Bird's-eye view
This passage is the climactic summary of God's judgment against the proud city of Tyre. Having detailed the agents of her destruction, namely Nebuchadnezzar and the "many nations" that would follow, the Lord Yahweh now speaks in the first person, taking full and ultimate responsibility for the sentence. The language here is stark, absolute, and terrifying. The imagery is that of a complete and final reversal of fortune. Tyre, the bustling port city, teeming with life and commerce, will be made a desolate ruin, uninhabited. More than that, she will be metaphorically drowned, sunk into the abyss, and sent down to the realm of the dead, the pit. This is not just a military defeat; it is a de-creation. God raised the dry land from the waters in Genesis, and here He returns a proud city to the watery chaos. The judgment is so final that Tyre will be erased from memory, sought for but never found. This is contrasted with the "land of the living," where God will set His glory. The ultimate point is that God alone is the source of life and glory, and those who, like Tyre, swell with pride against Him and His people will be consigned to death and oblivion.
This is a covenantal lawsuit reaching its verdict and sentence. Tyre's sin, specified earlier in the chapter, was her gloating over Jerusalem's fall, seeing it as a commercial opportunity. In delighting over the judgment of God's covenant people, Tyre aligned herself against God Himself. Therefore, God's judgment upon her is not just punitive but also a vindication of His own name and glory. He is the God who brings down the proud and exalts the humble. This prophecy serves as a permanent warning against the arrogance that comes from commercial success and earthly power, reminding all nations and all people that their existence is entirely dependent upon the grace of the God they so often ignore.
Outline
- 1. The Divine Sentence of Utter Desolation (Ezek 26:19-21)
- a. The City Drowned by the Deep (Ezek 26:19)
- b. The City Consigned to the Pit (Ezek 26:20a)
- c. The City Contrasted with the Land of the Living (Ezek 26:20b)
- d. The City Erased from Existence (Ezek 26:21)
Context In Ezekiel
The prophecy against Tyre in Ezekiel 26 is part of a larger block of oracles against the foreign nations that surrounded Israel (chapters 25-32). These judgments are not random; they are directly related to how these nations responded to God's covenant dealings with Judah and Jerusalem. Chapter 25 deals with Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia for their malice and vengeance against God's people. Chapters 26-28 form an extended, detailed prophecy against Tyre, the great maritime power, for her pride and her delight in Jerusalem's destruction. This is followed by a shorter oracle against Sidon and then the massive prophecy against Egypt in chapters 29-32. Ezekiel, ministering to the exiles in Babylon, is showing them that the God of Israel is not a mere tribal deity who has been defeated. He is the sovereign Lord of all nations, and the judgment that began with the house of God will extend to all who defy Him. This passage (26:19-21) serves as the final, summarizing verdict on Tyre, painting her ultimate fate in the darkest possible colors before the prophet moves on to a lament over the city in chapter 27.
Key Issues
- The Sovereignty of God in National Judgment
- The Imagery of the Deep and the Pit (Sheol)
- Corporate Pride as a Capital Offense
- The Finality of Divine Judgment
- The Meaning of "the Land of the Living"
- The Relationship Between Historical and Apocalyptic Language
The Grave of a Proud City
When God judges, He does not do things by halves. The language in this section is absolute. It is important for us to distinguish between the language of historical description and the language of theological judgment. Ezekiel is not simply predicting that Tyre will have a bad century. He is using the language of death, burial, and the underworld to describe the finality of God's verdict. The "pit" is Sheol, the realm of the dead. God is saying that He is not just going to wreck Tyre's economy or break down her walls; He is going to kill the city. He is going to send it to the grave, to join the "people of old" and the "ancient waste places."
This is apocalyptic imagery applied to a historical event. The judgment on Tyre is a type, a historical foreshadowing, of the final judgment. Every time God brings down a proud and rebellious power, He is giving the world a small picture of what the end will be like for all who defy Him. The pride of Tyre, rooted in her commercial wealth and maritime strength, made her think she was untouchable. God here reminds her, and us, that no earthly power has any claim to permanence. God raises up and God casts down. The city that was a hub of life and activity will be consigned to the land of the dead, so that God may set His glory in the land of the living.
