EZEKIEL 26 COMMENTARYEDITED BY Glenn Pease

A Prophecy Against Tyre

1 In the eleventh month of the twelfth[a] year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me:

BARNES, "Prophecies against Tyre. The siege of Tyre lasted thirteen years beginning 585 b.c., about three years after the capture of Jerusalem. While besieging Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar had driven Pharaoh Hophra back to the borders of Egypt. Tyre being thus relieved from a dangerous enemy, was exulting in her own deliverance, and in her neighbor’s ruin, when Ezekiel predicted the calamity about to befall her. The name Tyre means rock, and was given to the city in consequence of its position. This island-rock was the heart of Tyre, and the town upon the continent - called “Old Tyre,” possibly as having been the temporary position of the first settlers - was the outgrowth of the island city. The scanty records of ancient history give no, distinct evidence of the capture of insular Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar; but the fact is very probable. Compare especially Eze_26:7-12; Eze_29:18. The present state of Tyre is one of utter desolation, though the end was long delayed (compare Isa. 23). Tyre was great and wealthy under Persian, Greek, Roman, and even Muslim masters. The final ruin of Tyre was due to the sultan of Egypt (1291 a.d.).

In the first day of the month - The number of the month being omitted, many suppose “the month” to mean the month when Jerusalem was taken (the rebirth month), called “the month,” as being so well known. The capture of the city is known to have taken place on “the ninth day of the fourth month” and its destruction on “the seventh day of the fifth month.” This prophecy therefore preceded by a few days the capture of the city. The condition of Jerusalem in the latter months of its siege was such that the Tyrians may well have exulted as though it had already fallen.

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CLARKE, "The eleventh year - This was the year in which Jerusalem was taken; the eleventh of the captivity of Jeconiah, and the eleventh of the reign of Zedekiah. What month we are not told, though the day is mentioned. There have been many conjectures about this, which are not of sufficient consequence to be detailed.

GILL, "And it came to pass in the eleventh year,.... Of Jehoiachin's captivity and Zedekiah's reign, the same year that Jerusalem was taken: in the first day of the month; but what month is not mentioned; some have thought the first month, and so it was the first day of the year; others the fourth, the same in which the city of Jerusalem was taken; but more probably the fifth, the first of which was twenty days after the taking it; in which time the news of it might be brought to Tyre, at which she rejoiced; and for which her destruction is threatened, and here prophesied of: that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying; as follows:

HENRY, "This prophecy is dated in the eleventh year, which was the year that Jerusalem was taken, and in the first day of the month, but it is not said what month, some think the month in which Jerusalem was taken, which was the fourth month, others the month after; or perhaps it was the first month, and so it was the first day of the year. Observe here,

JAMISON, "Eze_26:1-21. The judgment on Tyre through Nebuchadnezzar (twenty-sixth through twenty-eighth chapters).

In the twenty-sixth chapter, Ezekiel sets forth: -(1) Tyre’s sin;(2) its doom;(3) the instruments executing it;(4) the effects produced on other nations by her downfall. In the twenty-seventh chapter, a lamentation over the fall of such earthly splendor.

In the twenty-eighth chapter, an elegy addressed to the king, on the humiliation of his sacrilegious pride. Ezekiel, in his prophecies as to the heathen, exhibits the dark side only; because he views them simply in their hostility to the people of God, who shall outlive them all. Isaiah (Isa_23:1-18), on the other hand, at the close of judgments, holds out the prospect of blessing, when Tyre should turn to the Lord.The specification of the date, which had been omitted in the case of the four preceding objects of judgment, marks the greater weight attached to the fall of Tyre.eleventh year — namely, after the carrying away of Jehoiachin, the year of the fall of Jerusalem. The number of the month is, however, omitted, and the day only given. As the month of the taking of Jerusalem was regarded as one of particular note, namely, the

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fourth month, also the fifth, on which it was actually destroyed (Jer_52:6, Jer_52:12, Jer_52:13), Rabbi David reasonably supposes that Tyre uttered her taunt at the close of the fourth month, as her nearness to Jerusalem enabled her to hear of its fall very soon, and that Ezekiel met it with his threat against herself on “the first day” of the fifth month.

K&D, "In four sections, commencing with the formula, “thus saith the Lord,” Tyre, the mistress of the sea, is threatened with destruction. In the first strophe (Eze_26:2-6) there is a general threat of its destruction by a host of nations. In the second (Eze_26:7-14), the enemy is mentioned by name, and designated as a powerful one; and the conquest and destruction emanating from his are circumstantially described. In the third (Eze_26:15-18), the impression which this event would produce upon the inhabitants of the islands and coast-lands is depicted. And in the fourth (Eze_26:19-21), the threat is repeated in an energetic manner, and the prophecy is thereby rounded off.

This word of God bears in the introduction to the date of its delivery to the prophet and enunciation by him. - Eze_26:1. It came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, that the word of Jehovah came to me, saying. - The eleventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin was the year of the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem (Jer_52:6, Jer_52:12), the occurrence of which is presupposed in Eze_26:2 also. There is something striking in the omission of the number of the month both here and in Eze_32:17, as the day of the month is given. The attempt to discover in the words באחד an indication of the number of the month, by understanding לחדש as signifying the first month of the year: “on the first as regards the month,” equivalent to, “in the first month, on the first day of it” (lxx, Luther, Kliefoth, and others), is as forced and untenable as the notion that that particular month is intended which had peculiar significance for Ezekiel, namely, the month in which Jerusalem was conquered and destroyed. The first explanation is proved to be erroneous by Eze_26:2, where the destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred in the fifth month of the year named, is assumed to have already happened. The second view is open to the objection that the conquest of Jerusalem happened in the fourth month, and the destruction in the fifth (Jer_52:6 and Jer_52:12); and it cannot be affirmed that the conquest was of less importance to Ezekiel than the destruction. We cannot escape the conclusion, therefore, that the number of the month has been dropped through a corruption of the text, which has occurred in copying; but in that case we must give up all hope of being able to determine what the month really was. The conjecture offered by Ewald and Hitzig, that one of the last months of the year is intended, because Ezekiel could not have known before then what impression the conquest of Jerusalem had made upon Tyre, stands or falls with the naturalistic view entertained by these writers with regard to prophecy.

COFFMAN, "Verse 1

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PROPHECY AGAINST TYRE

It is of interest that, "In the Hebrew Bible, there is a marginal note at the beginning of this chapter, which reads, `half of the book.'"[1]

Regarding the date of this chapter, Keil identified it as "the year in which Jerusalem fell."[2] Alexander gave that date as 587-586 B.C.[3]

Ezekiel gave more space to God's prophecies against Tyre than did any other sacred writer. The prophecy which begins in this chapter is concluded in Ezekiel 28:19. This may have been due to the importance of Tyre at that particular time.

As was true of all the other nations against whom God directed his prophecies, it was their paganism which required the destruction in which God judged them. Salvation for mankind could never have been accomplished without the general knowledge of all mankind that God is, and that there is none else besides Him. The necessity for the destructive punishment of Israel had given her pagan neighbors the excuse to claim that the True God had been defeated; therefore, the pagan nations themselves were destroyed.

Tyre, and its sister city Sidon were pagan to the center of their existence. It was Jezebel, the daughter of Eth-Baal, king of the Sidonians, who brought the whole pagan institution into Israel in the days of Ahab, precipitating the contest with Elijah on Mount Carmel. Incidentally, that development demonstrated the godless influence of Israel's apostate kings and their foreign wives. Jezebel was the wife of Ahab.

Tyre was an exceedingly strong city, the citadel of which was located on a rock-bound island 1,200 yards off the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. There were numerous villages and cities on the mainland that were commercially and politically related to Tyre. "Tyre was the incarnation of unrestrained commercialism."[4] They were the vulture-like scavengers on the fringes of every battlefield, waiting to

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make a deal to buy the prisoners of war and sell them at a profit. On one occasion they had even sold the Israelites to Edom (Amos 1:9). Back in the days of Solomon, they had formed a covenant ('the brotherly covenant') with Israel, and therefore they probably had some knowledge of Jehovah.

In addition to the supporting cities and villages on the mainland, Tyre had also established a wide network of commercial establishments all over the Mediterranean world, which some believe included Tarshish on the coast of Spain; and, at one time, Carthage paid a yearly tribute to Tyre.[5] The chief representatives of Tyre in all of such centers were important leaders, called `princes' in this chapter, "the merchant princes" of antiquity.

Tyre was primarily a merchandiser, a tradesman; but another source of her wealth was the manufacture of a rare purple dye, made from the murex shell, which came from a tiny shellfish abundant in that area.[6] No doubt Lydia (Acts 16), a "seller of purple" had her connections with Tyre.

The chapter naturally falls into four divisions: (1) the announcement of Tyre's ruin (Ezekiel 26:1-6), (2) Nebuchadnezzar named as the destroyer (Ezekiel 26:7-14), (3) the world-wide shock at Tyre's fall, and (4) the permanence of the city's ruin (Ezekiel 26:19-21).

Ezekiel 26:1-6

"And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, because that Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gate of the people; she is turned unto me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste: therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah; and she shall become a spoil

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to the nations. And her daughters that are in the field shall be slain with the sword: and they shall know that I am Jehovah."

"She ... that was the gate of the people ..." (Ezekiel 26:2). There were several ways in which Jerusalem was indeed the "gate of the people." Due to Jerusalem's location as a kind of center-piece for three continents, she sat astride the principle trade-routes of the world, able to impose taxes upon all who passed through her borders. The cruel selfishness of those old slave-traders in Tyre led them to look with greedy delight upon any disaster that befell Jerusalem.

The word "gate" (Ezekiel 26:2) is often translated "gates"; and Keil believed that, "The plural was used to indicate the folding doors which formed `the gate.'"[7] However, to us, it appears that the several toll-stations on all the roads passing through Palestine is a more logical understanding of the plural. All such seats of custom were under the control of Jerusalem until its fall.

The rejoicing of Tyre over the fall of Jerusalem indicated that, "Tyre considered herself the heiress of Jerusalem. The fall of the world's only spiritual center, enhanced the importance of the secular center."[8] Although not stated here, the full meaning of Tyre's remarks should probably be understood as carrying the thought that, "Now she is turned to me and to my gods!"

They shall destroy the walls of Tyre (Ezekiel 26:4); I will scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock (Ezekiel 26:4); she shall become a spoil to the nations (Ezekiel 26:5); many nations shall come up against thee, as the waves of the sea (Ezekiel 26:3). All of these prophecies were most circumstantially fulfilled.

Cooke alleged that the siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar was "probably inconclusive."[9] However, it went on for a period of thirteen years (586 B. C. to 573 B.C.)[10] and any worse "defeat" than such a siege can hardly be imagined. Furthermore, "It is evident that Nebuchadnezzar did indeed establish authority over Tyre, because an ancient inscription dated in 564/563 B.C. mentions a Babylonian high commissioner, alongside Tyre's native king (evidently a vassal of

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Nebuchadnezzar)."[11]

It should be noted that a final end of Tyre was not to come in a single overthrow; it would be the result of "many nations," coming against the proud city "as the waves of the sea." First, there was Nebuchadnezzar (586-573 B.C); the Persians next subjugated Tyre in 525 B.C.;[12] then, there was Alexander the Great (332 B.C.); and Tyre's remaining history continued to show the `continuing waves' of destruction. These included their submission to the Antiochus III, to Rome in the days of that empire, and to the Saracens in the fourteenth century A.D.[13] Is not this indeed "as the sea causeth her waves to come up?"

That Tyre would become as a bare rock is demonstrated by the condition of the place now, and for centuries previously.

That God would scrape her dust from her took place when Alexander the Great built a great mole out to the island fortress, took it, and then scraped the whole city into the ocean!

A few commentators, quoting Ezekiel 29:18, insist that "this prophecy was not fulfilled." However, in that passage Ezekiel was referring only to a "single wave" of the many that came against Tyre. Besides that, there are indeed Biblical examples of prophecies that were not fulfilled. God's promise through Jonah to overthrow Nineveh in forty days was not fulfilled. Why? Nineveh repented! Furthermore, we cannot rule out the possibility of an unrecorded repentance by Tyre. "It is possible that Tyre was spared because of an unrecorded repentance."[14] It would be helpful if some of our radical "scholars" would read Jeremiah 18:7-10. We have no evidence whatever that Tyre ever repented; but they certainly had some knowledge of the Lord; and it is no more unreasonable that, at one time or another, they indeed might have repented, than that Nineveh herself did so! Our view here is that every Word of God's prophecy against Tyre came to pass exactly as he promised.

ELLICOTT, "IntroductionTyre was a great and powerful commercial city, made up of two parts: Old Tyre,

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situated on a plain on the mainland, and New Tyre, built on a rocky island, or rather two islands joined together, lying about half a mile from the shore. Its territory was insignificant, but it was so strong in its wealth, its ships, and its colonies, that it was able to employ mercenaries (Ezekiel 27:10-11) in numbers, and being strongly fortified, resisted for five years, and with final success, the siege by the whole power of Assyria under Shalmaneser. According to the Assyrian records, however, it was afterwards captured by Assurbanipal. A few years after the fall of Jerusalem it was again besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years. There is no express mention in the histories of the time of the result of this siege, although it is implied in the statement of the ancient historians (Jos. 100 Apion, i. 20;. Antt. x., 11, §1) that Nebuchadnezzar made himself master of all Phœnicia. It is also asserted by St. Jerome that he captured Tyre, and he describes the method by which it was accomplished; it is also very unlikely that such a monarch as Nebuchadnezzar would have allowed himself to be baffled after such effort. (On the difficulty suggested by Ezekiel 29:18, see the Note there.) In the days of David and Solomon, the king of Tyre was the close friend of Israel; afterwards the two nations became alienated, and the Tyrians sold Hebrew captives to the Greeks and the Edomites (Joel 3:4-8; Amos 1:9-10). Tyre was probably greatly offended when Josiah, in the course of his reformation, defiled the images of their god Baal, and destroyed his sacred vessels, both at Jerusalem and in Samaria. It was subject to the Persian Empire, was captured by Alexander, remained a large city under the Romans, was still flourishing in the time of St. Jerome, was great at the era of the Crusades, but soon afterwards was totally destroyed by the Saracens, and has since remained so utterly desolate that its site might not even be observed by the passing traveller. Besides the prophecies against Tyre just mentioned, that of Isaiah 23 has already been spoken of in the introductory Note to chapter 25.

Ezekiel’s denunciation of Tyre occupies nearly three chapters, and each of these forms a distinct prophecy, the last verses of Ezekiel 28 constituting a separate prophecy against the associated Phoenician city of Sidon. The first of these (Ezekiel 26) is occupied with the threat of the destruction of Tyre; the second (Ezekiel 27) is a lamentation over this destruction; while the third (Ezekiel 28:1-19) is divided into two parts (which may indeed be separate prophecies), of which the former (Ezekiel 26:1-10) is a threat specifically against the king of Tyre, and the latter (Ezekiel 26:11-19) is a lamentation over his fall.

Chapter 26 consists of four sections, each introduced with “Thus saith the Lord,” 8

the whole preceded by the mention of the sin of Tyre in exulting over the fall of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 26:2). The first of these (Ezekiel 26:3-6) describes the ultimate desolation of Tyre by “many nations;” the second (Ezekiel 26:7-14) describes circumstantially its more immediate conquest by Nebuchadnezzar; the third (Ezekiel 26:15-18) the effect upon the islands and coasts, doubtless with especial reference to her colonies and those with whom she was commercially connected; while the fourth (Ezekiel 26:19-21) is an energetic repetition and summary of her doom.

Verse 1

(1) In the first day of the month.—The year was that in which Jerusalem fell (2 Kings 25:2-4; 2 Kings 25:8-9), but the month is not given here, and cannot now be ascertained. It is plain from Ezekiel 26:2 that Tyre already felt sure of the issue of the siege; but there is a marked difference between this and the language in Ezekiel 25:3, which could only have been used after the capture of the city. This prophecy may therefore well have been given at any time during the eleventh year. Possibly the Alexandrine Septuagint is right in supplying “the first” month; but as this is omitted in the Roman copy, it is more likely to have been a mere conjecture. There is a similar omission in Ezekiel 32:17, but the number is easily supplied there from Ezekiel 26:1. Probably, in both cases the omission is a mere error of the scribes.

TRAPP, " And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first [day] of the month, [that] the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Ver. 1. In the eleventh year.] Of Jehoiakim’s captivity and Zedekiah’s reign.

In the first day of the month,] i.e., Of the fifth month, when the news came to Tyre of the destruction of Jerusalem twenty days before, which occured on the ninth day of the fourth month. [2 Kings 25:1]

POOLE, "Tyrus, for insulting over the distress of Jerusalem, is threatened with 9

destruction, Ezekiel 26:1-6: of which Nebuchadrezzar shall be made the instrument, Ezekiel 26:7-14. The consternation and mourning of the isles and princes of the sea for her fall, Ezekiel 26:15-21.

The eleventh year of Jeconiah’s captivity, the year wherein Jerusalem was taken.

The first day of the month; that month which followed the taking of Jerusalem, i.e. the fifth month; for Jerusalem was taken on the fourth month, ninth day, and in twenty days after the news was brought to Tyrus, which behaved herself as the prophet will declare.

PETT, "Introduction

Chapters 26-28 The Oracles Against Tyre and Zidon.

Oracles against Tyre continue throughout the next three chapters in some detail. Tyre seems to have exalted itself to godlike status, its kings making huge claims, and it exulted in the destruction of Jerusalem because Jerusalem was a trade rival. It was indeed so strong that it took Nebuchadnezzar the next thirteen years to subdue it. But it had to recognise that it had no hope. It was under the sentence of Yahweh.

Tyre was a famous seaport divided into island and mainland harbours, and protected by mountains. Its merchant seamen roved widely throughout the ancient world, and it was renowned for its glassware and dyed materials. The island and mainland were connected by a causeway built by Hiram I in the tenth century BC, and the island provided a perfect and strong refuge in times of invasion. It was mentioned in the Amarna letters, at times maintained close relations with Israel and Judah, and was very prosperous. It was, however, regularly subjugated by the Assyrians, who captured the mainland city, and as a wealthy seaport it had had to pay high tribute. It was about a hundred miles from Jerusalem, a journey of a few days by camel. No worthwhile empire was going to leave it alone for long. It was a source of great riches, famed for its imports and exports in a world where sea-going

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was seen as exceptional.

The oracles can be divided into five, the oracle of her destruction (Ezekiel 26:1-21), an oracle likening her to a foundering sea-vessel (Ezekiel 27:1-36), an oracle about the self-exaltation and downfall of her king as ‘nagid’ (prince) (Ezekiel 28:1-10), a lament over the fate of the king of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:11-19), and an oracle against Zidon (Ezekiel 28:20-26). The number of the oracles and their content reveal the important position that Tyre held in the ancient Near Eastern world, and the status that she accorded herself.

Verse 1-2

‘And so it was that in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha, she is broken who was the gate of the peoples, she has been turned to me. I will be replenished now that she is laid waste’.”

