---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Ezekiel 26"
description: "CHAPTER 26   :-. THE JUDGMENT
ON TYRE THROUGH
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
(TWENTY-SIXTH THROUGH
TWENTY-EIGHTH CHAPTERS). In the twenty-sixth chapter,
Ezekiel sets fort"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/ezekiel/26"
---

CHAPTER 26

. THE JUDGMENT
ON TYRE THROUGH
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
(TWENTY-SIXTH THROUGH
TWENTY-EIGHTH CHAPTERS).
In the twenty-sixth chapter,
Ezekiel sets forth:—(1) Tyre's sin; (2) its doom; (3) the
instruments executing it; (4) the effects produced on other nations
by her downfall. In the twenty-seventh chapter, a lamentation over
the fall of such earthly splendor. In the twenty-eighth chapter, an
elegy addressed to the king, on the humiliation of his sacrilegious
pride. Ezekiel, in his prophecies as to the heathen, exhibits *the
dark side only;* because he views them simply in their hostility
to the people of God, who shall outlive them all. Isaiah (), on the other hand, at the close of judgments, holds out
the prospect of blessing, when Tyre should turn to the Lord.

**1.** 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*
([Jeremiah 52:6](../../../kjv/jeremiah/52/6); [Jeremiah 52:12](../../../kjv/jeremiah/52/12);
[Jeremiah 52:13](../../../kjv/jeremiah/52/13)), 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.*

**2. Tyre**— ([Joshua 19:29](../../../kjv/joshua/19/29);
[2 Samuel 24:7](../../../kjv/2-samuel/24/7)), literally, meaning
"the rock-city," *Zor;* a name applying to the island
Tyre, called New Tyre, rather than *Old Tyre* on the *mainland.*
They were half a mile apart. "New Tyre," a century and a
half before the fall of Jerusalem, had successfully resisted
Shalmaneser of Assyria, for five years besieging it (MENANDER,
from the Tyrian archives, quoted by JOSEPHUS,
*Antiquities,* 9.14. 2). It was the stronger and more important
of the two cities, and is the one chiefly, though not exclusively,
here meant. Tyre was originally a colony of Zidon. Nebuchadnezzar's
siege of it lasted thirteen years ([Ezekiel 29:18](../../../kjv/ezekiel/29/18);
[Isaiah 23:1-18](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/1-18)). Though no
profane author mentions his having succeeded in the siege, JEROME
states he read the fact in Assyrian histories.
**Aha!**—exultation over a
fallen rival ([Psalms 35:21](../../../kjv/psalms/35/21); [Psalms 35:25](../../../kjv/psalms/35/25)).
**she . . . that was the
gates**—that is, the single gate composed of two folding doors.
Hence the verb is *singular.* "Gates" were the place
of resort for traffic and public business: so here it expresses *a
mart of commerce* frequented by merchants. Tyre regards Jerusalem
not as an open enemy, for her territory being the narrow, long strip
of land north of Philistia, between Mount Lebanon and the sea, her
interest was to cultivate friendly relations with the Jews, on whom
she was dependent for corn ([Ezekiel 27:17](../../../kjv/ezekiel/27/17);
[1 Kings 5:9](../../../kjv/1-kings/5/9); [Acts 12:20](../../../kjv/acts/12/20)).
But Jerusalem had intercepted some of the inland traffic which she
wished to monopolize to herself; so, in her intensely selfish
worldly-mindedness, she exulted heartlessly over the fall of
Jerusalem as her own gain. Hence she incurred the wrath of God as
pre-eminently the world's representative in its ambition,
selfishness, and pride, in defiance of the will of God ([Acts 12:20](../../../kjv/acts/12/20)).
**she is turned unto me**—that
is, the mart of corn, wine, oil, balsam, &c., which she once was,
is transferred to me. The caravans from Palmyra, Petra, and the East
will no longer be intercepted by the market ("the gates")
of Jerusalem, but will come to me.

**3, 4. nations . . . as the sea . . .
waves**—In striking contrast to the boasting of Tyre, God
threatens to bring against her Babylon's army levied from "many
nations," even as the Mediterranean waves that dashed against
her rock-founded city on all sides.
**scrape her dust . . . make
her . . . top of . . . rock**—or, "a bare rock"
[GROTIUS]. The soil which
the Tyrians had brought together upon the rock on which they built
their city, I will scrape so clean away as to leave no dust, but only
the bare rock as it was. An awful contrast to her expectation of
filling herself with *all* the wealth of the East now that
Jerusalem has fallen.

