1The Word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying, 2Now, son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre, 3and say to Tyre, You who are situated at the entrance of the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coastlands, thus says the Lord Jehovah: O Tyre, you have said, I am perfect in beauty. 4Your borders are in the midst of the seas. Your builders have perfected your beauty. 5They made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make you a mast. 6Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; the company of the Ashurites have inlaid your planks with ivory from the coasts of Kittim. 7Fine embroidered linen from Egypt was what you spread for your sail; violet and purple from the coasts of Elishah was what covered you. 8The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen; your wise men, O Tyre, were in you; they became your sailors. 9The elders of Gebal and its wise men were in you to caulk your seams; all the ships of the sea and their oarsmen were in you to exchange your merchandise. 10Those from Persia, Lydia, and Libya were in your army as men of war; they hung shield and helmet in you; they gave splendor to you. 11Men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around, and the men of Gammad were in your towers; they hung their shields on your walls all around; they made your beauty perfect. 12Tarshish traded with you because of the multitude of your wealth. They gave you silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods. 13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you. They exchanged souls of men and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. 14Those from the house of Togarmah traded for your wares with horses, steeds, and mules. 15The men of Dedan traded with you; many shores were the market of your hand. They brought you ivory tusks and ebony as payment. 16Syria traded with you because of the abundance of goods you made. They exchanged for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidery, fine linen, corals, and rubies. 17Judah and the land of Israel traded with you. They exchanged for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, millet, honey, oil, and balm. 18Damascus traded with you because of the abundance of goods you made, because of your great wealth, with the wine of Helbon and with white wool. 19Dan and Javan paid for your wares, traversing back and forth. Wrought iron, cassia, and cane were among your merchandise. 20Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. 21Arabia and all the rulers of Kedar traded with you regularly. They traded with you in lambs, rams, and goats. 22The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you. They exchanged for your wares the choicest spices, all kinds of precious stones, and gold. 23Haran, Canneh, Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Assyria, and Chilmad traded with you. 24These traded with you in choice items; in purple clothes, in embroidered work, in cedar chests of multicolored apparel, bound tightly with cords, which were in your marketplace. 25The ships of Tarshish traveled with your merchandise. You were filled and very glorious in the midst of the seas. 26Your oarsmen brought you into many waters, but the east wind has broken you in the midst of the seas. 27Your riches, wares, and merchandise, your mariners and pilots, your caulkers and merchandisers, all your men of war who are in you, and the entire company which is in your midst, will fall into the midst of the seas on the day of your ruin. 28The open lands will shake at the sound of the cry of your sailors. 29All who handle the oar, the mariners, all the sailors of the sea will come down from their ships and stand on the land. 30They will make their voice heard because of you; they will cry bitterly and cast dust on their heads; they will wallow in ashes; 31and they will shave themselves completely bald because of you, gird themselves with sackcloth, and weep for you with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. 32And in their wailing for you they will take up a lamentation, and lament for you: What city is like Tyre, destroyed in the midst of the sea? 33When your wares went out by sea, you satisfied many people; you enriched the kings of the earth with the abundance of your wealth and your merchandise. 34But you are broken by the seas in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and the entire company will fall in your midst. 35All the inhabitants of many shores will be astonished at you; their kings will be in dread, and their countenance will be enraged. 36The merchants among the peoples will hiss at you; you will become a terror, and be no more forever.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 Here, I. The prophet is ordered to take up a lamentation for Tyrus,
Ezek 27:2. It was yet in the height of its prosperity, and there appeared not the least symptom of its decay; yet the prophet must lament it, because its prosperity is its snare, is the cause of its pride and security, which will make its fall the more grievous. Even those that live at ease are to be lamented if they be not preparing for trouble. He must lament it because its ruin is hastening on apace; it is sure, it is near; and though the prophet foretel it, and justify God in it, yet he must lament it. Note, We ought to mourn for the miseries of other nations, as well as for our own, out of an affection for mankind in general; it is a part of the honour we owe to all men to bewail their calamities, even those which they have brought upon themselves by their own folly.
II. He is directed what to say, and to say it in the name of
the Lord Jehovah, a name not unknown in Tyre, and which shall be better known,
Ezek 26:6.
