Ezekiel Chapter 26
Tuesday, 02/03/26 at 11:15
Solitary Man
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Eze 26:1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month (kho-desh – new moon), that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Surprisingly, God wishes to devote three chapters of prophecy to this little known nation of Tyre.
Tyre and Sidon (or Zidon) are often spoken of together. We will note that at the end of chapter 28, a short prophecy for Sidon is also given. They were both coastal cities on the east coast of the Mediterranean sea. Asher’s land was the northernmost tribe whose land allotment was on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Tyre would have been situated in its midst, with Sidon being at the northern tip, or slightly further north. Today Tyre and Sidon sit in the nation of Lebanon.
Tyre was an island in Ezekiel’s day. It was noted for its dominance in trade and commerce. This tiny nation state was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for 13 years, beginning in 585 BC. There is no good secular historical record as to what was the outcome, but it is likely there was some sort of conditional surrender, at the very least.
While Tyre survived the attacks by Nebuchadnezzar in some form, 250 years later Alexander the Great would build a causeway to the island in just 7 months, and destroy it, enslaving many. Tyre never rose to prominence after that. In fact, it became more of a rock quarry. But it now was connected to the mainland by this causeway. Tyre actually survived in greatly diminished form until 1124, when it was taken over by the Christian crusaders. The muslims destroyed it for good in 1291 AD, as they swept all the crusader strongholds from the area. Today not much remains as it is situated in war torn Lebanon, though at least the name of these 2 cities still survive, unlike those nations of the previous chapter.
A new date is given, and oddly, the month was omitted. The same thing occurred in Ez 32:17, the date being 15 days after this one. Remember Jerusalem fell in the 11th year, 4th month, 9th day. And the city and temple was completely destroyed in the 5th month, 10th day. The three guesses as to the month are the 1st, 4th, and 5th. Since the 4th became such a famous month, ie, the month of the fall of Jerusalem, it is most likely that this is the month, which may have been omitted because it was assumed.
The fact that Tyre will be found to be rejoicing at Jerusalem’s downfall could easily be reckoned even at this early date, ie, a few days before it actually occurred in the 4th month, as they may have been receiving news of the progress of the siege, and by this time it would have appeared all but certain. Still, that is why some think it is the 5th month, when the city had already fallen in the previous month. But given the nature of prophecy, it does not necessarily have to hold that Tyre’s gloating had already occurred when the prophecy was given, only that it would come to pass. I lean toward the 4th month, but in all honesty, it really is not that important.
So why was Tyre given such attention? There was an entire chapter devoted to it in Isaiah, as well as passages from these other prophets:
Joe_3:4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
Amo 1:9 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:
Amo 1:10 But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.
Isaiah’s prophecy ends with familiar language:
Isa 23:15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
Isa 23:16 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
Isa 23:17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
Isa 23:18 And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
No one knows what the 70 years really represents, but the passage has similarities to the whore of Babylon in the book of Revelation.
Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 19:2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
So we see Tyre spoken of as a fornicator with all nations. We see the whore of Babylon described in exactly the same way. We believe this whore is the world system of commerce. The new world order is said to be this system. The commerce of this world is known by the terms trafficking and merchandising. Tyre was known for its commerce.
Something about how the world has developed its system of buying and selling really comes off as something of great evil in Yehovah’s eyes. Perhaps it is because of the vast amount of wealth that gets concentrated in the hands of a very few, guaranteeing that the poor will always be a very large percentage of the population. And please don’t delude yourself. Communism and socialism are the very worst forms of this trafficking system, as nothing collectivizes the wealth of a nation into the hands of the fewest people than those abominable systems. Pure capitalism is extremely generous and just in comparison.
And of course, one of the two most famous passages in the bible that describes satan in some detail will be found in this portion in Ezekiel. God will describe his decree of judgment on Tyre. He will then describe how all the nations of the earth, including Judah, mourn its demise. God then goes and speaks about the prince of Tyre, followed by its king. But the king is no normal king. We quickly see that he is speaking of the power behind the throne, which is satan himself.
