The Trembling of Thrones: When God Judges a Nation Text: Ezekiel 26:15-18
Introduction: The Geopolitics of God
We live in an age that imagines God to be a private hobby. He is welcome in your heart, perhaps in your church, but He is to have no say in the public square, in the halls of power, or in the trading houses of the world. Modern man, particularly Western man, has constructed a political and economic order that is functionally atheistic. He believes that history is driven by market forces, military might, and political maneuvering. God, if He exists at all, is a spectator.
The prophet Ezekiel would find this view not only blasphemous but laughable. For Ezekiel, and for all of Scripture, there is no sphere of life over which Yahweh is not absolute sovereign. History is not a random series of events; it is a story being written by God. Nations do not rise and fall by accident. They are raised up by God, and they are cast down by God. And the reason for their rise and fall is always moral. It is always tied to their response to Him and His law. Every nation is a moral organism, and it is either obedient or disobedient. There is no neutrality.
In our passage today, we see the outworking of this divine geopolitics. The prophecy is against Tyre, a great maritime power, a center of global trade, a city whose merchants were princes. Tyre was proud, wealthy, and secure, sitting on her island fortress. She looked at the fall of Jerusalem, God's own city, and saw not a tragedy but a business opportunity. "Aha, I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste," she said. This is the sin of prideful opportunism, of gloating over the righteous judgment of God on others, failing to see that the same Judge stands at your own door.
God's response through Ezekiel is a detailed, terrifying prophecy of Tyre's utter destruction. And our text describes the ripple effect of that judgment. When God strikes a proud nation, the whole world feels the tremor. The fall of one great power is a warning shot to all the others. It is a divine object lesson that sends shockwaves through the global order, causing kings to tremble on their thrones. This is not ancient history; it is a permanent principle of God's governance of the world. And we, living in our own proud and wealthy nation, would do well to listen closely, lest we find ourselves the subject of a similar lament.
The Text
Thus says Lord Yahweh to Tyre, "Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your downfall when the wounded groan, when the killing occurs in your midst? Then all the princes of the sea will go down from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble every moment, and be appalled at you. They will take up a lamentation over you and say to you, 'How you have perished, O inhabited one, From the seas, O city that was praised, Which was strong on the sea, She and her inhabitants, Who imposed her terror On all her inhabitants! Now the coastlands will tremble On the day of your downfall; Yes, the coastlands which are by the sea Will be dismayed at your departure.'"
(Ezekiel 26:15-18)
The Cosmic Tremor (v. 15)
The Lord begins by addressing Tyre directly, describing the far-reaching impact of His judgment.
"Thus says Lord Yahweh to Tyre, 'Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your downfall when the wounded groan, when the killing occurs in your midst?'" (Ezekiel 26:15)
God's judgment is never a quiet or isolated affair. When He acts, creation itself takes notice. The "coastlands," meaning all the other maritime nations and trading partners connected to Tyre, will "shake." This is not just a poetic flourish. It describes a literal economic and political earthquake. Tyre was a hub of international commerce. Her fall would mean the collapse of trade routes, the ruin of investments, and a massive power vacuum. The stability that everyone took for granted would be shattered overnight. When God judges a linchpin of the global system, the whole system shudders.
But the shaking is more than economic. It is a shaking of terror. The sound that causes this trembling is the sound of Tyre's "downfall," punctuated by the groans of the wounded and the reality of mass slaughter. God wants the other nations to hear the human cost of rebellion against Him. He does not sanitize His judgments. He wants them to hear the screams. This is the holy terror of the Lord. The prophets elsewhere use this same kind of language, what we might call "decreation" language, to describe the fall of a nation. The sun and moon go dark, the stars fall. It is the unmaking of a world. When God brings a nation down, He is unmaking the world that nation built for itself in defiance of Him.
This is a direct challenge to our modern sensibilities. We want a God who is nice, not a God who is terrifying. But the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And part of that fear is recognizing that God judges nations, and that judgment is a violent, world-shaking event. The nations that see it are meant to be terrified, to be shaken out of their complacent self-assurance.
The Humbling of Princes (v. 16)
The shockwave of Tyre's fall reaches the highest echelons of power. The kings and rulers of the earth are personally affected.
"Then all the princes of the sea will go down from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble every moment, and be appalled at you." (Ezekiel 26:16)
Here we see a ritual of corporate mourning and humiliation. The "princes of the sea," Tyre's fellow merchant kings, perform a series of symbolic acts. First, they "go down from their thrones." The throne is the symbol of sovereignty, power, and stability. In the face of God's judgment on Tyre, their own thrones suddenly feel very unstable. They are forced to acknowledge a higher authority, a King who can topple any throne He chooses.
Second, they "remove their robes" and "strip off their embroidered garments." These are the symbols of their glory, wealth, and status. The fine linen and purple of their office are cast aside. Why? Because they see in Tyre's fall the utter vanity of human glory. All the wealth and splendor that Tyre boasted in could not save her from the wrath of God. And so these princes, in a moment of terrifying clarity, see their own finery as nothing but rags in the face of the Almighty. Their wealth cannot protect them. Their status cannot save them.
