The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.’”
Tyre's funeral song does not end with the mourners. It ends with God. His last word is final: the traders who grew rich on her now jeer at her, and the city is gone for good. Two questions follow. Why did a trading city meet such a complete end? And what does her ruin say to a world still built on trade?
God's Closing Word
Chapter 27 is one long lament. One commentator notes where the mourning stops — at a single line, and that line is God's, not the mourners'.
Numerical Bible NotesThe cry of the pilots is only despair. The open places of the land that might give her refuge are themselves shaking, and shut out hope. Those who stand far off in fear at her judgment only recall the glory of the past, like people who wish they could disbelieve that it is past… Where shall anyone find a security that Tyre has not found? All this lamentation is sealed by one single, emphatic word from God: "You have become a terror, and you shall never be any more."
(That quotation uses an older translation. The ESV reads: "you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.")
The Sin Being Judged
The charge against Tyre is not violence but greed. She welcomed Jerusalem's fall because she expected to profit from it.
Numerical Bible NotesTyre is above all the merchant, and he even claims his aim is to serve. No doubt his aim is first of all to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. He finds in people's need the chance for his own gain. That is the cause of his judgment here… 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 natural it is! How common such rejoicing is among merchants at all times! The habit of getting rich from the need of others hardens the heart.
Fulfilled to the Letter
The end came in two blows, and one writer names who struck them.
William KellyTyre had risen slowly to this huge, concentrated trade. How quickly it all fell to ruin when Nebuchadnezzar struck the first blow, and beyond recovery when Alexander the Great struck the last!
Travellers later visited the site. One writer collected their reports as proof that God's word about Tyre came true.
H. H. SnellOne traveller says he found it a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars and vaults, with not so much as one whole house left. Its present inhabitants are only a few poor people. They shelter in the vaults and live mainly by fishing. They seem to be kept there by divine Providence, as a visible argument that God has fulfilled His word about Tyre: that it should be a bare rock, a place for the spreading of nets.
The Turn of the Trading Partners
The ones who now jeer at Tyre are her own former friends.
W. T. P. WolstonEzekiel 27 describes the grandeur of Tyre and her trade with the whole world. Then it announces that in "the day of your ruin" all her former friends will hiss at her. She will become a terror and will never exist again. Such is the world and its end — as fickle as the waters that carried Tyre's ships. Tyre represents the commercial glory of the world, which passes away.
A Preview of a Greater Fall
The pattern does not end with Tyre. One writer reads this chapter alongside Revelation 18.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinA comparison with Revelation 18 will bring out the striking correspondence. Babylon the Great is a coming religious and commercial world-system, with Rome as its centre. When she falls at last, her fall and ruin will surely be greater than the fall of Tyre.
The Warning Carried Forward
Tyre's spirit did not die with Tyre.
The Bible TreasuryThe commerce 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… The spirit of Mammon rules the age. Under its influence the truth is twisted, and it becomes the profession of greedy men who suppose that gain is godliness. From such we turn away.
Summary
- Cause — gain from another's loss. Tyre welcomed Jerusalem's fall as a business opportunity. Getting rich from other people's need hardens the heart.
- Verdict — one word seals it. The long human lament ends with one sentence from God. That sentence, not the mourning, decides her future.
- Reach — no security anywhere else. If Tyre's wealth bought her no refuge, no one will find safety where she failed.
- Result — hissing where there was trade. The partners who grew rich by her are the ones who mock her. The world's friendship lasts as long as the profit.
- Repeat — a rehearsal for Babylon. Commentators hear the same song again in Revelation 18, over a greater system. Tyre stands as a warning to trading cities still.