It is fascinating that the nation of Tyre is the one chosen to depict the actual ruler as being satan himself. Why not Babylon? Wouldn’t that great world power have been more appropriate? Isn’t Babylon known for Babel, the place where the world system of governance, steeped in tyranny and dominance, originated? Does not the book of Revelation speak of the whore of Babylon? And don’t all the nations of the world lament its passing?
But instead, God chooses to speak of satan as associated with this tiny island state. The most reasonable answer is that Yehovah wants us to make the association between satan and this merchandising, this trafficking, this commercial aspect of his being. Something about the monetary system of this world, the system of buying and selling, the fact that this world order revolves around, and runs on, money. This is one of the main sources of satan’s power and control over mankind.
And who would argue with that? Does not gold and the lust for it drive men mad? Is it not the main cause of war and strife? Do not men pursue it, above anything else? Does not the tyrant control the masses by controlling the gold? Will not the last great enemy of Christ, the antichrist himself, control the entire planet by controlling who can buy, and who can sell?
The church needs a deeper revelation about these things. We have made the fatal mistake of altering our doctrines to legitimize the pursuit of worldly wealth. Just sit back and listen to the average church service. So much talk time is devoted to continually propagandizing the congregation to give more and more. Money is spoken of continually. It it training people to think that we should immerse ourselves in this worldly system as much as the everyone else on this planet. We really are underestimating just how much we are playing on satan’s own turf.
But enough of that for now. We will deal with this personage at the appropriate time and place.
Back to the question. Why Tyre? Can we come up with some symbolic significance of this nation? As Egypt represented the flesh, and Babylon represents the new world order, or the one world government, may I suggest that Tyre might represent the once great British empire, in an allegorical sense? Surrounded by water, the dominant commercial power of its day, the leading center of commerce and trade, does that not remind us of Great Britain in its heyday? Did they not have the world’s strongest fleet, one that went and explored and made colonies all over the planet, primarily for the purpose of commercial exploitation via the East India Company? Did they not control the nations via their merchandising? Did not all the nations of the world engage in commerce with her? Can it not be said that the nations of the world committed fornication with Britain, and Britain with them?
London became the financial hub of the planet as well. Even today, many claim that London still is the linchpin of the financial control that the WEF and the IMF wield over the nations of the world. Their leverage with lending and interest and fiat currencies has enslaved a good chunk of the planet, and continues to do so.
While I do not claim that Tyre definitively represents the British empire, let us simply keep this suggestion in mind as we begin to examine the text, and see how well it fits. But whatever we decide, know that this would simply be a secondary interpretation. As always, the primary meaning is the plain meaning of the text which points to the real nation of Tyre.
Eze 26:2 Son of man, because that Tyrus (tsore – a rock) hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken (shaw-bar – burst, torn in pieces) that was the gates (deh-leth – something swinging, door, from a root meaning to deliver) of the people (am – tribe, flock, nation): she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished (may-lay – filled, satisfied), now she is laid waste (khaw-rab – destroyed, made desolate, decayed):
To Tyre’s credit, her joy at seeing Jerusalem fall seems to be mainly due to a financial advantage that she expects to reap. This is unlike those nations we examined in the previous chapter, where their joy was inspired by ancient hatreds, religious jealousies, and general spite. Maybe that is why Tyre is still listed as a real place on a map today, while those other nations have disappeared off any map long ago.
We need to recall that during the reign of Solomon, Israel became the center of the world for trade. Of course, that was several centuries ago, but I wonder if Tyre and Jerusalem were not fierce competitors, as Tyre continued to gradually take away and then dominate trade in the region. The gates of the people is a saying that Jerusalem was the door of interaction, or trade, with the nations. Perhaps over the years, as the strength of Israel ebbed and flowed, Tyre’s trade would rise and fall in inverse proportion to Israel’s power. So now that Israel was finally completely done, Tyre saw this as a great business opportunity. She would be able to pick up whatever trade Judah had still held on to.