What do they put on instead? They "clothe themselves with trembling." Their new garment is fear. They sit on the ground, the posture of a mourner and a beggar. They "tremble every moment" and are "appalled." The Hebrew word for appalled means to be stunned, stupefied with horror. They are looking at the smoking ruins of Tyre and they are thinking, "That could be me. That should be me." This is the proper response to the holy judgment of God. It is a stripping away of all pretense, all pride, all self-reliance. It is the recognition that we are but dust, and our kingdoms are temporary, and there is a God in heaven who rules over all.
A Funeral Song for a Fallen Power (v. 17)
The princes then take up a formal lament, a funeral dirge, for the city that was once so great.
"They will take up a lamentation over you and say to you, 'How you have perished, O inhabited one, From the seas, O city that was praised, Which was strong on the sea, She and her inhabitants, Who imposed her terror On all her inhabitants!'" (Ezekiel 26:17)
Lamentations in the Bible are not just expressions of sadness; they are theological reflections on the cause of a tragedy. This lament highlights the great reversal that has taken place. It begins with a cry of disbelief: "How you have perished!" This was the city that seemed indestructible. She was "inhabited one from the seas," a phrase that emphasizes her unique position and power. She was a "city that was praised," renowned throughout the world for her wealth and sophistication.
The lament points to the source of her pride: she was "strong on the sea." Her navy and her merchant fleet were her glory. With them, she and her people "imposed her terror on all her inhabitants." This is a crucial detail. Tyre's strength was not benign. It was used to dominate, to intimidate, to build an empire based on fear. She was a bully on the world stage. And God always, always, brings down the proud and the powerful who use their strength to terrorize others. He is the defender of the weak and the judge of the arrogant.
The lament of the princes is filled with irony. They are mourning the fall of a terror, but they do so because its fall terrifies them. They see in Tyre's fate the principle that what goes around, comes around. The strength in which she trusted has become the reason for her ruin. The terror she imposed has been answered by the far greater terror of the Lord.
The Contagion of Fear (v. 18)
The chapter concludes this section by reiterating the central theme: God's judgment on one is a warning to all.
"Now the coastlands will tremble On the day of your downfall; Yes, the coastlands which are by the sea Will be dismayed at your departure." (Ezekiel 26:18)
This verse echoes verse 15, bringing the thought to a powerful conclusion. The trembling is not a momentary shock; it is a new and lasting reality. The "day of your downfall" has changed the geopolitical landscape forever. The other nations are "dismayed at your departure." The word "dismayed" here carries the sense of being undone, ruined, terrified. The departure of Tyre leaves a void, a gaping hole in their world, and it is a void filled with the fear of God.
They are dismayed because their trading partner is gone. They are dismayed because their political ally is gone. But most of all, they are dismayed because the illusion of their own permanence has been shattered. Tyre was the proof that a nation could achieve greatness through wealth, sea power, and ruthless ambition. And God has taken that proof and smashed it to pieces before their very eyes. Her departure is a sermon preached in fire and blood, and the message is this: there is no security apart from Yahweh. There is no lasting strength in ships or armies or stock markets. All human kingdoms are temporary. All human glory is fading. Only the kingdom of our God and of His Christ will stand forever.
Conclusion: The Shaking of All Things
It is easy for us to read this as a story about a long-dead Phoenician city. But that would be to miss the point entirely. God had Ezekiel record this not for Tyre's benefit, but for ours. The principles of God's government do not change. Nations are still moral organisms. Pride still precedes a fall. And God still judges the nations.
We live in the midst of a great shaking. The economic, political, and cultural foundations of the Western world are trembling. The things that once seemed so strong and permanent are proving to be sand. And like the princes of the sea, many are appalled and dismayed. They see the chaos and the downfall, and they are clothed with trembling.
But for the Christian, this shaking should not be a cause for ultimate despair. The author of Hebrews tells us that God is shaking the heavens and the earth, so that "the things that cannot be shaken may remain" (Hebrews 12:27). God is in the business of dismantling the proud kingdoms of man to make way for the unshakable kingdom of His Son. The fall of Tyre was a small picture of the final fall of Babylon the Great, the world system arrayed against God, described in the book of Revelation. And when that system falls, the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn, for their greatness has come to nothing (Revelation 18).
Our response, then, should not be to put our trust in the trembling thrones of this world. We are not to wring our hands when earthly powers collapse. Rather, our task is to point men to the one throne that cannot be shaken, the throne of Jesus Christ. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. His is the kingdom that will never be destroyed. The fall of every earthly Tyre is simply the clearing of the ground for the building of the New Jerusalem. So let the coastlands tremble. Let the princes be appalled. For in their terror, they are being given an opportunity to look up and see the God who reigns over all, and to bow the knee to the King whose departure will never be lamented, because His reign will have no end.