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.