The dating of the oracle is slightly uncertain as no month is mentioned. This may have been because it was the eleventh month so that it accidentally dropped out due to the scribe picking up at the wrong point. Or it may simply be that there was no record of the month and that what was considered to matter was that it was on the first day of a moon period. It was possibly around February 586/5 BC, just after the fall of Jerusalem. Tyrian traders may well have reached Babylonia with the news of the downfall, and jesting remarks about the benefit it would now bring to them.

But more important is the reason for the coming judgment. Tyre exulted in the downfall of Jerusalem because it would enhance her own profits. It is clear that she had been jealous of Jerusalem’s position as ‘the gate of the peoples’, a major intersection on the trade routes. Now that Jerusalem was no more, much of the trade benefit would come to Tyre. The destruction of Jerusalem brought her nothing but happiness.

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It is a woeful thing to rejoice at gaining through the suffering and misery of others.

PULPIT, "The prophetic messages against Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines were comparatively short. That against Tyre spreads over three chapters (Eze 26:1-29:18). The special prominence thus given to the latter city was probably due to its political importance in Ezekiel's time, possibly also to the personal knowledge which may be inferred from his minute description of its magnificence and its commerce. It is ushered in with special solemnity as "a word of Jehovah."

Ezekiel 26:1

In the eleventh year, etc. The last date given (Ezekiel 24:1) was the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year. We have now come to the eleventh year, on which, on the ninth day of the fourth month, Jerusalem was taken, while its destruction followed in the seventh day of the fifth month (Jeremiah 52:6, Jeremiah 52:12). Here the number of the month is not given in the Hebrew or the Vulgate, while the LXX. inserts the "first month." In Ezekiel 32:17 we have a like omission, and in both cases it is natural to assume an error of transcription. The tidings of the capture may have reached both Tyre and Tel-Abib, and Ezekiel may have heard of the temper in which the former had received them, just as he had heard how the nations named in the previous chapter had exulted in the fall, imminent and, as they thought, inevitable, of the holy city.

2 “Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’

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BARNES, "Gates - i. e., one gate of two leaves.The people - Or, the peoples (and in Eze_27:3), the plural expressing the fact that many peoples passed through Jerusalem, as the central place on the highway of commerce, e. g., in the reign of Solomon. This was viewed with jealousy by Tyre, who owed her greatness to the same cause, and in the true spirit of mercantile competition exulted in the thought that the trade of Jerusalem would be diverted into her markets. Render it: Aha! She is broken - the gate of the peoples! She is turned unto me. I shall be filled. She is laid waste.

CLARKE, "Tyrus hath said - From this it would appear that Jerusalem had been taken, which was on the fourth month of this year; but it is possible that the prophet speaks of the event beforehand.

She is broken that was the gates of the people - Jerusalem, a general emporium.I shall be replenished - The merchandise that went to Jerusalem will come to me, (to Tyre.).

GILL, "Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, aha,.... As rejoicing at her destruction, and insulting over her in it; which was barbarous and inhuman, and resented by the Lord: she is broken that was the gates of the people; through whose gates the people went in and out in great numbers; a city to which there was very popular, not only for religion, from all parts, at their solemn feasts, but for merchandise from several parts of the world; and was now full of people before its destruction, the inhabitants of Judea having fled thither for safety, upon the invasion made by the king of Babylon; but now the city was broken up, as it is said it was, by the Chaldean army, Jer_52:7, its gates and walls were broken down, and lay in a ruinous condition. The Targum is, "she is broken down that afforded merchandise to all people.'' She is turned unto me; either the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which escaped and fled to Tyre for refuge; or the spoil taken out of it, which was carried there to be sold; and even the captives themselves to be sold for slaves, which was one part of the merchandise of Tyre; see Eze_27:3, or the business, trade, and merchandise carried on in Jerusalem, were brought to Tyre upon its destruction; so Jarchi and Kimchi. The Targum is, "she is turned to come unto me;''

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which favours the first sense; all may be intended. I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste; or, "I shall be filled" (b); with inhabitants, riches, and wealth, with merchants and merchandise, Jerusalem her rival being destroyed; this was what gave her joy; and is a common thing for persons to rejoice at the fall or death of those of the same trade with them; hoping for an increase of theirs by means of it, which yet is sinful.

HENRY, "The pleasure with which the Tyrians looked upon the ruins of Jerusalem. Ezekiel was a great way off, in Babylon, but God told him what Tyrus said against Jerusalem (Eze_26:2): “Aha! she is broken, broken to pieces, that was the gates of the people, to whom there was a great resort and where there was a general rendezvous of all nations, some upon one account and some upon another, and I shall get by it; all the wealth, power, and interest, which Jerusalem had, it is hoped, shall be turned to Tyre, and so now that she is laid waste I shall be replenished.” We do not find that the Tyrians had such a hatred and enmity to Jerusalem and the sanctuary as the Ammonites and Edomites had, or were so spiteful and mischievous to the Jews. They were men of business, and of large acquaintance and free conversation, and therefore were not so bigoted, and of such a persecuting spirit, as the narrow souls that lived retired and knew not the world. All their care was to get estates, and enlarge their trade, and they looked upon Jerusalem not as an enemy, but as a rival. Hiram, king of Tyre, was a good friend to David and Solomon, and we do not read of any quarrels the Jews had with the Tyrians; but Tyre promised herself that the fall of Jerusalem would be an advantage to her in respect of trade a commerce, that now she shall have Jerusalem's customers, and the great men from all parts that used to come to Jerusalem for the accomplishing of themselves, and to spend their estates there, will now come to Tyre and spend them there; and whereas many, since the Chaldean army became so formidable in those parts, had retired into Jerusalem, and brought their estates thither for safety, as the Rechabites did, now they will come to Tyre, which, being in a manner surrounded with the sea, will be thought a place of greater strength than Jerusalem, and thus the prosperity of Tyre will rise out of the ruins of Jerusalem. Note, To be secretly pleased with the death or decay of others, when we are likely to get by it, with their fall when we may thrive upon it, is a sin that does most easily beset us, but is not thought to be such a bad thing, and so provoking to God, as really it is. We are apt to say, when those who stand in our light, in our way, are removed, when they break of fall into disgrace, “We shall be replenishednow that they are laid waste.” But this comes from a selfish covetous principle, and a desire to be placed alone in the midst of the earth, as if we grudged that any should live by us. This comes from a want of that love to our neighbour as to ourselves which the law of God so expressly requires, and from that inordinate love of the world as our happiness which the love of God so expressly forbids. And it is just with God to blast the designs and projects of those who thus contrive to raise themselves upon the ruins of others; and we see they are often disappointed.

JAMISON, "Tyre — (Jos_19:29; 2Sa_24:7), literally, meaning “the rock-city,” Zor; a name applying to the island Tyre, called New Tyre, rather than Old Tyre on the

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mainland. They were half a mile apart. “New Tyre,” a century and a half before the fall of Jerusalem, had successfully resisted Shalmaneser of Assyria, for five years besieging it (Menander, from the Tyrian archives, quoted by Josephus, Antiquities, 9.14. 2). It was the stronger and more important of the two cities, and is the one chiefly, though not exclusively, here meant. Tyre was originally a colony of Zidon. Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of it lasted thirteen years (Eze_29:18; Isa_23:1-18). Though no profane author mentions his having succeeded in the siege, Jerome states he read the fact in Assyrian histories.Aha! — exultation over a fallen rival (Psa_35:21, Psa_35:25).she ... that was the gates — that is, the single gate composed of two folding doors. Hence the verb is singular. “Gates” were the place of resort for traffic and public business: so here it expresses a mart of commerce frequented by merchants. Tyre regards Jerusalem not as an open enemy, for her territory being the narrow, long strip of land north of Philistia, between Mount Lebanon and the sea, her interest was to cultivate friendly relations with the Jews, on whom she was dependent for corn (Eze_27:17; 1Ki_5:9; Act_12:20). But Jerusalem had intercepted some of the inland traffic which she wished to monopolize to herself; so, in her intensely selfish worldly-mindedness, she exulted heartlessly over the fall of Jerusalem as her own gain. Hence she incurred the wrath of God as pre-eminently the world’s representative in its ambition, selfishness, and pride, in defiance of the will of God (Isa_23:9).she is turned unto me — that is, the mart of corn, wine, oil, balsam, etc., which she once was, is transferred to me. The caravans from Palmyra, Petra, and the East will no longer be intercepted by the market (“the gates”) of Jerusalem, but will come to me.

K&D 2-14, "Tyre shall be broken and utterly destroyedEze_26:2. Son of man, because Tyre saith concerning Jerusalem, “Aha, the door of the nations is broken; it turneth to me; I shall become full; she is laid waste;” Eze_26:3.Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will come upon thee, O Tyre, and will bring up against thee many nations, as the sea bringing up its waves. Eze_26:4. They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and throw down her towers; and I will sweep away her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. Eze_26:5. She shall become a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah; and she shall become booty for the nations. Eze_26:6. And her daughters which are in the land shall be slain with the sword; and they shall learn that I am Jehovah. - Tyre, as in the prophecy of Isaiah (Ezekiel 23), is not the city of that name

upon the mainland, ἡ πάλαι Τύρος or Παλαίτυρος, Old Tyre, which was taken by Shalmaneser and destroyed by Alexander (as Perizon., Marsh, Vitringa, J. D. Michaelis, and Eichhorn supposed), but Insular Tyre, which was three-quarters of a mile farther north, and only 1200 paces from the land, being built upon a small island, and separated from the mainland by a strait of no great depth (vid., Movers, Phoenizier, II p. 288ff.). This Insular Tyre had successfully resisted the Assyrians (Josephus, Antt. ix. 14. 2), and was at that time the market of the nations; and in Ezekiel's day it had reached the summit of its greatness as mistress of the sea and the centre of the commerce of the world. That it is against this Tyre that our prophecy is chiefly directed, is evident from Eze_26:5 and Eze_26:14, according to which Tyre is to become a bare rock in the midst of the sea, and from the allusion to the daughter cities, בשדה, in the field, i.e., on the mainland (in Eze_26:6), as contrasted with the position occupied by Tyre upon a rocky

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island in the sea; and, lastly, from the description given in Ezekiel 27 of the maritime trade of Tyre with all nations, to which Old Tyre never attained, inasmuch as it possessed no harbour (vid., Movers, l.c. p. 176). This may easily be reconciled with such passages as Eze_26:6, Eze_26:8, and Ezekiel 27, 28, in which reference is also made to the continental Tyre, and the conquest of Tyre is depicted as the conquest of a land-city (see the exposition of these verses). - The threat against Tyre commences, as in the case of the nations threatened in Ezekiel 25, with a brief description of its sin. Tyre gave expression to its joy at the fall of Jerusalem, because it hoped to derive profit therefrom through the extension of its commerce and increase of its wealth. Different explanations have been given of the meaning of the words put into the mouth of Tyre. “The door of the nations is broken in pieces.” The plural ת דלת indicates the folding doors which formed the gate, and are mentioned in its stead. Jerusalem is the door of the nations, and is so called according to the current opinion of expositors, because it was the centre of the commerce of the nations, i.e., as a place of trade. But nothing is known to warrant the idea that Jerusalem was ever able to enter into rivalry with Tyre as a commercial city. The importance of Jerusalem with regard to other nations was to be found, not in its commerce, nor in the favourable situation which it occupied for trade, in support of which Hävernick refers to Herodotus, iii. 5, and Hitzig to Eze_23:40-41, but in its sanctuary, or the sacred calling which it had received for the whole world of nations. Kliefoth has therefore decided in favour of the following view: That Jerusalem is called a gate of the nations, not because it had hitherto been open to the nations for free and manifold intercourse, but for the very opposite reason, namely, because the gate of Jerusalem had hitherto been closed and barred against the nations, but was now broken in pieces through the destruction of the city, and thereby opened to the nations. Consequently the nations, and notably Tyre, would be able to enter now; and from this fact the Tyrians hoped to derive advantage, so far as their commercial interests were concerned. But this view is not in harmony with the text. Although a gate is opened by being broken in pieces, and one may force an entrance into a house by breaking the door (Gen_19:9), yet the expression “door of the nations” cannot signify a door which bars all entrance on the part of the nations, inasmuch as doors and gates are not made to secure houses and cities against the forcible entrance of men and nations, but to render it possible for them to go out and in. Moreover, the supposition that “door of the nations” is equivalent to shutting against the nations, is not in harmony with the words נסבא אליwhich follow. The expression “it has turned to me,” or it is turned to me, has no meaning unless it signifies that through the breaking of the door the stream of the nations would turn away from Jerusalem to Tyre, and therefore that hitherto the nations had turned to Jerusalem. נסבה is the 3rd pers. perf. Niphal of סבב, for נסבה , formed after the analogy of נמס, etc. The missing subject to נסבה is to be found ad sensum in ת דלת It is not the door itself, but the entrance and streaming in of the nations, which .העמיםhad previously been directed towards Jerusalem, and would now turn to Tyre. There is no necessity, therefore, for Hitzig's conjecture, that אמלאה should be altered into אה .and the latter taken as the subject ,מ

Consequently we must understand the words of the Tyrians as signifying that they had regarded the drawing of the nations to Jerusalem, i.e., the force of attraction which Jerusalem had hitherto exerted upon the nations, as the seat of the divine revelation of mercy, or of the law and judgment of the Lord, as interfering with their endeavour to draw all nations to themselves and gain them over to their purposes, and that they 16

rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem, because they hoped that henceforth they would be able to attract the nations to themselves and enrich themselves with their possessions. This does not require that we should accredit the Tyrians with any such insight into the spiritual calling of Jerusalem as would lie beyond their heathen point of view. The simple circumstance, that the position occupied by Jerusalem in relation to the world apparently interfered with the mercantile interests of the Tyrians, would be quite sufficient to excite a malignant pleasure at the fall of the city of God, as the worship of God and the worship of Mammon are irreconcilably opposed. The source from which the envy and the enmity manifesting itself in this malicious pleasure took their rise, is indicated in the last words: “I shall fill myself, she (Jerusalem) is laid waste,” which Jerome has correctly linked together thus: quia illa deserta est, idcirco ego implebor. המלא, to be filled with merchandise and wealth, as in Eze_27:25. On account of this disposition toward the kingdom of God, which led Tyre to expect an increase of power and wealth from its destruction, the Lord God would smite it with ruin and annihilation. הנני behold, I will come upon thee, as in Eze_13:8; Jer_50:31; Nah_3:5. God will ,עליlead a powerful army against Tyre, which shall destroy its walls and towers. Instead of the army, “many nations” are mentioned, because Tyre is hoping to attract more nations to itself in consequence of the destruction of Jerusalem. This hope is to be fulfilled, though in a different sense from that which Tyre intended. The comparison of the advancing army to the advancing waves of the sea is very significant when the situation of Tyre is considered. הים is the subject to ת and the Hiphil ,כהעל is construed with לinstead of the accusative (compare Ewald, §292c with §277e). According to Arrian, ii. 18. 3, and Curtius, iv. 2. 9, 12, and 3. 13, Insular Tyre was fortified all round with lofty walls and towers, which were certainly in existence as early as Nebuchadnezzar's time. Even the dust of the demolished buildings (עפרה) God would sweep away (סחיתי, ἁπ. λεγ., with a play upon שחתו), so that the city, i.e., the site on which it had stood, would become a bare and barren rock ( צחיח as in Eze_24:7), a place where fishermen ,סלעwould spread out their nets to dry. “Her daughters” also, that is to say, the towns dependent upon Tyre, “on the field,” i.e., the open country - in other words, their inhabitants - would be slain with the sword.

In Eze_26:7-14 the threat is carried still further. - Eze_26:7. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, from the north, the king of kings, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and a multitude of much people. Eze_26:8. Thy daughters in the field he will slay with the sword, and he will erect siege-towers against thee, and throw up a rampart against thee, and set up shields against thee, Eze_26:9. And direct his battering-rams against thy walls, and throw down thy towers with his swords. Eze_26:10. From the multitude of his horses their dust will cover thee; from the noise of the horsemen, wheels, and chariots, thy walls will shake when he shall enter into thy gates, as they enter a city broken open. Eze_26:11. With the hoofs of his horses he will tread down all thy streets; thy people he will slay with the sword, and thy glorious pillars will fall to the ground. Eze_26:12. They will make booty of thy possessions, and plunder thy merchandise, destroy thy walls, and throw down thy splendid mansions, and sink thy stones, thy wood, and thy dust in the water. Eze_26:13. I will put an end to the sound of thy songs, and the music of thy harps shall be heard no more. Eze_26:14. I will make thee a bare rock; thou shalt be a place for the spreading of nets, and be built no more; for I Jehovah have spoken it, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, - this is 17

the meaning of the rhetorical description in these verses, - will come with a powerful army (Eze_26:7), smite with the sword the inland cities dependent upon Tyre. (Eze_26:8, compare Eze_26:6), then commence the siege of Tyre, destroy its walls and towers (Eze_26:8 and Eze_26:9), enter with his army the city in which breaches have been made, put the inhabitants to death (Eze_26:10 and Eze_26:11), plunder the treasures, destroy walls and buildings, and cast the ruins into the sea (Eze_26:12). Nebuchadrezzar, or Nebuchadnezzar (for the name see the comm. on 2Ki_24:10, is called king of kings, as the supreme ruler of the Babylonian empire, because the kings of conquered provinces and lands were subject to him as vassals (see the comm. on Isa_10:8).His army consists of war-chariots, and cavalry, and a great multitude of infantry. קהל

are co-ordinate, so far as the rhetorical style is concerned; but in reality עם־רב is subordinate to קהל , as in Eze_23:24, inasmuch as the קהל consisted of עם־רב. On the siege-works mentioned in Eze_26:8, see the comm. on Eze_4:2. הקים צנה signifies the construction of a roof with shields, by which the besiegers were accustomed to defend themselves from the missiles of the defenders of the city wall while pursing their labours. Herodotus repeatedly mentions such shield-roofs as used by the Persians (ix. 61. 99, 102), though, according to Layard, they are not to be found upon the Assyrian monuments (see the comm. on Nah_2:6). There is no doubt that מחי קב signifies the battering-ram, called כר in Eze_21:27, though the meaning of the words is disputed. מחי , literally, thrusting or smiting. קבלו, from קבל, to be pointed either קבל or קבל (the form קבל adopted by v. d. Hooght and J. H. Michaelis is opposed to the grammatical rules), has been explained by Gesenius and others as signifying res opposita, that which is opposite; hence מחי the thrusting or demolishing of that ,קבלוwhich stands opposite. In the opinion of others, קבל is an instrument employed in besieging; but there is nothing in the usage of the language to sustain either this explanation or that adopted by Hävernick, “destruction of his defence.” תיו his ,הרבswords, used figuratively for his weapons or instruments of war, “his irons,” as Ewald has very aptly rendered it. The description in Eze_26:10 is hyperbolical. The number of horses is so great, that on their entering the city they cover it with dust, and the walls shake with the noise of the horsemen and chariots. 'אי כמב עיר literally, as the ,מבmarchings into a broken city, i.e., a city taken by storm, generally are. The simile may be explained from the peculiar situation of Insular Tyre. It means that the enemy will enter it as they march into a land-fortress into which a breach has been made by force. The words presuppose that the besieger has made a road to the city by throwing up an embankment or dam. ת מצב the memorial pillars of thy might, and the pillars ,עזdedicated to Baal, two of which are mentioned by Herodotus (ii. 44) as standing in the temple of Hercules at Tyre, one of gold, the other of emerald; not images of gods, but pillars, as symbols of Baal. These sink or fall to the ground before the overwhelming might of the foe (compare Isa_46:1; Isa_21:9, and 1Sa_5:3). After the slaughter of the inhabitants and the fall of the gods, the plundering of the treasures begins, and then follows the destruction of the city. בתי המדה are not pleasure-houses (“pleasure-towers, or garden-houses of the wealthy merchants,” as Ewald supposes), for there was not space enough upon the island for gardens (Strabo, xvi. 2. 23), but the lofty, magnificent houses of the city, the palaces mentioned in Isa_23:13. Yea, the whole city shall be

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destroyed, and that so completely that they will sweep stones, wood, and rubbish into the sea. - Thus will the Lord put an end to the exultation and rejoicing in Tyre (Eze_26:13; compare Isa_14:11 and Amo_5:23). - The picture of the destruction of this powerful city closes with the repetition of the thought from Eze_26:5, that Tyre shall be turned into a bare rock, and shall never be built again.

