‏ Ezekiel 26

Summary for Ezek 26:1-28:19: 26:1–28:19  ^a 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  ^b; 27:1-36  ^c; and 28:1-19  ^d), each presenting a variation on the same message—that Tyre would come to a horrible end and exist no more (27:36  ^e). 26:1  ^f February 3, 585 BC was about seven months after the fall of Jerusalem.
26:2  ^g Like its neighbors, Tyre rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, which eliminated a rival trading center and potentially opened up new trade routes and markets for Tyre.
Summary for Ezek 26:3-6: 26:3-6  ^h 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.
Summary for Ezek 26:7-11: 26:7-11  ⁱ Tyre’s projected destruction is described in great detail, conveying certainty as to the conflict’s outcome.
Summary for Ezek 26:12-14: 26:12-14  ^j 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  ^k). 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).
Summary for Ezek 26:15-16: 26:15-16  ^l The economic impact of Tyre’s fall would spread out to her trading partners along the whole coastline, causing their rulers to abdicate.
Summary for Ezek 26:17-18: 26:17-18  ^m 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  ⁿ, 18  ^o).
Summary for Ezek 26:19-21: 26:19-21  ^p 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.

‏ Ezekiel 27

Summary for Ezek 27:1-36: 27:1-36  ^q The second panel of the prophet’s address to Tyre (see study note on 26:1–28:19) is a funeral song that contrasts past glory with present loss. It is connected with the previous chapter by being addressed to Tyre, by its imagery of a gateway and a trading center (see 26:1-2  ^r), and by the common conclusion you have come to a horrible end and will exist no more (cp. 26:21  ^s).
Summary for Ezek 27:4-7: 27:4-7  ^t Tyre’s past greatness is described in great detail under the metaphor of a mighty sailing ship created out of the very best resources from the surrounding nations.
27:7  ^u Elishah refers to part of Cyprus.
Summary for Ezek 27:8-11: 27:8-11  ^v The ship of Tyre was manned by a crew gathered from the most famously skilled men in the world.

• The locations described in this account cover most of the known world at the time. Tyre’s influence was vast.
Summary for Ezek 27:8-9: 27:8-9  ^w Sidon, Arvad, and Gebal were Mediterranean coastal towns.
27:10  ^x Persia, Lydia, and Libya: Persia was far to the east over land, while Lydia was northwest in what is now Turkey. Libya was southwest on the shore of the Mediterranean.
27:11  ^y Helech is Cilicia, the area around Tarsus on the northeast shore of the Mediterranean.

• The location of Gammad is less certain, but it may have been in northern Syria.
Summary for Ezek 27:12-25: 27:12-25  ^z This vast system of transport was all at the service of Tyre’s insatiable appetite for trade. The list of Tyre’s trading partners goes on and on; Tyre was the source of a wide variety of commodities from slaves to horses, saddle blankets to silver, dyes to figs (cp. Rev 18:11-13  ^aa). The cargo list for the ship is organized according to the different geographic regions with which she conducted trade, covering all points of the compass and including every trading center, major and minor. Virtually every precious object that could be bought or sold found a place somewhere on the list of Tyre’s goods. 27:12  ^ab Tarshish was in the distant west, possibly in Spain.
Summary for Ezek 27:13-14: 27:13-14  ^ac Tubal, Meshech, and neighboring Beth-togarmah were regions in Anatolia (modern Turkey).
27:15  ^ad Dedan was a central Arabian oasis (see also 27:20  ^ae), but it might also refer to a coastal region north of Tyre.
27:17  ^af Minnith, located in Transjordan (the area east of the Jordan River), was a well-known source of wheat.
27:18  ^ag Helbon was a town ten miles north of Damascus. Zahar may have been nearby, although its exact location is unknown.
27:19  ^ah Greeks from Uzal: Uzal may have been a town in the foothills of Anatolia.

• Cassia and calamus were expensive perfumes.
Summary for Ezek 27:20-21: 27:20-21  ^ai Kedar was a region of Arabia named for a son of Ishmael (Gen 25:13  ^aj).
27:22  ^ak Sheba was a kingdom in southwest Arabia. The location of Raamah is uncertain, but it was always associated with Sheba.
27:23  ^al Haran, Canneh, Eden, and Asshur were all located in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Kilmad is otherwise unattested in ancient sources and may be a scribal error for “all Media” (the region northeast of Mesopotamia).
27:26  ^am Though apparently unsinkable, this rich and heavily laden merchant ship was no match for the mighty eastern gale, the army of Babylon.
27:36  ^an Tyre’s former occupants and her former trading partners join the lament for her lost way of life. This panel, like the previous one, ends with the statement that Tyre has come to a horrible end and will exist no more (cp. 26:21  ^ao).

‏ Ezekiel 28

Summary for Ezek 28:1-19: 28:1-19  ^ap The third panel against Tyre (see study note on 26:1–28:19) addresses and condemns its ruler, the prince of Tyre, for his pride. He personifies the city of Tyre, so his fate represents Tyre’s fate. In his arrogance, the prince of Tyre laid claim to divinity and the power that goes with it, asserting that he sat on a divine throne, ruling the chaotic, untamable seas. The reality, however, was otherwise; he was only a man.

