Ezekiel 26

12. Prophecies against Edom: Num. 24: 18, 19; Isa. 11: 14; Jer. 49: 7-22, where see notes; Ezek. 35; Joel 3: 19; Amos 1: 11, 12; Obadiah. Edom, so named from Esau, consisted of various tribes enumerated in Gen. 36. The Edomites became a powerful nation before the Israelites came out of Egypt. They were ruled over by kings till David conquered them. They remained subject to the kingdom of Judah till the reign of Joram, when they rebelled and were not again subdued (2 K. 8: 20). Edom took active part against Jerusalem at the time of its siege and destruction. After this they captured many cities in the south of Palestine, and gave the name to Idumea. These Idumeans were conquered by John Hyrcanus, when many of them adopted the religion of the Jews. In later times the Idumean Herod became king of Palestine as a Jew. B. C.

Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah. The Idumeans, being the posterity of Esau, bore an ancient grudge against the Jews on account of their ancestor’s losing his right of primogeniture, and the subduing of Edom by David afterward (2 Sam. 8: 14). Upon both these accounts they took all opportunities of venting their spite toward the Jewish nation particularly. (See 2 Chron. 28: 17.) The ill-will they showed them in the time of their captivity was very remarkable, as appears by those pathetical words of Ps. 137: 7, “Remember the children of Edom, O Lord, in the day of Jerusalem, how they said, Down with it, down with it, even to the ground.” W. Lowth.

12,13. Special stress is laid on the spirit of retaliation and revenge manifest against Israel in Edom. Of all the nations adjacent to Israel, none seem to have cherished a deeper animosity or a meander revenge than the descendants of Esau. It was a national spirit, and was specially offensive to God because of their early relationship. Moreover as a Great Father of nations, bound to promote fraternal relations between them, He could not but frown on this unnatural, supremely selfish and hateful spirit. Let it stand and be understood as God’s rebuke against this spirit, whether in nations, families, or individuals. H. C.

15-17. Prophecies against the Philistines: Isa. 11: 14; 14: 29-32; Jer. 47; Joel 3: 4; Amos 1: 6-8; Zeph. 2: 4-7. The Philistines occupying lands to the south of Judah were a Hamite race (Gen. 10: 14), but of a different branch from the Canaanites. They were a thorn in the side of the chosen people throughout. In the time of the judges they oppressed Israel (Judges 10: 6, 7). Repeatedly defeated by Samson, they again got head; they overthrew Israel in the time of Eli, slew his sons, and carried off the ark of God. Held in check by Samuel, they had Israel in subjection in the time of Saul, though not without checks and disasters. At Saul’s death they were predominant in the south, but David conquered and made them tributaries. We read of their defeats by Jehoshaphat and Uzziah, and of their conquests in the time of Jehoram, showing that they were still formidable neighbors. In the reign of Ahaz they again waxed strong, but were checked by Hezekiah; in the evil days that followed they became again very powerful, and joined in attacking Jerusalem in the day of her trouble. They were much reduced by the Assyrians (Isa. 14: 31) and Egyptians (Jer. 47), before the time of this prophecy, but further destruction came upon them in the general ruin of the inhabitants of Canaan, which commenced with the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. B. C.

The fatal sin of the Philistines also was their spirit of revenge, animosity, and proud disdain toward Israel. They occupied the country of the sea coast—i.e., along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. In the fulfilment of this prophecy the Lord’s vengeance was visited upon them first by the hands of the Chaldeans. From this devastation they never rose again to power. H. C.