COKE, "Ezekiel 26:2. She is broken, &c.— She is broken: the commerce of the people is turned unto me. She who was full of citizens is laid waste. Houbigant. See ch. Ezekiel 27:3. Tyre was noted for her commerce; so that when Jerusalem was taken, the spoil of the city was carried thither for sale, and several of the inhabitants who were made captives were sold there as slaves. Those who follow our Translation suppose, that Jerusalem is called the gates of the people, because of the great confluence both of Jews and proselytes to that city from all parts at the solemn festivals. See Isaiah 23. Jeremiah 25:22; Jeremiah 47:4. Amos 1:9. Zechariah 9:2.

ELLICOTT, " (2) She is broken that was the gates of the people.—“Gates” is in the plural simply because the word originally means a leaf of a door or gate, and hence the two leaves mean the gate; accordingly the sense would be better conveyed by using the singular in English. On the other hand, “people, both here and in Ezekiel 27:3, is intentionally in the plural =the nations. By omitting all the words in italics in this verse a better idea is obtained of the exultation of Tyre over the fall of Jerusalem.

This exultation is described as of a purely selfish and commercial character, and shows nothing of the spitefulness and religious animosity of the nations mentioned in the previous chapter. Jerusalem had been made in the days of Solomon the great commercial emporium of the inland trade from Arabia, and even from India, as well as the negotiator of products between Egypt and the Hittites and other northern nations. Doubtless something of this commercial importance still remained to Jerusalem in her decay, of which we have already seen evidence in Ezekiel 16; but however this may have been, a considerable city, situated as Jerusalem was, must of necessity have been the centre of many of those transactions between the surrounding nations which Tyre would gladly have monopolised for herself. Hence her exultation: “Jerusalem being destroyed, all that gave her importance among the nations must come to increase my prosperity.”

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TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken [that was] the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, [now] she is laid waste:

Ver. 2. Because that Tyrus hath said.] Wicked men shall give account for their "hard speeches also," [ 1:15] if not sooner, yet certainly at the last day, with the whole world all on a light fire about their ears. Tyre was the chief city of Phoenicia, built before Solomon’s temple, saith Josephus; (a) and anciently called Sarra, (b) saith Servius, of the Hebrew tsor, which signifieth a rock, because it was built upon a rock. It became the most famous and wealthy market town of the whole East; and having so great a resort to it from all parts, it was a very sinful place; and framing comedies out of the Church’s tragedies, hath this prophecy to champ upon, for a rebater of its pride and petulance.

Aha.] See Ezekiel 25:3.

That was the gates of the people.] Whereinto they entered by troops and caravans, for religion and traffic.

She is turned unto me.] Vide hic ingenia mercatorum. Her ruin shall be my rise. Lo, this is the world; envy and avarice rejoice at, and are fed with other men’s tears and losses; sed gaudent pyraustae gaudium. Contrariwise, God is rich to all that call upon him; [Romans 10:12] and in spiritual things there is no envy, because they may be divided in solidum, in the whole, one may have as much as another, and all alike.

I shall be replenished.] Mercibus et opibus; with wars and wealth. But how long will it hold?

POOLE, " Tyrus; the city for the people; it is probable it was a universal joy, 20

therefore ascribed to the whole city, built on a rock and island of the same name, not far distant from the continent, a very great traded port and city.

Hath said; either God revealed this to the prophet so soon as these insulting Tyrians spoke it, or else Ezekiel speaks of it prophetically, and as if it were done.

Said against Jerusalem, Aha; showed great joy at the fall of Jerusalem, and triumphed over her.

She is broken by Nebuchadnezzar’s army.

The gates of the people; near to the gates of the cities were usually, the great merchants, and so here Jerusalem is called the great mart of nations and people from all parts resorting to her for trade or religion.

She is turned unto me; trading interest will turn to me, they that did carry merchandise to Jerusalem will now bring it to me.

I shall be replenished; have full trade, my haven full of ships, streets full of buyers and sellers, ships full of wares, houses full of lodgers, and purses full of money.

She is laid waste; she reflected on wasted Jerusalem with joy, which was impious, injurious, and inhuman, to rejoice in the ruin of her neighbour.

WHEDON, " 2. Tyrus — Tyre was the chief city of Phoenicia, which was the leading naval power — the Great Britain — of the ancient world. It was but a small country, smaller even than Palestine, but its fame filled the whole earth. Phoenician credit and currency extended “from the coasts of Britain to those of Northwest India and probably to Madagascar… This trade tapped river basins as far apart as

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those of the Indus, the Euphrates, probably the Zambesi, the Nile, the Rhone, the Guadalquivir” (Smith, Isaiah, i, p. 390). In the eleventh century B.C. an Egyptian official was sent to Phoenicia for cedar wood (Pap. Golenischeff), as were Solomon’s agents one hundred years later. Tradition ascribes the invention of navigation to the Tyrians. Sennacherib (700 B.C.) boasts that he had builded at Nineveh, by Phoenician carpenters, “artful, great ships, according to their home manner,” and ordered as their sailors, prisoners of war, Tyrians, Sidonians, etc. It was during Ezekiel’s lifetime (600 B.C.) that a Phoenician sea captain circumnavigated Africa (Herodotus, 4:42). For fifteen hundred years Phoenicia was the merchant of all nations. Her vast wealth made the mightiest kings of Egypt and Babylon look toward her as a possible prize, but because of her strategic position, unequaled navy, and shrewd diplomacy, she was enabled to maintain for many centuries her practical independence. In the fourteenth century B.C. Abimelki prostrates himself before the Pharaoh and calls Tyre the “handmaid of Egypt;” but the allegiance of Tyre to Egypt was entirely selfish and Egyptian power in Phoenicia was not great. Again and again in the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. the Assyrian king boasts: “I marched up to the great sea of the West. I cleansed my weapons in the great sea. I put tribute upon Damascus, Tyre, Sidon,” etc. But the frequency of these campaigns indicates how superficial were the conquests. On a tablet from Sinjerli, Baal, king of Tyre, is represented as kneeling before Esarhaddon with a ring through his lips attached to a cord in the hands of the great king; but the inscriptions do not even name Tyre as a vassal state, and certainly the picture does not represent the ordinary relations of the king of Tyre with the king of Assyria (McCurdy, ii, p. 345). Phoenicia did not depend for victory upon her soldiers, but upon her gold, and rather than have her commerce interrupted she could well afford to give tribute. She made, of course, political alliances with the states lying between her and her enemies. During the prosperous reigns of David and Solomon, Phoenicia was a warm friend to Israel; but after the division of the kingdom she lost interest in her weak neighbor and “sold” her to the Greeks or the Edomites as her own advantages dictated (Amos 1:9; Joel 3:6). Previous to Assurbanipal (668-626 B.C.) the Assyrians seem to have been content with gifts from the chief cities of Phoenicia, but his successors urged campaign after campaign in the vain attempt to completely subjugate their small but doughty adversary. Nebuchadnezzar was determined to do this, but failed to get from Tyre the treasure that he had anticipated (see Ezekiel 29:18).

She is broken that was the gates of the people — Literally, gate of the peoples. Jerusalem was the gateway opening from Egypt to Babylon and Phoenicia, and she

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had evidently been getting some of the trade of which Tyro wished the monopoly.

She is turned — Rather, it. The gate of traffic now opens more freely toward Phoenicia since her rival is disposed of.

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 26:2

Because that Tyrus, etc. As the nearest great commercial city, the Venice of the ancient world, Tyre, from the days of David (2 Samuel 5:11) and Solomon (1 Kings 5:1) onward, had been prominent in the eyes of the statesmen and prophets of Judah; and Ezekiel follows in the footsteps of Joel 3:4; Amos 1:9, Amos 1:10; Isaiah 23:1-18; in dealing with it. The description in Isaiah 23:5 and Isaiah 23:14 points, not to the city on the mainland, the old Tyre of Joshua 19:29, which had been taken by Shalmaneser and was afterwards destroyed by Alexander the Great, but to the island-city, the new Tyre, which was, at this time, the emporium of the ancient world. The extent of her commerce will meet us in Ezekiel 27:1-36. Here, too, as in the case of the nations in Ezekiel 25:1-17; Ezekiel's indignation is roused by the exulting selfishness with which Tyre had looked on the downfall (actual or imminent, as before) of Jerusalem. "Now," her rulers seem to have said, "we shall be the only power in the land of Canaan." Jerusalem, that had been the gate of the peoples, was now broken. The name thus given may imply either

3 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves.

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CLARKE, "Will cause many nations to come up against thee - We have already seen that the empire of the Chaldeans was composed of many different provinces, and that Nebuchadnezzar’s army was composed of soldiers from different nations: these may be the people meant; but I doubt whether this may not refer to the different nations which in successive ages fought against Tyre. It was at last finally destroyed in the sixteenth century of the Christian era.

GILL, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Who knew the thoughts of the inhabitants of Tyre, and what joy possessed their hearts, and which their lips expressed; and who informs the prophet of it, though at a great distance, and declares his resentment at it: behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus; and nothing can be more dreadful and formidable than to have God against a nation, city, or a particular person: Tyre was a type of antichrist, who will express a like joy at the death of the witnesses; thinking that the merchandise of Rome will be increased greatly, and there will be nothing to interrupt it, Rev_11:10, but God will show his displeasure, and bring sudden destruction on it: and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up; the Chaldean army, consisting of soldiers of many nations; who for their number, noise, and fury, are compared to the raging waves of the sea. So the Targum, "I will bring up against thee an army of many people, as the sea ascendeth in the raging of its waves;'' the ten kings shall hate the whore, and destroy her, even those very people she reigns over, compared to many waters, Rev_17:15.

HENRY, " The displeasure of God against them for it. The providence of God had done well for Tyrus. Tyrus was a pleasant and wealthy city, and might have continued so if she had, as she ought to have done, sympathized with Jerusalem in her calamities and sent her an address of condolence; but when, instead of that, she showed herself pleased with her neighbour's fall, and perhaps sent an address of congratulation to the conquerors, then God says, Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus! Eze_26:3. And let her not expect to prosper long if God be against her.

1. God will bring formidable enemies upon her: Many nations shall come against thee, an army made up of many nations, or one nation that shall be as strong as many. Those that have God against them may expect all the creatures against them; for what peace can those have with whom God is at war? They shall come pouring in as the waves of the sea, one upon the neck of another, with an irresistible force. The person is named that shall bring this army upon them - Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, that had many kings tributaries to him and dependents on him, besides those that were his captives, Song 2:37, 38. He is that head of gold. He shall come with a vast army, horses and chariots, etc., all land-forces. We do not find that he had any naval force, or 24

any thing wherewith he might attack it by sea, which made the attempt the more difficult, as we find Eze_29:18, where it is called a great service which he served against Tyrus. He shall besiege it in form (Eze_26:8), make a fort, and cast a mount, and (Eze_26:9) shall set engines of war against the walls. His troops shall be so numerous as to raise a dust that shall cover the city, Eze_26:10. They shall make a noise that shall even shake the walls; and they shall shout at every attack, as soldiers do when they enter a city that is broken up; the horses shall prance with so much fury and violence that they shall even tread down the streets though so ever well paved.

JAMISON, "nations ... as the sea ... waves — In striking contrast to the boasting of Tyre, God threatens to bring against her Babylon’s army levied from “many nations,” even as the Mediterranean waves that dashed against her rock-founded city on all sides.

scrape her dust ... make her ... top of ... rock — or, “a bare rock” [Grotius]. The soil which the Tyrians had brought together upon the rock on which they built their city, I will scrape so clean away as to leave no dust, but only the bare rock as it was. An awful contrast to her expectation of filling herself with all the wealth of the East now that Jerusalem has fallen.

ELLICOTT, "(3) Many nations.—The prophet here, at the outset, glances down through the ages of Tyre’s future history. He has in mind not merely the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, of which he will speak more particularly presently (Ezekiel 26:7-11), but all the successive conquests until the proud city should be reduced to utter desolation. Most appropriate to the situation and habits of Tyre is the illustration, “as the sea causeth his waves to come up”: God will bring nation after nation to the destruction of Tyre as the sea throws wave after wave against her rock.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:3 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD Behold, I [am] against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.

Ver. 3. Therefore thus saith the Lord God.] And thy merchants will soon do thee word of it; for they are great newsmongers, and ill news is swift of foot. (a)

Behold, I am against them.] Neither can thine Apollo help or deliver thee out of my hands; no, though thou chain that idol and nail him to a post, that thou mayest be sure of him; for so these Tyrians did when Alexander besieged their city and took it.

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POOLE, " I am against thee; and if God be against them, they will soon have enemies enough too against them: God purposeth, threateneth, and assureth them he is and will be against them.

Many nations, for number, and mighty for strength, riches, authority, and feats of war already done.

As the sea causeth his waves to come up, with such violence, constancy, swelling in height, and making thee fear the issue, so shall the Babylonians come.

PETT, "Verses 3-5

‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes his waves to come up. And they will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock, she will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it,” says the Lord Yahweh.’

But she had overlooked the fact that Jerusalem was Yahweh’s own special possession. These ideas are important in that they reveal that Yahweh was still caring for His own even while He was chastising them severely, and that as the Lord of the whole earth He could summon nations to do His bidding.

The picture of the sea crashing against the shore is a vivid one. The sea was ever seen by Israel as an alien element, a destructive and powerful force. And it would overwhelm Tyre in the form of powerful armies, leaving it deserted and barren. The prophecy was literally fulfilled through the activities of Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great and others.

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‘I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock, she will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea’ This powerful fortress would be levelled to the ground and disappear under the sea. This eventually became literally true.

‘For I have spoken it,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ And it was all to be the result of Yahweh’s word. What He says, happens.

4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock.

CLARKE, "I will also scrape her dust from her - I will totally destroy her fortifications, and leave her nothing but a barren rock, as she was before. This cannot refer to the capture of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. It flourished long after his time.

GILL, "And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus.... Undermining them, or breaking them down with their battering rams: and break down her towers; with axes, Eze_26:9 built upon the walls; erected for the defence of the city, and for watchmen to stand in, to look out from them for the enemy, and observe his motions, as well as for soldiers to fight from: and I will scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock; a bare smooth rock, which has not any surface of earth upon it. So the Targum, "I will give her for the smoothness of an open rock.''

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Tyre was built upon a rock; and whereas the inhabitants had brought earth thither, and laid it upon it, in order to make gardens and orchards, and plant flowers and trees; this should be all removed, and it should become a bare rock, as it was at first. It denotes the utter destruction of it. It has its name from a word which signifies a rock; See Gill on Isa_23:1.

HENRY 4-14, "They shall do terrible execution. (1.) The enemy shall make themselves masters of all their fortifications, shall destroy the walls and break down the towers, Eze_26:4. For what walls are so strongly built as to be a fence against the judgments of God? Her strong garrisons shall go down to the ground, Eze_26:11. And the walls shall be broken down, Eze_26:12. The city held out a long siege, but it was taken at last. (2.) A great deal of blood shall be shed: Her daughters who are in the field,the cities upon the continent, which were subject to Tyre as the mother-city, the inhabitants of them shall be slain by the sword, Eze_26:6. The invaders begin with those that come first in their way. And (Eze_26:11) he shall slay thy people with the sword; not only the soldiers that are found in arms, but the burghers, shall be put to the sword, the king of Babylon being highly incensed against them for holding out so long. (3.) The wealth of the city shall all become a spoil to the conqueror (Eze_26:12): They shall make a prey of the merchandise. It was in hope of the plunder that the city was set upon with so much vigour. See the vanity of riches, that they are kept for the owners to their hurt; they entice and recompense thieves, and not only cease to benefit those who took pains for them and were duly entitled to them, but are made to serve their enemies, who are thereby put into a capacity of doing them so much the more mischief. (4.) The city itself shall be laid in ruins. All the pleasant houses shall be destroyed (Eze_26:12), such as were pleasantly situated, beautified, and furnished, shall become a heap of rubbish. Let none please themselves too much in their pleasant houses, for they know not how soon they may see the desolation of them. Tyre shall be utterly ruined; the enemy shall not only pull down the houses, but shall carry away the stones and the timber, and shall lay them in the midst of the water, not to be recovered, or ever made use of again. Nay (Eze_26:4), I will scrape her dust from her; not only shall the loose dust be blown away, but the very ground it stands upon shall be torn up by the enraged enemy, carried off, and laid in the midst of the water, Eze_26:12. The foundation is in the dust; that dust shall be all taken away, and then the city must fall of course. When Jerusalem was destroyed it was ploughed like a field, Mic_3:12. But the destruction of Tyre is carried further than that; the very soil of it shall be scraped away, and it shall be made like the top of a rock (Eze_26:4, Eze_26:14), pure rock that has no earth to cover it; it shall only be a place for the spreading of nets (Eze_26:5, Eze_26:14); it shall serve fishermen to dry their nets upon and mend them. (5.) There shall be a full period to all its mirth and joy (Eze_26:13): I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease. Tyre had been a joyous city (Isa_23:7).; with her songs she had courted customers to deal with her in a way of trade. But now farewell all her profitable commerce and pleasant conversation; Tyre is no more a place either of business or of sport. Lastly, It shall be built no more(Eze_26:14), not built any more as it had been, with such state and magnificence, nor built any more in the same place, within the sea, nor built any where for a long time; the present inhabitants shall be destroyed or dispersed, so that this Tyre shall be no more.For God has spoken it (Eze_26:5, Eze_26:14); and when what he has said is accomplished they shall know thereby that he is the Lord, and not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent.