Turning our attention to our theory of seeing the British empire in this passage also, would not this verse speak of the heretical ‘British Israelism’ movement that had its roots back in the 16th century? This was the idea that the 10 lost tribes ended up in Britain, and thus the people of Britain are really of Israeli stock. This idea really took hold in parts of America, and persists to this day.
This is simply another form of replacement theology. Satan has never stopped working in the west to attempt to get the church to abandon Israel, and claim its promises as solely our own. The whole point of all replacement theology is to try and claim all of Israel’s promises as the church’s, and to justify Jew hatred. As Tyre looked to replace Judah economically, so these replacement theologians look to replace Israel spiritually.
Tyre’s glee was sort of ironic, given the fact that its golden era was due to its alliance with king David and king Solomon. Those kings had made Tyre rich, in the materials acquired from Tyre to build the temple and various palaces. But I suppose nothing lasts forever. Yesterday’s friend is today’s foe.
Eze 26:3 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations (goy – gentiles) to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
To be pleased with Israel’s downfall is to stir up the wrath of God on your behalf. Have we not witnessed it in the prophecies given to the 4 nations of the previous chapter? Have we not witnessed it today, where our children are joining with islam in denouncing the Jew? None of our children could even find Israel on a map! In fact, I have seen videos showing that without their chatgpt, some cannot even decide what to wear, whether or not to get out of bed, or go for a walk with another human being!
Once Tyre opened its mouth and rejoiced at Judah’s demise, it opened a door. A spiritual door that would cause many nations to rise up against her. This was initially fulfilled with the siege of Babylon from 585 to 572 BC. Babylon was composed of the people of many nations by this time. Their army would have recruits from everywhere. So their conclusion that Judah’s demise would bring many nations to them in trade was not quite correct. Instead of trade, they came for war. Instead of bringing money, they brought swords.
One could also see a prediction that Tyre would experience more than one siege. They had been attacked in Isaiah’s time, and now Babylon would make life miserable for them. Ultimately Alexander the Great of Greece would severely humble her. They would never really rise to any eminence again. As the sea came in wave after wave, so Tyre would experience more than one attack.
This is what one who is rich can expect. It is one thing to become rich. It is another thing to hold onto it. Whether thieves, or relatives, or governments or invaders, the rich must constantly be on guard. Satan’s kingdom breeds greed, but greed also breeds envy. This is why a child of God should never strive to become rich. You are simply asking for trouble, as Paul rightly tells us:
1Ti 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
1Ti 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
1Ti 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1Ti 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Our churches are saturated with men who think financial increase is a sign of godly favor. Paul says to have nothing to do with such. Run away from them. Run as fast as you can. Instead of striving after gold, strive after contentment. If you do choose to strive after gold, you will fall into many evil things. It all depends where your ‘will’ lies. What do you ‘will’ to strive after?
Flee from gold. Rather, run towards the pursuit of right living, holiness, faithfulness, love, patience and humility. That ‘investment’ will pay off most handsomely in the bank of heaven!
Eze 26:4 And they shall destroy (shaw-khath – ruin, batter, utterly waste) the walls of Tyrus, and break down (haw-ras – pull down in pieces) her towers: I will also scrape (saw-khaw – sweep away, only time in OT) her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
Verses 3 to 6 give us a general indication of what God has in store for her. Whether from Nebuchadnezzar, or from future invaders, Tyre has a downfall scheduled. Here God speaks of a great destruction. Her walls will be toppled, and be flattened.
The idea of her dust being swept away carries the idea of the old city of Tyre on the mainland being destroyed, and its rubble used by Alexander to build a causeway to its island stronghold. Alexander was so enraged when Tyre refused to submit (332 BC), that he destroyed the city and slaughtered the 30,000 inhabitants, or sold them into slavery. The amount of rubble used caused a permanent land bridge to form over the next few centuries, so it is not an island today.
