A Prophecy against Tyre
The message against Tyre, Israel’s northwestern neighbor, is...
The message against Tyre, Israel’s northwestern neighbor, is much more substantial than the short oracles preceding it. It takes the form of three nearly parallel panels (26:2–21; 27:1–36; and 28:1–19), each presenting a variation on the same message—that Tyre would come to a horrible end and exist no more (27:36).
1In the eleventh month of the twelfth year,† on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken; it has swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will be filled,’
The many nations with which Tyre wanted to...
- The many nations with which Tyre wanted to trade would instead come against her equipped for war, and like Jerusalem, she would become plunder for their armies.
- waves of the sea crashing against your shoreline: This is a particularly apt metaphor for an assault on Tyre, which lay on a small coastal island.
3therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, O Tyre, I am against you, and I will raise up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4They will destroy the walls of Tyre and demolish her towers. I will scrape the soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5She will become a place to spread nets in the sea, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. She will become plunder for the nations, 6and the villages on her mainland will be slain by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’
Tyre’s projected destruction is described in great detail,...
Tyre’s projected destruction is described in great detail, conveying certainty as to the conflict’s outcome.
7For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar† king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with cavalry and a great company of troops. 8He will slaughter the villages of your mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp to your walls, and raise his shields against you. 9He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his axes. 10His multitude of horses will cover you in their dust.
When he enters your gates as an army entering a breached city, your walls will shake from the noise of cavalry, wagons, and chariots. 11The hooves of his horses will trample all your streets. He will slaughter your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground.
The end result was exactly as the prophet...
The end result was exactly as the prophet had described earlier in metaphorical language. Tyre would become a bare rock, a desolate haunt for local fishermen to spread their nets to dry, instead of a bustling center for long-distance trading vessels and caravans from the east (26:2). According to Josephus, Tyre was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years, although it was not finally destroyed until the time of Alexander the Great (332 BC).
12They will plunder your wealth and pillage your merchandise. They will demolish your walls, tear down your beautiful homes, and throw your stones and timber and soil into the water.
13So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard. 14I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread the fishing nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.’
The economic impact of Tyre’s fall would spread...
The economic impact of Tyre’s fall would spread out to her trading partners along the whole coastline, causing their rulers to abdicate.
15This is what the Lord GOD says to Tyre: ‘Will not the coastlands quake at the sound of your downfall, when the wounded groan at the slaughter in your midst?
16All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled over you.
The funeral song (see study note on 19:1–14)...
- The funeral song (see study note on 19:1–14) for Tyre would be taken up and repeated from place to place.
- naval power . . . spread fear: Tyre’s trading practices were apparently based on conquest, subjugation, and exploitation (see 28:16, 18).
17Then they will lament for you, saying,
“How you have perished, O city of renowninhabited by seafaring men—she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people,who imposed terror on all peoples!†18Now the coastlands trembleon the day of your downfall;the islands in the seaare dismayed by your demise.”’
God would demonstrate his sovereign power by utterly...
God would demonstrate his sovereign power by utterly destroying Tyre. It would be as though that great city had sunk into the depths of the chaotic ocean waves, with its inhabitants condemned to the pit where the unrighteous dead reside, never to return.
19For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When I make you a desolate city like other deserted cities, and when I raise up the deep against you so that the mighty waters cover you, 20then I will bring you down with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of antiquity. I will make you dwell in the earth below like the ancient ruins, with those who descend to the Pit, so that you will no longer be inhabited or set in splendor† in the land of the living. 21I will make you an object of horror, and you will be no more. You will be sought, but will never be found,’ declares the Lord GOD.”