Ezekiel 26:13

And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. I WILL CAUSE THE NOISE OF THY SONGS TO CEASE - instead of the joyousness of thy prosperity, a death-like silence shall reign (, "The mirth of tabrets ceaseth," etc.; )....

1-14 To be secretly pleased with the death or decay of others, when we are likely to get by it; or with their fall, when we may thrive upon it, is a sin that easily besets us, yet is not thought so bad as really it is. But it comes from a selfish, covetous principle, and from that love of the world as our happiness, which the love of God expressly forbids. He often blasts the projects of those who would raise themselves on the ruin of others. The maxims most current in the trading world, are directly opposed to the law of God. But he will show himself against the money-loving, selfish traders, whose hearts, like those of Tyre, are hardened by the love of riches. Men have little cause to glory in things which stir up the envy and rapacity of others, and which are continually shifting from one to another; and in getting, keeping, and spending which, men provoke that God whose wrath turns j...

The description of the siege is that of a town invested by land. Ezekiel 26:7 NEBUCHADREZZAR - Jeremiah 21:2 note. Ezekiel 26:8 LIFT UP THE BUCKLER - i. e., set a wall of shields, under cover of which the walls could be approached. Ezekiel 26:9 ENGINES OF WAR - Or, his battering ram. “axes” swords. They who would break flown the towers, rush on with their swords to slay the defenders....

EXPOSITION The prophetic messages against Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines were comparatively short. That against Tyre spreads over three chapters (Ezekiel 26:1). The special prominence thus given to the latter city was probably due to its political importance in Ezekiel's time, possibly also to the personal knowledge which may be inferred from his minute description of its magnificence and its commerce. It is ushered in with special solemnity as "a word of Jehovah." EZEKIEL 26:1 IN THE ELEVENTH YEAR, etc. The last date given (Ezekiel 24:1) was the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year. We have now come to the eleventh year, on which, on the ninth

AND I WILL CAUSE THE NOISE OF THY SONGS TO CEASE,.... As this city abounded with riches, so with carnal mirth and pleasure; it was a "joyous city", Isaiah 23:7, the inhabitants lived merrily and jovially; were much given to music, which was very diverting and amusing to foreigners that traded with them; but now it would be all over with them; there would be no more songs, nor any to sing them: AND THE SOUND OF THY HARPS SHALL BE NO MORE HEARD; neither vocal nor instrumental music; and this will be one day the case of Rome, of which Tyre was a type, Revelation 18:22....

Ezekiel 26:1. A lengthy prophecy concerning Tyrus is found in this and in the Chapter s which follow. These great predictions have found a startling fulfilment. History confirms all that Ezekiel spoke should come to pass. In Ezekiel 26:1 we have the overthrow of the powerful city predicted. The city of Tyrus (which means rock) was partly built upon an island off the mainland in the Mediterranean Sea. It was an ancient Phoenician city and is mentioned in Scripture for the first time in Joshua 19:29, where it is called “the strong city.” It had a wonderful commerce, a description of which in its variety, we find in the twenty-seventh chapter. It was inhabited by seafaring men, and the prophet Isaiah describes this wealthy

EZEKIEL 26. SIEGE AND DESTRUCTION OF TYRE. Tyre is the incarnation of unrestrained commercialism; and, in the mind of Ezekiel her doom is justified by the malicious joy with which she hailed the fall of Jerusalem, whom, as the gate of the peoples, she regarded as in some sort a rival, taxing, if not partially intercepting, the trade that passed between the south and Tyre (Ezekiel 26:1). The agent of Tyre's destruction is to be Nebuchadrezzar, against whom she had rebelled. At this point there is a realistic description of an ancient siege; and, when at length the island city is taken, it will ring with the unwonted sound of chariot wheels and horses-' hoofs, and be reduced in the end to a bare rock (Ezekiel 26:7). (The pillars of...

Jehovah's instrument in Tyre's destruction, Nebuchadnezzar The description is graphic: the advance of the assailant with his great army (Ezekiel 26:7); the siege with the powerful train of engines (8, 9); the assault, and capture and sack of the city (10 12), which is left a joyless ruin, a naked rock in the midst of the sea, never again to be built (13, 14)....

B. The Agents of Destruction 26:7-14 TRANSLATION (7) For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the north, king of kings, with horses and chariots, horsemen, a company, even much people. (8) He shall slay with the sword your daughters in the field; and be shall make movable towers against you, and cast up a mound against you, and raise up shields against you. (9) And he shall set his battering rams against your walls, and your towers he shall break down by his axes. (10) Because of the multitude of his horses, their dust shall cover you; at the noise of his horsemen, wheels, and chariots your walls shall shake, when he enters into your gates as men would enter a city through a breach. (11) With the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all your streets; he shall slay your people with the sword, and the pillars of your str...

§ 2. TYRE (AND SIDON) (EZEKIEL 26-28) Tyre was the capital of Phoenicia, the seaboard country on the NW. of Palestine. The Phoenicians were the great mariners of the ancient world, and Tyre was a famous seaport, renowned for its wealth and splendour. It joined in the league against Nebuchadrezzar, and was besieged by him for thirteen years (597-584 b.c.). See Intro. Ezekiel predicts its overthrow in three prophecies, one in general terms (Ezekiel 26), one describing Tyre under the figure of a gallant ship (Ezekiel 27), and one directed specially against the king of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:1). Zidon (or Sidon) was another Phoenician seaport, about 20 m. N. of Tyre; which was its younger rival. It also joined in the league against Babylo