Verse by Verse Commentary
19 For thus says Lord Yahweh, “When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities which are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and the great waters cover you,
The verse begins with the formal declaration, "For thus says Lord Yahweh," reminding us that this is a divine verdict, not a human prediction. God takes direct ownership of the action: "When I make you..." The destruction of Tyre is not an accident of history or the result of purely geopolitical forces. It is the direct, intentional work of the sovereign God. The first part of the sentence is straightforward: Tyre will become a ghost town, a ruin like other cities that are no longer inhabited. But the second part is far more evocative. God says, "I bring up the deep over you." This is the language of de-creation. In the beginning, God separated the land from the waters (Gen 1:9-10). Here, He reverses the process for this proud city. He will drown it in the primeval abyss, the tehom. For a maritime power like Tyre, whose whole identity and wealth came from the sea, this is a profoundly ironic judgment. The sea she mastered will become her grave.
20 then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you inhabit the lower parts of the earth, like the ancient waste places, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set glory in the land of the living.
The imagery of drowning transitions to the imagery of burial. God will bring Tyre "down with those who go down to the pit." The pit is Sheol, the Old Testament realm of the dead. Tyre is being personified as a person who dies and is buried. She will join the "people of old," the generations long dead and gone. She will dwell in the "lower parts of the earth," a synonym for the grave. This is not just destruction; it is relegation to the forgotten past, to become an ancient ruin. The purpose is stated plainly: "so that you will not be inhabited." The sentence is one of permanent desolation.
Then comes the great contrast. While Tyre is sent to the land of the dead, God says, "I will set glory in the land of the living." What is this land of the living? In the immediate context, it refers to the land of Israel, the place of God's covenant people, which He will restore. While the pagan nations who gloated over her fall are sent to the grave, God will restore His people and manifest His glory among them. In the broader biblical context, the land of the living is the realm of God's favor, the kingdom of God, which ultimately finds its fulfillment in the new heavens and the new earth. God destroys the proud city of man in order to establish the glorious city of God. Judgment and salvation are two sides of the same coin.
21 I will bring terrors on you, and you will be no more; though you will be sought, you will never be found again,” declares Lord Yahweh.
The final verse summarizes the terror and finality of it all. The judgment will be sudden and terrifying. And its result will be absolute cessation: "you will be no more." This is the language of utter annihilation from the stage of history. The last clause is haunting. Tyre will be so completely gone that future generations will search for her ruins and be unable to find them. "Though you will be sought, you will never be found again." Historically, the site of ancient Tyre was debated for centuries, and its mainland ruins were scraped clean by Alexander the Great to build his causeway to the island fortress. The prophecy was fulfilled with a startling literalness. The chapter concludes as it began, with the authoritative stamp of God's own word: "declares Lord Yahweh." When He speaks, it is done. There is no appeal and no escape.
Application
The prophecy against Tyre is a message for every generation, and particularly for our own. We live in a world that worships at the altar of commerce, wealth, and technological might. Our modern cities are the new Tyre, proud, self-sufficient, and convinced of their own permanence. We look at our global trade networks, our financial markets, and our military power, and we feel secure. We think we are the masters of our own destiny. Tyre thought the same thing.
This passage is a bucket of ice water in the face of all human pride. It reminds us that God is the one who sets the boundaries of the sea and the boundaries of nations. He gives prosperity, and He can take it away. Any nation or culture that builds its foundation on anything other than the fear of the Lord is building on sand. When the storm of God's judgment comes, it will be washed away. The specific sin of Tyre was gloating over the fall of God's people. This is a warning to the world not to trifle with the church of Jesus Christ. But it is also a warning to the church. We must never put our trust in the methods, wealth, or power of Tyre. We are citizens of "the land of the living," and our glory is not in ourselves, but in the God who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Our hope is not in the permanence of our earthly cities, but in the city that is to come, whose builder and maker is God.
Ultimately, the story of Tyre points us to the tale of two cities that runs throughout the Bible: the city of man and the city of God. Tyre is Babylon, the great commercial harlot of Revelation, drunk on her own success. Her end is to be cast into the sea, never to be found again (Rev 18:21). But the people of God look for a different city, the New Jerusalem, which comes down from God out of heaven. The only way to escape the fate of Tyre is to renounce our citizenship in the city of man and, by faith in Jesus Christ, become citizens of the heavenly city, the true land of the living where God sets His glory forever.