Eze 26:5 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 (baz – plunder, booty, prey) to the nations.
After Alexander depopulated it, about the only thing left for the remnant was to use it as a base for fishing. Travellers in the 18th and 19th centuries would attest to the fact that these broken jumbles of rocks were used for nothing more than the spreading of nets.
How many great places have been overthrown by the anger of God? How many cities, how many nations, how many empires have been brought down by pride and wickedness? Babel, Sodom, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome. Now Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. All great centers of commerce and great prosperity, brought low by their sin. We are watching in real time the complete dismantling of the once mighty British empire. Soon nothing shall be left but perhaps the dust.
Eze 26:6 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The plain meaning that instantly came to me is that Tyre’s family members would suffer the same fate as the fathers. The commentators also propose that daughters may be the surrounding villages around Tyre, or her nearest neighbor states that would depend on her prosperity. All would be ravished by Babylon.
In our time, the muslims which have invaded the west are raping our daughters at a record pace. Our courts are fully in accord with the rapists, often setting the rapist free, claiming that this is a part of their culture, and therefore they cannot really be held accountable.
One outrage after another. Madness after madness. How many more examples do we need before we realize we are the new recipients of the curse in Deuteronomy chapter 28? Here is a representative sampling of what Yahweh does to his adulterous children. Tell me if each and every one of these curses do not ring a bell:
Deu 28:20 The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
Deu 28:25 The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Deu 28:28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
Deu 28:29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
Deu 28:30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
Deu 28:31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
Deu 28:32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.
Deu 28:33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:
Deu 28:34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
Have you been driven mad yet? God knows, I am almost there!
Eze 26:7 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.
There seems to have been more than one way to translate this man’s name. Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadrezzar are the same man. Many names from different original languages would be translated slightly differently, depending on who is doing the translating.
Yahweh now explicitly reveals who is going to take the first crack at punishing Tyre, in accordance with God’s will. He is a king of kings, due to the many nations that he has already conquered. God’s enemies are said to come from the north in most scenarios. While Babylon was in latitude south of Tyre, some say it is because Babylon would have to attack Tyre from its northern boundary. I think there is something symbolic about each direction, and they carry deeper spiritual meanings. For example, the word for north is tsaw-fone. It also means hidden, dark, gloomy and unknown. It comes from a root word tsaw-fan, meaning to hide or hold in reserve.
And is that not the most fundamental characteristic of the new world order? Has it not always operated in secret, behind the scenes, pulling the strings and leading us on a path that is always ever further away from the will of our creator? Do they not operate in the gloom, in the dark? Aren’t their true secrets unknown? And just when you think you have something about them figured out, don’t they always seem to have things waiting in reserve, to deflect and confuse and muddy the waters?
Look at covid. A perfect deflection. A perfect distraction. While the whole world struggled to make sense of this new reality, 5G towers were quietly installed all over the planet. The use of unprecedented emergency powers became the norm. We now have permanent states of emergency that can be used to instantly oppress us in any matter that they wish. Medical murder has been institutionalized.
This king will have unlimited resources. And isn’t that the case with this technocracy that has been thrust upon us? Billions upon trillions of dollars are at their disposal. Their internet platforms seem to create hundreds of billions in revenue out of thin air. A very few companies are sweeping up the wealth of the world. And we thought the railway and petroleum robber barons of the 19th century were a problem. They were children in theft by comparison to the technocrats of today.
Eze 26:8 He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort (daw-yake – battering tower) against thee, and cast a mount (rampart) against thee, and lift up the buckler (shield) against thee.