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COKE, "Verse 4Ezekiel 26:4. I will also scrape her dust from her— I will brush away the dust out of her, and reduce her to a dry rock: Houbigant: an allusion to the custom in Palestine of fertilizing particular spots by carrying mould to them from other places less eligible for the purpose of sowing or planting. Chandler renders the last clause, I will make thee as a shining or barren rock; that is to say, as appears by the context, "Strip thee of thy riches, pride, power, inhabitants, palaces; so that thou shalt be as bare as a rock which hath nothing on it, and is of no other use than "for the spreading and drying of nets." See Ezekiel 26:14 and Psalms 68:6.

ELLICOTT, "(4) Her dust.—Comp. Ezekiel 26:12. The dust is that of her ruined walls and palaces and temples. “Scraping” expresses their utter destruction. As an historic fact, the ruins of the ancient city have all been thrown into the sea, and what now remains is of mediaeval construction, although the greater part of even the mediaeval ruins have been carried away.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.

Ver. 4. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus.] Which thou holdest to be inexpugnable. Hence this and the two following chapters, purposely to undeceive thee, if it may be.

I will also scrape her dust from her.] Brought from other places, to make her gardens; for she was built upon a rock, et in petram glabram: to a naked rock will God now reduce her.

POOLE, " Destroy; batter and demolish with their mighty engines, which shall shake, disjoint, and beat down the strongest parts of their walls.

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Break down; undermine, that they may tumble at once, or employ hands to take them down, as men pull down buildings.

Towers; watch-towers, and those that were for defence and safety of their city, which from their greatness have their name, Migdol.

I will also scrape her dust from her; I will leave thee nothing, thou shalt be scraped, and brushed, and swept, that not so much as dust shall remain to thee.

And make her like the top of a rock; as bare as was the rock on which thy city is built before wealth, beauty, buildings, and strength was brought to it by man’s industry.

5 Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. She will become plunder for the nations,

CLARKE, "A place for the spreading of nets - A place for the habitation of some poor fishermen, who spent the fishing season there, and were accustomed to dry their nets upon the rocks. See on Eze_26:11 (note).

GILL, "It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea,.... Where only fishermen would be seen washing their nets, and then spreading them upon this rock, where Tyre stood, to dry them and this has been confirmed by travellers, who have seen fishermen spreading and drying their nets, and having no other habitations on it but the huts of these men. Huetius (c) relates, that he remembered one Hadrian

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Parvillarius, a Jesuit, a candid and learned man, particularly in the Arabic language, who lived ten years in Syria; and to have heard him say, that when he saw the ruins of Tyre, its rocks to the sea, and scattered stones on the shore, and made clean smooth by the sun, waves, and wind, and only used for drying fishermen's nets, it brought to his mind this passage of the prophet; as it did to Mr. Maundrell (d) when on the spot, a few years ago; who says, "you see nothing here but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &c. there being not so much as one entire house left; its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing; who seem to be preserved in this place by divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, viz. "that it should be as the top of a rock", &c.'': so Dr. Shaw (e) says, this port, small as it at present, is choked up to that degree with sand and rubbish, that the boats of these poor fishermen, who now and then visit this once renowned emporium and "dry their nets upon its rocks and ruins", can with great difficulty only be admitted: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God; and therefore it should certainly come to pass, as it has: and it shall become a spoil to the nations; the army of many nations, that besieged it for thirteen years under Nebuchadnezzar.

JAMISON, "in the midst of the sea — plainly referring to New Tyre (Eze_27:32).

ELLICOTT, "(5) The spreading of nets.—Such has been the chief use of insular Tyre for ages, and although a miserable village of 3,000 people has sprung up, chiefly within the present century, upon a part of its site, other parts have still no more important use. The Tyre upon the mainland has so utterly disappeared that even its site cannot be exactly identified.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:5 It shall be [a place for] the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.

Ver. 5. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets.] Of fishers’ nets, hung up in the sun to be dried. The prophets usually fetch their comparisons from things the people were most acquainted with and accustomed to as here. Let ministers now do

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the like.

POOLE, " As barren sandy islets in the midst of the sea, good for nothing but to dry fishermen’s nets, shalt thou be. A spoil; a prey: though the contexture of the words place this after its being made so bare and poor, yet we are to observe, that these last words give us account how this poverty and barrenness shall come upon thy rich city; the nations shall spoil her with thirteen years’ long siege, interruption of trade, living on the quick stock, and finally taken on surrender. To the nations; Babylonians, and their confederates, who made the Tyrians pay the reckoning.

WHEDON, "5. A place for the spreading of nets (also Ezekiel 26:14) — The prophecy is that the merchant city of the world, the London of ancient times, shall lose its position and population and sink to the insignificance of a fishing village. When spoken, these words seemed as absurd as Macaulay’s suggestion concerning the forgotten ruins of London bridge; but they have been literally fulfilled.

PETT, "Verse 5

-6 “And she will become a spoil to the nations, and her daughters who are in the surrounding country will be slain with the sword, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”

‘A spoil to the nations.’ Compare Ezekiel 25:7; also see Ezekiel 7:21. She had rejoiced to see Jerusalem spoiled, now she would be spoiled herself, sharing a similar fate. Thus she too will be made aware of Who Yahweh is. Her ‘daughters’ were the local towns connected with her, who looked to her and depended on her. They would suffer for their allegiance.

PULPIT, "It shall be a place for the spreading of nets, etc. The prediction is repeated in Ezekiel 26:14, and after many chances and changes, apparent revival followed by another period of decay, the present condition of Tyre strikingly corresponds with it. The travelers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries report

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that "its inhabitants are only a few poor wretches that harbor in vaults and subsist upon fishing"; that the number of those inhabitants was "only ten, Turks and Christians"; that there were, a little later on, "fifty or sixty poor faro nee. During the present century there has been a partial revival, and Porter, in 1858, estimates its population at from three to four thousand. The present state of its harbor, as compared with that of Beyrout, is against any future expansion of its commerce ('Dict. Bible,' s.v. "Tyre").

6 and her settlements on the mainland will be ravaged by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

BARNES, "Her daughters ... - The subject states upon the mainland, on which she at this time relied for supplies.

CLARKE, "And her daughters - The places dependent on Tyre. As there were two places called Tyre, one on the main land, and the other on a rock in the sea, opposite to that on the main land, sometimes the one seems to be spoken of, and sometimes the other. That on the land, Palaetyre, was soon taken; but that in the sea cost Nebuchadnezzar thirteen years of siege and blockade. The two formed only one city, and one state.

GILL, "And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword,.... That is, the inhabitants of the cities, towns, and villages, on the shore near it, and which were subject to it; as such cities are frequently in Scripture called the daughters of the place to which they belong: or their daughters literally, that should get out of the city, and endeavour to make their escape; yet should fall into the enemies' hands, who would not spare them on account of their sex or age. The Targum favours

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the former sense, as most of the Jewish writers do, which is, "and the inhabitants of the villages which are in the field shall be killed by the sword:'' and they shall know that I am the Lord: the true God, and not Hercules or Apollo, or any other idols they worshipped; when they shall see all these things exactly accomplished, now prophesied of; which none but the omniscient God could foretell.

JAMISON, "her daughters ... in the field — The surrounding villages, dependent on her in the open country, shall share the fate of the mother city.

COKE, "Ezekiel 26:6. And her daughters which are in the field— By the daughters of Tyre are meant the lesser towns, which were under her jurisdiction; for Tyre was very powerful, and ruled over the greater part of Phoenicia.

ELLICOTT, " (6) Daughters which are in the field.—Comp. Ezekiel 26:8. A poetic way of describing the dependencies of Tyre upon the mainland.

In Ezekiel 26:7-11 the particular and now impending conquest by Nebuchadnezzar is graphically described, and then, with the change to the plural in Ezekiel 26:12, there seems to be again a looking forward to the long vista of successive devastations.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:6 And her daughters which [are] in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 6. And her daughters which are in the field,] i.e., Other cities and colonies sent out by her, and subject to her; as she was olim partu clara urbibus genitis, as Pliny saith of her, the mother of many fair cities, Leptis, Utica, Carthage. Some take it literally for people of both sexes.

POOLE, " Her daughters; either the lesser cities, which were as daughters to Tyre, a phrase most familiar to the Scriptures; or else their virgins, and daughters of the

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family.

In the field; on the firm land, if you mean cities; or surprised in the fields, whether taking the air, or seeking to escape, if you mean daughters in the latter sense.

Shall be slain by the sword; barbarous soldiers shall spare none.

They shall know that I am the Lord: see Ezekiel 25:17.

7 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar[b] king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a great army.

BARNES, "The description of the siege is that of a town invested by land.Eze_26:7

Nebuchadrezzar - Jer_21:2 note.

CLARKE, "Nebuchadrezzar - king of kings - An ancient title among those proud Asiatic despots shahinshah and padshah, titles still in use.

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GILL, "For thus saith the Lord God,.... What follows; and declares by name the person that should be the instrument of this ruin, and the manner in which it should be brought about: I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon; a prince whose name was terrible, having conquered many nations: the Lord is said to bring him against Tyre, because, he inclined his heart to steer his course this way; encouraged him to this work; led and protected his army; and, at last, gave him success: it held out thirteen years against him, and then was taken. The siege began, according to Mr. Whiston (f), A.M. 3650 or before Christ 586; and was taken A.M. 3663 or before Christ 573; according to Bishop Usher, (g), it began A.M. 3419 or before Christ 585; and was taken A.M. 3432 or before Christ 572. The Phoenician historians make mention of the siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar; and Berosus speaks of his subduing the whole country of Phoenicia, in which Tyre was; with whom agree Philostratus and Megasthenes (h): a king of kings from the north; who had many kings tributaries to him; the metropolis of whose kingdom lay somewhat, though not fully, north to Tyre: with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people: with a very numerous army, consisting of a large cavalry; horses being very numerous in the countries subject to him; and which he mounted his men on, both for their more easy travelling, and for their better fighting, and for the terror of their enemies.

JAMISON, "from the north — the original locality of the Chaldeans; also, the direction by which they entered Palestine, taking the route of Riblah and Hamath on the Orontes, in preference to that across the desert between Babylon and Judea.

king of kings — so called because of the many kings who owned allegiance to him (2Ki_18:28). God had delegated to him the universal earth-empire which is His (Dan_2:47). The Son of God alone has the right and title inherently, and shall assume it when the world kings shall have been fully proved as abusers of the trust (1Ti_6:15; Rev_17:12-14; Rev_19:15, Rev_19:16). Ezekiel’s prophecy was not based on conjecture from the past, for Shalmaneser, with all the might of the Assyrian empire, had failed in his siege of Tyre. Yet Nebuchadnezzar was to succeed. Josephus tells us that Nebuchadnezzar began the siege in the seventh year of Ithobal’s reign, king of Tyre.

COFFMAN, "Verse 7"For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: For behold I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field; and he shall make forts against thee, and cast up a mound against thee, and raise up the buckler against thee. And he shall set

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his battering engines against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets; he shall slay thy people with the sword; and the pillars of thy strength shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise; and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses; and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the waters. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. And I will make thee a bare rock: thou shalt be a place for the spreading of nets; thou shalt be built no more: for I Jehovah have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah."

NEBUCHADNEZZAR NAMED AS THE DESTROYER

"He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field." (Ezekiel 26:8). "These daughters were the suburbs and dependences on the mainland."[15] In these supporting villages were located many of those "pleasant houses," riches, and merchandise, which fell to the operations of Nebuchadnezzar. As for the promise that these should never more be rebuilt, this was certainly true of all that was scraped into the sea for the purpose of building the mole out to the walls of the citadel on the island.

"A roof of shields ..." (Ezekiel 26:8). This is called "the buckler" in our version. "It refers to what the Romans called a `testudo'."[16] It was a portable light roof covered with military shields, under the protection of which soldiers could deploy their battering rams against an enemy wall.

"Thy pillars shall be brought down to the ground ..." (Ezekiel 26:11). "This is probably reference to the pillars associated with the temple of Melkart, the pagan god worshipped in Tyre. Not even he could save the city."[17] These pillars were described by Herodotus. "One was of opal, the other of emerald; they had been erected in honor of the god Melkarth (a variable spelling)."[18]

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"Thou shalt be built no more ..." (Ezekiel 26:14) This was literally fulfilled as regards the continental city of Tyre.[19] "That part of the city that lay on the rocky island, recovered after a lapse of seventy years, as predicted by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 23:17-18)."[20]

ELLICOTT, " (7) Nebuchadrezzar.—So the name is very often written by Jeremiah and a few times by Ezekiel. It is, perhaps, a closer representation of the Nabu-kudurriuzur of the Babylonian cylinders than the form finally adopted by the Hebrews of Nebuchadnezzar.

A king of kings, from the north.—He is called a “king of kings” because of the many countries subject to his sway, whose kings were his vassals; and he is described as “from the north,” because, as often before said, it was from this direction that his armies must approach Tyre, although Babylon itself was in actual latitude to the south of Tyre.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:7 For thus saith the Lord GOD Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.

Ver. 7. Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar.] A name as dreadful then as was at any time the name of the great Turk: a man as famous for his valour and victories as ever was Hercules, saith Megasthenes in Josephus, (a) and such as whom we may well call, as Orosius doth Alexander, magnum miseriarum gurgitem, et totius Orientis atrocissimum turbinem, The great troubleworld.

POOLE, " I will bring: see Ezekiel 23:46.

A king of kings; so he styled himself, according to the vaunting manner of those countries, and indeed, by the right of conquest, he was king of kings, having many

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tributary kings under him, and many captive kings with him in Babylon, 2 Kings 18:28 Jeremiah 52:32. From the north; so was Babylon accounted to lie, as observed, Ezekiel 1:4, though it did not lie full north, but had some points of the north from Tyre. With horses; those Eastern kings had store of horses, and used many in their wars: see Ezekiel 26:11.

With chariots: see Ezekiel 23:24.

With horsemen: see Ezekiel 23:12. And companies; an assembly of all sorts, from all parts of the large kingdom of Babylon.

And much people; a mighty army for fighting, and mighty train of hangers-on, who were ready enough to do mischief to the country, though not very fit to assist the army; if need required, these would sweep all before them wherever they came.

PETT, "Verse 7

‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, king of kings (supreme king), from the north, with horses and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company and much people.”.’

Nebuchadrezzar may have been the ‘king of kings’, but the idea is that the supreme king does Yahweh’s bidding. This variation in name from Nebuchadnezzar is in fact closer to the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-usur, while Nebuchadnezzar is closer to the Greek form Nabochodonosor and is a variant form. His early career is described in the Babylonian records known as ‘the Babylonian Chronicle’ which give us valuable information for dating various events.

So Yahweh would bring the supreme king against Tyre with a huge well-armed army.

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PULPIT, "I will bring against thee, etc. There is a special emphasis of abruptness in the way in which Ezekiel brings in the name of the great Chaldean conqueror (we note, by the way, that he adopts the less common spelling of the name), of whom he speaks as "king of kings." The title is used by Daniel (Daniel 2:37) of Nebuchadnezzar, and by Artaxerxes of himself (Ezra 7:12), by Darius in the Nakshi Rustam inscription ('Records of the Past,' 5.151), by Tiglatb-Pileser, with the addition of "lord of lords" (ibid; 5.8).

BI 7-14, "Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar King of Babylon.The prophecy against TyreI. What were the grounds of her judgment. She was judged for her sins.

1. She abused the privilege of civilisation. Tyre was the most cultivated state of antiquity, invented letters, weights and measures, money, arithmetic, the art of keeping accounts. She made her painting and sculpture and architecture and music and letters, all her skill and learning and refinement, instruments of corruption.2. Tyre abused also the privilege of commerce. The Tyrians were a nation of merchants. But there are two classes of merchants. There are those who aim to develop new countries, to introduce new crops and arts and industries, to elevate races, to make commerce the servant of God. There are others who make everything bend to gain. A prince or an entire people may thus abuse the privilege of commerce. So Tyre abused her privilege.3. She abused the privilege of her intimate connection with the Jewish people. In the enjoyment of this distinction she stood alone. Tyre was a bulwark of Israel, covering Zion as the wing of the cherub covered the altar. In the unscrupulousness of her lust of empire and gain she broke the “brotherly covenant,” and when Jerusalem fell she rejoiced in her overthrow. To her unscrupulousness nothing was too sacred to be turned to profit.

II. The delay of the judgment. The method of God, sometimes, is swift retribution, as with Sodom and Gomorrah, sometimes slow, as with Tyre. She was long in filling her measure of guilt. Over two hundred years before the siege of Nebuchadnezzar, Joel prophesied against her. A few years later Amos took up the prophecy, then Isaiah in 712 B.C., Ezekiel in 590, Zechariah in 487. Yet the judgment delayed. She suffered calamities, but always rose above them. The prophecies were not literally fulfilled. The Christian era came in. Tyre still stood; Shalmaneser had besieged it; Nebuchadnezzar had invested it by sea and land for thirteen years, and conquered it; Alexander the Great, in 332 B.C., after a frightful siege of six months, had stormed, captured, and destroyed it, massacring thousands of its inhabitants, and selling thirty thousand into slavery. But after each disaster it had arisen anew, In the days of Jerome, in the fifth century, it was still standing, e city powerful and opulent. It was still flourishing eight hundred years later, in the times of the Crusades. It was the seat of a Christian bishopric. It had stood over twenty-five hundred years. The prophecies against it were nearly two thousand 40

years old. Was the Bible, then, which had proved true in prophecies against Egypt and Nineveh, and Edom and Judah, to be found at fault here?III. The literal fulfilment of judgment. In the year 1291 the Sultan of Egypt laid siege to the strong city of Ptolemais or Acre. Terror spread through the crusaders’ kingdom. Tyre shared it. Capture meant massacre and slavery. Ptolemais fell on the very day on which the evil news reached Tyre. At vespers the people in mass forsook their city. In panic and haste they embarked upon their galleys, and went out never to return. The Mahometan came. He overthrew the city. He choked one of the matchless harbours with the ruins. He cast into the sea, statues and columns and the huge stones of warehouses and palaces. He set the last fire to her splendour. He scraped the rock. Standing amid the ruins we may see the dust and ashes of her conflagration, the broken marble columns beneath the sea and scattered upon the shore, the fishers’ nets spread upon the rock, and feel, with every traveller who thus stands, that the last prophecy concerning her must also prove true, “That shalt be built no more.”

1. The fate of Tyre is a warning to those engaged in traffic. Beware of the iniquity of traffic, of the pride, the luxury, the unscrupulousness, the atheism.2. The fate of Tyre exalts the Word of God. If we look upon its ruins simply as a record of fulfilled prophecy, they force the conviction, This is the accomplishment of the Word of God, the one thing on earth amid the vast mutations of time, as passes unceasingly the glory of the world, which is unchangeable. (Sermons by Monday Club.)

8 He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp up to your walls and raise his shields against you.

BARNES, "Eze_26:8Lift up the buckler - i. e., set a wall of shields, under cover of which the walls could be approached.