**5. in the midst of the sea**—plainly
referring to New Tyre ([Ezekiel 27:32](../../../kjv/ezekiel/27/32)).

**6. her daughters . . . in the
field**—The surrounding villages, dependent on her in the open
country, shall share the fate of the mother city.

**7. from the north**—the original
locality of the Chaldeans; also, the direction by which they entered
Palestine, taking the route of Riblah and Hamath on the Orontes, in
preference to that across the desert between Babylon and Judea.
**king of kings**—so called
because of the many kings who owned allegiance to him (). God had delegated to him the universal earth-empire which
is His ([Daniel 2:47](../../../kjv/daniel/2/47)). The Son of
God alone has the right and title inherently, and shall assume it
when the world kings shall have been fully proved as abusers of the
trust ([1 Timothy 6:15](../../../kjv/1-timothy/6/15); [Revelation 17:12-14](../../../kjv/revelation/17/12-14);
[Revelation 19:15](../../../kjv/revelation/19/15); [Revelation 19:16](../../../kjv/revelation/19/16)).
Ezekiel's prophecy was not based on conjecture from the past, for
Shalmaneser, with all the might of the Assyrian empire, had failed in
his siege of Tyre. Yet Nebuchadnezzar was to succeed. JOSEPHUS
tells us that Nebuchadnezzar began the siege in the seventh year of
Ithobal's reign, king of Tyre.

**9. engines of war**—literally,
"an apparatus for *striking.*" "He shall apply
*the stroke* of the battering-ram *against* thy walls."
HAVERNICK translates, "His
enginery of *destruction*"; literally, the "*destruction*
(not merely *the stroke*) of his enginery."
**axes**—literally,
"swords."

**10. dust**—So thick shall be the
"dust" stirred up by the immense numbers of "horses,"
that it shall "cover" the whole city as a cloud.
**horses . . . chariots**—As
in [Ezekiel 26:3-5](../../../kjv/ezekiel/26/3-5), *New
Tyre* on the insular rock in the sea (compare [Isaiah 23:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/2);
[Isaiah 23:4](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/4); [Isaiah 23:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/6))
is referred to; so here, in [Isaiah 23:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/6), *Old Tyre* on the mainland. *Both* are
included in the prophecies under one name.
**wheels**—FAIRBAIRN
thinks that here, and in [Isaiah 23:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/6), as "the wheels" are distinct from the
"chariots," some wheelwork for riding on, or for the
operations of the siege, are meant.

**11. thy strong garrisons**—literally,
"the statutes of thy strength"; so *the forts* which
are "monuments of thy strength." MAURER
understands, in stricter agreement with the literal meaning, "the
statues" or "obelisks erected in honor of the idols, the
tutelary gods of Tyre," as Melecarte, answering to the Grecian
Hercules, whose temple stood in Old Tyre (compare , *Margin*).

**12. lay thy stones . . . timber . .
. in . . . midst of . . . water**—referring to the insular New
Tyre ([Ezekiel 26:3](../../../kjv/ezekiel/26/3); [Ezekiel 26:5](../../../kjv/ezekiel/26/5);
[Ezekiel 27:4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/27/4); [Ezekiel 27:25](../../../kjv/ezekiel/27/25);
[Ezekiel 27:26](../../../kjv/ezekiel/27/26)). When its lofty
buildings and towers fall, surrounded as it was with the sea which
entered its double harbor and washed its ramparts, the "stones .
. . timbers . . . and dust" appropriately are described as
thrown down "in the midst of the water." Though Ezekiel
attributes the capture of Tyre to Nebuchadnezzar (see on [Ezekiel 27:26](../../../kjv/ezekiel/27/26)), yet it does not follow that the *final* destruction
of it described is attributed by him to the same monarch. The
overthrow of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar was the first link in the long
chain of evil—the first deadly blow which prepared for, and was the
earnest of, the final doom. The change in this verse from the
individual conqueror "he," to the general "they,"
marks that what he did was not the whole, but only paved the way for
others to complete the work begun by him. It was to be a progressive
work until she was utterly destroyed. Thus the words here answer
exactly to what Alexander did. With the "stones, timber,"
and rubbish of Old Tyre, he built a causeway in seven months to New
Tyre on the island and so took it [CURTIUS,
4, 2], 322 B.C.

**13.** Instead of the joyousness of
thy prosperity, a death-like silence shall reign ([Isaiah 24:8](../../../kjv/isaiah/24/8);
[Jeremiah 7:34](../../../kjv/jeremiah/7/34)).

