and say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, thus says the Lord GOD: “O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
God tells Ezekiel to sing a funeral song over a city that was still standing, still rich, and still sure of itself. Her own boast of perfect beauty sets the tone for the whole chapter. The verses that follow turn that boast into the picture of a splendid ship putting out to sea.
The city addressed
Tyre was a port built out in the water, and its wealth was famous far beyond its own coast.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe city of Tyre (the name means rock) stood partly on an island off the mainland in the Mediterranean Sea. It was an ancient Phoenician city. Scripture first mentions it in Joshua 19:29, where it is called "the strong city." Its trade was wonderful, and this chapter describes how varied it was. Seafaring men lived there. The prophet Isaiah describes this wealthy and influential city as "the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honoured of the earth" (Isaiah 23:8).
Merchant of the peoples
The verse gives Tyre the title of merchant. One writer takes that word at face value: a merchant's stated aim is to serve other people.
Numerical Bible NotesTyre is above all the merchant. Even his stated aim is to serve. No doubt his real aim is to serve himself first. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. He finds in the need of others the chance of his own gain, and that is the cause of his judgment here… It hardly needs saying that gaining riches again and again from the need of others hardens the heart. So it is with Tyre: and for this she is judged.
A lament that turns into a picture
The lament speaks to the city as if to a person. It does not stay a lament for long.
William KellyThis lamentation soon passes into an allegory. The prophet speaks to Tyre as to a person. He sets out her position vividly, and her self-satisfaction with it. From verse 4 the allegory of a ship is before us, and it fits Tyre's own character very strikingly.
A ship men are still building
The ship that follows is a figure, and it did not stop being useful when Tyre fell.
Numerical Bible NotesThe ship here pictures Tyre for us. It is a most natural figure, and we still use it when we speak of the "ship of state"… We may say that man has been working at this ship ever since, doing his best to perfect its beauty. We see how attractive it can be in the displays it keeps giving us of all the products of nature and of man. It brings them together and, as it were, embodies in itself the restless, ever-craving spirit of man, the untiring energy that works in him.
Why Tyre gets three chapters
Ezekiel judges several nearby nations. Tyre gets a prophecy of its own, and there is a reason for that.
J. N. DarbyIn a certain sense Tyre stands on Israel's territory, yet it has another character. It has a prophecy of its own (Ezekiel 26-28), because it represents the world and its riches, in contrast with Israel as the people of God. It rejoices too, but not from personal hatred, as the others did. Its interests were the opposite of Israel's, and the fall of what had held back its career left its natural selfishness free to run.
Beauty spread over a curse
Another writer asks what all that splendour covers up.
The Bible TreasuryTyre was envious of Jerusalem at first, and later her rival. Satan uses her to display the glory and riches of the world, so she becomes an instrument against God. By means of commerce Satan tries to make the curse ineffective. The earth was to bring forth thorns and thistles, and man to eat bread by the sweat of his brow. Satan would get around that sentence by gathering the different products of the earth and filling the eye and mind with them. He would hide the thorns by spreading a carpet of Tyre's merchandise over them.
How the song ends
The song ends with the ship beyond help, and God speaks its last line Himself.
Numerical Bible NotesSkilful handling is no use any more. No one can even try to stop the leaks… Where can anyone find a safety that Tyre has not found? God seals this whole lament with one short and emphatic word: "You have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever."
That closing line follows the ESV; the older translation the writer quoted reads, "You have become a terror, and you shall never be any more."
Summary
- Position. Tyre sits at the sea's entrance. It is an island fortress called "the strong city," and its trade reaches many coastlands.
- Profession. Her trade claims to serve others, but its real aim is self; gain drawn from the needs of others hardens the heart.
- Pride. God does not dispute her boast of perfect beauty — He quotes it, then turns it into a funeral song.
- Picture. From verse 4 the city becomes a ship. Commentators see man still at work on that same ship, perfecting its beauty.
- Perishing. Tyre stands for the world and its riches; when the skill runs out, God seals the lament with one word — no more forever.