Ezekiel 26

CHAP. XXVI.

The ruin of Tyre, for insulting over Jerusalem,.is foretold, 1—6. The siege and taking of that city by Nebuchadnezzar, 7—14; and the consternation occasioned ‘by its fall, 15—21. 2 8

‘B. C. 588. ;

Oe der, xxxix. 2. ANP it came to pass in “the eleventh *igxxiii, 7. IS. year, in the first day of the month, 2g, Beis that the word of the Lorp came unto

' xivii. 4, Joel iii. ‘4. Am. i. 9, 10. me, saying,: Zech. ix. 2, 3. : exv.é.éxac 2 Son of man, because that > Tyrus bn 3: Iexxil: hath said. against Jerusalem, ° Aha, she

‘PRACTICAL: OBSERVATIONS,

‘The hatred, which ungodly men bear to true religion, is so, excessive, that they can rejoice inthe desolations of the church, _and the calamities of her children, even when ruin impends . ever them from the same: quartet !—Though God acts with erfect wisdom and: ‘justice, in permitting the profanation of

is sanctuary, and the troubles of his professed worshippers, being influenced-by:abhorrence of their sins, and zeal for his ‘own glory ; yet their enemies are iricuced by far other motives, when they triu:nph and insult over them in such circumstances.—They, who rejoice at the calamities of their neighbours, out of avarice, ambition, resentment, or malignity, will be exposed to-judgments for it: but they who re-

" joice with great delight-in the affiictions of God’s people, out of hatred to his truth and worship, may expect that he will stretch forth his hands against them, as his personal enemies. ‘ Gladly:would such-persons: see the church entirely destroyed,

_and made, in character and circumstances, like the rest of,

the world: but, notwithstarding all her corruptions and afflictions, a vast difference still remains, and will continue to the, end of the-world, and: to all eternity.——When rapacious men are about-to seize-upon the possessions of others, they . often are deprived of their own: and such as disdain the af-flictedswill soon sink into contempt.— Vengeance belongeth ‘unto God ; ‘they, who without his commission revenge themselves, greatly ‘offend, and will be made to know his venge- -ance: and they, who treasure up the old hatred, and watch for their opportunity of manifesting it, are ‘‘ treasuring up “¢ for themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and the re- $6 yelation.of the righteous judgment of God.”

2: NOTES. .

‘CHAP. XXVI. V. 1. It is probable, that this was the first day of the first month of that year, in which Jerusalem ’ «was taken ; though the month is not mentioned. (Adarg. Ref.)

EZEKIEL. ~*~

people ; * she is turned unto me: I shal] © 223%. 10 Jer be replenished, now she is laid waste.

3 Therefore thus saith the Lord Gop ;. - Behold, ‘I am against thee, O Tyrus, ‘Suvi, ser and will cause many nations to come Nain. up against thee, “as the sea causeth his ® Zech. av. 4!” waves to. come up. . Xe 34. Ps. i. §

A And they shall ‘destroy the walls so. sex, vis. of. Tyrus, and break down her towers: , 24,05. 4), KI will, also scrape her dust from her, 3}*;,% 10,42: ‘and make her like the top ofarock. |. $3"tev, xiv.a1

5 It shall be a place for ™the spread-, xxiv, 5. ing of nets in the midst of the sea: for™'*'"*™"" I have spoken it, saith the Lord Gop ;

"and it shall become a spoil to the?™™?™*'* nations.

6 And °her daughters which are in° 4... ™ the field shall be slain by the sword;

"and they shall know that lam the Lorn. 777 1

V.2. The Tyrians do not seem to have had any peculiar

enmity against the Jewish religion or nation: but they were . ~

merckants, whose object it was to extend their commerce ; and they supposed, that the ruin of Jerusalem would tend to their advantage ; they hoped to draw to themselves the trade with those people, who had been used to frequent the gates

of Jerusalem; and thus to be replenished, when she was laid

waste.—* There was a great confluence of people to Jerusa- ‘lem at the solemn feasts,—as well of Jews as proselytes. ¢—When Jerusalem was taken,—the spoil of the city was ‘carried’ to Tyre ‘ for sale: and probably many-of the in-

‘ habitants, being made captives, were sold there for slaves, .

‘a traffick the Tyrians dealt in very much.’ (xxvii. 19. Joel

‘iii, o—6.) (Lowth:)—‘ Thus the wicked rejoice at their

‘ fall, by whom they may have any proht.’

V. 3—6. This chapter and the two following centain avery copious prophecy against Tyre, which was one of the most ancient cities in the world, and for many ages one of the most flourishing; . being the centre of commerce betwixt the east, and the west, and the grand emporium of the earth. Such predictions have generally been accomplished in a gradual manner: and whilst some signal and near event was particularly foretold; they contained also expressions, which related to more remote futurity.