1. He must upbraid Tyre with her pride:
O Tyrus! thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty (
Ezek 27:3), of
universal beauty (so the word is), every way accomplished, and therefore every where admired. Zion, that had the
beauty of holiness, is called indeed the
perfection of beauty (
Pss 50:2); that is the
beauty of the Lord. But Tyre, because well-built and well-filled with money and trade, will set up for a perfect beauty. Note, It is the folly of the children of this world to value themselves on the pomp and pleasure they live in, to call themselves beauties for the sake of them, and, if in these they excel others, to think themselves perfect. But God takes notice of the vain conceits men have of themselves in their prosperity when the mind is lifted up with the condition, and often, for the humbling of the spirit, finds a way to bring down the estate. Let none reckon themselves beautified any further than they are sanctified, nor say that they are of perfect beauty till they come to heaven.
2. He must upbraid Tyre with her prosperity, which was the matter of her pride. In elegies it is usual to insert encomiums of those whose fall we lament; the prophet, accordingly, praises Tyre for all that she had that was praiseworthy. He has nothing to say of her religion, her piety, her charity, her being a refuge to the distressed or using her interest to do good offices among her neighbours; but she lived great, and had a great trade, and all the trading part of mankind made court to her. The prophet must describe her height and magnificence, that God may be the more glorified in her fall, as the God who
looks upon every one that is proud and abases him, hides the proud in the dust together, and binds their faces in secret, Job 40:12.
(1.) The city of Tyre was advantageously situated,
at the entry of the sea (
Ezek 27:3), having many commodious harbours each way, not as cities seated on rivers, which the shipping can come but one way to. It stood at the east end of the Mediterranean, very convenient for trade by land into all the Levant parts; so that she became a
merchant of the people for many isles. Lying between Greece and Asia, it became the great emporium, or mart-town, the rendezvous of merchants from all parts:
They borders are in the heart of the seas, Ezek 27:4. It was surrounded with water, which was a great advantage to its trade; it was the darling of the sea, laid in its bosom, in its heart. Note, It is a great convenience, upon many accounts, to live in an island: seas are the most
ancient land-mark, not
which our fathers have set, but the God of our fathers, and which cannot be removed as other land-marks may, nor so easily got over. The people so situated may the more easily
dwell alone, if they please, as
not reckoned among the nations, and yet, if they please, may the more easily traffic abroad and keep a correspondence with the nations. We therefore of this island must own that he who determines the bounds of men's habitations has determined well for us.
(2.) It was curiously built, according as the fashion then was; and, being a city on a hill, it made a glorious show and tempted the ships that sailed by into her ports (
Ezek 27:4):
They builders have perfected thy beauty; they have so improved in architecture that nothing appears in the buildings of Tyre that can be found fault with; and yet it wants that perfection of beauty into which the Lord does and will build up his Jerusalem.
(3.) It had its haven replenished with abundance of
gallant ships, Isa 33:21. The ship-carpenters did their part, as well as the house-carpenters theirs. The Tyrians are thought to be the first that invented the art of navigation; at least they improved it, and brought it to as great a perfection perhaps as it could be without the loadstone. [1.] They made the
boards, or planks, for the hulk of the ship, of
fir-trees fetched from
Senir, a mount in the land of Israel, joined with Hermon,
Cant 4:8. Planks of fir were smooth and light, but not so lasting as our English oak. [2.] They had cedars from Lebanon, another mountain of Israel, for their masts,
Ezek 27:5. [3.] They had oaks from Bashan (
Isa 2:13), to make oars of; for it is probable that their ships were mostly galleys, that go with oars. The people of Israel built few ships for themselves, but they furnished the Tyrians with timber for shipping. Thus one country uses what another produced, and so they are serviceable one to another, and cannot say to each other,
I have no need of thee. [4.] Such magnificence did they affect in building their ships that they made the very
benches of
ivory, which they fetched from
the isles of Chittim, from Italy or Greece, and had workmen from the Ashurites or Assyrians to make them, so rich would they have their state-rooms in their ships to be. [5.] So very prodigal were they that they made their
sails of
fine linen fetched from Egypt, and that
embroidered too,
Ezek 27:7. Or it may be meant of their
flags (which they hoisted to notify what city they belonged to), which were very costly. The word signifies a
banner as well as a
sail. [6.] They hung those rooms on ship-board with
blue and purple, the richest cloths and richest colours they could get from the isles they traded with. For though Tyre was itself famous for purple, which is therefore called the
Tyrian dye, yet they must have that which was far-fetched.
