Ezekiel 26:1-21--Prophecy Against Tyre

Ezekiel 26
English Standard Version

Prophecy Against Tyre
26 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,’ 3 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5 She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. And she shall become plunder for the nations, 6 and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

7 “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. 8 He will kill with the sword your daughters on the mainland. He will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise a roof of shields against you. 9 He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. 10 His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached. 11 With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. 12 They will plunder your riches and loot your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. 13 And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. 14 I will make you a bare rock. You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, for I am the LORD; I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.

15 “Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in your midst? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground and tremble every moment and be appalled at you. 17 And they will raise a lamentation over you and say to you,

“‘How you have perished,
    you who were inhabited from the seas,
O city renowned,
    who was mighty on the sea;
she and her inhabitants imposed their terror
    on all her inhabitants!
18 Now the coastlands tremble
    on the day of your fall,
and the coastlands that are on the sea
    are dismayed at your passing.’

19 “For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20 then I will make you go down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the world below, among ruins from of old, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set beauty in the land of the living. 21 I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more. Though you be sought for, you will never be found again, declares the Lord GOD.”

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Outside of the Bible, we don't hear much of Tyre or its neighboring city-state of Sidon that it usually mentioned with it.  Tyre saw the destruction of the walls and gates of Jerusalem (its defenses were broken) and thought that it was the perfect time for a raid to resupply themselves.  Because of this action, the LORD would bring many nations against Tyre-nations that would come from the sea and destroy its defenses.

No longer would the ground of Tyre be fertile, but the LORD would wash all the soil away so that the ground is nothing but bare rock.  Nothing would be able to take root there.  The once great and sprawling city-state would be reduced to a mere fishing village, and would never become anything greater.  The LORD would not destroy all the people of Tyre, but their spirit would be crushed and they would be insignificant for the rest of their days.  All those who lived on the mainland would be killed by the sword.  Only a few fishermen would survive.

The LORD would bring Babylon against them from the north.  He would do to them what he had done to Jerusalem.  He will overwhelm them with the number of chariots and horses that he brings to battle against them and he will bring siegeworks to destroy their walls and many men with axes to cut down and destroy their towers.  The pillars mentioned in verse 11 are almost certainly religious in nature, possibly the pillars in the temple of Baal.  The Babylonians would destroy these symbols of strength and power as well as the actual strength and power of their empire.  No one would be able to save them--not their army or navy, nor the other nations they honored and made peace with (probably making treaties to encourage trade through their ports), nor any of the false gods of theirs or these other nations that they build idols and temples to.  The once proud and strong people of Tyre would be brought down to the dust and utterly decimated.

It does not escape me that Satan himself was compared to the king of Tyre and his fate too is utter destruction.  One day, his kingdom will come to nothing and all of his monuments and strongholds will be destroyed by a stronger king who is truly The King of Kings (a title that they king of Babylon took upon himself when he was set on world domination, but Jesus wears rightly because the whole world belongs to Him).  The people of Tyre wanted to plunder Jerusalem and take the riches and blessings that belonged to the people of God, but now it would be their kingdom that would be plundered by others.  Each and every day, citizens of the kingdom of darkness are taken away to be made citizens of the kingdom of His marvelous light.  In this way the spiritual kingdom of Tyre is also plundered and ransacked, but not for physical riches, but that many might be saved and brought to eternal life.  The prince of darkness is proud and imagines that somehow, someway, he will be able to stop God's plan and defeat Him, but Satan's destruction and t he destruction of his kingdom is sure--just as sure as the destruction of the king of Tyre and his kingdom.

All the sea-faring peoples will be shaken by the news.  No harbor is safe harbor any longer.  The powerful leaders of these coastal cities and these island nations will step down and remove their royal robes in surrender to the nations that the LORD is causing to rise up in power.  They will cower in fear and trembling wondering if they and their people and their place of dominion are next.  If the mighty king and kingdom of Tyre were defeated, what hope would the "little people" have against an enemy so great and powerful?  Certainly surrender is the only option.  Hopefully, this is the response of many in the world when they see the kingdom of Satan falling.  Hopefully they respond in fear and trembling and surrender themselves to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Maybe they choose this out of a fear of destruction, but many will choose it as history will repeat itself..

The sea was a prophetic picture of the Gentile nations and Tyre brought fear to the hearts of anyone on the sea when they saw her ships approaching, for she was ruthless.  Now they see another king and kingdom more powerful, and they fear that king and his kingdom (Babylon now, and the kingdom of heaven later).  The people of Tyre would be accursed.  They would go down to The Pit (the place where those who were to face eternal condemnation and judgment were temporarily held in "jail" awaiting their "prison" sentence on Judgment Day).  Their barren land would be an image of that death and judgment that awaited all those who rose up in rebellion against the LORD.  The LORD can destroy a strong man and strong city so that it is never to rise up again because He is stronger than all the kings and kingdoms of the earth combined.  He speaks and things are either created or destroyed according to His will and power.  He will bring to ruin all kingdoms and all peoples (even the mighty ones) who living in rebellion to Him.  They will be brought to a dreadful end, and then, they will be no more and will be quickly forgotten.  Those who do go looking for that kingdom will never again find it.  So it is with the kingdom of darkness and of this world.  They may think they are rich and powerful enough to stand against the Almighty, but they will not stand in the judgment.  Their kingdom will perish and will be forgotten if not for the ruins that the LORD leaves to remind people to never emulate them lest we come to the same tragic end.  There is another path that we can choose--the wisdom of the other sea-faring people that saw the power of the one called the king of kings and quickly and unconditionally surrendered in hopes of peace, even if it meant a life of servitude to the mighty king.  The king of Babylon was by no means a righteous man at this time (though I believe the LORD saved him through the ministry of the prophet Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah).  We can look to this passage to see that we too should unconditionally surrender to the Almighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  His kingdom and dominion are without end, bound, or measure (neither space nor time can contain them).  His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and He will have dominion over heaven and earth and all that is in them.  Even those that are now his enemies will one day bow before Him and confess that "Jesus Christ is Lord" to the glory of God the Father.  Will you choose to surrender yourself today and willingly bow before Him, or will you be forced to admit He has won and you have lost on the day of judgment when it is too late?  Choose wisely!  Choose life, even if it means the death of your pride and perceived power.