Bird's-eye view
In this passage, the prophet Ezekiel receives a word from Yahweh concerning the great maritime city of Tyre. This prophecy is not delivered in a vacuum; it is dated to the eleventh year, shortly after the fall of Jerusalem. The central issue is Tyre's sinful reaction to the destruction of God's city. She saw it not as a sober moment of divine judgment, but as a grand economic opportunity. Her gleeful cry, "Aha!", reveals a heart full of pride, greed, and what the Germans call schadenfreude, malicious joy in the misfortune of others. Because of this high-handed sin, God declares Himself to be against Tyre, promising a total and humiliating desolation. The judgment is described in vivid terms: many nations will come against her like successive waves of the sea, her walls will be ruined, her towers pulled down, and she will be scraped clean down to the bare rock, becoming a place for fishermen to dry their nets. The purpose of this overwhelming judgment is stated plainly at the end: "they will know that I am Yahweh." God's judgments in history are His self-revelation to a rebellious world.
Outline
- 1. The Occasion of the Prophecy (v. 1)
- 2. The Indictment Against Tyre (v. 2)
- a. Her Glee Over Jerusalem's Fall
- b. Her Mercenary Ambition
- 3. The Declaration of Judgment (vv. 3-6)
- a. God's Personal Opposition (v. 3a)
- b. The Instrument of Judgment: Many Nations (v. 3b)
- c. The Nature of the Judgment: Utter Desolation (vv. 4-5)
- d. The Extent of the Judgment: The Mainland (v. 6a)
- e. The Purpose of the Judgment: The Knowledge of God (v. 6b)
Clause-by-Clause Commentary
v. 1 Now it happened in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying,
Ezekiel, as is his custom, dates his prophecy with precision. The "eleventh year" almost certainly refers to the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin's exile, which would place this prophecy around 587 or 586 B.C. This is significant because it is right around the time that Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. The ink is barely dry on the news of Jerusalem's destruction, and God is already addressing the reactions of the surrounding nations. God is the Lord of history, and this means He is the Lord of current events. Nothing happens on the world stage that escapes His notice or His commentary. The word of Yahweh comes to His prophet, demonstrating that God is not silent in the face of international arrogance.
v. 2 “Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has opened to me. I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste,’
Here is the charge sheet, the reason for the judgment. It begins with Tyre's words, revealing the state of her heart. The word "Aha" is a cry of triumphant, malicious glee. Tyre is gloating. Jerusalem was a key city on the overland trade routes, a "gateway of the peoples." With Jerusalem out of the way, Tyre, the great sea power, sees a commercial vacuum she is eager to fill. Her logic is purely mercenary: "it has opened to me. I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste." She sees the rubble of God's holy city and her only thought is of increased market share. This is the sin of mammon in its rawest form. It is a worldview that sees all of life, including the judgment of God upon a nation, through the lens of profit and loss. Tyre's sin was not simply being a successful trading nation; her sin was a heart of pride that celebrated the destruction of a rival for her own enrichment, utterly blind to the hand of God in the affair.
v. 3 therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.
Because of this sin, the Lord Yahweh speaks. And what He says is one of the most terrifying phrases in all of Scripture: "Behold, I am against you." When God is for us, no one can be successfully against us. But when God Himself is against you, there is no one in heaven or on earth who can be for you. The judgment will be executed by means of "many nations." God is the great conductor of the orchestra of nations, and He can bring them against whomever He pleases. The simile used is perfectly suited to Tyre, the great maritime power. The judgment will not be a single event, but will come "as the sea brings up its waves." Wave after wave of opposition, siege, and destruction will crash against her. This was fulfilled historically through the Babylonians, then the Greeks under Alexander the Great, and others who followed. God's judgments are relentless and thorough.
v. 4 They will make the walls of Tyre a ruin and pull down her towers; and I will scrape her dust from her and make her a bare rock.
The destruction is described as total. The instruments of her pride and security, her high walls and strong towers, will be brought to ruin. But God's action goes even further. He says, "I will scrape her dust from her." This is a picture of utter scouring. It is not just demolition; it is eradication. God will not just knock down the buildings; He will scrape away the very soil they were built on, leaving nothing but a "bare rock." This is a profound statement of God's sovereignty over the proud works of man. Men build their proud cities, their monuments to their own strength and ingenuity, and God can, with a word, un-create them, returning them to a state of primal barrenness.
v. 5 She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘and she will become plunder for the nations.
The humiliation is complete. The city that was once the bustling center of international commerce, the place of immense wealth and power, will become a desolate rock where fishermen spread their nets to dry. This is a staggering reversal of fortune. The mighty are brought low, and their glory is turned to the most mundane of uses. And why is this so certain? "For I have spoken." The word of God is creative and decretal. What God declares, happens. His word does not return to Him void. Furthermore, Tyre, who wanted to be "filled" with the wealth of Jerusalem, will herself "become plunder for the nations." The punishment fits the crime precisely. This is the principle of lex talionis, an eye for an eye. The plundering nation will be plundered.
v. 6 Also her daughters who are on the mainland will be killed by the sword, and they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”
The judgment is not limited to the island fortress of Tyre. It extends to "her daughters," the surrounding towns and territories on the mainland that were under her control. The judgment is comprehensive. And here, at the end of the indictment and sentence, we are given the ultimate purpose. This is not about mere retribution. The goal of God's judgment is theological. It is doxological. It is so "they will know that I am Yahweh." God's judgments are a form of self-revelation. Through them, He teaches the proud and rebellious nations of the world who is actually in charge. He is not a local deity, the tribal god of Israel. He is Yahweh, the sovereign Lord of all history, the one who raises up nations and casts them down according to the counsel of His own will, for the glory of His own name.
Key Issues
- The Sin of Mercenary Glee
- God's Sovereignty Over Nations
- Judgment as Divine Self-Revelation
- The Talionic Principle in Judgment
Application
The sin of Tyre is a perennial temptation for mankind. It is the temptation to view the world through a purely economic lens, to see the misfortunes of others as our opportunity for gain. When a rival business fails, when a competing nation suffers a setback, when another church in town has a split, what is the first reaction of our hearts? Is it sober reflection and compassion, or is it a quiet, Tyre-like "Aha!"? We must examine our hearts for this mercenary spirit, this schadenfreude, because it is an offense to the God who sees and judges the hearts of men.
This passage is also a potent reminder that God is the Lord of all nations. He is not the president's chaplain, nor is He the spiritual mascot of any country. He is the sovereign who brings up the waves of history to crash against the shores of proud empires. Our ultimate security cannot be in our nation's military might, its economic strength, or its cultural influence. All of those things are walls and towers that God can bring to ruin in a moment. Our only hope and security is in the Lord Yahweh Himself.
Finally, we see that God's judgments have a purpose: that the world may know that He is Yahweh. This is true of His judgments in history, and it is supremely true of His ultimate judgment at the cross. At Calvary, the wrath of God against all human pride and sin was poured out upon His Son. The cross was the ultimate declaration that God is against sin. But because Christ took that judgment for us, all who are in Him can hear the most glorious words imaginable: "Behold, I am for you." Because of Christ, there is now no condemnation. God's greatest judgment has become our greatest salvation, so that we might know that He is Yahweh, a just God and a Savior.