First of all, we must remember that Yehovah himself gave Nebuchadnezzar the dominion of the earth for a season:
Dan 2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
Dan 2:38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
Once again the daughters of the field are referenced. This would refer to any allies or neighboring settlements that Tyre may have relied on as a first line of defence. Then the particulars of the attack are described. I think battering tower is more appropriate than fort, as Tyre’s walls would need to be breached. Mounts can be ramparts, or scaling walls. Others think that ramparts represented shields that would be held above the attacking force, to protect them from missiles. However, I think lifting up the buckler, or shield, would describe that aspect of the attack.
Sometimes God likes to get into some detail that seems to make us wonder why he does so. After all, wasn’t the method of warfare well known by all? Perhaps it’s to preserve it for posterity, when the warfare methods change. Perhaps it is to smash any illusions that Tyre had, as maybe they thought they were unreachable, being situated on an island mass, even though they did have a settlement on the shore. In any event, sometimes God gives us details of a thing that will come to pass, and sometimes not.
Eze 26:9 And he shall set engines (mekh-ee – battering ram, only time in OT) of war (ko-bel, only time in OT) against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
Engines of war could be battering rams, or they could be catapults. Their towers of defence would be broken down. In short, they are going to overcome your defences.
And here lies an excellent example as to why we do not look to secular history records for the truth of a thing. Remember at the outset that I claimed that the historical accounts seemed to say that Nebuchadnezzar was not entirely successful in overcoming Tyre? That after a 13 year siege, all he obtained was a partial submission? Well, scratch that. In this passage we can clearly see that Babylon was successful in breaching their defences. Now they may not have entirely obliterated the city, as historians claimed Alexander the Great had done, but this biblical account gives us an indication of a clear victory.
This reminds us to never look somewhere else to validate what the bible says. That is why I don’t like it much when someone looks to archaeology to ‘prove’ something in the bible. What if archaeologists find something that, in their eyes, disproves the word of God? What then? A good example was the traditional scholarship that doubted the Exodus timeline, simply because the name of a certain Pharaoh could not be found. As a result, liberal theologians had mistimed the Exodus by about 400 years, in contradiction to the word of God. But a more recent excavation proved that a certain Pharaoh’s name was deliberately struck from the historical accounts of Egypt, apparently for his heretical religious beliefs. Always remember that history is written by the winner, and rewritten by subsequent winners after that. And as we see today, the internet is quickly rewriting anything and everything. Soon, nothing may be real in the online world anymore.
Did you know that in the most recent data available, over half of everything that is now on the internet is being produced by bots (ie, computer software)? And that number is going up every year. Some think that by 2030, 99% of everything on the internet will be produced by computers, and 1% by actual humans.
The point is that who knows exactly what occurred thousands of years ago? Perhaps the record of Nebuchadnezzar’s victory was lost. Perhaps it was not written down, as it may have been deemed an embarrassment, since it took 13 years of siege to win. That might have been used as fodder by his political enemies. And in Alexander’s era, maybe his complete destruction was exaggerated, as every great leader’s exploits were often written in the best possible light. So don’t worry so much about what the secular accounts say. Look at what they are doing with our history in our schools today. They are often lying, and making it sound like America was nothing but a place where white slave traders came to tyrannize all other races, and make obscene profits off their labor. If the left ever wins power again, and keeps it permanently, real American history may be forever lost. We will see book burnings that will make the Nazi and communist burnings seem like a friendly campfire in comparison.
Eze 26:10 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.
Babylon’s army will contain so many riders that your city would be covered in dust. Old Tyre on the mainland and new Tyre on the island are included here. Thus, the dust may be more appropriate as applying to the part on the shore. Regardless, the immensity of the army shall cause the ground to shake. The city shall be breached.
Eze 26:11 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 (mats-tsay-baw – column, idol, standing image) shall go down to the ground (eh-rets – earth).