**14.** He concludes in nearly the
same words as he began ([Ezekiel 26:4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/26/4);
[Ezekiel 26:5](../../../kjv/ezekiel/26/5)).
**built no more**—fulfilled
as to the mainland Tyre, under Nebuchadnezzar. The insular Tyre
recovered partly, after seventy years ([Isaiah 23:17](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/17);
[Isaiah 23:18](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/18)), but again suffered
under Alexander, then under Antigonus, then under the Saracens at the
beginning of the fourteenth century. Now its harbors are choked with
sand, precluding all hope of future restoration, "not one entire
house is left, and only a few fishermen take shelter in the vaults"
[MAUNDRELL]. So accurately
has God's word come to pass.

**15-21.** The impression which the
overthrow of Tyre produced on other maritime nations and upon her own
colonies, for example, Utica, Carthage, and Tartessus or Tarshish in
Spain.
**isles**—maritime lands.
Even mighty Carthage used to send a yearly offering to the temple of
Hercules at Tyre: and the mother city gave high priests to her
colonies. Hence the consternation at her fall felt in the widely
scattered dependencies with which she was so closely connected by the
ties of religion, as well as commercial intercourse.
**shake**—metaphorically:
"be agitated" ().

**16. come down from their thrones . .
. upon the ground**—"the throne of the mourners"
([Job 2:13](../../../kjv/job/2/13); [Jonah 3:6](../../../kjv/jonah/3/6)).
**princes of the sea**—are
the merchant rulers of Carthage and other colonies of Tyre, who had
made themselves rich and powerful by trading on the sea ([Jonah 3:6](../../../kjv/jonah/3/6)).
**clothe . . . with
trembling**—*Hebrew,* "tremblings." Compare [Jonah 3:6](../../../kjv/jonah/3/6), "clothed with desolation"; [Jonah 3:6](../../../kjv/jonah/3/6). In a public calamity the garment was changed for a
mourning garb.

**17. inhabited of seafaring men**—that
is, which was frequented by merchants of various sea-bordering lands
[GROTIUS]. FAIRBAIRN
translates with Peschito, "Thou inhabitant of the seas"
(the *Hebrew* literal meaning). Tyre rose as it were *out of*
the seas as if she got thence her inhabitants, being peopled so
closely down to the waters. So Venice was called "the bride of
the sea."
**strong in the sea**—through
her insular position.
**cause their terror to be on
all that haunt it**—namely, the sea. The *Hebrew* is rather,
"they put their terror upon all *her* (the city's)
inhabitants," that is, they make the name of every Tyrian to be
feared [FAIRBAIRN].

**18. thy departure**— [Isaiah 23:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/6);
[Isaiah 23:12](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/12) predicts that the
Tyrians, in consequence of the siege, should pass over the
Mediterranean to the lands bordering on it ("Chittim,"
"Tarshish," &c.). So Ezekiel here. Accordingly JEROME
says that he read in Assyrian histories that, "when the Tyrians
saw no hope of escaping, they *fled* to Carthage or some islands
of the Ionian and Ægean Seas" [BISHOP
NEWTON]. (See on [Isaiah 23:12](../../../kjv/isaiah/23/12)). GROTIUS
explains "departure," that is, "in the day when
hostages shall be *carried away* from thee to Babylon." The
parallelism to "thy *fall*" makes me think "departure"
must mean "thy end" in general, but with an *included*
allusion to the "departure" of most of her people to her
colonies at *the fall* of the city.

**19. great waters**—appropriate
metaphor of the Babylonian hosts, which literally, by breaking down
insular Tyre's ramparts, caused the sea to "cover" part of
her.

**20. the pit**—Tyre's
disappearance is compared to that of *the dead placed in their
sepulchres* and no more seen among the living (compare [Ezekiel 32:18](../../../kjv/ezekiel/32/18);
[Ezekiel 32:23](../../../kjv/ezekiel/32/23); [Isaiah 14:11](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/11);
[Isaiah 14:15](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/15); [Isaiah 14:19](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/19)).
**I shall set glory in the
land**—In contrast to Tyre consigned to the "pit" of
*death,* I shall set glory (that is, My presence symbolized by
the Shekinah cloud, the antitype to which shall be Messiah, "the
*glory* as of the only-begotten of the Father," [John 1:14](../../../kjv/john/1/14);
[Isaiah 4:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/4/2); [Isaiah 4:5](../../../kjv/isaiah/4/5);
[Zechariah 6:13](../../../kjv/zechariah/6/13)) in Judah.
**of the living**—as
opposed to Tyre consigned to the "pit" of death. Judea is
to be the land of national and spiritual *life,* being restored
after its captivity ([Ezekiel 47:9](../../../kjv/ezekiel/47/9)).
FAIRBAIRN loses the
antithesis by applying the negative to both clauses, "and that
thou be *not* set as a glory in the land of the living."

**21. 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.

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