26: 1 AND it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, because that Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gate of the peoples; she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste: therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord 6 GOD: and she shall become a spoil to the nations. And her daughters which are in the field 7 shall be slain with the sword: and they shall know that I am the LORD. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and 8 much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make forts against thee, and cast up a mount against thee, and raise up the buckler against thee. 9 And he shall set his battering engines against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break 10 down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when 11 he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people with the 12 sword, and the pillars of thy strength shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy 13 dust in the midst of the waters. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease: and the 14 sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. And I will make thee a bare rock: thou shalt be a place for the spreading of nets; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord God. 15 Thus saith the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when 16 the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the 17 ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at thee. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, 18 which caused their terror to be on all that haunt it! Now shall the isles tremble in the day 19 of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be dismayed at thy departure. For thus saith the Lord God: When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not in- habited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and the great waters shall cover thee; 20 then will I bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make thee to dwell in the nether parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate 21 of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living: I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God. 27:1, 2 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, And thou, son of man, take 3 up a lamentation for Tyre; and say unto Tyre, O thou that dwellest at the entry of the sea, which art the merchant of the peoples unto many isles, thus saith the Lord God: Thou, O 4 Tyre, hast said, I am perfect in beauty. Thy borders are in the heart of the seas, thy build- 5 ers have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy planks of fir trees from Senir: 6 they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make a mast for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the 7 isles of Kittim. Of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, that it might 8 be to thee for an ensign; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thine awning. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy towers: thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee, they 9 were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: 10 all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. Persia and Lud and Put were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in 11 thee; they set forth thy comeliness. The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadim were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon 12 thy walls round about; they have perfected thy beauty. Tarshish was thy merchant by rea- son of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for 13 thy wares. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers: they traded the persons 14 of men and vessels of brass for thy merchandise. They of the house of Togarmah traded 15 for thy wares with horses and war-horses and mules. The men of Dedan were thy traffick- ers: many isles were the mart of thine hand: they brought thee in exchange horns of ivory 16 and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of thy handyworks: they traded for thy wares with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, 17 and rubies. Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy traffickers: they traded for thy 18 merchandise wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus was thy merchant for the multitude of thy handyworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds 19 of riches; with the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Vedan and Javan traded with yarn 20 for thy wares: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were among thy merchandise. Dedan was 21 thy trafficker in precious cloths for riding. Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of thy hand; in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these were they thy merchants. 22 The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy traffickers: they traded for thy wares 23 with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. Haran and Caneh and Eden, 24 the traffickers of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad, were thy traffickers. These were thy traffick- ers in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, 25 bound with cords and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. The ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for thy merchandise: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the

26 heart of the seas. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath 27 broken thee in the heart of the seas. Thy riches, and thy wares, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, with all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the 28 heart of the seas in the day of thy ruin. At the sound of the cry of thy pilots the suburbs 29 shall shake. And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall 30 come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land, and shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall 31 wallow themselves in the ashes: and they shall make themselves bald for thee, and gird them 32 with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning. And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, Who 33 is there like Tyre, like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea? When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many peoples; thou didst enrich the kings of the 34 earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. In the time that thou wast broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all thy company did fall 35 in the midst of thee. All the inhabitants of the isles are astonished at thee, and their kings 36 are horribly afraid, they are troubled in their countenance. The merchants among the peoples hiss at thee; thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.

28: 1, 2 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord God: Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art man, and not 3 God, though thou didst set thine heart as the heart of God: behold, thou art wiser than 4 Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: 5 by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast set thine 6 heart as the heart of God; therefore behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they 7 shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit; and thou shalt die the 8 deaths of them that are slain, in the heart of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that 9 slayeth thee, I am God? but thou art man, and not God, in the hand of him that woundeth 10 thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.

11,12. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God: Thou sealest up the 13 sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou wast in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sarillus, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared. Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was 16 found in thee. By the multitude of thy traffic they filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore have I cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and 17 I have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I have cast thee to the ground, I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold 18 thee. By the multitude of thine iniquities, in the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of thee, it hath devoured thee, and I have turned thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them 19 that behold thee. All they that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.

20,21. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward Zidon, 22 and prophesy against it, and say, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, 23 when I shall have executed judgements in her, and shall be sanctified in her. For I will send into her pestilence and blood in her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD. 24 And there shall be no more a pricking briar unto the house of Israel, nor a grieving thorn of any that are round about them, that did despite unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

25. Thus saith the Lord God: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, 26 then shall they dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell securely therein; yea, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and shall dwell securely; when I have executed judgements upon all those that do them despite round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.

It is the common doctrine of the Hebrew prophets that Jehovah rules all lands, and that He will chastise the heathen. The nations denounced most at length by Ezekiel are Tyre and Egypt. The discourse upon Tyre affords the prophet another extraordinary opportunity for heaping up particulars. Tyre is the commercial metropolis of the time. She is the queen of the seas. Ballantine.