(4.) These gallant ships were well-manned, by men of great ingenuity and industry. The pilots and masters of the ships, that had command in their fleets, were of their own city, such as they could put a confidence in (
Ezek 27:8):
Thy wise men, O Tyrus! that were in thee, were thy pilots. But, for common sailors, they had men from other countries;
The inhabitants of Arvad and Zidon were thy mariners. These came from cities hear them; Zidon was sister to Tyre, not two leagues off, to the northward; there they bred able seamen, which it is the interest of the maritime powers to support and give all the countenance they can to. They sent to Gebal in Syria for
calkers, or
strengtheners of the clefts or
chinks, to stop them when the ships come home, after long voyages, to be repaired. To do this they had the
ancients and
wise men (
Ezek 27:9); for there is more need of wisdom and prudence to repair what has gone to decay than to build anew. In public matters there is occasion for the
ancients and
wise men to be the
repairers of the breaches and the restorers of paths to dwell in. Nay, all the countries they traded with were at their service, and were willing to send men into their pay, to put their youths apprentice in Tyre, or to put them on board their fleets; so that
all the ships in the sea with their mariners were ready
to occupy thy merchandise. Those that give good wages shall have hands at command.
(5.) Their city was guarded by a military force that was very considerable,
Ezek 27:10,
Ezek 27:11. The Tyrians were themselves wholly given to trade; but it was necessary that they should have a good army on foot, and therefore they took those of other states into their pay, such as were fittest for service, though they had them from afar (which perhaps was their policy), from Persia, Lud, and Phut. These bore their arms when there was occasion, and in time of peace
hung up the shield and buckler in the armoury, as it were to proclaim peace, and let the world know that they had at present no need of them, but they were ready to be taken down whenever there was occasion for them. Their
walls were
guarded by the
man of Arvad; their
towers were garrisoned by
the Gammadim, robust men, that had a great deal of strength in
their arms; yet the vulgar Latin renders it
pygmies, men no longer than one's arm. They
hung their shields upon the walls in their magazines or places of arms; or hung them out upon the walls of the city, that none might dare to approach them, seeing how well provided they were with all things necessary for their own defence. Thus
they set forth thy comeliness (
Ezek 27:10), and
made they beauty perfect, Ezek 27:11. It contributed as much as any thing to the glory of Tyre that it had those of all the surrounding nations in its service, except the land of Israel (though it lay next them), which furnished them with timber, but we do not find that it furnished them with men; that would have trenched upon the liberty and dignity of the Jewish nation,
2Chr 2:17,
2Chr 2:18. It was also the glory of Tyre that it had such a militia, so fit for service, and in constant pay, and such an armoury, like that in the tower of David, where hung the
shields of mighty men, Cant 4:4. It is observable that there and here the armouries are said to be furnished with
shields and
helmets, defensive arms, not with swords and spears, offensive, though it is probable that there were such, to intimate that the military force of a people must be intended only for their own protection and not to invade and annoy their neighbours, to secure their own right, not to encroach upon the rights of others.
(6.) They had a vast trade and a correspondence with all parts of the known world. Some nations they dealt with in one commodity and some in another, according as either its products or its manufactures were, and the fruits of nature or art were, with which it was blessed. This is very much enlarged upon here, as that which was the principal glory of Tyre, and which supported all the rest. We do not find any where in scripture so many nations named together as are here; so that this chapter, some think, gives much light to the first account we have of the settlement of the nations after the flood, Gen. 10. The critics have abundance of work here to find out the several places and nations spoken of. Concerning many of them their conjectures are different and they leave us in the dark and at much uncertainty; it is well that it is not material. Modern surveys come short of explaining the ancient geography. And therefore we will not amuse ourselves here with a particular enquiry either concerning the traders or the goods they traded in. We leave it to the critical expositors, and observe that only which is improvable. [1.] We have reason to think that Ezekiel knew little, of his own knowledge, concerning the trade of Tyre. He was a priest, carried away captive far enough from the neighbourhood of Tyre, we may suppose when he was young, and there he had been eleven years. And yet he speaks of the particular merchandises of Tyre as nicely as if he had been comptroller of the custom-house there, by which it appears that he was divinely inspired in what he spoke and wrote. It is God that
saith this, Ezek 27:3. [2.] This account of the trade of Tyre intimates to us that God's eye is upon men, and that he takes cognizance of what they do when they are employed in their worldly business, not only when they are at church, praying and hearing, but when they are in their markets and fairs, and upon the exchange, buying and selling, which is a good reason why we should in all our dealings
keep a conscience void of offence, and have our eye always upon him whose eye is always upon us. [3.] We may here observe the wisdom of God, and his goodness, as the common Father of mankind, in making one country to abound in one commodity and another in another, and all more or less serviceable either to the necessity or to the comfort or ornament of human life.
