In Ezekiel chapter 26 … God preaches “against” the heathen city of Tyre, capital of the Kingdom of the Philistines. These people were the maritime “sailors” of the ancient world. This small nation (the area of Lebanon today) was, of course, located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
In essence, here are God’s Words: “Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.” Ezekiel 26:2-3
Glad at Israel’s downfall … “Aha, she is broken!”
Since she is “laid waste,” I (Tyre) shall be replenished! (Her loss is my gain!)
Such hatred for the Jews rises to the level (in God’s Eyes) of a punishable crime, a sin indeed!
Therefore, God is righteously angry: “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; BEHOLD, I AM AGAINST THEE, O TYRUS, and will cause many nations to come up against thee.”
Now, watch the illustration God uses, “I will cause many nations to come up against thee, AS THE SEA CAUSETH HIS WAVES TO COME UP. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers.” Verse 4, like a tsunami, a tidal wave! Or some potently violent storm! How appropriate a “word picture” for such a seafaring society!
And God kept His Word, too.
Our chapter’s next paragraph describes (in advance) the King of Babylon’s “attack” against Tyre! “For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.” Verse 7, the aggressor is named!
And what Ezekiel here wrote as prophecy … is now history!
Truthfully … “one of the most precise descriptions of enemy attack in all ancient literature!”
“He (Nebuchadnezzar) shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. 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 ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. And I (God) will cause the noise of thy songs (Phoenicia being well known for her music) to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. And I will make thee like the top of a rock (a bare rock): thou shalt be a place to spread (fishing) nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.” Verses 7-14, a precise Text, isn’t it?
And the great fall of Tyre had a rippling effect across the word, too. Financially, materially,
That’s what the last paragraph of Ezekiel 26 depicts for us. In part: “Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.” What mourning, Tyre’s “allies” in shock!
Now a funeral dirge, public lamentation: “And they (neighboring nations, city-states) shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou (Tyre) destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt (dwell in) it (the whole earth)!” Verse 17, the reality of God’s judgment!
“Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure. For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee” Verses 18-19, sounds partly like the world mourning when Babylon falls, in Revelation chapters 17 and 18!
“When I (God still talking) shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit (the grave at least, but perhaps Hell itself), with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited … and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.” Verses 20-21
Sure sounds like God loves his people, the Jews!
And will defend their honor!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
If the chapter seems to end abruptly … there’s more to come. In fact, Ezekiel chapters 27 and 28 both continue the theme of God’s judgment on these people of Tyre.