Prophecies against Tyre: Joel 3:4; Amos 1:9, 10; Isa. 23, where see notes. Tyre is mentioned in Josh. 19:29 as a strong city; Isaiah called it the daughter of Sidon (Isa. 23:12); Josephus says that it was built two hundred and forty years before the Temple. Josephus’s date is not correct, but may mark the time of the commencement of Tyre’s special greatness. B. C.

From Ezekiel’s standpoint of view at Babylon, the great nations of the west and southwest were Tyre and Egypt—Tyre, the mistress of the seas, the great emporium of commerce for the civilized world of that age; and Egypt, then as through all ancient time, the powerful sovereignty of Northeastern Africa, sitting upon her fertile Nile, and enjoying a civilization even at that time hoary with the lapse of centuries. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines were subordinate powers, closely contiguous to Palestine indeed, but far less formidable to the great central power at Babylon. Hence a very few words only sufficed to note their fortunes and their fall; while the prophecies against Tyre and Egypt are expanded with very considerable detail—three chapters being devoted to Tyre and four to Egypt. Territorially Tyre had little more than a foothold upon the soil of Western Asia. The city was the empire; but that city, built partly on the main-land yet mostly on a small island which it completely covered, was exceedingly strong by its maritime position; strong by its absolute control over the waters which embosomed it; strong in its vast wealth and consequent ability to hire soldiers and maintain a large army without drawing upon its own population. It must have been strong also through its commercial and intimate relations—e.g., with Carthage, a colony of its own citizens, and with Tartessus in Spain, another of its great trading outposts. Convincing proof of the great strength of Tyre lies in the fact that she withstood the assaults of Nebuchadnezzar during a siege of thirteen years. H. C.

This prophecy respects the same siege of Tyre which is foretold in the 47th chapter of Jeremiah. The profane authors extant in the time of Jerome said nothing of this siege; but the ancient writers of the Phœnician history, which had been read by Josephus, related that Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Tyre in the reign of King Ithobal, and that the siege had lasted thirteen years. Berosus and the Phœnician history also stated that the king of Chaldea had subdued Phœnicia and Syria; and lastly, Philostratus had spoken of this siege by Nebuchadnezzar. The sole object of this and the two following chapters is the destruction of the city and of the kingdom of Tyre. Calmet.

When we consider the extent and effects of the Phœnician commerce, the scanty information concerning it, which we receive from ancient writers, must on a first view appear surprising. But when we recollect that all the Greek historians, Herodotus excepted, who give any account of the Phœnicians, published their works long after the destruction of Tyre by Alexander the Great, we shall cease to wonder at their not having entered into minute details with respect to a trade which was then removed to new seats, and carried on in other channels. But the power and opulence of Tyre, in the prosperous age of its commerce, must have attracted general attention. In this and the two following chapters of Ezekiel, who flourished two hundred and sixty years before the fall of Tyre, there is the most particular account of the nature and variety of its commercial transactions that is to be found in any ancient writer, and which conveys at the same time a magnificent idea of the extensive power of that State. Dr. Robertson.

1. The eleventh year mentioned here is the very year of the taking of Jerusalem. It was the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, and of the captivity of Jehoiachin. The particular month is not mentioned. W. Lowth.

Comparing this date with that of the fall of Jerusalem, as in Jer. 42:6 and 39:2, it will be seen that this was within the same year. Here the month is not given; yet partly for this reason it is supposed to have been the first, since, if it had been any other, the month would have been named. Jerusalem was “broken up” and burned in the fourth month and ninth day in the same year. H. C.

2. Ezekiel here begins his prophecy against the Tyrians with a declaration that it was occasioned by their insulting over the Jews upon the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The prophets Joel and Amos had before denounced the Divine judgments upon the Tyrians for their wickedness in general, and in particular for their cruelty to the children of Israel, and for buying and selling them like cattle in the markets (Joel 3:5, etc.; Amos 1:9). And the Psalmist reckons them among the most inveterate and implacable enemies of the Jewish name and nation (Ps. 83:6, 7). Bp. Newton.