It had been foretold by Isaiah, that Tyre, after having been destroyed by the Chaldeans, would at length recover her prosperity, and that the Tyrians would be converted to Christianity. (Notes, Isaiah xxiii.) The total and final ruin of that city could not be effected, till those prophecies had been fulfilled: yet that also was clearly predicted, and has accordingly been exactly accomplished.

We may therefore interpret these verses as a summary prediction of those events, which would take place, during a long succession of ages: and thus we at this day possess a fuller demonstration, that Ezekiel wrote by divine inspiration, than his contemporaries had; for what man could. have thought of so entire a destruction of such a

B. GC. 586. is_ broken that was “the ‘gates of the¢tam.}.1. act,

B.C. 588.

+ xvii, 14 — 16.

° als, v. 28. Jer. li. an Hab. i, 8

ise. Kings, from the north, * with horses; and ima yit ia. s, With chariots, and with horsemen, and

Ban. 7, ». companies, and much people. #10, 1. suit, 8° He shall slay with the sword thy vig. Nab. ile daughters in the field; and ‘he shall yx. 2. 2 sam. make a fort against thee, and “cast a o 4,, pour out nw HOUNE against thee, and lift up the buck-engine of shot Jer against thee. © : | ercan'fv.1s. Q And he shall set “engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he

shall break down thy towers.

10 By reason of *the abundance of

his horses, their dust shall cover thee: thy

27. Jer. xivil. $.

Fis xvi. 8. walls shall ’shake at the noise of the

horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the

* asJosh.vie0-2 Chariots, when he shall * enter intp thy

t Heb, according ates, tas men enter into a city wherein | gha alty broken is made a breach. _

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

round.

bs. Matt. vi 1% =8192 And they shall ’make a spoil of

flourishing city, as is here predicted, and has accordingly happened '—The Lord, being against Tyre, declared that he would cause many nations. to come up against her. This may mean the. Chaldean army, composed of gt from several nations: but it seems rather to intend the Chaldeans, Macedonians, and other nations, who successively weakened, and at length totally desolated, Tyre.

These would bear down all before them, like an inunda- |

tion of the sea: and not only destroy her walls and towers ;. but even reduce the ground, on which the city stood, to a

bare and barren rock, a place for the spreading of nets, like some rocks found in the midst of the seas. The spoil and trade of Tyre would also be divided among many nations ; and the dependent towns and villages, in the adjacent

‘country, would fall before her by the sword of the.con- ‘querors. (Marg. Ref.) |

V. g—11. (Marg. Ref.)

V. 12. A spoil, &c. Though the Tyrian¢ had carried off their most valued treasures ; so that Nebuchadnezzar, when he took the city after thirteen years’ siege, was greatly disappointed as to the value of the plunder: yet there could not but be great quantities of spoil left in so rich a city. (Note, xxix. 17—20.) :

V.-13. ‘§ Great cities are full of all kind of gaiety and ‘ Juxury-: this shall be turned into a melancholy silence.’ {Lowth.) (Marg. Ref.)

V. 14. ¢ Ithas been commonly said,—that when old ¢ ‘Tyre was closdly besieged, and was near falling into the ‘“hands of the enemy, that the Tyrians fled from thence,

—_ ‘CHAPTER XXVI. ss & @& For thus saith the Lord Gon ;. qs-, wwii, 7- Behold, 91 will bring upon Tyrus Nebu- / zx 1 1-chadnezzar king of Babylon, ‘a king of :

B. C. 588.

thy riches, and make a prey of ‘thy czri.ssst

merchandise : and they shall break down . 1*-,Zech. ix. 3,

- Rev. xviii. thy walls, and destroy ? thy pleasant, ="... :

houses; and they shall lay thy stones, 2 dsr. echr.

Kil, O97. XNxVI, *

and thy timber, and thy dust, in the midst 32-22" of the water. om

13. And I will cause 4 the noise of thy Zécw. “vis songs to cease; and the sound of thy azwwil. 1S. fs. ° : Riv. 13. xxii. 2, harps shall be no more heard. i

14 And I will make thee ‘like the top 37.9 =. io.

Hos, ii, m of arock: thou shalt be @ place to spread + mj. jam, | nets upon; ‘thou shalt be built no more; , 773", *

1 ‘for I the Lorp have spoken it, saith the ‘33vsa"t¢ was

Lord Gop. g V. 13.15 17. xViie _15 (J Thus saith the Lord Gop to 3. sti. Me

Num.

Tyrus; Shall not the isles ’shake:at the xzii.ts. Mat.

when the slaughter is made in the midst ‘eas, 10, Tak ofthee? = , one pans

16 Then ‘all the princes of the sea 7'k,, {® shall * come down from their thrones, 2ii Re"

and lay away their robes, and put off their“ % 2's" fos:

broidered garments: they shall ' clothes vit ts, sop wi, themselves with § trembling; they shall ci. "16-2.