Non omis fert omnia tellus -
One land does not supply all the varieties of produce. Providence dispenses its gifts variously, some to each, and all to none, that there may be a mutual commerce among those whom God has
made of one blood, though they are made
to dwell on all the face of the earth, Acts 17:26. Let every nations therefore thank God for the productions of its country; though they be not so rich as those of others, yet there is use for them in the public service of the world. [4.] See what a blessing trade and merchandise are to mankind, especially when followed in the fear of God, and with a regard not only to private advantage, but to a common benefit.
The earth is full of God's riches, Pss 104:24. There is a
multitude of all kinds of riches in it (as it is here,
Ezek 27:12), gathered off its surface and dug out of its bowels. The earth is also full of the fruits of men's ingenuity and industry, according as their genius leads them. Now by exchange and barter these are made more extensively useful; thus what can be spared is helped off, and what is wanted is fetched in, in lieu of it, from the most distant countries. Those that are not tradesmen themselves have reason to thank God for tradesmen and merchants, by whom the productions of other countries are brought to our hands, as those of our own are by our husbandmen. [5.] Besides the necessaries that are here traded in, see what abundance of things are here mentioned that only serve to please fancy, and are made valuable only by men's humour and custom; and yet God allows us to use them, and trade in them, and part with those things for them which we can spare that are of an intrinsic worth much beyond them. Here are
horns of ivory and ebony (
Ezek 27:15), that are
brought for a present, exposed to sale, and offered in exchange, or (as some think) presented to the city, or the great men of it, to obtain their favour. Here are
emeralds, coral, and
agate (
Ezek 27:16), all
precious stones, and gold (
Ezek 27:22), which the world could better be without than iron and common stones. Here are, to please the taste and smell, the
chief of all spices (
Ezek 27:22),
cassia and calamus (
Ezek 27:19), and, for ornament,
purple, broidered work, and fine linen (
Ezek 27:16),
precious clothes for chariots (
Ezek 27:20),
blue clothes (which Tyre was famous for),
broidered work, and
chests of rich apparel, bound with rich
cords, and
made of cedar, a sweet wood to perfume the garments kept in them,
Ezek 27:24. Upon the review of this invoice, or bill of parcels, we may justly say, What a great many things are here that we have no need of, and can live very comfortably without! [6.] It is observable that Judah and the
land of Israel were merchants in Tyre too; in a way of trade they were allowed to converse with the heathen. But they traded mostly
in wheat, a substantial commodity, and necessary,
wheat of Minnith and Pannag, two countries in Canaan famous for the best wheat, as some think. The whole land indeed was a
land of wheat (
Deut 8:8); it had
the fat of kidneys of wheat, Deut 32:14. Tyre was maintained by corn fetched from the land of Israel. They traded likewise in
honey, and oil, and
balm, or
rosin; all useful things, and not serving to pride or luxury. And the land which these were the staple commodities of was that which was the
glory of all lands, which God reserved for his peculiar people, not those that traded in spices and
precious stones; and the Israel of God must reckon themselves well provided for if they have
food convenient; for those that are acquainted with the delights of the children of God will not set their hearts on the
delights of the sons and daughters of men, or the
treasures of kings and provinces. We find indeed that the New Testament Babylon trades in such things as Tyre traded in,
Revel 18:12,
Revel 18:13. For, notwithstanding its pretensions to sanctity, it is a mere worldly interest. [7.] Though Tyre was a city of great merchandise, and they got abundance by buying and selling, importing commodities from one place and exporting them to another, yet manufacture-trades were not neglected. The
wares of their own making, and a
multitude of such wares, are here spoken of,
Ezek 27:16,
Ezek 27:18. It is the wisdom of a nation to encourage art and industry, and not to bear hard upon the handicraft-tradesmen; for it contributes much to the wealth and honour of a nation to send abroad
wares of their own making, which may bring them in the
multitude of all riches. [8.] All this made Tyrus very great and very proud:
The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in they market (
Ezek 27:25); thou wast admired and cried up by all the nations that had dealings with thee; for
thou wast replenished in wealth and number of people, wast beautified, and
made very glorious, in the midst of the seas. Those that grow very rich are cried up as very glorious; for riches are glorious things in the eyes of carnal people,
Gen 31:1.