• This chapter and Isa 14  ^aq (about the king of Babylon) have often been interpreted as referring to the heavenly conflict between God and Satan, “the prince of demons” (Matt 12:24  ^ar). However, this view ignores the historical nature of both passages. Tyre and Babylon were real places and their kings were real men whose great power was matched by great pride. The king of Tyre’s claim to be a god proved hollow. The political powers that oppose God and his people may be agents of Satan in his struggle against God. The sure demise of such human rulers foreshadows God’s ultimate triumph over all the forces of darkness. Every power that sets itself up against the living God will be brought to destruction.
Summary for Ezek 28:3-5: 28:3-5  ^as The prince of Tyre’s claim to divine status was based on his wisdom and his wealth. His wisdom had made him very rich, and those riches had made him inordinately proud.
Summary for Ezek 28:6-7: 28:6-7  ^at The prince of Tyre’s pride was the precursor to his fall (Prov 16:18  ^au). His claim to wisdom and power would be empty when the Lord brought the Babylonian army against him; they would draw their swords and cut him down to size.
28:8  ^av The clearest demonstration that the prince of Tyre was a mortal man and not a divine being came when he was put to death by the Babylonians. His final resting place would not be in the heights with the gods, but in the pit, the residence of the dead. Like the city of Tyre, the prince of Tyre would die in the heart of the sea (cp. 27:26-27  ^aw).
28:10  ^ax will die like an outcast: Literally will die the death of the uncircumcised. He would perish apart from a covenant relationship with God (cp. Gen 17:10-14  ^ay).
Summary for Ezek 28:12-19: 28:12-19  ^az This eulogy at first appears to take the prince of Tyre’s aspirations to divinity seriously. He was the very model of perfection, full of wisdom and ... beauty. It turns out to be a sarcastic lament.
Summary for Ezek 28:13-14: 28:13-14  ^ba Mocking Tyre’s claim to antiquity and preeminence, Ezekiel describes its king as being present in Eden at the beginning of the world, as the mighty angelic guardian—that is, as one of the heavenly beings that carried the Lord’s throne in ch 1  ^bb and guarded the garden in Gen 3  ^bc. There in Eden, he had access to the holy mountain of God (mountains are often associated with God’s presence in the Bible).

• The stones of fire may be an obscure reference to a hedge of sparkling gemstones around the Garden of Eden. The list of jewels that the prince of Tyre supposedly wore in his original glory adds to this image of his divine election since it includes nine of the twelve jewels found on the high priest’s breastplate in Exod 28  ^bd. This description satirizes the prince of Tyre’s claim to an even higher place than Adam’s—a place among the divine beings themselves.
Summary for Ezek 28:15-18: 28:15-18  ^be This sarcastic description of the prince of Tyre’s greatness and pride sets him up for his coming fall, which is cast in terms reminiscent of the fall of humanity (Gen 3  ^bf). As with Adam, the king of Tyre’s supposedly blameless condition was not permanent, but came to an abrupt end when evil was found in him. His rich commerce and dishonest trade led him to violence (cp. Ezek 26:17  ^bg). One who claimed to be greater than Adam could experience a fall from favor similar to Adam’s and be banished ... from the mountain of God, the place of God’s favor. The prince of Tyre’s God-given beauty and wisdom were corrupted by his pride, which inevitably led to disaster and exposed his true nature.
Summary for Ezek 28:18-19: 28:18-19  ^bh Far from being a deity who could sanctify a piece of ground by his presence, the prince of Tyre had the opposite effect. He defiled the holy ground of his sanctuaries. Judgment was pronounced on his city in the previous two panels, and it was the prince of Tyre’s fate to come to a terrible end, and ... exist no more (cp. 26:21  ^bi; 27:36  ^bj). The exalted captain would go down with his glorious ship and be brought to nothing by the Lord’s act.
Summary for Ezek 28:20-24: 28:20-24  ^bk No specific charges are made against Sidon, Tyre’s close neighbor to the north, though presumably it was guilty of similar offenses. Its rejoicing at Judah’s destruction would not last.
Summary for Ezek 28:22-23: 28:22-23  ^bl The Lord planned to reveal his glory and holiness by bringing upon Sidon the threefold judgment of plague, blood, and attack (or the sword) on every side.
Summary for Ezek 28:25-26: 28:25-26  ^bm The Lord would not reveal his holiness simply by judging the nations for their pride, arrogance, and enmity toward his chosen people. He would also gather his people back to the land of Israel. There they would live safely and be able to build homes and plant vineyards, which were typical signs of covenantal blessing in the Old Testament (see Mic 4:4  ^bn; Zech 3:10  ^bo). After God acted to punish the neighboring nations and restore his people, they would be at rest. The nations would know that God is the Sovereign Lord through his powerful acts of judgment, and Israel would know that he was the Lord their God, a title that speaks of God’s covenant relationship of worship and fellowship with them.