I shall be replenished. As Tyre was a noted market for all sorts of trade, so when Jerusalem was taken and sacked, the spoil of the city was carried thither for sale; and probably several of the inhabitants, being made captives, were sold there for slaves—a traffic the Tyrians dealt in very much (chap. 27:13). This interpretation may be confirmed by comparing it with Joel 3:4, 5, 6, where the prophet upbraids the Tyrians for making merchandise both of the persons and substance of the Jews, when they came into their hands. To the same purpose we read (1 Mac. 3:41) that when Lysias came with great forces to subdue the Jews, the merchants of the country took silver and gold and came into the camp to buy the children of Israel for slaves. W. Lowth.

3-6. God would bring up many nations against her, even as the great sea heaves up its mighty waves against the bulwarks that feeble men rear. This maritime figure is entirely in place in a prophecy against Tyre. The island city was built on the top of a huge rock. When the city became utterly desolate, and all its vast walls, forts and structures were demolished, the surface of this rock was laid bare, and became precisely a place for fishermen to spread and dry their nets. This prophecy has long since been literally fulfilled. Her great wealth, accumulated during ages of lucrative commerce, became a spoil to the nations. H. C.

4,5,12. The prophecies of Ezekiel seem on the spot like histories of Tyre. Its capture by Alexander the Great exhausted to the letter these inspired predictions. The first fulfilment may have been complete centuries ago. Tyre may have arisen again and again from her ruins, and may rise a fifth time. The Phoenician power which Isaiah and Ezekiel denounced has long since perished utterly; and though the later Tyres have had no connection save a geographical one, yet their successive doom, and the wretched present, at least add force and power to the scriptural warning. Tristram.

5. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets. Passing by Tyre for curiosity only, I came to be a mournful witness of the truth of that prophecy “that Tyre, the queen of nations, should be a rock for fishers to dry their nets on;” two wretched fishermen with miserable nets had just given over their occupation. Bruce.—On the north side of Tyre there is an old Turkish ungarrisoned castle; besides which you see nothing here but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, etc., there being not so much as one entire house left. Its present inhabitants are only a few wretches harboring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting themselves chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled His word concerning Tyre. Maundrell.—The Jesuit Hadrianus Parvillerias resided ten years in Syria; and Huctius heard him say that when he approached the ruins of Tyre and beheld the rocks stretched forth to the sea, and the great stones scattered up and down on the shore, made clean and smooth by the sun, waves and winds, and useful only for the drying of fishermen’s nets, many of which happened at the time to be spread on them, it brought to his memory this prophecy. Bp. Newton.

7-12. This passage predicts the celebrated siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, which occurred not long after. Josephus refers to it in two distinct passages (Ant. 10:11:1, and against Apion 1:21); in the former, citing Philostratus as saying that “this king besieged Tyre thirteen years while Ethbaal reigned at Tyre;” and in the latter, quoting in general from the records of the Phoenicians to the same effect. Precisely how this siege of Tyre terminated, whether with its absolute subjugation, or by capitulation, or by the withdrawal of the besiegers, is still in dispute among antiquarians. The testimony of Jerome, in his commentary on Ezek. 29:8, is quite explicit to the point that Nebuchadnezzar did capture the city, but found nothing of any account within it, because the Tyrians had previously removed everything valuable in their ships. H. C.

7-18. It is evident, from the entire character of the description, that the city attacked is—mainly, at any rate—not the island Tyre, but the ancient city upon the continent, Palætyus, as the Greeks called it, which occupied a position directly opposite to the island, upon the sea-shore. Nebuchadrezzar, as he is correctly named, fully established in his empire, not merely a “king of Babylon,” but a “king of kings,” comes with such an army as Polyhistor described him as bringing against Judea, to attack the Phoenician town. He brings “horses and chariots, and horsemen and companies, and much people.” He proceeds to invest the city after the fashion commonly adopted by the Assyrian monarchs, and inherited from them by the Babylonians. Having constructed a movable fort or tower, such as we see in the Assyrian bas-reliefs, he brings it against the walls, while at the same time he “raises a mount” against them, from which to work his engines and shoot his arrows with the better effect. His men “lift up the buckler,” as the Assyrians do while they mine the walls or fire the gates; while his “engines” ply their strokes, and his bravest soldiers, “with axes,” or rather “swords”—often used by the Assyrians for the purpose—seek to “break down the towers.” His efforts are successful, and a breach is made; the horsemen and chariots, as well as the footmen, enter the town; there is the usual carnage and plundering that accompany the storming of a stronghold; and, finally, there is a destruction or dismantling of the place, more or less complete.