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CLARKE, "Thy daughters in the field - This seems to be spoken of Palaetyre, or Tyre on the main land; for forts, mounts, engines of war, horses, and chariots could not be brought to act against the other.

GILL, "He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field,.... The first thing he would do would be to destroy the cities, towns and villages on the continent, near to Tyre, and dependent on it, as in Eze_26:6, and so the Targum is here, as there: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee; a fort built of wood, and a mount made of earth, from which stones might be cast out of their engines, and arrows shot from their bows into the city, to the damaging of the houses, and the hurt of the inhabitants: and lift up the buckler against thee; or "shield"; that is, as the Targum paraphrases it, "set against thee such who are armed with shields;'' to repel the arrows shot out from the city, and so defeat the design of them.ELLICOTT, " (8) A fort . . . a mount.—These and the following particulars of the siege indicate the use of the ordinary methods as in the attack of a city on the mainland. The explanation of this is doubtless partly in the fact that Palæotyrus, Old Tyre, upon the mainland, was approached in the ordinary way, and partly that Nebuchadnezzar must have contrived a bridge of boats, or some other method of approaching the island across the shoal and narrow channel (1,200 yards), which at that time separated it from the mainland. That if he built a mole it was afterwards removed, is plain from the fact that when Alexander built one, 250 years later, sand accumulated upon it, until the island has now become a peninsula, connected with the shore by a beach of considerable width.

The buckler is that sort of roof made with shields used in ancient warfare by besiegers to defend themselves from the missiles of the besieged. Herodotus (ix. 61, 99, 102) mentions its use among the Persians.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:8 He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the

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buckler against thee.

Ver. 8. He shall slay with the sword.] See on Ezekiel 26:6.

He shall lift up the buckler.] Or, A continued series of bucklers,

“ - ut omnes

Ferre queant subter densa testudine casus. ”

POOLE, " See Ezekiel 26:6.

Make a fort against thee: see Ezekiel 4:2 17:17.

Cast a mount against thee: he shall draw a line round about thee, and build bastions, raise sconces to defend the lines, to keep in the besieged, and secure the besiegers; or he shall pour out the shot, mighty stones or the like, out of the engines framed and placed on the forts before mentioned; for so did they of old build mighty wooden towers, and there placed engines, out of which they could fling mighty stones or darts against the besieged, who were much annoyed from these high towers, overlooking their walls and streets that none could stir out.

Lift up the buckler: see Ezekiel 23:24.HEDON, "Verses 8-14

8-14. The description is startingly vivid, the outlying villages (“daughters”)

suffer first, then the well-known “fort” and “mount” are erected, and under cover 43

of “the buckler” (a barricade of wickerwork covered with skins) the “engines of war” (R.V., “battering engines”) come into position and the axes (literally, swords) begin their deadly work. A breach is made in the wall, and then comes the charge of the cavalry and chariot force, the dust fills the air, and the fleeing people fall under the hoofs of the horses and the stroke of the swords. Even the temple of Baal is invaded and his sacred pillars (unfortunately translated “garrisons”) are cast to the ground. (Compare 2 Kings 10:26.) The city is sacked, and the riches of her temples, her pleasant palaces, and bazaars become the spoil of her conqueror. The city is destroyed, never to be built again, and the music for which she was famous (Isaiah 23:16) sinks into a groan. Now it is certain that a complete destruction of the city such as Ezekiel 26:12-14 contemplate was not wrought by Nebuchadnezzar, for after this campaign Tyre was able to sustain a very protracted siege under Alexander the Great (see also Ezekiel 29:17-21); but it seems most probable that the prophet’s description of the Nebuchadnezzar campaign melts into the more awful destruction, which he has formerly said would be wrought by “many nations,” which should dash up against the proud city “as I bring up the sea, wave after wave” (Ezekiel 26:3). This fusion of various events is not unusual in prophecy. (Compare particularly Matthew 24; Mark 13.)

PETT, "Verse 8-9

“He will slay with the sword your daughters in the surrounding countryside, and he will make forts against you, and cast up a mount against you, and raise up the buckler (large body shield) against you, and he will set his battering-engines against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.”

All the devices of ancient warfare would be applied against Tyre. The villages around would be laid waste. Siege forts/walls would be built and a mount to make the defenders more accessible. Walls of shields would be utilised in the assaults, and battering-rams would be brought against the walls. Axes would be applied to the wooden defence towers. All this against the mainland town for the island could not be reached.

There is a deliberate attempt here to demonstrate that Tyre, with all her pride and

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claims, is really inferior compared to this supreme king who is Yahweh’s instrument.

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 26:8-10

(For the usual operations of a siege, see notes on Ezekiel 4:1, Ezekiel 4:2.) The buckler was the roof of shields under which the besiegers protected themselves from the missiles of the besieged. For engines of war, read battering-rams; for wheels, wagons. The final result will be that the breach will be made, with results such as those described in Ezekiel 26:1].

9 He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons.

BARNES, "Eze_26:9Engines of war - Or, his battering ram. “axes” swords. They who would break flown the towers, rush on with their swords to slay the defenders.

GILL, "And he shall set engines of war against thy walls,.... Which some Jewish writers understand of crossbows, out of which stones or arrows were cast; but rather, according to Kimchi and Jarchi, they were warlike machines, invented to throw large stones against the walls of a place, to beat them down. Some think they were the same with the battering rams, used in sieges for the demolishing of walls; which was a late invention of those times, Ezekiel being the first writer, it is said, that makes mention of them: and with his axes he shall break down thy towers; the word here used signifies anything made of iron, as swords, spears, hammers, and axes; the latter, being more

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proper to demolish towers, is here pitched on by our translators. The Targum renders it, "with stones of iron"; that is, with iron balls cast out of their engines.

JAMISON, "engines of war — literally, “an apparatus for striking.” “He shall apply the stroke of the battering-ram against thy walls.” Havernick translates, “His enginery of destruction”; literally, the “destruction (not merely the stroke) of his enginery.”

axes — literally, “swords.”

ELLICOTT, " (9) Engines of war.—This is now generally understood to mean battering-rams, although the word is a different one from that used in Ezekiel 4:2; Ezekiel 21:22. There are two words here which may form one compound word.

Axes in the original is swords. It may either be used, the specific for the general, swords for all instruments of war; or it may be a poetic hyperbole, to express the power of the swords of Nebuchadnezzar’s army—they shall even break down the towers.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:9 And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.

Ver. 9. He shall set engines of war.] Helepoles inieciet. A graphic description of a siege.

And with his axes.] Or, Battering rams, or slings. Heb., With his swords; Gr., With his lances, ferramentis mueronatis helepoleos. Vide Am. Marcell, lib. xxiii.

POOLE, " Engines of war: these were mighty engines, whatever form made of, and had their description here from the irresistible force wherewith they cast stones, and beat down all before them.

Axes; whatever made of iron, and framed to demolish buildings: see Ezekiel 16:39.

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10 His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the warhorses, wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through.

GILL, "By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee,.... The dust raised by the feet of the horses so numerous, should rise in such quantities, and to such a height, as to be like a cloud, which should cover the city; an hyperbolical way of speaking, as Kimchi observes; as is also the following clause: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots; at the shouts of the horsemen upon every attack, and the rattling of the chariot wheels running to and fro, in carrying on their designs: when ye shall enter into thy gates; that is, then particularly shall such a shout be made by the horsemen, and such rattling of the chariots, as will even make the walls of the city to shake; an excess of expression, signifying the prodigious noise made at their entrance into it: as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach; or, "according to the entrance of a city broken up" (i); when its walls are broken down, and a gap is made; at which men rush in in great numbers, and with great force and clamour.

JAMISON, "dust — So thick shall be the “dust” stirred up by the immense numbers of “horses,” that it shall “cover” the whole city as a cloud.

horses ... chariots — As in Eze_26:3-5, New Tyre on the insular rock in the sea (compare Isa_23:2, Isa_23:4, Isa_23:6) is referred to; so here, in Eze_26:9-11, Old Tyreon the mainland. Both are included in the prophecies under one name.wheels — Fairbairn thinks that here, and in Eze_23:24, as “the wheels” are distinct from the “chariots,” some wheelwork for riding on, or for the operations of the siege, are meant.

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ELLICOTT, " (10) Shall enter into thy gates.—The whole description of this verse again implies that Nebuchadnezzar had contrived some way by which his armies, with horsemen and chariots, could march into the city, and the prophet gives a glowing poetic description of the effect of their entrance.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:10 By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.

Ver. 10. Thy walls shall shake.] With the noise of one chariot, walls and windows seem to shake; what, then, with the rattle of so many? Methought I heard the noise and fright that shall be at the last day, said one, (a) that was at the taking of a town in the low countries. The fragor and terror was so great, say the Turkish histories (speaking of a bloody battle between Amurath III and Lazarus, despot of Sernia), that the angels in heaven, so they are pleased to hyperbolise, amazed with that hideous noise, for that time forgot the heavenly hymns wherewith they always glorify God. (b)

When he shall enter into thy gates.] As our Henry VIII did into Tournay, a city of France, which was ever counted so impregnable, that this sentence was engraven over one of the gates, Iannes ton me a perdu ton pucellage, i.e., Thou hast never lost thy maidenhead.

POOLE, " Their dust; the dust they raise in marching, or in their exercising, in riding to and fro; but whether while on the land, or when they entered the city, may be doubted.

Shall cover thee; as a cloud it shall cover the city.

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Shall shake, as buildings do with great noise, motion. or beating on the ground.

The wheels, of their engines, or wagons, or chariots.

He shall enter into thy gates; Nebuchadnezzar, without fear, shall enter and possess his conquest, which Tyre at last yielded to him after thirteen years’ hard siege.

Wherein is made a breach; whose walls battered and leveled, there is nothing left to defend the citizens, who therefore yield, or defend the besieger, who therefore fearless entereth.

PETT, "Verse 10-11

“Because his horses are so abundant their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he enters into your gates, as men enter a city in which a breach has been made. With the hooves of his horses he will tread down all your streets, he will slay your people with the sword, and the pillars of your strength will collapse to the ground.”

The contrast goes on. The horsemen would be so many that the dust raised by their hooves would cover the city. The multitude of horsemen, wagons and chariots would make the walls shake. The breach would be made and then the slaughter would begin and the strong parts of the city would be pulled down (or ‘the pillars of its strength’ may be its people). What is great Tyre in the light of this?

11 The hooves of his horses will trample all your 49

streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground.

BARNES, "Eze_26:11Garrisons - pillars, on which stood statues of some protecting god. Compare 2Ki_10:26.

GILL, "With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets,.... Such a number of horses running to and fro in the streets, and prancing upon the pavements, shall break them up, and destroy them, so that they shall be mere mire and dirt: he shall slay thy people by the sword; such as would not lay down their arms and submit; or their principal ones, who encouraged the inhabitants to hold out the siege to such a length of time as they did; which might provoke Nebuchadnezzar to use them with more severity: and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground: where their soldiers were placed for defence; their citadel and other towers: or, "the statues of thy strengths" (k); their strong statues made of marble, &c. erected as trophies of victories obtained by them; or to the honour of some worthy magistrates, and principal citizens; or of their confederates and allies; or rather of their deities, such as Hercules and Apollo, their tutelar gods; which, though chained as they were, that they might not depart, shall now fall to the ground, unable to protect themselves or their worshippers: all that is here said, concerning the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, seems to be understood of old Tyre, which was upon the continent; for this account agrees not with the isle.

JAMISON, "thy strong garrisons — literally, “the statutes of thy strength”; so the forts which are “monuments of thy strength.” Maurer understands, in stricter agreement with the literal meaning, “the statues” or “obelisks erected in honor of the idols, the tutelary gods of Tyre,” as Melecarte, answering to the Grecian Hercules, whose temple stood in Old Tyre (compare Jer_43:13, Margin).

ELLICOTT, " (11) Thy strong garrisons.—This is the only instance in the Bible in which this common word is so translated, although a word closely akin to it is rendered garrison throughout the Books of Samuel. Both words mean a pillar set up as a monument or memorial. Translate, therefore, the pillars of thy strength. It is

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probable that the pillars intended are those mentioned by Herodotus (Bk. ) as standing in the Temple of Hercules at Tyre, one of gold and the other of emerald.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:11 With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.

Ver. 11. And thy strong garrisons.] Or, Statues, or idols. Their chief idols were Apollo, Hercules, and Astarte. (a) See on Ezekiel 26:3.

POOLE, " In proud, stately, and menacing posture shall the king of Babylon ride through all the streets of thy city, to the grief and sorrow of the Tyrians; and so shall his troops do too.

He shall slay thy people; in the wars some of thy people shall fall by his sword; but that is no wonder; I rather think that it is meant of giving judgment against some of the most valiant, constant, and active citizens, which were the cause of the city’s holding out so long against Nebuchadnezzar, as he did with some of the nobles of Jerusalem.

Strong garrisons; bastions, or forts about the city, or triumphal arches built by Tyrians, or statues erected in honour to some eminent citizens, or to the kings of Egypt, their ancient allies, enemies to the Chaldeans; or the statues of their gods Hercules and Apollo chained, that neither in nature and angry, nor yet charmed with other men’s songs, should depart, and leave their pupils without a guard.

Shall go down to the ground; shall be all cast down together.

PULPIT, "Ezekiel 26:11

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Thy strong garrisons; literally, the pillars of thy strength (Revised Version). So the Vulgate, nobiles statuae. So the word is used in Isaiah 19:19; Jeremiah 43:13; 2 Kings 3:2. The words probably refer to the two famous columns standing in the temple of the Tyrian Hercules, one of gold and one of emerald (possibly malachite or lapis-lazuli), as symbols of strength, or as pedestals surmounted by a statue of Baal (Herod; 2.44).

12 They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea.

CLARKE, "And they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water - This answers to the taking of Tyre by Alexander; he actually took the timbers, stones, rubbish, etc. of old Tyre, and filled up the space between it and new Tyre, and thus connected the latter with the main land; and this he was obliged to do before he could take it.

GILL, "And they shall make a spoil of thy riches,.... The Chaldean army, when they entered the city, and got possession of it, would plunder it, and divide the riches of it among them: and make a prey of thy merchandise; of the merchants' goods, laid up in their warehouses for sale, which was greatly hindered by this long siege; compare with this Rev_18:11,

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and they shall break down thy walls; the walls of their houses; mention being made before of breaking down the walls of the city, towers, and garrisons: and destroy thy pleasant houses; or, "houses of thy desire" (l); the most desirable ones in the city; the houses of their princes and chief magistrates; their summer houses; or which were most delightfully situated towards the sea, to have the prospect and advantage of that: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water; of the sea, near unto or about it; into which they cast the rubbish of the demolished houses, stones, timber, and dust, and so left it bare and naked: or rather this was fulfilled when Alexander, with the ruins of old Tyre, its stones, timber, and rubbish, and trees from Lebanon, made a causeway from the continent to the island; and by that means took it, after seven months' toil and labour of this sort (m).

JAMISON, "lay thy stones ... timber ... in ... midst of ... water — referring to the insular New Tyre (Eze_26:3, Eze_26:5; Eze_27:4, Eze_27:25, Eze_27:26). When its lofty buildings and towers fall, surrounded as it was with the sea which entered its double harbor and washed its ramparts, the “stones ... timbers ... and dust” appropriately are described as thrown down “in the midst of the water.” Though Ezekiel attributes the capture of Tyre to Nebuchadnezzar (see on Eze_29:18), yet it does not follow that the final destruction of it described is attributed by him to the same monarch. The overthrow of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar was the first link in the long chain of evil - the first deadly blow which prepared for, and was the earnest of, the final doom. The change in this verse from the individual conqueror “he,” to the general “they,” marks that what he did was not the whole, but only paved the way for others to complete the work begun by him. It was to be a progressive work until she was utterly destroyed. Thus the words here answer exactly to what Alexander did. With the “stones, timber,” and rubbish of Old Tyre, he built a causeway in seven months to New Tyre on the island and so took it [Curtius, 4, 2], 322 b.c.

COKE, "Ezekiel 26:12. And they shall lay, &c.— The ruins of old Tyre contributed much to the taking of the new city; for with the stones, timber, and rubbish of it, Alexander built a bank or causey from the continent to the island; thereby literally fulfilling the words of the prophet. He was seven months in completing this work: but the time and labour were well employed, for by means hereof he was enabled to take and storm the city. See Bishop Newton on the Prophesies, vol. 1: and the note on Ezekiel 26:21.

ELLICOTT, " (12) They shall make.—In Ezekiel 26:12 the nominative changes. It is no longer Nebuchadnezzar who does these things, but “they.” This may intimate that the prophet’s vision now again passes beyond the immediate future to the long

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succession of calamities, beginning indeed with Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest, with which Tyre was to be visited. The “spoil” and “prey” is to be understood more of what the Tyrians lost than of what the conquerors gained. In the long-continued sieges to which the city was subjected there was great waste of its substance; but their command of the water generally enabled them before the close to send away their moveable wealth, so that the booty of the victor was small. (With the close of the verse comp. Ezekiel 26:4.) The situation of Tyre led naturally to her ruins being thrown into the sea. Robinson saw in one place as many as forty or fifty marble columns beneath the water.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:12 And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.

Ver. 12. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches.] Raked together by right and wrong. See on Ezekiel 26:2. Male parta male dilabuntur. (a)

POOLE, " They; Chaldean soldiers.

Make a spoil; hinder thy trade during the war, and plunder thee in the end of the war.

Make a prey of thy merchandise; intercepting much, as it is coming to thee whilst besieged, and taking what they find, when they conquer.

Break down thy walls: see Ezekiel 26:4,9; there he speaks of the walls of the city, here of the walls of private houses, as appears by that which follows. Pleasant houses, that the Tyrians dwelt in with delight, or diverted themselves in as houses of pleasure; summerhouses.

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Lay thy stones, & c.

in the midst of the water: it had been a quicker and easier way to have burnt all, but it is like the greedy soldier might dream of treasure hid in walls or under the timber, and therefore they take the pains to pull all down, and throw it into the sea; the very dust too. Thus God fulfils his word, and scraped Tyrus.

PETT, "Verse 12

“And they will make a spoil of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise, and they will break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses, and they will lay your stones, and your timber, and your dust in the midst of the waters.”

The riches from trade and merchanting would become a spoil for the invaders, their proud buildings a ruin, and these would be tossed into the harbour. This would no doubt be true to some extent under Nebuchadnezzar, but later, in the time of Alexander the Great, this would occur for the specific purpose of enlarging the causeway to the island for the invading troops. The ruins of the mainland city would be utilised. The prophecy telescopes Tyre’s future, for Yahweh’s activities against Tyre will go on and on.

We have here an example of how prophecy can contain two elements, a near and a far. It begins with specifics and then continues with a later outcome, the inexorable march of history. For the prophets were not interested in forecasting particular events but in presenting the total picture of the final purposes of Yahweh.

PULPIT, "Thy pleasant houses; Hebrew, houses of desire. The palaces of the merchant-princes of Tyro, stately as those of Genoa or Venice. In the midst of the water. We are again reminded that it is the island city of which the prophet speaks.

