Proclamation Against Tyre
April 19, 2021
Commentary
Chapters 26 and 27 are a prophesy against Tyre, the capital of Phoenicia just north of Israel. Part of the city was on the coastline, and part was on a beautiful island. The sin of Tyre is cited in this passage (vv. 1-6). The eleventh year (v. 1) is in reference to the reign of Zedekiah, the year in which Jerusalem was captured, 586 or 587 B.C. Her sin was that of crying, “Aha, she is broken” (v. 2). This points to the fact that Tyre rejoiced when Jerusalem fell, because Tyre and Judah always competed for the money involved in the trade that came through their lands from Egypt in the south and Mesopotamia to the north. Tyre dominated the sea trading routes while Judah dominated the land caravan routes. After Judah was defeated, Tyre thought it had all the trade routes to itself.
However, this gloating didn’t last long because in 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon attacked the city (v. 7). The many nations relates to those nations that would be involved in the destruction of Tyre (v. 3). After a 15 year siege Nebuchadnezzar still could not conquer the part of Tyre located on the island because its back side lay on the sea where fresh supplies could be shipped in daily. But this prophesy predicted what would happen to the island later during the conquests of Alexander the Great when he placed the rubble of the mainland city into the sea until it made a bridge to the island in 332 B.C. Today the island city is still a pile of ruble. It has never built again on it’s original location. It literally became like the top of a rock where fishermen spread their nets for drying and repair (v. 14), a testimony of God’s judgment.
It is amazing to see how prophets, like Ezekiel prophesied what would happen and it did in detail.
Application
Just as Tyre rejoiced over the destruction of Jerusalem it is so easy for me to rejoice when someone I don’t like fails. Lord, help me to never rejoice in the trials and downfall of others!
Ezekiel 26:1– 14 (NET)
1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, because Tyre has said about Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I will become rich, now that she has been destroyed,’ 3 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against you, O Tyre! I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5 She will be a place where fishing nets are spread, surrounded by the sea. For I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. She will become plunder for the nations, 6 and her daughters who are in the field will be slaughtered by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
7 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Take note that I am about to bring King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre from the north, with horses, chariots, and horsemen, an army and hordes of people. 8 He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will build a siege wall against you, erect a siege ramp against you, and raise a great shield against you. 9 He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his weapons. 10 He will cover you with the dust kicked up by his many horses. Your walls will shake from the noise of the horsemen, wheels, and chariots when he enters your gates like those who invade through a city’s broken walls. 11 With his horses’ hooves he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will tumble down to the ground. 12 They will steal your wealth and loot your merchandise. They will tear down your walls and destroy your luxurious homes. Your stones, your trees, and your soil he will throw into the water. 13 I will silence the noise of your songs; the sound of your harps will be heard no more. 14 I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place where fishing nets are spread. You will never be built again, for I, the Lord, have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Illustration: Webster If Truth Isn’t Given Error Will be
Daniel Webster said: “If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a nation. If truth be not diffused, error will be. If the evangelical volume does not reach every community, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will. “If the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degeneration and misery, corruption and darkness, will reign without mitigation or end.” These words of a century-and-a-half ago had a strangely prophetic ring. (Source Unknown).