292 Cxxxii. 18. 1 Pet.

™ sit upon the ground, and shall "trem-, ¥.> trembling 8

| ble at every moment, and be astonished ™,}>,»- 18. ts.

li. 2. Lam. il,

at thee.

10. n xxxii. 10, Ex. xv. 15. Dan. v. 6. Hos. xi. 10, 11. Rev. XViii. 156

‘ and built new Tyre on the island: but the learned Vitringa ° ‘ hath proved at large’ from good authorities, that new ‘ Tyre was founded several ages before, and was the station ‘ for ships.’ (Bp. Newton.)—It was, however, the: city on the continent which Nebuchadnezzar destroyed; and this was never rebuilt.—‘ He rased the whole to the ground, ‘ and slew all found therein.

After this it never reco- “ covered its former glory ;—not rising any higher, than to ‘ become a village by the name of old Tyre.’—* The city ‘ on the island became the Tyre, afterwards so famous by ‘ that name.’ (Prideaux.)—At length Alexander the Great . used the ruins of the city on the continent, to make a way across the narrow sea to the city on, the island, when-he be= sieged it ; and this tended to render the scite of old Tyre like — the top of a rock: and then her stones were cast into the midst of the water. (1 a) ‘And in process of time the city on the island was also entirely desolated. | V. 15+ The isles, &c.

The countries of Europe bora dering on the Mediterranean, which traded with Tyre,<and - where her colonies were established, seem here to -be print Cipally intended. They were greatly interested .in her fate, which must have exceedingly affected their trade and. prosperity: probably, they had much wealth in the hands of the Tyrian merchants, and in the warehouses of that city, . when it was destroyed ; and the fall of so prosperousa city, and the miseries, endured by her inhabitants, were sufficient - to make all others tremble for themselves, as wellas mourn over her. . - e V. 16, (Marg.

Ref.) The consternation, occasioned

B. C. 588.

re a -And they shall °take up a lamen- &c. xxxii-e-16- tation for thee, and say to thee, ° How a. ix. 20. Mic. art thou destroyed that wast inhabited of

Po sam itis sea-faring men, the renowned city which

Lam | 154° wast * strong in the sea, she and her in-he it. e ° e e z Rev xviii. o, 10. habitants, which cause their terror to be

"e Heb. the sea, | on all that haunt it!

ae xxiii, sr. the sea shall be troubled ‘at thy depar-cia ture. a, 19 For thus saith the Lord Gop;

When I shall make thee a desolate city,

like the cities that are notinhabited; when

by the fall of Tyre, is described in language peculiarly impressive and affecting.

V. 17, 18. Terror, &c. Though the Tyrians never made extensive conquests by land; yet they claimed the sovereignty of the seas, and often made those who frequented them tremble, by their powerful fleets and superior skill in naval affairs: but they would at length cause them to tremble by their.unexpected fall. |

Departure. ‘ When thy people shall be carried captive.’ (Lowth.) Or, when they fled hom the city, and emigrated to other countries.

V.19. Bring, &c. The destruction of Tyre is here compared to a shipwreck. (Nofe, xxvii. 26—36.)

V.20. Tyre would at length be so entirely destroyed, that her prosperity would no more be remembered, than men are when they have long been dead and buried. This would be at the time “* when the Lorn should set glory in *¢ the land of the living ;’’ which may either mean, the display of his glory in the fulfilment of this prediction, or in the restoration of the Jews to their own land: or it may refer to the coming of Christ, and the establishment of the gospel.—Some-make Tyre a type of Rome, the New Testainent-Babylon, or antichrist ; at whose destruction the Lord will set glory in the land of the living, by making his oe all over the earth. (Notes, Rev. xviii —XX. , :

V.21. ‘These prophecies, like most others, were to receive their completion by degrees: Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the old city; and Alexander employed the ruins, in making his causey to the island.—It may be questioned, whether the new city ever arose to that height of power, wealth, and greatness, to which it was elevated in the times of Isaiah and Ezekiel.. Alexander, by building Alexandria in Egypt, deprived it of much of its trade. It had the misfortune afterwards of changing its masters often; being sometimes in the hands of the .

Ptolemies kings of Egypt, and sometimes of the Seleu-cidz kings of Syria; till at length it fell under the dominion of the Romans, It was taken by the Saracens about the year after Christ 639: it was retaken by the Christians, in the year 1194.—From the Christians it was taken by the Mamalucis of Egypt, 1229: from them it was taken by the Turks, 1516, under whose dominion it continuts at present. But alas! how fallen, how changed,

o RAAARAAKRA MRA AAKHA AA AA A

EZEKIEL.