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13 I will put an end to your noisy songs, and the music of your harps will be heard no more.

GILL, "And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease,.... As this city abounded with riches, so with carnal mirth and pleasure; it was a "joyous city", Isa_23:7, the inhabitants lived merrily and jovially; were much given to music, which was very diverting and amusing to foreigners that traded with them; but now it would be all over with them; there would be no more songs, nor any to sing them: and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard; neither vocal nor instrumental music; and this will be one day the case of Rome, of which Tyre was a type, Rev_18:22.

JAMISON, "Instead of the joyousness of thy prosperity, a death-like silence shall reign (Isa_24:8; Jer_7:34).

ELLICOTT, "Verse 13(13) I will cause.—Here God speaks of His own direct action, and declares that all these calamities are ordered by Him; and in this and the following verse the prophecy of Ezekiel 26:4-5, is repeated that Tyre shall be utterly wasted and desolate, and never be rebuilt.

In Ezekiel 26:15-21 the effect of the fall of Tyre upon other maritime people is set forth. It is to be remembered that these people were either her own colonies, or else in close commercial relations with her.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:13 And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.

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Ver. 13. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease.] The Tyrians were much addicted to music. [Isaiah 23:16 Ezekiel 28:13] Pleasure mongers shall suffer deeply, by pain of loss and pain of sense.

And the sound of thy harp.] Qua tu, O Tyre, mercatrix quasi meretrix mercatores ad te pellicis, wherewith thou gettest custom.

POOLE, " A populus, wealthy, ancient, and much frequented city, in the midst of great security, no doubt, had all sorts of music, and loud music on the water especially, and songs to their music; but God will dash it all.

The sound of thy harps: this particular music mentioned as one of the noblest, and most in request, but no more shall be heard in Tyre after it is taken by Nebuchadnezzar.

PETT, "Verse 13-14

“And I will make the noise of your songs cease, and the sound of your harps will be heard no more. You will be a place for spreading nets, and you will be built no more. For I Yahweh have spoken it,” says the Lord Yahweh.’

The prophecy looks far into the future, when Tyre’s destiny would be fulfilled. In the end all merriment and music would cease as it became unpeopled and Tyre would disappear from history, and its proud island fortress would become a bare rock for fishermen to spread their nets on. History records how, after long centuries, this was indeed literally fulfilled. Such was the end of the glory of Tyre. And it happened at Yahweh’s word.

PULPIT, "The noise of thy songs. As in the imagery, of Isaiah 23:16, Tyre seems to 57

have been famous for its music—the operatic city, as it were, of the ancient world—eminent no less for its culture than its commerce (romp. Ezekiel 28:13). The description of the desolation of the captured city is summed up once more in the words of Isaiah 23:5. It shall be a place to "spread nets upon."

14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.

BARNES, "Eze_26:14The siege had been on land, but the victory was to be completed by the subjection of the island-citadel.

CLARKE, "Thou shalt be built no more - If this refer to Nebuchadnezzar’s capture of the city, old Tyre must be intended: that was destroyed by him, and never rebuilt. But I doubt whether the whole of this prophecy do not refer to the taking of Tyre by Alexander, three hundred years after its capture by Nebuchadnezzar. Indeed it may include more recent conquests of this important city. It went through a variety of vicissitudes till 1289, when it and the neighboring towns were sacked and ravaged by the Mamelukes. Mr. Maundrell, who visited this place, says, “it is a Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, etc., there being not so much as one entire house left! Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly on fishing; who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, that it should be the top of a rock, a place for fishers to dry their nets on.”

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GILL, "And I will make thee like the top of a rock,.... Smooth and bare; See Gill on Eze_26:4, and thou shall be a place to spread nets upon; See Gill on Eze_26:5, thou shalt be built no more: this must be understood with some restriction and limitation; as that it should not be built any more in the same stately manner; or be raised to royal dignity, and be governed in the grand manner it had been; or be built upon the same spot; or after its last destruction, to which the prophecy may have respect; it being usual in Scripture for prophecies to regard what is more remote as well as more near; for, upon the destruction of it by Nebuchadnezzar, it was to be restored after seventy years, according to Isaiah's prophecy, Isa_23:15 and, many years after this, new Tyre was besieged, taken, and destroyed by Alexander; and after this it was rebuilt; we read of it in the New Testament; See Gill on Act_21:3, and in Jerom's time it was a most noble and beautiful city, as he on this passage observes; indeed, as Kimchi says, who lived near a thousand years after Jerom, the city then built in his time called Tyre was built upon the continent near the seashore; whereas Tyre destroyed by Alexander was built in the midst of the sea, and was as the top of a rock. It has since been destroyed by Saladine, in the year 1291; and now quite uninhabited, unless by fishermen, who wash, dry, and mend their nets here: for I the Lord have spoken it, saith, the Lord God; and therefore it shall be accomplished, as it has been; no more of his returning void, and becoming of no effect. The Targum is, "because I the Lord have decreed by my word, saith the Lord God;'' it is a determination and resolution of his, and none can disannul it. Abendana thinks that hitherto the prophecy is concerning the first destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, and what follows is concerning the destruction of it by Alexander.

JAMISON, "He concludes in nearly the same words as he began (Eze_26:4, Eze_26:5).built no more — fulfilled as to the mainland Tyre, under Nebuchadnezzar. The insular Tyre recovered partly, after seventy years (Isa_23:17, Isa_23:18), but again suffered under Alexander, then under Antigonus, then under the Saracens at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Now its harbors are choked with sand, precluding all hope of future restoration, “not one entire house is left, and only a few fishermen take shelter in the vaults” [Maundrell]. So accurately has God’s word come to pass.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:14 And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be [a place] to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken [it], saith the Lord GOD.

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Ver. 14. Thou shalt be built no more,] i.e., Not in haste, and not at all by the same inhabitants, nor with the like neatness and celebrity. Some say it was not built in the same place with Palaetyrus, or old Tyre; yet was it a famous city again, near unto which our Saviour wrought miracles, in which Paul abode seven days with the brethren. Here Origen died, (a) Ulpian the great lawyer was born, (b) &c. Of this city read Gul. Tyrius, de Bello Sacro, lib. xiii. cap. 1.

POOLE, " Ezekiel 14:4,5.

Thou shalt be built no more; either not this long time, or else not built in greatness and glory, or not raised to be a kingdom, or not by the inhabitants of old Tyre, or not with the same laws, customs, and usages; indeed, though there was a city of that name built, yet it was built on the continent, and in propriety of speech was another city, not old Tyre.

15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Will not the coastlands tremble at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan and the slaughter takes place in you?

CLARKE, "The isles shake at the sound of thy fall - All those which had traded with this city, which was the grand mart, and on which they all depended. Her ruin involved them all, and caused general wailing.

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GILL, "Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus,.... By his prophet, who very probably delivered this prophecy to the ambassadors of Tyre at Babylon; or to some of their merchants that traded there; or sent it in a letter to them: shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall; when they hear the noise of Tyre being taken, it will make them tremble, as fearing their turn will be next; that if a city so well fortified by nature and art, so well supplied with men and money, that had held out the siege so long, should at last surrender; what should they, the neighbouring isles, do, if attacked, who were so inferior to it? and besides, they might have much of their goods in it, in which they traded with the inhabitants of it, trusting to its great strength, and which would now give them a sensible concern. The Targum renders it, the suburbs; and anther Jewish (n) writer, the villages; those that were near to Tyre: when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? upon the enemy's entrance, putting to the sword all they meet with; when those that are wounded shall cry, either to have their lives spared, or through the pain and distress occasioned by their wounds.

HENRY 15-21, "The utter ruin of Tyre is here represented in very strong and lively figures, which are exceedingly affecting.

1. See how high, how great, Tyre had been, how little likely ever to come to this. The remembrance of men's former grandeur and plenty is a great aggravation of their present disgrace and poverty. Tyre was a renowned city (Eze_26:17), famous among the nations, the crowning city (so she is called Isa_23:8), a city that had crowns in her gift, honoured all she smiled upon, crowned herself and all about her. She was inhabited of seas, that is, of those that trade at sea, of those who from all parts came thither by sea, bringing with them the abundance of the seas and the treasures hidden in the sand. She was strong in the sea, easy of access to her friends, but to her enemies inaccessible, fortified by a wall of water, which made her impregnable. So that she with her pomp, and her inhabitants with their pride, caused their terror to be on all that haunted that city, and upon any account frequented it. It was well fortified, and formidable in the eyes of all that acquainted themselves with it. Every body stood in awe of the Tyrians and was afraid of disobliging them. Note, Those who know their strength are too apt to cause terror, to pride themselves in frightening those they are an over-match for.2. See how low, how little, Tyre is made, Eze_26:19, Eze_26:20. This renowned city is made a desolate city, is no more frequented as it has been; there is no more resort of merchants to it; it is like the cities not inhabited, which are no cities, and having none to keep them in repair, will go to decay of themselves. Tyre shall be like a city overflowed by an inundation of waters, which cover it, and upon which the deep is brought up. As the waves had formerly been its defence, so now they shall be its destruction. She shall be brought down with those that descend into the pit, with the cities of the old world that were under water, and with Sodom and Gomorrah, that lie in the bottom of the Dead Sea. Or, she shall be in the condition of those who have been long buried, of the people of old time, who are old inhabitants of the silent grace, who are quite rotted away under

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ground and quite forgotten above ground; such shall Tyre be, free among the dead, set in the lower parts of the earth, humbled, mortified, reduced. It shall be like the places desolate of old, as well as like persons dead of old; it shall be like other cities that have formerly been in like manner deserted and destroyed. It shall not be inhabited again; none shall have the courage to attempt the rebuilding of it upon that spot, so that it shall be no more; The Tyrians shall be lost among the nations, so that people will look in vain for Tyre in Tyre: Thou shalt be sought for, and never found again. New persons may build a new city upon a new spot of ground hard by, which they may call Tyre, but Tyre, as it is, shall never be any more. Note, The strongest cities in this world, the best-fortified and best-furnished, are subject to decay, and may in a little time be brought to nothing. In the history of our own island many cities are spoken of as in being when the Romans were here which now our antiquaries scarcely know where to look for, and of which there remains no more evidence than Roman urns and coins digged up there sometimes accidentally. But in the other world we look for a city that shall stand for ever and flourish in perfection through all the ages of eternity.3. See what a distress the inhabitants of Tyre are in (Eze_26:15): There is a great slaughter made in the midst of thee, many slain, and great men. It is probable that, when the city was taken, the generality of the inhabitants were put to the sword. Then did the wounded cry, and they cried in vain, to the pitiless conquerors; they cried quarter, but it would not be given them; the wounded are slain without mercy, or, rather, that is the only mercy that is shown them, that the second blow shall rid them out of their pain.4. See what a consternation all the neighbours are in upon the fall of Tyre. This is elegantly expressed here, to show how astonishing it should be. (1.) the islands shall shake at the sound of thy fall (Eze_26:15), as, when a great merchant breaks, all that he deals with are shocked by it, and begin to look about them; perhaps they had effects in his hands, which they are afraid they shall lose. Or, when they see one fail and become bankrupt of a sudden, in debt a great deal more than he is worth, it makes them afraid for themselves, lest they should do so too. Thus the isles, which thought themselves safe in the embraces of the sea, when they see Tyrus fall, shall tremble and be troubled,saying, “What will become of us?” And it is well if they make this good use of it, to take warning by it not to be secure, but to stand in awe of God and his judgments. The sudden fall of a great tower shakes the ground round about it; thus all the islands in the Mediterranean Sea shall feel themselves sensibly touched by the destruction of Tyre, it being a place they had so much knowledge of, such interests in, and such a constant correspondence with. (2.) The princes of the sea shall be affected with it, who ruled in those islands. Or the rich merchants, who live like princes (Isa_23:8), and the masters of ships, who command like princes, these shall condole the fall of Tyre in a most compassionate and pathetic manner (Eze_26:16): They shall come down from their thrones, as neglecting the business of their thrones and despising the pomp of them. They shall lay away their robes of state, their broidered garments, and shall clothe themselves all over with tremblings, with sackcloth that will make them shiver. Or they shall by their own act and deed make themselves to tremble upon this occasion; they shall sit upon the ground in shame and sorrow; they shall tremble every moment at the thought of what has happened to Tyre, and for fear of what may happen to themselves; for what island is safe if Tyre be not? They shall take up a lamentation for thee, shall have elegies and mournful poems penned upon the fall of Tyre, Eze_26:17. How art thou destroyed! [1.] It shall be a great surprise to them, and they shall be affected with wonder, that a place so well fortified by nature and art, so famed for politics and so full

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of money, which is the sinews of war, that held out so long and with so much bravery, should be taken at last (Eze_26:21): I make thee a terror. Note, It is just with God to make those a terror to their neighbours, by the suddenness and strangeness of their punishment, who make themselves a terror to their neighbours by the abuse of their power. Tyre had caused her terror (Eze_26:17) and now is made a terrible example. [2.] It shall be a great affliction to them, and they shall be affected with sorrow (Eze_26:17); they shall take up a lamentation for Tyre, as thinking it a thousand pities that such a rich and splendid city should be thus laid in ruins. When Jerusalem, the holy city, was destroyed, there were no such lamentations for it; it was nothing to those that passed by(Lam_1:12); but when Tyre, the trading city, fell, it was universally bemoaned. Note, Those who have the world in their hearts lament the loss of great men more than the loss of good men. [3.] It shall be a loud alarm to them: They shall tremble in the day of thy fall, because they shall have reason to think that their own turn will be next. If Tyre fall, who can stand? Howl, fir-trees, if such a cedar be shaken. Note, The fall of others should awaken us out of our security. The death or decay of others in the world is a check to us, when we dream that our mountain stands strongly and shall not be moved.5. See how the irreparable ruin of Tyre is aggravated by the prospect of the restoration of Israel. Thus shall Tyre sink when I shall set glory in the land of the living, Eze_26:20. Note, (1.) The holy land is the land of the living; for none but holy souls are properly living souls. Where living sacrifices are offered to the living God, and where the lively oracles are, there the land of the living is; there David hoped to see the goodness of the Lord, Psa_27:13. That was a type of heaven, which is indeed the land of the living. (2.) Though this land of the living may for a time lie under disgrace, yet God will again set glory in it; the glory that had departed shall return, and the restoration of what they had been deprived of shall be so much more their glory. God will himself be the glory of the lands that are the lands of the living. (3.) It will aggravate the misery of those that have their portion in the land of the dying, of those that are for ever dying, to behold the happiness of those, at the same time, that shall have their everlasting portion in the land of the living. When the rich man was himself in torment he saw Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, and glory set for him in the land of the living.

JAMISON, "The impression which the overthrow of Tyre produced on other maritime nations and upon her own colonies, for example, Utica, Carthage, and Tartessus or Tarshish in Spain.

isles — maritime lands. Even mighty Carthage used to send a yearly offering to the temple of Hercules at Tyre: and the mother city gave high priests to her colonies. Hence the consternation at her fall felt in the widely scattered dependencies with which she was so closely connected by the ties of religion, as well as commercial intercourse.shake — metaphorically: “be agitated” (Jer_49:21).

COFFMAN, "Verse 15

"Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to Tyre: Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy 63

fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at thee. And they shall take up a lamentation over thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that west inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city that was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, that caused their terror to be on all that dwelt there! Now shall the isles tremble in the days of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be dismayed at thy departure."

ALARM AND SHOCK AT THE NEWS OF TYRE'S FALL

"The isles ..." (Ezekiel 26:15,18). These refer to all of the islands and coastlands of the Mediterranean Sea, which long had been under the domination of Tyre.

"The renowned city that caused her terror to fall upon all ..." (Ezekiel 26:17). The heartless old slave traders of Tyre had been the terror of mankind, but for the thirteen year siege against them by Nebuchadnezzar, they allowed the evil slave trade to rest!

"The princes shall come down from their thrones ..." (Ezekiel 26:15). These merchant princes were not actually kings. They were agents of Tyre, and the meaning here is that the source of their power, wealth, and glory had dried up. They were therefore downgraded and humiliated.

"The mourning of these `princes' indicated that they had better judgment than the rulers of Tyre. Those in Tyre could not realize that the destruction of Jerusalem meant the same fate awaited them; but these 'princes' realized that they also were involved in the fate of Tyre."[21]

"They shall tremble every moment ..." (Ezekiel 26:16) "This means that they were

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trembling and fearful continually."[22]

ELLICOTT, "Verse 15(15) The isles.—This word is constantly used in Scripture, not merely for islands, strictly so called, but for any sea-coasts. The main reference here, no doubt, is to the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean; but as Tyrian commerce extended also beyond, the language need not be entirely restricted to these. The tidings of the conquest of Tyre is poetically represented as “the sound of her fall.”

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?

Ver. 15. Shall not the isles.] See the like, Isaiah 23:1-16

POOLE, "Isles, which are places freest from the danger of invasions, and in those days thought themselves safe, will think themselves in danger, and shake with fear, when they hear that Tyre is fallen; it will amaze and fright them all, when they hear thy men were wounded and slain in the midst of thee who dwellest in the sea.

WHEDON, "Verse 15-16

15, 16. At the sound of the falling walls and the cries of the wounded the seacoasts (isles, Ezekiel 26:15; Ezekiel 26:18) tremble and shake, while the merchant princes of the sea (Isaiah 23:8) put away their royal robes and sit in the dust and clothe themselves with “tremblings” and act as mourners at this national funeral.

PETT, "Verse 15-16

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‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Tyre, “Will not the isles/coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of you? Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their bordered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground, and will tremble every moment and be appalled at you.” ’

The description of their tragedy goes on. Those to whom their seamen regularly sailed, and especially their own colonies, (Tyre had colonies in many Mediterranean coastal regions such as Cyprus, Rhodes, Malta, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, and Africa), will learn the news of their fall and tremble, and the isles and distant coastlands, the island and city states on the Mediterranean seaboard, themselves will shake when Tyre falls, an exaggerated description of the cataclysmic nature of their fall. The groans of the wounded will, as it were, reach out to them. Then these princes across the sea (the princes of the colonies, and the merchant princes who benefited by them), will mourn for them, stripping off their ordinary clothing and clothing themselves with trembling, i.e. mourning clothes and mourning rites. They will be totally appalled. Such was the myth of Tyre.

PULPIT, "Shall not the isles, etc.? The Hebrew word is used in a wider sense, as including all settlements on the sea-coast as well as islands. So it is used of Philistia (Isaiah 20:6), and of the maritime states of Asia Minor (Daniel 11:18), of the east and south coasts of Arabia (Ezekiel 27:15). Looking to the extent of commerce described in Ezekiel 27:1-36; it probably includes all the Mediterranean settlements of the Tyrians, possibly also those in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. The report of the fall of Tyre was to spread far and wide.

16 Then all the princes of the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling

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every moment, appalled at you.

BARNES, "Eze_26:16Clothe themselves with trembling - Mourners change their bright robes for sad garments.

