Old Testament Commentary - Ezekiel 26

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 26 Because she rejoiced in the sorrows and fall of Jerusalem, Tyrus shall be destroyed.
1 AND it came to pass in the eleventh ^ayear, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, because that ^aTyrus hath said against ^bJerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: 3 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up ^aagainst thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the ^atop of a rock. 5 It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations. 6 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall ^aknow that I am the LORD.
7 ¶ For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon ^aTyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the ^bnorth, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. 8 He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the ^abuckler against thee. 9 And he shall set ^aengines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
10 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 wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. 11 With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. 12 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 dust in the midst of the water.
13 And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. 14 And I will make thee like the ^atop of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
15 ¶ Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the ^aisles ^bshake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? 16 Then all the ^aprinces of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.
17 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 ^astrong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it! 18 *Now shall the ^aisles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are* in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure^a**.	*18^a How shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are* in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure** Tyrus or Tyre and Sidon are cites of the same nation. It was common for kings to intermarry with the daughters of kings of other nations to cement international relationships. Some curious inter-relationships may exist here. If King Zedekiah has a wife of 'Tyrus', a daughter of that nation's king, cold she not be the mother of 'Mulek'? Supposedly the seal of 'Mulek-Jehovah' ('Malkiyahu') son of the king has been found. Some presume that this Mulek may have been taken to Egypt before the destruction of Jerusalem, but could he not as well have been gone to Tyre/Sidon and escaped from there at the times when those cities were also taken and destroyed by King Nebuchadnezar as set forth in this chapter. If so then these relative statemenst concerning the 'departure' and the fear and trouble in the isles that are in the sea by be reference to that place of escape, the very lands of the Book of Mormon. The naming of the navegaible river Sidon of the land of Zarahemla, descendant of Mulek, seems to have such a connection. (See also Isaiah 23 and Amos 1:9-10 ~ also Jeremiah 41:10 & 43:6)
19 For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a ^adesolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the ^bdeep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee; 20 When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living; 21 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.