“B. C, 586.

I shall ‘bring up the deep upon thee, t* 1 vine

and great waters shall cover thee ;.

* 40. Rev. xvii. 20 Wher "I shall bring thee down® 2%, "\—%

ll—t9.

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*=s i desolate of old, with them that go down tm.ii.& '™ to the pit, that thou be not inhabited ;: :

Yand I shall set glory *in the land of the’ Suit sf, a living ; | Zech

In IW 5.

21 I. will make thee ta terror, and * Px xwit. thon shalt be no more: “though thou be "ts. azvil. "36 sought for, yet shalt thou never be founds. ®. ‘xx again, saith the Lord Gop.

‘ from what it was formerly! It is now become a heap of -

‘ ruins, visited only by the beats of a few poor fishermen.’ (Bp. Newton on the Prophecies.)—‘ On the -north side it hath an old Turkish ungarrisoned castle: besides which you see nothing here, but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &c. there being not:so much as one entire house Jeft : 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 hath fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, viz. that it should be, as the top of a rock, a place for fishers to dry their nets on.’ (Maundrell’s Journal.)

na annuninmln le Re ATH

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. V. 1—14.

Many maxims, current in the commercial world, are diametrically opposite to the law of God, which requires us to love our neighbour as ourselves: for the selfish love of gain influences men to rejoice in the calamities of others, even of cities and nations, which interfere with this leading object; especially if they can hope to grow rich when others are impoverished. But God will shew himself to be against such mercenary selfish traders, whose hearts grow callous to every humane feeling, through the love of riches.

How then must he abhor those, who increase their wealth by the sweat and blood of their brethren, whom they violently enslave and cruelly oppress for this only reason ! —Men have little cause to glory in these precarious advantages, which excite the envy and rapacity of other covetous persons, and are continually shifting from one to another ; and in getting, keeping, and spending of which, they provoke that God, whose wrath turns joyous cities into ruinous heaps.

Thus his justice is displayed and his purposes effected from age to age: and none can say how.| soon the most powerful and wealthy resorts of commerce,

may become, like Tyre, a place for the spreading of nets, and a spoil to the nations. We have. abundant cause for gratitude on account of that exemption from war in our land, with which we are favoured; and to pray that it may-be continued to us and our posterity : for the condition of invaded countries, and besieged and plundered cities, is

B. C. 588.. CHAP. XXVIL. :

The riches ‘and extensive commerce of . Tyre, 1—25. Her dreadful and ir- ~* recoverable fall, 26—36.

HE word of the Lorp came again unto me, saying, #32 xi-t, avi. = Now, thou son of man, *take up a xarlise. Jer. vile lamentation for Tyrus ; 3 3 And say unto Tyrus, ©O thou that are’ “art gituate at the entry of the sea, © Seu. Rev. Which art ©a merchant of the people for “me many isles, Thus saith the Lord Gop, O 445 bel 2. Lyrus, thou hast said, ‘I am ° of perfect een, gedect « beauty. tip teart.xxvi. 4 Thy borders are in the t midst of the seas; thy builders have perfected thy beauty. ¢ Heb. ult

most dreadful. Indeed nothing can reconcile the humane reflecting Christian to the horrors and carnage of war: but the consideration, that the righteous Lord is thus displaying his glory, and making way for the establishment of his kingdom of truth and holiness.

V. 15—21.

They, who carefully study the Scriptures, will derive advantage evén from the desolations of war, through successive generations, and in the most distant regions; as they will thence deduce still fuller proof of the divine inspiration of that sacred bo--k, which is the rule of their conduct and the foundation of their hopes; every discovery of a remarkable fulfilment of any scripture-prophecy, is like an evident miracle wrought before: their eyes for the ’ confirmation of their faith: and this evidence is continually accumulating upon them, in connexion “ withthe witness ‘in themselves” which they enjoy in their own aa aaa Being thus instructed and established in the faith, we should use redoubled diligence, to obtain and possess the full assurance of our citizenship, in that city, which hath unmoveable foundations, unalienable treasures, and Joys increasing and eternal, and which no enemies can destroy.

All else is *‘ vanity and vexation:” they, who now terrify others by their power, may soon astonish them by their fall : they, who have now the most established prosperity, will soon be as dead men, out of sight and forgotten: and the wicked will not only go down into the grave, but into the bottomless pit of destruction. But the glory of God, the preservation and prosperity of his chusch, and the ever lasting salvation of his people, will be promoted by the destruc. tion of all who oppose them. °

G NOTES.

CHAP. XXVIL_ V..2. ‘ This alludes to the mourn- ‘ful ditties used at funerals, wherein thc—mourning wo-

Ezekiel Chapter 26 · Thomas Scott