It is remarkable that the siege and capture of the island city obtain no distinct mention. Some have supposed that it was not taken; but this is scarcely compatible with the words of the “Lament for Tyre,” or with the “isles shaking at the sound of her fall” (verses 15, 18). Probably the two cities, island and inland, were so bound together that the conquest of the one involved the surrender of the other. G. R.

13,14. Her “songs” and “harps” indicate that music was in a somewhat advanced stage of cultivation. “Thou shalt be built no more”—i.e., with like magnificence and strength. The city rose again—to be besieged more than two centuries later by Alexander—after which it never regained its independence nor its former magnificence. H. C.

14. Be built no more. This is true of Old Tyre; it has been built no more. New Tyre, taken by Alexander, was built upon an island. Nebuchadnezzar quite destroyed Old Tyre, and the ruins were made use of by Alexander to effect the destruction of New Tyre. The prophecy was also fulfilled upon New Tyre, whose inhabitants were quite destroyed by Alexander when he took the city, and afterward the city itself became desolate. W. Louth.

15-18. The term “isles,” as usual, stands for all maritime countries reached by sea, and here has special reference to Carthage, Tartessus, and all those regions of Northern Africa and Southern Europe which had sustained close commercial relations with Tyre. At the sound of her fall those isles would shake; their princes would come down from their thrones, lay off their robes, and put on trembling, and sit on the ground as men brought down, despite of all their honor, to their mother dust! H. C.

16, 17. Then all the princes of the sea, etc. All the princes and rich merchants of Sidon, Carthage and other maritime cities that maintained a trade with Tyre, and got great wealth by that means; they whose “merchants are princes,” as Issiah speaks of the merchants of Tyre (chap. 23: 8); they shall express a deep sense and concern for her misfortunes. (Cf. chaps. 27: 30-32; 32: 10.) W. Louth.—The commerce of Tyre, extended from Abyssinia and Arabia on the south, to Armenia and Georgia on the north, and from the frontiers of India to the utmost islands of Greece, and, indeed, far beyond both, came to this little spot—the caravans by land and the ships by sea—a commerce rarely exceeded in extent and variety—a concentration of wealth and luxury which few cities of any age or country could boast. No doubt her merchants were princes, and her traffickers the honorable men of the earth. How impressive the change! Well might the isles shake at the sound of her fall. Her present utter prostration and poverty are abundantly sufficient to meet the demands of prophecy, even without reference to continental Tyre, which has been literally wiped off the map of the earth. She has sunk down to the dust beneath the heavy “burden” of prophecy; nor can she ever recover her ancient glory without a succession of mighty physical, moral and political miracles, such as the world has never seen, and which we have no reason to expect.

The Hebrew historians, prophets and poets constantly allude to her power, wealth, luxury and vices, and Ezekiel seems to tax the entire geography of the known world to set forth the extent of her commerce and the multitude of her riches. It would take a volume to trace the varied fortunes of Tyre through Egyptian, Chaldean, Macedonian, Roman, Saracenic, Frank and Turkish dynasties, down to the present wretched representative of so much greatness and glory. With but few exceptions, it is now a cluster of miserable huts, inhabited by about thirty-five hundred impoverished Metawelles and Arab Christians, destitute alike of education, of arts, and of enterprise, carrying on with Egypt a small trade in tobacco from the neighboring hills, and of lava mill-stones from the Hauran. This is a sorry schedule for the name of Tyre, but it is about about all she can exhibit. W. M. T.

19-21. The idea is that Tyre goes down to the under-world, to live no more among the nations of this fair earth, while the Lord will raise up Judah and make her again the glory of all lands. This conception of the grave or pit as an under-world, where the ancient dead have their long abode, is applied here beautifully to cities and kingdoms which go down to ruin to rise no more. Over against this doom of