CLARKE, "The princes of the sea - The chief maritime states, such as Leptis, Utica, Carthage, Gades, etc. See Calmet.

GILL, "Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones,.... The kings of the islands of the sea shall lay aside their regalia, all their royal grandeur, and the ensigns of it; leave their thrones of state, and sit in an humble posture: and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments; their royal robes and raiment of needlework curiously embroidered, and richly wrought, such as princes wear; so did the king of Nineveh in token of humiliation, Jon_3:6. The Septuagint and Arabic versions understand the first clause of their taking their mitres, or diadems, from their heads: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall tremble from head to foot in every joint, as if they were covered with it, as with a garment; or, being clothed with sackcloth, as mourners used to be, shall shake and tremble, being used to other and better clothing: they shall sit upon the ground; as Job did, and his friends, with dust and ashes on their heads, as persons in distress were wont to do, Job_2:8, and shall tremble at every moment; continually, every hour, minute, and moment of the day: or, "at the breaches" (o); so Jarchi; that is, those made upon Tyre; fearing lest the same should be made upon them; so the Targum, "because of their breaches"; or at the ruin and destruction they fear will be their case also: and be astonished at thee; that a city so wealthy and mighty should be brought so low; see Rev_18:9.

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JAMISON, "come down from their thrones ... upon the ground — “the throne of the mourners” (Job_2:13; Jon_3:6).

princes of the sea — are the merchant rulers of Carthage and other colonies of Tyre, who had made themselves rich and powerful by trading on the sea (Isa_23:8).clothe ... with trembling — Hebrew, “tremblings.” Compare Eze_7:27, “clothed with desolation”; Psa_132:18. In a public calamity the garment was changed for a mourning garb.

COKE, "Verse 16-17Ezekiel 26:16-17. Then all the princes of the sea, &c.— That is, "All the princes and rich merchants of Sidon, Carthage, and other maritime cities, who traded with Tyre, shall express a deep concern for her misfortune." Houbigant reads the 17th verse thus, How is she destroyed, who hath been so long inhabited! the renowned city, whose defence was the sea, and whose citizens struck terror upon all who inhabit the earth! Tyre was famous for the strength of its situation, which was on the sea-shore; but the insular Tyre, as well as that on the continent, is included in this prophesy. They are both spoken of as one and the same city; part built on the continent, and part on an adjoining island. See Bishop Newton's Dissertations, vol. 1:

ELLICOTT, "Verse 16(16) Princes of the sea.—Or, as we should say, merchant princes. (Comp. Isaiah 23:8.) Actual sovereigns are not meant, but those raised by commerce to wealth and power. Their astonishment and grief is poetically described under the figure of the customs of Oriental mourning. (Comp. Jonah 3:6.) “Thrones” should rather be translated seats, as in Judges 3:20; 1 Samuel 1:9; 1 Samuel 4:13; 1 Samuel 4:18.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:16 Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at [every] moment, and be astonished at thee.

Ver. 16. All the princes of the sea,] i.e., Of the neighbouring islands.

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Clothe themselves with trembling.] Luth., With mourning.

POOLE, " The princes of the sea; who were lords of the islands in that sea, and who traded with Tyrus, and there were many such; or sea commanders, who, in their wooden world, are so many petty princes; but rather the former, the crowned heads whose kingdoms were so many islands.

Come down from their thrones, in token of sadness and condolence.

Lay away their robes, as further sign of grief.

Put off their broidered garments: this is added also to show how greatly they were affected with sorrow at this sad fall of their ally and friend.

Clothe themselves with trembling: this laying aside of their gallantry shall not be in compliment, as now in such cases of condolence, but they shall be heartily afraid of their own concerns, and astonished in the midst of their fears.

PULPIT, "The princes of the sea are not the kings of the isles, but the merchant-princes of the city (Isaiah 23:8). They shall lay aside their robes of state—Tyrian purple embroidered with gold and silver—and shall put on the garments of mourners. Jonah 3:6 presents an interesting parallel. The word thrones is used, as in 1 Samuel 4:13, for any chair of state, as that of priest or judge (Proverbs 9:14; Esther 3:1), as well as for the specifically kingly throne. For the, most part, however, the later meaning is dominant.

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17 Then they will take up a lament concerning you and say to you:

“‘How you are destroyed, city of renown, peopled by men of the sea!You were a power on the seas, you and your citizens;you put your terror on all who lived there.

BARNES, "Eze_26:17Of seafaring men - literally, “from the seas,” i. e., occupied by men who come from the seas. Tyre was an inhabited city rising from out of the sea.

CLARKE, "Wast strong in the sea - The strength of Tyre was so great, that Alexander despaired of being able to reduce it unless he could fill up that arm of the sea that ran between it and the main land. And this work cost his army seven months of labor.GILL, "And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say unto thee,.... The following mournful song: how art thou destroyed that wast inhabited of seafaring men; or, "of the seas": by men who used the seas, and traded by sea to different parts of the world; and was frequented by persons that came by sea thither, by the great ocean, by the Red sea, the Mediterranean sea, and others; or, which was surrounded by the sea. So the Targum,

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"that dwellest in the midst of the sea:'' "the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea"; fortified by the sea, and against it; strong in shipping and naval stores; so as to be formidable to others, and mistress of the sea. The Targum is, "which dwell in the strength of the sea;'' and had the strength and riches of it brought unto it; and so was famous all the world over for its commerce, wealth, and power; but now ruined and undone: she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it! the sea; on all that used the seas; or on all the inhabitants of the islands of the sea; who all stood in fear of Tyre and her inhabitants, and were obliged to strike their sails to their ships.

JAMISON, "inhabited of seafaring men — that is, which was frequented by merchants of various sea-bordering lands [Grotius]. Fairbairn translates with Peschito, “Thou inhabitant of the seas” (the Hebrew literal meaning). Tyre rose as it were out ofthe seas as if she got thence her inhabitants, being peopled so closely down to the waters. So Venice was called “the bride of the sea.”

strong in the sea — through her insular position.cause their terror to be on all that haunt it — namely, the sea. The Hebrew is rather, “they put their terror upon all her (the city’s) inhabitants,” that is, they make the name of every Tyrian to be feared [Fairbairn].

ELLICOTT, "Verse 17(17) Inhabited of seafaring men.—Rather, in-habited from the sea. The word, which is very common, never bears the sense of men. The thought is that the rock of Tyre, built up with dwellings to the water’s edge was like a city rising from the sea.

Which cause their terror.—This clause has occasioned much difficulty. The literal translation is, she and her inhabitants, which gave their fear to all her inhabitants. “Fear” is here used in the sense of that which causes fear; and the meaning is, that the power of Tyre was so feared that every Tyrian was respected for her sake, just as at a later day every Roman bore about with him something of the majesty of Rome, or, as now, the citizen of a great Power is respected among foreigners for his country’s sake. (Comp. Ezekiel 32:24; Ezekiel 32:26.)

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TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:17 And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, [that wast] inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror [to be] on all that haunt it!

Ver. 17. And they shall take up a lamentation.] The like shall be done shortly at Rome. [Revelation 18:9]

That wast inhabited of seafaring men.] Who are usually the worst of men, whence the proverb, Maritimi mores, &c.

On all that haunt it.] Haunt the sea, littorales qui sunt fere duri, horridi, immanes, latrociniis dediti, feri et inhospitales, tales olim Britanni.

POOLE, " They; the princes of the sea, Ezekiel 26:16.

Take up a lamentation for thee; solemnly, heartily, and for many days bewail thee.

Say to thee, by a prosopopceia, or fiction of persons, personate a dismal, sorrowful congress with fallen Tyre.

How art thou destroyed! Alas, is it so? Can it be true? How is it that thou art destroyed, who hadst so many friends, so much riches, &c.?

The renowned city; for thy strength, wealth, and wisdom.

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Wast strong; strong indeed, and thought impregnable.

Cause their terror to be on all that haunt it: who durst set on thee, who overawedst all the bold adventurers at sea?

WHEDON, "Verse 17

17. Of seafaring men — Literally, from the seas.

Cause [rather, caused] their terror — That is, the fear of “the seas.”

All that haunt it — Rather, all her inhabitants. (Compare Ezekiel 25:4.) Her transient visitors and her miscellaneous population of various nationalities (Ezekiel 27:8-11) were held in awe by a strong hand.

PETT, "Verse 17-18

“And they will take up a lamentation for you, and say to you,

‘How you are destroyed from the seas, O inhabited one,

O city renowned,

Who was mighty in the seas,

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She and her inhabitants,

Who caused their terror to be

On all who inhabited it.

Now the isles will tremble,

On the day of your fall,

Yes the isles that are in the sea,

Are dismayed at your passing.’ ”

Tyre is portrayed as having been so powerful as a sea fortress, and through her ships at sea, that all others who sailed and inhabited the sea were afraid of her. Thus her fall makes them afraid too, for who can withstand One who could do this?

(We must remember that her name and her reputation probably far exceeded the reality, as her seamen sang her praises, with the usual exaggeration of seamen to credulous people who would never see the reality, and exalted her to the skies).

PULPIT, "Inhabited of seafaring, etc.; Hebrew, from the seas. The sense is the same, but we lose the poetry of the original in the paraphrase. Possibly, however, the phrase may represent the position of Tyro as rising out of the sea or as deriving its wealth from it. Ewald adopts a conjectural reading, which gives "destroyed from the seas;" or, with another conjecture, "She that was settled from the days of the remote past."

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18 Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall;the islands in the sea are terrified at your collapse.’

GILL, "Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall,.... The isles near unto it, the isles of the Mediterranean sea; the inhabitants of them, the merchants who from thence traded with Tyre, the seafaring men of those places; partly on account of losses sustained hereby, and partly through fear of the same calamities coming upon themselves; see Rev_18:11, yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure; as at the cry of the wounded, and the number of the slain; so on account of those that should be carried away captive by the Babylonians; as well as at the departure of those that should be obliged to fly to other colonies, Isa_23:6, so that, upon one account or another, it shall be entirely stripped of its inhabitants.

JAMISON, "thy departure — Isa_23:6, Isa_23:12 predicts that the Tyrians, in consequence of the siege, should pass over the Mediterranean to the lands bordering on it (“Chittim,” “Tarshish,” etc.). So Ezekiel here. Accordingly Jerome says that he read in Assyrian histories that, “when the Tyrians saw no hope of escaping, they fled to Carthage or some islands of the Ionian and Aegean Seas” [Bishop Newton]. (See on Eze_29:18). Grotius explains “departure,” that is, “in the day when hostages shall be carried awayfrom thee to Babylon.” The parallelism to “thy fall” makes me think “departure” must mean “thy end” in general, but with an included allusion to the “departure” of most of her people to her colonies at the fall of the city.

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ELLICOTT, "Verse 18(18) The isles tremble.—“Isles” here, as elsewhere, includes coasts. It must be remembered how numerous the colonies of Phœnicia were. They had been established in Cyprus. Rhodes, Malta, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, and Africa. In some of these there were several colonies, as Utica and Carthage in Africa, Gades (Cadiz), Kalpe (Gibraltar), and Malaka (Malaga) in Spain. All of these looked up to Tyre as their mother-city, and received from her their high priests. Even Carthage, the greatest of them, sent yearly presents to the Tyrian Hercules.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:18 Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that [are] in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.

Ver. 18. Now shall the isles tremble.] And seeing thy shipwreck, they shall look better to their tackling. Alterius perditio tua sit cautio. (a)

At thy departure.] Into captivity. Or, Tuus exitus, hoc est, tuum exitium.

POOLE. " The isles; or ships; so it might be rendered; whether one or other, it is the fixing for the men, as isles for islanders, or ships for mariners.

Tremble in the day of thy fall; apprehending that nothing can stand if Tyre fall, and that they are in danger too.

In the sea; at great distance, and farther from land.

Troubled; grieved and perplexed.

At thy departure; leaving thy ancient dwelling, which from eldest ages thy people 76

had enjoyed with liberty, to go into captivity.

PULPIT, "It is noticeable that the commercial policy of Tyre is not represented as having been oppressive. The isles do not exult in their deliverance, but mourn over the captured city whose commerce had contributed to their prosperity. The "terror" of Ezekiel 26:17 is rather the impression of awe and wonder made on all who came to it.

19 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I make you a desolate city, like cities no longer inhabited, and when I bring the ocean depths over you and its vast waters cover you,

GILL, "For thus saith the Lord God,.... Both to the terror of Tyre, and for the comfort of his people: when I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; whose trade is ruined, whose inhabitants are destroyed, and whose walls are broken down, and become a mere waste and desert; where no person or anything of value are to be seen: when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and the great waters shall cover thee: the waters of the sea shall rush in and overflow the city, the walls of it being broken down; just as the old world, and the cities of it, were overflowed with the deluge, to which the allusion may be; whether this was literally accomplished on Tyre is not certain; perhaps it is to be taken in a figurative sense, and to be understood of the large army of the Chaldeans that should come up against it, and overpower it. So the Targum, "when I shall bring up against them an army of people, who are many as the waters of the deep, and many people shall cover thee; see Rev_17:15.''

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HENRY, "For thus saith the Lord God,.... Both to the terror of Tyre, and for the comfort of his people: when I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; whose trade is ruined, whose inhabitants are destroyed, and whose walls are broken down, and become a mere waste and desert; where no person or anything of value are to be seen: when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and the great waters shall cover thee: the waters of the sea shall rush in and overflow the city, the walls of it being broken down; just as the old world, and the cities of it, were overflowed with the deluge, to which the allusion may be; whether this was literally accomplished on Tyre is not certain; perhaps it is to be taken in a figurative sense, and to be understood of the large army of the Chaldeans that should come up against it, and overpower it. So the Targum, "when I shall bring up against them an army of people, who are many as the waters of the deep, and many people shall cover thee; see Rev_17:15.''

JAMISON, "great waters — appropriate metaphor of the Babylonian hosts, which literally, by breaking down insular Tyre’s ramparts, caused the sea to “cover” part of her.

K&D 19-21, "Thus will Tyre, covered by the waves of the sea, sink into the region of the dead, and vanish for ever from the earth. - Eze_26:19. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, When I make thee a desolate city, like the cities which are no longer inhabited, when I cause the deep to rise over thee, so that the many waters cover thee, Eze_26:20.I cast thee down to those who have gone into the grave, to the people of olden time, and cause thee to dwell in the land of the lower regions, in the ruins from the olden time, with those who have gone into the grave, that thou mayest be no longer inhabited, and I create that which is glorious in the land of the living. Eze_26:21. I make thee a terror, and thou art no more; they will seek thee, and find thee no more for ever, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - Not only will ruin and desolation come upon Tyre, but it will sink for ever into the region of the dead. In this concluding thought the whole threat is summed up. The infinitive clauses of Eze_26:19 recapitulate the leading thoughts of the previous strophes, for the purpose of appending the closing thought of banishment to the under-world. By the rising of the deep we are to understand, according to Eze_26:12, that the city in its ruins will be sunk into the depths of the sea. רדי י , those who go down into the pit or grave, are the dead. They are described still further as עם לם not ,ע“those who are sleeping the long sleep of death,” or the generation of old whom all must join; but the people of the “old world” before the flood (2Pe_2:5), who were buried by the waters of the flood, in accordance with Job_22:15, where לם ע denotes the generations of the primeval world, and after the analogy of the use of עם לם ע in Isa_44:7, to describe the human race as existing from time immemorial.

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In harmony with this, ת חרב are the ruins of the primeval world which perished in the flood. As עם לם ע adds emphasis to the idea of רדי י ר ת so also does ,ב חרב בלם מע to that of ארץ ת Tyre shall not only descend to the dead in Sheol, but be .תחתיthrust down to the people of the dead, who were sunk into the depths of the earth by the waters of the flood, and shall there receive its everlasting dwelling-place among the ruins of the primeval world which was destroyed by the flood, beside that godless race of the olden time. ארץ ת land of the lowest places (cf. Eze_32:18, Eze_32:24), is a ,תחתיperiphrasis for Sheol, the region of the dead (compare Eph_4:9, “the lower parts of the earth”). On 'ונתתי צבי וגו Hitzig has observed with perfect correctness: “If we retain the pointing as the first person, with which the place assigned to the Athnach (-) coincides, we must at any rate not regard the clause as still dependent upon למען, and the force of the לא as continued. We should then have to take the clause as independent and affirmative, as the accentuators and the Targum have done.” But as this would give rise to a discrepancy between the two halves of the verse, Hitzig proposes to alter נתתי retla ot seso into the second person ונתתי, so that the clause would still be governed by למען But the want of agreement between the two halves of the verse does not warrant an .לאalteration of the text, especially if it lead to nothing better than the forced rendering adopted by Hitzig, “and thou no longer shinest with glory in the land of the living,” which there is nothing in the language to justify. And even the explanation proposed by Hävernick and Kliefoth, “that I no longer produce anything glorious from thee (Tyre) in the land of the living,” is open to this objection, that “from thee” is arbitrarily interpolated into the text; and if this were what Ezekiel meant, he would either have added ל or written נתתי. Moreover, the change of the person is a sufficient objection to our taking נתתי as dependent upon למען, and supplying ונתתי .לא is evidently a simple continuation of שבתי And nothing but the weightiest objections should lead .והus to give up a view which so naturally suggests itself. But no such objections exist. Neither the want of harmony between the two halves of the verse, nor the context, -according to which Tyre and its destruction are referred to both before and immediately after, - forces us to the adoption of explanations at variance with the simple meaning of the words. We therefore adhere to the natural interpretation of the words, “and I set (establish) glory in the land of the living;” and understand by the land of the living, not the theocracy especially, but the earth, in contrast to the region of the dead. The words contain the general thought, that on and after the overthrow of the glory of the ungodly power of the world, He will create that which is glorious on the earth to endure for ever; and this He really does by the establishing of His kingdom. - Tyre, on the contrary, shall become, through its fate, an object of terror, or an example of sudden destruction, and pass away with all its glory, not leaving a trace behind. For Eze_26:21, compare Isa_41:12 and Psa_37:36. ותבקשי, imperf. Pual, has Chateph-patach between the two u, to indicate emphatically that the syllable is only a very loosely closed one (vid., Ewald, §31b, p. 95).

COFFMAN, "Verse 1979

"Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and the great waters shall cover thee; then will I bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make thee to dwell in the nether part of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, that thou be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living. I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt no more have any being; though thou be sought for, yet shall thou never be found again, saith the Lord Jehovah."

In a passage like this, we can understand why the New Testament declares that, "Christ Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." (2 Timothy 1:10) Certainly, the glorious hope of eternal life and the restored fellowship of lost Mankind with the Creator is nowhere visible in a passage such as this. "This passage gives the impression that the pit is identical with Sheol, the realm of the dead, which appears here as a place of no return and of utter lostness. The resurrection does not appear here, but simply a murky, shadowy, existence alongside the peoples of old and the ruins of the past."[23] Of course, there are other passages, here and there, throughout the Old Testament which indeed give glimpses of the resurrection from the dead; and for these we humbly thank God and praise his holy name; but the tragic passage here is not one of those passages.

