Hesekiel 26:21 Kommentar

The prophet had soon done with those four nations that he set his face against in the foregoing chapters; for they were not at that time very considerable in the world, nor would their fall make any great noise among the nations nor any figure in history. But the city of Tyre is next set to the bar; this, being a place of vast trade, was known all the world over; and therefore here are three whole chapters, this and the two that follow, spent in the prediction of the destruction of Tyre. We have "the burden of Tyre," Isa. 23. It is but just mentioned in Jeremiah, as sharing with the natives in the common calamity, Jer 25:22; Jer 27:3; Jer 47:4. But Ezekiel is ordered to be copious upon that head. In this chapter we have, I. The sin charged upon Tyre, which was triumphing in the destruction of Jerusalem (Eze 26:2). II. The destruction of Tyrus itself foretold. 1. The extremity of this destruction: it shall be utterly ruined (Eze 26:4-6, Eze 26:12-14). 2. The instruments of this destruction, many nations (Eze 26:3), and the king of Babylon by name with his vast victorious army (Eze 26:7-11). 3. The great surprise that this should give to the neighbouring nations, who would all wonder at the fall of so great a city and be alarmed at it (Eze 26:15-21).

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 26 This chapter contains a prophecy of the destruction of Tyre. The time of the prophecy, Eze 26:1, the cause of the destruction of it, rejoicing at the ruin of Jerusalem, Eze 26:2, the instruments of it, many nations, particularly the king of Babylon, Eze 26:3, the manner in which it shall be done, Eze 26:8, the lamentation of other isles, and the princes of them, on account of it, Eze 26:15, the utter destruction of it, so as never to be found any more, Eze 26:19.

(Verse 19 onwards) Because this is what the Lord (the Vulgate adds God) says: When I make you a desolate city like cities that are uninhabited, and I bring an abyss upon you, and many waters cover you, and I bring you down with those who descend into the pit (or to those who descend into the grave) to the everlasting people, and I place you in the farthest land (or in the depths of the earth) like the ancient wildernesses, with those who are brought down into the pit (or descend into the grave), so that you will not be inhabited, and when I give glory in the land of the living (or so that you will not rise again in the land of the living), I will bring you to nothing (or I will give you destruction) and you will not be, and you will not be sought after (the Vulgate adds anymore) forever, says the Lord God. Join the things that were said with the ones before. When I will hand you over, O Tyre, a city forever desolate, just like other cities that are not inhabited at all, and if I bring upon you the abyss, and many waters cover you, or the infinite multitude of enemies, or certainly the one who speaks to the island and compares the frequency of adversaries in the city established on the island to the waves of the abyss: and if I drag you down with those who descend into the lake, or into the pit, to those who are in hell, of whom we also read in the Psalms: They will enter the lower parts of the earth: they will be delivered into the hands of the sword, the parts of foxes will be (Ps. LXII, 10, 11); to the everlasting people, where there is weeping of eyes, and gnashing of teeth, and I will place you in the last land, where the ancient dragon is established, and like the ancient desolations and deserted places, where there is no remembrance of good things, but eternal punishments, nor will I make you rise again in the land of the living, of which it is written: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land (Matthew V, 4). And in another place: I will please the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 115:9): then you will be reduced to nothing, or you will perish forever, and you will be no more, according to what is written in another psalm: Leave me, that I may be refreshed before I depart, and I shall be no more (Psalm 39:14). Not that he who is in eternal punishment ceases to exist, but because it is said in the holy scriptures that he who does not live for God does not subsist. Therefore, even Esther speaks against idols, saying: Do not yield your scepter to those who are not (Esther 14). Certainly there were those who begged that it not be handed over; but they were not of God, who had ceased to have virtues and to be alive to God. And this should be noted, that Tyre is sought by the one who comes to seek and save what was lost, and he seeks one stray sheep out of ninety-nine left in the mountains (Luke 19). Also, the woman who had lost one drachma seeks, finds, and calls her neighbors to share in her joy (ibid., 15). But if Tyre is not found, it is not the fault of the one searching, but of the one who has escaped the hand of the good shepherd. And furthermore, it says, 'You will be no more forever;' whether it is written in Hebrew as 'Lolam' or in Greek as 'αἰῶν,' it signifies one age, according to what Isaiah says, who after seventy years declares that Tyre will be restored to its former state. They say, however, that one age, that is, the span of human life, is calculated as seventy years, as the Psalmist says: 'The days of our years, in them are seventy years.' But for those in power, eighty years, whatever is beyond that, is labor and sorrow (Psalm 89:10). We have briefly spoken in a metaphorical sense about Tyre. This can also be understood as referring to those who, in the distress of this world, are led down to the underworld, covered by the abyss of punishment and the waves of torment, and dragged down to the depths of the earth. They are joined with those who are in the ancient desolation, and are led into the lake or eternal pit, so that they are no longer inhabited by the Holy Spirit. Concerning which it is written: When the ungodly falls into the depths of evil, he despises it (Prov. XVIII, 3). They will no longer exist on the land of the living, but will perish and be reduced to nothingness, ceasing to belong to God. These are the testimonies that those who claim the punishments of the wicked, not the sinners, are eternal abuse: those who have sought from God and have not been found, and have ceased to exist forever because they have lost Him who says: I am the life (John XIV, 6).

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, Eze 26:1, Eze 26:2. Upon which God denounces utter destruction to Tyre, and the cities depending on her, Eze 26:3-6. 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, Eze 26:7-14. 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, Eze 26:15-21. 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 center 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!

Yet shalt thou never be found again - This is literally true; there is not the smallest vestige of the ancient Tyre, that which was erected on the main land. Even the ground seems to have been washed away; and the new Tyre is in nearly a similar state. I think this prophecy must be extended to the whole duration of Tyre. If it now be found to be in the state here described, it is sufficient to show the truth of the prophecy. And now it is found precisely in the state which the above prophetic declarations, taken according to the letter, point out! No word of God can ever fall to the ground. Notwithstanding the former destructions, Tyre was a place of some consequence in the time of St. Paul. There was a Church there, (see Act 21:3, Act 21:4, etc.), which afterwards became famous. Calmet observes, it afforded a great number of martyrs for the Christian Church.

THE JUDGMENT ON TYRE THROUGH NEBUCHADNEZZAR (TWENTY-SIXTH THROUGH TWENTY-EIGHTH CHAPTERS). (Eze. 26:1-21) The specification of the date, which had been omitted in the case of the four preceding objects of judgment, marks the greater weight attached to the fall of Tyre. eleventh year--namely, after the carrying away of Jehoiachin, the year of the fall of Jerusalem. The number of the month is, however, omitted, and the day only given. As the month of the taking of Jerusalem was regarded as one of particular note, namely, the fourth month, also the fifth, on which it was actually destroyed (Jer 52:6, Jer 52:12-13), RABBI DAVID reasonably supposes that Tyre uttered her taunt at the close of the fourth month, as her nearness to Jerusalem enabled her to hear of its fall very soon, and that Ezekiel met it with his threat against herself on "the first day" of the fifth month.

terror--an example of judgment calculated to terrify all evildoers. thou shall be no more--Not that there was to be no more a Tyre, but she was no more to be the Tyre that once was: her glory and name were to be no more. As, to Old Tyre, the prophecy was literally fulfilled, not a vestige of it being left. Next: Ezekiel Chapter 27