Ezekiel 27:9

This lamentation soon passes into an allegory. Tyre is addressed personally. Her position is set out graphically, and so is her self-satisfaction. From verse 4 the allegory of a ship is before us. It fits the particular character of Tyre very strikingly... From verses 8-11 we have the crew, the pilots, and the traders, the marines and the guards.

The ship is used here as a picture of Tyre. It is a very natural figure. We still use it when we speak of the "ship of state." We think of the power and skill that human effort must put out to make it prosper, to catch favouring winds and avoid shoals and rocks... We may say that man has been working at this ship ever since, doing his best to perfect its beauty.

A coastal city of Phoenicia. Identified with Jebeil, the ancient Byblus, near the mouth of the river Adonis... Its inhabitants are called GIBLITES in Joshua 13:5. Some were workers in stone and helped in the work of the temple, 1 Kings 5:18, margin. Others were caulkers, Ezekiel 27:9.

The men of Gebal have their part in the work. Ezekiel 27:9 mentions them as skilled to repair the breaches of Tyre, which is there represented in the form of a magnificent vessel sailing the seas.

We have the repairers next. They are very necessary, since human machinery is always wearing out. These are the elders of Gebal. The name comes from a word which means "to plait," "combine," "twist together." Plenty of this work has to be done to stop leaks, and much else of that sort. Finally, we see in this ship of trade how common interests, as people boast, bring the world together. "All the ships of the sea" are in her. It is as if all were one vessel, serving her purposes and carrying on the civilisation of the world. The ground of it is the common brotherhood of man and the preserving of the universal good.

In the Word Tyre is a type of the world with all its riches and desirable things... Precious woods, ivory and ebony, fine linen, silver, iron, gold in great abundance, spices, oil and wheat, countless flocks... And that is not to mention warriors to defend her, sailors to guide her fleets, wise men to direct her and to make use of her resources. Such, in very few words, was the wealth of Tyre. Everything the human heart could desire on earth could be got there.

The description of her great commerce reminds us of a coming world-system. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, describes it. Babylon the Great will be both an ecclesiastical and a commercial world centre. Her commerce is just like the commerce of Tyre (Revelation 18:12-13).

But no abundance from outside, and no glory even in the heart of the seas, could withstand the word of Jehovah. The day of Tyre had come... 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 overturned her. "Your riches and your wares, your mariners and your pilots, your caulkers ... shall fall into the heart of the seas on the day of your fall."