In the practical sense, "Tyre is here compared to the dead who are placed in their tombs and then are heard no more in the land of the living."[24]

"To the people of old time ..." (Ezekiel 26:20). Keil saw in this, "A reference to the people of the `old world,' that is the generation of the Ante-Diluvians."[25] This suggests an obvious analogy. That godless world that lived prior to the Great Deluge was covered with the "great waters," even as the rains of Tyre were scraped into the sea and the "great waters" covered them, thus providing for Tyre, "Its everlasting dwelling-place, among the rains of that primeval world which was destroyed by the flood, and beside that godless race of the Ante-Diluvians."[26]

"Yet thou shalt never be found again ..." (Ezekiel 26:21). This prophecy of the total 80

disappearance of Tyre was literally fulfilled in the disappearance of the continental city of Tyre. "It is true that the insular Tyre afterward attained some distinction, but the ancient continental city never recovered from her ruin."[27]

ELLICOTT, "Verse 19(19) Bring up the deep upon thee.—With Ezekiel 26:19 begins the closing section of this prophecy, and in it the other parts are summed up and emphasised. The figurative language by which the overwhelming of Tyre is here described is again appropriate to her natural situation.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:19 For thus saith the Lord GOD When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;

Ver. 19. When I shall bring up the deep upon thee.] As Ezekiel 26:3; great forces.

And great waters shall cover thee.] So that thou shalt be irrecoverably lost, as places drowned, and never seen any more; Goodwin sands here in Kent, for instance. These did once belong to Goodwin, Earl of Kent, as his lands; but in the reign of William Rufus they were flooded, and remain to this day a dangerous sandy place, where perished, this present year 1658, Col. Reynolds and others, in their return from Mardike.

POOLE, " Shall make thee a desolate city; have made thee what now I threaten I will make thee.

Like the cities that are not inhabited; in the same state with cities that have not any to dwell in them, whose walls are broken down. and into whose streets all solitary wild beasts may come at pleasure.

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The deep; figuratively, Nebuchadnezzar’s army; literally, when thy walls and ramparts are so broken down by the Chaldeans, that the Sea, at high tides, and in stormy swelling seas, overflows part of thine ancient seat.

Great waters; either literally, as the deep coming up; or metaphorically, great afflictions shall flow over thee.

PETT, " ‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “When I make you a desolate city like the cities which are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep on you, and the great waters cover you, then will I bring you down with those who descend to the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you to dwell in the nether parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be not inhabited or be given beauty by me in the land of the living. I will make you terrors (a dreadful warning to men), and you will be no more Though you are sought for, you will never be found again, says the Lord Yahweh.” ’

Tyre’s final end is portrayed. She will become a city of the dead, at the hands of those who invade her, who will sweep in like the sea and cover her with their great waves. Her people will become like those who have died long ago, sharing their grave with them, desolate like they are desolate. She will be without living inhabitants, and can expect to be given no beauty by God as would be if she were inhabited by living men. Rather she will be a dreadful portent and warning because she is no more, gone to the land from which no one returns. And though men seek her she will be a lost city, never to be found again as a living city, hidden beneath the waves. The picture given is of the shadowy underworld where all that has ceased to be has gone.

Thus will this pearl of the sea, this mighty shipping nation, finally cease to exist, as a punishment for how she has behaved towards Israel. And it did inexorably happen, bit by bit over many centuries, until through time the island city was no more.

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20 then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you will not return or take your place[c] in the land of the living.

BARNES, "Eze_26:20Compare Isa_14:9. The image used by Isaiah and Jeremiah of Babylon is by Ezekiel applied to Tyre, as if to show that Tyre and Babylon alike represent the world-power. So, in the Book of Revelation, Babylon is the kingdom of Antichrist.The land of the living - The land of the true God, as opposed to the land of the dead, to which is gathered the glory of the world. Here then, together with the utter ruin of Tyre, rises the vision of renewed glory to Jerusalem. The coming Messiah is thus propheticly pointed out. The over-throw of God’s enemies shall be accompanied by the establishment of His true kingdom.

CLARKE, "And I shall set glory in the land of the living - Judea so called, the land of the living God.

GILL, "When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit,.... The grave, and make thee like to them: with the people of old time; either the people of the old world, or, however, who have been dead long ago: and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth; where the dead are laid:

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in places desolate of old: long ago unfrequented by men; as such places be as are for the burial of the dead: with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; all the inhabitants being free among the dead; a heap of words made use of to express the same thing, for the confirmation of it; namely, that the condition of Tyre should be like that of dead men, who have been of old dead, and are remembered no more. Jarchi interprets the "pit", of hell; as if this respected their everlasting perdition, as well as temporal ruin; it may be applied to the beast which goeth into perdition, Rev_17:8, and I shall set glory in the land of the living; in the land of Israel; so the Targum; and it is interpreted by the Jewish expositors and others the same way; and which may be called "the land of the living"; because the living God was worshipped in it; living men in a spiritual sense dwelt there, who offered up living sacrifices unto God, and who had the promise and pledge of eternal life; and which was the "glory" of all lands, as it is sometimes called, where the same word is used as here, Eze_20:6, which had its accomplishment in some respects at the Jews' return from Babylon; but, as Tyre here is a type of antichrist, it may be observed, that, at the time of his fall and destruction, God will put a glory upon his church and people, upon which there shall be a defence; see Isa_4:5. This is interpreted by the Talmudists (p) of the resurrection of the dead, when they that die in the land of Israel shall live.

JAMISON, "the pit — Tyre’s disappearance is compared to that of the dead placed in their sepulchres and no more seen among the living (compare Eze_32:18, Eze_32:23; Isa_14:11, Isa_14:15, Isa_14:19).

I shall set glory in the land — In contrast to Tyre consigned to the “pit” of death, I shall set glory (that is, My presence symbolized by the Shekinah cloud, the antitype to which shall be Messiah, “the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,” Joh_1:14; Isa_4:2, Isa_4:5; Zec_6:13) in Judah.of the living — as opposed to Tyre consigned to the “pit” of death. Judea is to be the land of national and spiritual life, being restored after its captivity (Eze_47:9). Fairbairn loses the antithesis by applying the negative to both clauses, “and that thou be not set as a glory in the land of the living.”

ELLICOTT, "(20) With them that descend into the pit.—Comp. Isaiah 14:9-20. Tyre is here represented, as Babylon is there, as joining itself to the dead—a striking figure to indicate its utter and final destruction. This is to be understood of the Tyre that then was, the proud mistress of the sea. The question whether there might or might not ever be other inhabitants on the rock of Tyre is one which does not at all come within the scope of the prophet’s vision. The way of speaking of the place of the dead, as in the lower part of the earth, so common in Scripture (comp. Ephesians 4:9), does not by any means prove that the writers thought this to be the actual place of departed spirits, but only that, as it is a necessity of human thought

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and expression to indicate some locality, this locality, in association with the burial of the body, is most naturally placed “under the earth.” In the same way, men, even on opposite sides of the globe, always speak of God as “above them,” and their gestures and looks, as well as their words, unavoidably involve the same idea, though they perfectly know that He is omnipresent. (Comp. even the example of our Lord in Mark 6:41; Mark 7:34; Luke 9:16; John 17:1.)

Set glory in the land of the living.—The word for “glory” is the same as that used in Ezekiel 20:6; Ezekiel 20:15; Daniel 8:9; Daniel 11:16; Daniel 11:41, in connection with Palestine. The prediction is that when Tyre, who is now rejoicing in the calamity of Judah, shall be past and forgotten, numbered with the dead, then God will establish His people as a living Church to Himself. A ray of Messianic promise shines through the prediction, although, for the time, it might seem nothing more than a foretelling of the restoration from the Captivity.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:20 When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;

Ver. 20. With the people of old time.] The multitude of those that are dead from the beginning of the world; or with the people of the old world, as Jerome will have it; and that the Tyrians’ destruction, both temporal and eternal, is hereby hinted.

When I shall set glory in the land of the living,] i.e., In Judea (where the living and true God is worshipped, and where are the right heirs of life) will I re-establish my Church, which is my glory; or when I shall glorify mine elect in mine heavenly kingdom.

POOLE, " Bring thee down; destroy thee, slay thee, and bury thee, throw thee into the grave.

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The people of old time; who are long since dead, and gone to eternity, the people of eternity.

In the low parts of the earth; another description of the grave, from the situation, and from the solitudes or desolation of it. In brief, when Tyre, as a dead man, shall be buried, forgotten and perish utterly, and my hand hath done it, then it shall be known my hand hath avenged and punished all her insolence, inhumanity, and covetousness that she discovered when she rejoiced at Jerusalem’s fall.

Shall set glory; restore the beauty, strength, wealth of Israel, bring them back to Jerusalem, to worship in a rebuilt temple, where they shall enjoy me.

The land of the living; the land of Judea, called land of the living, because a land where God will bless and give life by his word, ordinances, and Spirit: thus different shall Tryre’s captivity and Jerusalem’s be

WHEDON, " 20. When — Rather, then.

In places — Probably, like places. Sinking beneath the sea they drop at the same time into “the nether parts of the earth,” the underworld, where are the people of old time and all the ruined cities of the past. This picture of the dead in Sheol (the pit) is elaborated, Ezekiel 32:18, etc. (Compare Isaiah 14:9; Psalms 88:4-7.)

I shall set [rather, will set] glory in the land of the living — A very difficult phrase. Various readings are suggested, but in any case a contrast appears between the glorious life here and the shadow life in Sheol.

PULPIT, "When I shall bring thee down, etc. The pit is sheol, Hades, the unseen world of the dead. The image may have been suggested by Isaiah 14:9, where it is used of Babylon. It was obviously one on which the mind of Ezekiel dwelt, and is reproduced in Ezekiel 32:17-32. Here, apparently, the sinking in the depth of the

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waters (Ezekiel 32:19) is thought of as leading to that world of the dead that lay beneath them. The people of old time may possibly include the races of the old world that were submerged in the waters of the Flood. The imagery of Psalms 88:3-7 seems to have been floating before the prophet's mind. I shall set glory; better, will set. The contrast drawn is that between the shadow-world of the dead, and the earth with its living inhabitants. There Jehovah would establish his glory, would, sooner or later, manifest his kingdom, while Tyre and its pomp should be no more, belonging only to the past. Conjectural readings and renderings have been suggested as follows:

21 I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

CLARKE, "Yet shalt thou never be found again - This is literally true; there is not the smallest vestige of the ancient Tyre, that which was erected on the main land. Even the ground seems to have been washed away; and the new Tyre is in nearly a similar state. I think this prophecy must be extended to the whole duration of Tyre. If it now be found to be in the state here described, it is sufficient to show the truth of the prophecy. And now it is found precisely in the state which the above prophetic declarations, taken according to the letter, point out! No word of God can ever fall to the ground.

Notwithstanding the former destructions, Tyre was a place of some consequence in the time of St. Paul. There was a Church there, (see Act_21:3, Act_21:4, etc.), which afterwards became famous. Calmet observes, it afforded a great number of martyrs for the Christian Church.

GILL, "I will make thee a terror,.... To all the isles round about, who shall shake and tremble at the ruin of Tyre, as before observed; or to herself, being brought into a most terrible and distressed condition: and thou shall be no more: in the same place and situation, in the same happy state

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and condition: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God: this is true of the antitype, Babylon, or antichrist, Rev_18:21.

JAMISON, "terror — an example of judgment calculated to terrify all evildoers.thou shall be no more — Not that there was to be no more a Tyre, but she was no more to be the Tyre that once was: her glory and name were to be no more. As, to Old Tyre, the prophecy was literally fulfilled, not a vestige of it being left.

COKE, "Verse 21Ezekiel 26:21. I will make thee a terror— These prophesies, like most others, were to receive their accomplishment by degrees. Nebuchadrezzar destroyed the old city, and Alexander employed the ruins and rubbish in making his causey from the continent to the island, which hence-forward were joined together. Bishop Pococke hence observes, "It is no wonder that there are no signs of the ancient city; and as it is a sandy shore, the face of every thing is altered; and the great aqueduct in many places is almost buried in the sand." So that as to this part of the city, the prophesy has literally been fulfilled: Thou shalt be built no more, &c. Ezekiel 26:14. It may be questioned, whether the new city ever after that arose to that height of glory, power, wealth, and greatness to which it was elevated in the time of Isaiah and Ezekiel. It received a great blow from Alexander, not only by his taking and burning the city, but much more by his building Alexandria in Egypt, which in time deprived it of much of its trade, and thereby contributed more effectually to its ruin. It had the misfortune afterwards of changing its masters often, being sometimes in the hands of the Ptolemies, and sometimes of the Seleucidae, till at length it fell under the dominion of the Romans. It was taken by the Saracens about the year of Christ 639, in the reign of Omar: it was retaken by the Christians in the year 1124. From the Christians it was taken again, in the year 1289, by the Mamelucs of Egypt, under the sultan Alphix, who sacked and rased this and Sidon, and other strong towns, that they might not afford any harbour to the Christians. From the Mamelucs it was taken again in the year 1516, by Selim, the ninth emperor of the Turks, and under their dominion it continues at present. But, alas! how fallen! for, from being the centre of trade, frequented by all the merchant-ships of the east and west, it is now become a heap of ruins, visited only by the boats of a few fishermen. So that as to this part likewise of the city the prophesy has been literally fulfilled: I will make thee like the top of a rock, &c. Let us now hear what travellers have to say concerning the completion of this prophesy. Hadrianus Parvellerius, a Jesuit, who resided ten years in Syria, has related, that when he approached the ruins of Tyre,

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and beheld the rocks stretched forth to the sea, and the great stones scattered up and down the shore made clean and smooth by the sun, and waves, and winds, and useful only for the drying of fishermen's nets, many of which happened at that time to be spread thereon, it brought to his memory the 5th and 14th verses of this chapter, I will make thee, &c. Dr. Shaw, in his account of Tyre, expresses himself thus: "I visited several creeks and inlets, to discover what provisions might have been formerly made for the security of their vessels; yet I could not perceive the least token of their cothon or harbour, that could have been of any extraordinary capacity: so that there must have been some other station than this. In the north-north-east part likewise of the city, we see the traces of a safe and commodious bason, which is scarce forty yards in diameter. Yet even this port is so choked up with sand and rubbish, that the boats of those poor fishermen, who now and then visit this once-renowned emporium, can with great difficulty be only admitted." Mr. Maundrell is fullest to our purpose. "This city, (says he) standing in the sea upon a peninsula, promises at a distance something very magnificent but when you come to it you find no similitude of that glory for which it was so renowned in ancient times. On the north side is an old Turkish ungarrisoned castle; besides which you see nothing but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &c. there being not so much as one entire house left. Its present inhabitants are only a few wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing; who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument, how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, that it should be as the top of a rock; a place for fishers to dry their nets on." See Bishop Newton's Dissert. vol. 1: p. 344.

REFLECTIONS.—1st, The same year Jerusalem was destroyed, this prophesy was delivered. We have,

1. The joy that the Tyrians took in the ruin of Judah, and the hopes of advantage which they conceived would accrue to them from her fall. Jerusalem had been the gates of the people, much frequented, a place of great trade, but was now broken down; and they hoped that all the commerce which had been carried on there would be transferred to them, and that they should be replenished, both with people who might fly thither, or with captives, and the spoil sold by the conquerors. Note; It is very sinful to be pleased with the death or misfortunes of those who were our rivals in trade, or whose fall is our advantage; and the envy and covetousness which appear herein, God will assuredly remember and punish.

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2. God threatens to visit Tyre for her iniquity. I am against thee; and he is more to be feared than innumerable hosts. At his beck, and under his guidance, the king of Babylon shall besiege the city with an immense army, raging like the waves of the sea: the dust raised by the multitude of his cavalry shall obscure the skies as a thick cloud, and his military engines shake down the walls, till at the breach his troops shall enter, and spread desolation on every side. Her daughters shall be slain with the sword; either the cities and people of the continent subject to Tyre; or so terrible should be the massacre when the city was taken, that not even the women should be spared; her garrisons beat to the ground; the statues of her strength, the images of her idols, on whom she placed her confidence, trodden under foot; the very pavements broken with the prancings of the horses: the rich merchandize becomes a prey to the besiegers; the walls are razed; the whole city is laid in ruins; the very dust is scraped off, and made bare as the top of a rock. Deserted now, no songs of mirth, no music, shall be heard any more in her; nor shall she ever be rebuilt, at least not on the same spot, or be restored to her former splendour, but remain a desert waste, as the top of a rock; a place for fishermen to dry their nets; which, according to the reports of those who have been there, is to this day literally true of Tyre, since its final destruction. God hath spoken it, and therefore the fulfilment is sure; and in these judgments he will make himself terribly known to them.

2nd, The dreadful ruin of Tyre is farther described.

1. The islands of the sea, terrified with her fall, will quake for fear; their princes, descending from their thrones, with expressions of deepest sorrow shall mourn over her desolations, while they tremble in expectation of sharing her fate. They shall take up their lamentation, astonished how such a glorious city could be destroyed, and weeping over the mighty fallen. Once so renowned had Tyre been; strong in the sea; fortified by the waves as bulwarks, and filled with mariners, the most expert and bold; the terror of all that ploughed the main: she reigned the unrivalled mistress of the ocean; but now was deserted and desolate; the people departed into captivity; the city, with its inhabitants, sunk under the waters; demolished by the army of the Chaldeans, rushing with resistless fury upon them, and bringing them down to the sides of the pit with those who have been long dead. Yea, so total and intire shall be the overthrow, that scarcely the vestiges shall remain. So weak is human strength, so fading is human greatness; so tottering are the foundations of

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the strongest cities: if we would dwell abidingly in safety, we must look above the earth for that better city whose maker and builder is God.

2. The Lord will do this. I will make thee a terror; his hand shall be visible in their ruin; and his design in her fall is to give her neighbours warning, that, terrified with her destruction, they may avoid her sins.

3. The restoration of Israel, over whom she triumphed, shall aggravate the irreparable ruin of Tyre. I shall set glory in the land of the living; in Israel, whither many souls, spiritually alive to God, should return from the captivity; and God will exalt and distinguish them with his love, favour, and protection. Note; (1.) The church of God's believing people is the land of the living; blessed and happy are they who have their portion therein. (2.) The joy and glory of the saints in heaven will aggravate the torments of the dammed in hell, when they behold the bliss from which they are eternally excluded, and gnash with rage and despair.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 26:21 I will make thee a terror, and thou [shalt be] no [more]: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 21. Yet shalt thou never be found again.] See on Ezekiel 26:14.

POOLE, " A terror, or consumption; I will utterly consume thee; with more than one kind of destruction will I destroy thee, and make thee thereby a terror to all that hear the bruit of thee.

Thou shalt be no more: see Ezekiel 26:14. If any will be so curious as to inquire, if they come to seek out the footsteps of this ancient Tyre, they shall lose their labour, no signs of it On the rock where once it stood. Rich, populous, potent, wise, renowned Tyre, as once thou wast, shalt never more be found; and, alas, that which is now on the continent is not fit to bear its name, much less to be counted the same city.

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