Ezekiel 26:1

CHAPTER XXVI

This prophecy, beginning here and ending in the twentieth verse

of the twenty-eighth chapter, is a declaration of the judgments

of God against Tyre, a very famous commercial city of

antiquity, which was taken by Nebuchadnezzar after an arduous

siege of thirteen years. The prophet begins with introducing

Tyre insulting Jerusalem, and congratulating herself on the

prospect of accession to her commerce now that this city was no

more, 1, 2.

Upon which God denounces utter destruction to Tyre, and the

cities depending on her, 3-6.

We have then a particular account of the person raised up in

the course of the Divine providence to accomplish this work.

We see, as it were, his mighty hosts, (which are likened to the

waves of the sea for their multitude,) raising the mounds,

setting the engines, and shaking the walls; we hear the noise

of the horsemen, and the sound of their cars; we see the clouds

of smoke and dust; we see the sword bathed in blood, and hear

the groans of the dying. Tyre, (whose buildings were very

splendid and magnificent, and whose walls were one hundred and

fifty feet in height, with a proportionable breadth,)

immediately disappears; her strong (and as she thought

impregnable) towers are thrown down; and her very dust is

buried in the sea. Nothing remains but the bare rock, 7-14.

The scene is then varied. The isles and adjacent regions, by a

very strong and beautiful figure, are represented to be shaken,

as with a mighty earthquake by violent concussion occasioned by

the fall of Tyre. The groans of the dying reach the ears of the

people inhabiting these regions. Their princes, alarmed for

themselves and grieved for Tyre, descend from their thrones,

lay aside their robes, and clothe themselves with-sackcloth?-no,

but with trembling! Arrayed in this astonishing attire, the

prophet introduces them as a chorus of mourners, lamenting Tyre

in a funeral song or dirge, as customary on the death of

renowned personages. And pursuing the same image still farther,

in the person of God, he performs the last sad office for her.

She is brought forth from her place in solemn pomp; the pit is

dug for her; and she is buried, to rise no more, 15-21.

Such is the prophecy concerning Tyre, comprehending both the

city on the continent and that on the island, and most

punctually fulfilled in regard to both. That on the continent

was razed to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 572, and that

on the island by Alexander the Great, B.C. 332. And at present,

and for ages past, this ancient and renowned city, once the

emporium of the world, and by her great naval superiority the

centre of a powerful monarchy, is literally what the prophet

has repeatedly foretold it should be, and what in his time was,

humanly speaking, so highly improbable-a BARE rock, a place to

spread nets on!

NOTES ON CHAP. XXVI

Verse Ezekiel 26:1. 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.