Ezekiel 26, Tyre Too!

Kingdoms around Judah have rejoiced at Judah's defeat by Nebuchadnezzar. Four of those nations were Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia. Now God's attention falls on Tyre (for the next three chapters) and then Egypt (for four more.)

Mackie sees seven messages to Tyre, beginning at 26:1, 26:7, 26:15, 27:1, 28:1, 28:11 and 28:20.

Ezekiel 26:1-6, The destruction will come to Tyre

In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:

"Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, `Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open  tome; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,' therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like  the sea casting up its waves. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. 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, and her settlements on the mainland will be ravaged by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.   

This is probably the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, 586 BC, the end of his reign. Strangely missing is the month of the year -- we have day and year but not month as part of this date. To confuse matters more, the Septuagint (says Alexander) replaces "eleventh year" with "twelfth year."

Tyre was a significant trading hub in this time, with ships plying the Mediterranean ports and trade routes extending down through the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. As Judah sat on some of those routes, the rulers of Tyre see financial gain in Judah's defeat.

The statements of God ("YHWH Adonai") regarding the fall of Tyre carry images of the sea and its chaotic power. Tyre will be overrun with "waves" that "scrape away her rubble."

The Hebrew word, bath,(literally "daughters"), is translated "settlements on the mainland" by the NIV. That word was a common Hebrew phrase for nearby villages.

Ezekiel 26:7-14, From the north comes Nebuchadnezzar

"For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: 

From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a great army. 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. He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons. His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the war horses, wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through. The hoofs of his horses will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong  pillars will fall to the ground. 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.   

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

Tyre, despite part of it as an island, will be besieged and destroyed. The statement that Tyre will never be rebuilt has caused some discussion and controversy. Tyre would not recover its worldwide prominence as a Mediterranean seaport and one of its two ancient harbors has disappeared, but  after Nebuchadnezzars conquest, it would be rebuilt as a town, to be conquered again by Alexander the Great. Modern Tyre is currently is the fifth largest city in Lebanon.

Ezekiel 26:15-18, Terror along the coastland

"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? 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 every moment, appalled at you.  

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

"`How you are destroyed, O 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. 

Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall; 

the islands in the sea are terrified at your collapse.'   

The assault on Tyre will frighten the rulers of the regions along the coast of the Mediterranean, who traded with her. These leaders will step down from their thrones and go into mourning, taking up a funeral dirge in her memory.

Ezekiel 26:19-21, Waters over Tyre

"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, 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 in the land of the living. 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." 

The devastation of Tyre will be total. Indeed, the image describes ocean waters washing over Tyre. The culture of the ANE viewed Sheol, the realm of the dead, as the deep parts of the chaotic ocean; here seagoing Tyre is portrayed as going down to that pit.