26 We have seen Tyre flourishing; here we have Tyre falling, and great is the fall of it, so much the greater for its having made such a figure in the world. Note, The most mighty and magnificent kingdoms and states, sooner or later, have their day to come down. They have their period; and, when they are in their zenith, they will begin to decline. But the destruction of Tyre was sudden. Her
sun went down at noon. And all her wealth and grandeur, pomp and power, did but aggravate her ruin, and make it the more grievous to herself and astonishing to all about her. Now observe here, 1. How the ruin of Tyrus will be brought about,
Ezek 27:26. She is as a great ship richly laden, that is split or sunk by the indiscretion of her steersmen:
Thy rowers have themselves
brought thee into great and dangerous
waters; the governors of the city, and those that had the management of their public affairs, by some mismanagement or other involved them in that war with the Chaldeans which was the ruin of their state. By their insolence, by some affront given to the Chaldeans or some attempt made upon them, in confidence of their own ability to contend with them, they provoked Nebuchadnezzar to make a descent upon them, and, by their obstinacy in standing it out to the last, enraged him to such a degree that he determined on the ruin of their state, and,
like an east wind, broke them in the midst of the seas. Note, It is ill with a people when those that sit at the stern, instead of putting them into the harbour, run them aground. 2. How great and general the ruin will be. All her wealth shall be buried with her,
her riches, her fairs, and her merchandise (
Ezek 27:27); all that had any dependence upon her, and dealings with her, in trade, in war, in conversation, shall
ball with her into the midst of the seas, in the day of her ruin. Note, Those who make creatures their confidence, place their happiness in their interest in them and rest their hopes upon them, will of course fall with them;
happy therefore
are those that have the God of Jacob for their help, and
whose hope is in the Lord their God, who lives for ever. 3. What sad lamentation would be made for the destruction of Tyre. The pilots, her princes and governors, when they see how wretchedly they have mismanaged and how much they have contributed to their own ruin, shall
cry out so loud as to make even the
suburbs shake (
Ezek 27:28), such a vexation shall it be to them to reflect upon their own bad conduct. The inferior officers, that were as the mariners of the state, shall be forced to come down from their respective posts (
Ezek 27:29), and they shall
cry out against thee, as having deceived them, in not proving so well able to hold out as they thought thou hadst been; they shall
cry bitterly for the common ruin, and their own share in it. They shall use all the most solemn expressions of grief; they shall
cast dust on their heads, in indignation against themselves, shall
wallow themselves in ashes, as having bid a final farewell to all ease and pleasure; they shall
make themselves bald (
Ezek 27:31), with
tearing their hair; and, according to the custom of great mourners, those shall
gird themselves with sackcloth who used to wear find linen, and, instead of merry songs, they shall
weep with bitterness of heart. Note, Losses and crosses are very grievous, and hard to be borne, to those that have long been wallowing in pleasure and sleeping in carnal security. 4. How Tyre should be upbraided with her former honour and prosperity (
Ezek 27:32,
Ezek 27:33); she that was Tyrus the
renowned shall now be called
Tyrus the destroyed in the
midst of the sea. What city is like Tyre? Did ever any city come down from such a height of prosperity to such a depth of adversity? Time was when
thy wares, those of thy own making and those that passed through thy hands,
went forth out of the seas, and were exported to all parts of the world; then
thou filledst many people, and didst
enrich the kings of the earth and their kingdoms. The Tyrians, though they bore such a sway in trade, were yet, it seems, fair merchants, and let their neighbours not only live, but thrive by them. All that dealt with them were gainers; they did not cheat or oppress the people, but did enrich them with
the multitude of their merchandise. But now those that used to be enriched by thee shall be ruined with thee (as is usual in trade);
when thou shalt be broken, and all thou hast is seized on,
all thy company shall fall too, Ezek 27:34. There is an end of Tyre, that made such a noise and bustle in the world. This great blaze goes out in a snuff. 5. How the fall of Tyre should be matter of terror to some and laughter to others, according as they were differently interested and affected. Some shall be
sorely afraid, and shall
be troubled (
Ezek 27:35), concluding it will be their own turn to fall next. Others shall
hiss at her (
Ezek 27:36), shall ridicule her pride, and vanity, and bad management, and think her ruin just. She triumphed in Jerusalem's fall, and there are those that will triumph in hers. When God casts his judgments on the sinner
men also
shall clap their hands at him and
shall hiss him out of his place, Job 27:22,
Job 27:23.
Is this the city which men called the perfection of beauty?