's reference to them.
- Boast. Tyre made her money out of other people's need. That habit hardens the heart, and God judged her for it.
- Blow. The horses in her streets came through God's servant Nebuchadnezzar. His siege began the end; it was not the end itself.
- Bare rock. Her pillars fall because the rock she trusted was only a rock. God leaves her nothing more than a bare, sun-dried cliff.
- Proof. The mainland city fell after thirteen years and stayed in ruins. Later travellers found broken pillars, vaults and a few fishermen.
- Warning. Tyre pictures the world's commercial glory: rich, corrupt and sure of itself. Her fall warns anyone who builds his safety on trade.
And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy wares; 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.
Tyre watched Jerusalem fall and saw a business opportunity. Ezekiel 26 is God's answer, and it raises two questions: why this city, and did it happen?
One commentator traces her judgment to what she was by trade.
Tyre is essentially the merchantman; his professed object even is to serve. No doubt his aim is first of all to serve himself. He has not the true spirit of service for God. Instead, he finds in the need of man the opportunity for his own gain, and this is the cause of his judgment here... It hardly needs saying that the habit of gaining riches from the need of others hardens the heart. So it was with Tyre: and for this she is judged.
The sentence fits the crime.
She who has so often profited by the spoil of the nations will in turn be a spoil for the nations. God's judgment carries man's judgment further, as her history has fully shown, and it declares itself in what has been fully accomplished.
The chapter names Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as the attacker. But the ruin here was not finished in his lifetime, and the verse's shift from "he" to "they" matches that.
The prophecy first names Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, as the instrument of Tyre's destruction. But we must not confuse this with the full end which Jehovah Himself makes of her, in the 14th verse. The siege by Nebuchadrezzar was the beginning of the end. There was a revival after this, however, and another siege by the Grecian king Alexander. This broke her strength for good, although the remnant of a city remained for a long time. It wasted and dried up more and more until the end came. Today, as we see, nothing is left but a bare rock, used only for the spreading of nets.
The strangest line in the verse is the one most exactly fulfilled. Alexander the Great attacked the island city of Tyre by building a mole — a causeway of rubble across the water.
About 240 years later this prophecy came true to the letter... To build this mole, Alexander used the ruins of the old city. He laid the stones, timber and the very dust of the destroyed city into the sea. That causeway brought the utter ruin of the wealthy city. And so Ezekiel's prophecy was fulfilled.
One stroke takes away the city's wealth and its music.
As the prophet speaks here, the breach in Tyre had already been made for him by their sins. Her stones, her timber and her dust were now to be laid in the middle of the waters. The noise of her songs was to cease, and all her pomp and glory were to perish together. As already said, however, the complete end would wait for many generations.
Travellers who saw the site centuries later described what was left.
Its present inhabitants are only a few poor people sheltering in the vaults, and living mainly by fishing; who seem to be kept in the place by divine Providence, as a visible argument of how God has fulfilled His word about Tyre, namely, that it should be "like the top of a rock; you shall be a place to spread nets upon."
One commentator reads Tyre as a picture of something still with us.
That godless city, mentioned by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels, represents the world with its riches and lusts. It hated God and God's people, and was glad of Israel's fall, since that gave freer course to the satisfying of her own selfishness.
God has a purpose in ending false glory.
The sentence of God is upon it; but, as He says here, so that He may set true glory in the land of the living... Blessed be God, all this must indeed pass away. What can be shaken is to be removed, so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
- Gain — Tyre grew rich on other people's ruin. That habit hardens the heart, and God judged her for it.
- Given — She took her wealth from the nations; the nations took it back. The spoiler became the spoil.
- Ground — About 240 years later, Alexander built his causeway out of her ruins. Her stones, timber and dust went into the sea.
- Gone — Two sieges, generations apart, carried out one sentence. The end came slowly, and left a bare rock for drying nets.
- Glory — God shakes false glory so that true glory can stand; what cannot be shaken is what remains.
And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
Tyre was the great trading city of the sea, and she had just watched Jerusalem fall — and welcomed it. God's answer fills the whole chapter. Here it reaches her music: the songs stop and the lyres fall silent.
Tyre made her living from trade. One writer finds the cause of her judgment right there:
The merchant does not have the true spirit of service for God, but finds in man's need the opportunity for his own gain, and this is what we find as the cause of his judgment here. Jerusalem has been judged… She says against Jerusalem: "Aha, she is broken, the gate of the peoples; she is turned to me. I shall be replenished now that she is laid waste." How naturally we understand it! How common such rejoicing is among merchants at all times! Making a habit of gaining riches from the need of others hardens the heart, there is little need to say.
The silencing of the songs is not a separate stroke. It belongs to a list — stones, timber, dust, singing — that goes down as one thing:
As the prophet speaks here, the breach in Tyre had already been made for him by their sins. Her stones, her timber and her dust were now to be thrown into the middle of the sea. The noise of her songs was to cease. All her pomp and glory were to perish together.
The verses just before name Nebuchadnezzar as the attacker. Then verse 12 switches to "they." One writer sees more than one hand in it:
It may be that "they" in verse 12 goes beyond Nebuchadnezzar and takes in Alexander the Great. His vengeance was still more complete. He threw the stones and timber and dust of Tyre into the middle of the water. There was no recovery after that.
The silence did not fall all at once. God carried out the sentence in stages:
The siege by Nebuchadrezzar was the beginning of the end. There was a revival after this, however, and another siege by the Grecian king Alexander. This truly broke her strength. Even so, the remnant of a city stayed for a long time, wasting and drying up more and more until the end came. As we see today, nothing is left but a bare rock, used only for spreading nets.
Tyre is more than a dead city on a map. One writer looks at the next chapter, where her trading partners turn on her:
Ezekiel 27 describes Tyre's grandeur and her trading links with all the world. It then announces that in "the day of your ruin" all her former friends "will hiss at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever." Such is the world and its end, as changeable as the waters that carried Tyre's ships. Tyre represents the commercial glory of the world, which passes away.
Scripture sounds this silence again at the end, when judgment falls on Babylon the great. Music is named there too — and not because music is wrong in itself:
When God's judgment is poured out on Babylon the great, every department of man's world will be remembered. The world of music that began with Jubal is not forgotten, for "the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more." God was pleased to have the music of David in connection with the temple worship, and He will have music from Israel on earth again. But the music of man's world is used to charm man's heart away from God. That music is marked out for judgment.
The silence is not the last word. Later in the chapter God gives His own reason for tearing all this down:
The lessons of God's school are too humbling for man to welcome. He may be forced to accept the sentence of condemnation on himself. He must also accept the passing away of all the false glory he would love to make true, but cannot. God's sentence is on it. But, as He says here, this is so that He may set true glory in the land of the living… All this has indeed to pass away. What can be shaken is to be removed, so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Our kingdom is in what cannot be shaken.
- Cause — Tyre cheered Jerusalem's fall because it meant more trade. Gaining riches from other people's need hardens the heart.
- Sentence — the songs do not fall alone. Stones, timber, dust and music all perish together.
- Instrument — Nebuchadnezzar began the end and Alexander finished it. Today only a bare rock remains, used for spreading nets.
- Pattern — Tyre stands for the commercial glory of the world. The same silence falls on Babylon the great at the end.
- Purpose — God clears away false glory to set true glory in the land of the living. What can be shaken goes; our kingdom cannot be shaken.
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.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.