Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your mariners and your pilots, your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you, with all your crew that is in your midst, sink into the heart of the seas on the day of your fall.
Ezekiel 27 pictures the trading city of Tyre as a great ship. Verse 27 is the moment that ship goes down. Look at the list: the wealth, the sailors, the repairmen, the traders and the soldiers all sink together, on one day.
A Ship That Goes Down
The chapter describes Tyre's grandeur at length. Then a wind rises, and the picture turns. One writer names the storm:
William KellyBut no fullness from outside, no glory even in the heart of the seas, could resist the word of Jehovah. The day of Tyre had come. "Your rowers have brought you out into the high seas. The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas." From verse 26 begins the prophet's description of the ruin of Tyre. We return to the earlier allegory. Tyre is a ship that founders at sea. Nebuchadnezzar is the east wind that upset her.
The Crew Named in the Verse
One job in the list is easy to miss. The caulkers were the men who kept the sea out:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThose who stop up the seams between the boards of a ship. Today the usual way is to drive in oakum with a mallet and a caulking-iron or blunt chisel.
These repairmen sink with the ship. So do the soldiers on board:
Numerical Bible NotesThe very hands whose power carried the good ship on now bring her into great waters. There the east wind of adversity breaks her helplessly "in the heart of the seas." No skilful management is of any use any more. No one can even attempt to stop the leaks any more. Useless are the men of war. All that crowd gathered in and about her falls into the heart of the seas in the day of her ruin.
Glory Built on Instability
The phrase that marks Tyre's proud position also marks her grave. One writer explains where that glory came from:
Numerical Bible NotesIt is all the fruit of a spirit away from God. That spirit explores the earth for whatever it can make gain of, but it can yield no satisfaction. All hangs together like their bales of merchandise, and this makes Tyre very glorious for the present. But it all sits in the middle of what is the very image of instability, "in the heart of the seas."
How the Fall Came
"The day of your fall" was not a single afternoon of history. Commentators name two invaders, centuries apart:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinTyre is to be shipwrecked. The east wind is Nebuchadnezzar. He came against the proud city and brought about part of her ruin. Alexander the Great completed the work. A comparison with Revelation 18 will bring out the striking correspondence.
The same writer describes that coming system:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinBabylon the Great will be both a religious and commercial world centre. Her commerce is just like the commerce of Tyre.
Sudden and Unlooked For
In Revelation 18, kings and merchants use almost the same words:
Walter ScottThe kings in their lament say "In a single hour your judgment has come," while the merchants say "In a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste." Put the two statements together, and we learn two things. The judgment of Babylon destroys her temporal prosperity. And the stroke of vengeance from the hand of the Almighty is sudden and unlooked for.
What Tyre Stands For
So the chapter is not only about one ancient city:
W. T. P. WolstonEzekiel 27 describes the grandeur of Tyre and her trade with all the world. Then it announces that in "the day of your fall" all her former friends "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.
Summary
- Ship — Ezekiel draws Tyre as a splendid vessel. Verse 27 is the moment she sinks.
- Seams — the caulkers who sealed the ship's seams go down inside it. On the day of ruin their skill counts for nothing.
- Seas — Tyre's proud address, "the heart of the seas," is also her grave. Glory gathered away from God rests on the very image of instability.
- Strokes — the east wind is Nebuchadnezzar. He struck first, and Alexander the Great finished the work.
- Successor — the same kind of trade reappears in Revelation 18, in a centre both religious and commercial. Its judgment comes in a single hour, sudden and unlooked for. Tyre is the world's trade in miniature, and it passes away.