God Treading over Tyre’s Pride

Ezekiel 26:1-21

1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 "Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, 'Aha! She is broken who was the gateway of the peoples; now she is turned over to me; I shall be filled; she is laid waste.'

3 "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. 4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. 5 It shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,' says the Lord GOD; 'it shall become plunder for the nations. 6 Also her daughter villages which are in the fields shall be slain by the sword. Then they shall 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, with chariots, and with horsemen, and an army with many people. 8 He will slay with the sword your daughter villages in the fields; he will heap up a siege mound against you, build a wall against you, and raise a defense against you. 9 He will direct his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. 10 Because of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, the wagons, and the chariots, when he enters your gates, as men enter a city that has been breached. 11 With the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets; he will slay your people by the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. 12 They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; they will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water. 13 I will put an end to the sound of your songs, and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more. 14 I will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets, and you shall never be rebuilt, for I the LORD have spoken,' says the Lord GOD.

15 "Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: 'Will the coastlands not shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded cry, when slaughter is made in the midst of you? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, lay aside their robes, and take off their embroidered garments; they will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble every moment, and be astonished at you. 17 And they will take up a lamentation for you, and say to you:

"How you have perished,
O one inhabited by seafaring men,
O renowned city,
Who was strong at sea,
She and her inhabitants,
Who caused their terror to be on all her inhabitants!
18 Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall;
Yes, the coastlands by the sea are troubled at your departure."'

19 "For thus says the Lord GOD: 'When I make you a desolate city, like cities that are not inhabited, when I bring the deep upon you, and great waters cover you, 20 then I will bring you down with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of old, and I will make you dwell in the lowest part of the earth, in places desolate from antiquity, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you may never be inhabited; and I shall establish glory in the land of the living. 21 I will make you a terror, and you shall be no more; though you are sought for, you will never be found again,' says the Lord GOD."

Ungodly Tyre boasted against God’s fallen people and herself was doomed to destruction for her scorn and for her arrogance to assume she would take over the importance of Jerusalem and replace His chosen ones.  God’s answer was to leverage the nations against her as tools of judgment to level the once proud coastal trade port.  Their armies would wash over Tyre as the relentless waves of the adjacent sea in a storm of God’s making for their pride and blasphemous arrogance of presumptuous boasting.  He promised to wipe the city structures clean off their foundations to make room for fishing nets to be spread out on the rock left underneath.  Even the villages around the city proper were to be overrun for their support of Tyre treading over the apple of God’s eye (Deuteronomy 32:9-10, Psalm 17:8-9).  Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, would overthrow Tyre more than Jerusalem.  The same mighty empire used to disciple God’s people would also be used as a tool of the wrath of God, just as the power of the Lord will both save His chosen in Christ through the gospel and overthrow those rejecting Christ by that same almighty power in His wrath and to avenge His people at last (Revelation 6:10).  Tyre was plundered and leveled in judgment for persecution of God’s elect; how much worse for those rejecting Christ and persecuting His called and chosen in the day of final judgment?  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and His wrath of recompense!  The fall of Tyre caused the surrounding nations to tremble in astonishment with humility and lament the loss of the once renowned city of strength and commerce.  Her desolation afterwards was a reminder of their judgment to the Pit as a warning to others of the terror of rejecting God and His chosen ones of the Pit which ends up in the lake of fire and eternal torment as the end of all things.  This warning is an example to the world to turn from sin and rejection of His Christ to repentance and trust in His promise of deliverance instead as a far, far greater thing to do. Scoffing His divine judgment, rejecting Him and His grace, and opposing His people will only repeat the treading of God’s judgment of the pride of Tyre over those opposed to Him and His Christ.