Ezekiel 27:25-36

C. The Ship Sinking Beneath the Waves 27:25b-36

TRANSLATION

(25b) So you became full and very heavy[418] in the heart of the seas. (26) Into great waters your rowers have brought you; the east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. (27) Your wealth, your wares, your merchandise, your sailors, your pilots, your repairmen and your merchant men, all your men of war which were on board, with all your company that is in your midst, will fall into the heart of the seas in the day of your collapse. (28) At the sound of the cry of your pilots the countryside will shake. (29) All who handle the oar, the sailors, all the pilots of the sea shall come down from their ships, shall stand upon the land, (30) and shall cause their voice to be heard over you, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast dust upon their heads, wallow in ashes; (31) and they shall make themselves bald because of you, and gird themselves with sackcloth; and they shall weep over you in bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning. (32) Moreover in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for you, and they shall lament over you: Who is like Tyre, like she that is silent in the midst of the sea. (33) When your wares went out from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with the multitude of your wealth and your merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth. (34) Now you are broken by the seas in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and all your company have fallen in your midst. (35) All the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled over you, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in their countenance. (36) The merchants among the people whistle in astonishment over you; you have become a terror, and you will be no more.

[418] NASB, very glorious.

COMMENTS

Through all this commercial activity the good ship Tyre became overloaded in the midst of the sea, in the very place where she was thought to be supreme (Ezekiel 27:25 b). Into the deep and dangerous open sea the sailors have rowed the vessel. There she would meet disaster. The east wind (cf. Psalms 48:7) stirred up the waves and battered the ship until it broke apart under the pressure (Ezekiel 27:26). All was lost the merchandise, and all the individuals associated with transporting and protecting it (Ezekiel 27:27). The countryside[419] (KJV, suburbs) which had supplied so many of the personnel on board would shake at the desperate cries of Tyre's crew sinking beneath the waves (Ezekiel 27:28). Worldwide shipping would come to a halt as sailors paused on land to express sympathy for the departed Queen of the Seas (Ezekiel 27:29). The lament would be bitter, and accompanied by all the outward signs of mourning which were customary in the ancient world dust on the head, baldness, sackcloth (Ezekiel 27:30-31).

[419] Literally, the open spaces.

Ezekiel 27:32 introduces a rather unusual lament within a lament (cf. Ezekiel 27:2). What other city could be compared to Tyre that now lies silent in a watery grave (Ezekiel 27:32). In their lament the sailors emphasize the benefits which Tyre had brought to the kings of the earth (Ezekiel 27:33). Her exports along the shipping lanes had contributed to international wealth. But now the sea had rebelled against her mistress, and the good ship Tyre with crew and cargo had gone to the bottom (Ezekiel 27:34). Other seafaring peoples now feared for their own future. The outward signs of sympathy for Tyre were but a mask to conceal the selfish fears that they too might experience a similar fate (Ezekiel 27:35). Merchants throughout the world would express their astonishment by hissing (whistling; Ezekiel 27:36).