Ezekiel 26:10

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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."

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."