As in all wars, many die. Their city (or cities, as it were) would be overrun. Since Yahweh will refer to Tyre as an island later on in this prophecy, we should refer to these pronouncements as primarily applying to the island of Tyre. Regardless of what historians claim, Tyre would be overrun. The word garrisons in the Hebrew more accurately refer to the idols and images and columns that honored the various gods of Tyre. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar would lay waste to the images of all the gods that they relied on. Even as Jesus will come back and bring down all the principalities and powers once and for all, so Babylon is said to have brought down Tyre’s gods down to the earth.
Eze 26:12 And they shall make a spoil of thy riches (khah-yil – force, army, strength), and make a prey (plunder) of thy merchandise (rek-oo-law – trade, traffic): 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.
Regardless of whether or not the city was completely levelled, there was severe damage done to it. Of special note is that Tyre’s wealth would have been plundered. She, who prided herself on her commerce, would have her merchandise confiscated. What she worshipped would be her downfall. She relied on her wealth and her trade to save her, but to no avail. She would appear to be a forlorn place, out in the midst of the water.
Eze 26:13 And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
What will it take for the millions upon millions of people to get off of TikTok and Youtube, and open their eyes to what is occurring around them? How long can someone exist purely in the fake digital sphere, until their physical reality overtakes them?
I’ve seen one of the latest phenomenons that the young are falling into. Bedrotting. Sigh. All these new words we have to come up with, to try and describe the bizarre, demonic things that are going on. Apparently, many kids are going to bed and staying there with their internet device. Snacks close at hand, they only get up to go to the bathroom. Their rooms become filled with garbage, including mold and rotten food. They are actually developing bedsores.
Well guess what? This is not a new thing. Bedrotting is simply another name for sloth. One of the so called 7 deadly sins. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
But seriously, how much judgment needs to fall before the church stops singing victory songs,where there is no victory, and starts weeping and wailing over the death of all that they take for granted? Why do we not weep over all our children who know nothing about God or his ways? Are you okay with your kids joining Antifa, or cutting their balls and breasts off, or choosing to act like an animal, or becoming a bedrotter? Shall you continue to sing your songs of victory on Sunday? Will anything shake you out of your delusional beliefs that victory is just around the corner, and that the wealth of the sinner is about to fall into your hands?
Eze 26:14 And I will make thee like the top 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.
Verse 5 already pronounced this doom. While Babylon may not have completed the total judgment of the Lord, they gave it a really good start. Apparently, it was 250 years later under Alexander that this became much closer to the actual reality. But perhaps it had become so for a season under Nebuchadnezzar, and then recovered. No one can say for sure.
What this means is that just because a prophecy does not achieve total and perfect fulfilment when one calamity hits, that does not mean that it will not perfectly come to pass in the future. God is very famous for fulfilling his prophecies at unknown time periods. That is, sometimes they are fulfilled very quickly, even the same day. Other times he waits thousands of years. And often they are partially fulfilled, then fully fulfilled at a later date. While we do not have time to examine this phenomena in more detail, think about all the messianic prophecies in the bible. Several were partially fulfilled on Jesus’ first coming, but will not be completely fulfilled until the second, about 2000 years later. Here is the most famous of them:
Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isa 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isa 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Everything up to the vengeance part was fulfilled in the first coming. The vengeance part, and the comforting of all that mourn (probably due to the end time calamities), and all that follows, will be fulfilled when he returns.
The bottom line is that, if God has spoken it, it will come to pass. The manner of fulfilment though, is unknown, and will keep us on our toes. That is why it is never a good idea to become too dogmatic when it comes to prophecy. In almost every case, Yahweh will make you look like a fool. Humility, teachability, and the ability to admit when you are wrong will take you a long way in becoming a useful disciple of the Lord.
Eze 26:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles (ee – desirable spot, coastland) shake (raw-ash – quake, tremble) at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded (khaw-lawl – pierced) cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
There are several nuances to ponder here. The word for isles (ee) also means coastlands. Up and down the Mediterranean coast, people would become greatly alarmed at the downfall of this stronghold. Secondly, any other island state, thinking that the water would protect them from attack, would tremble at the news that Tyre, the richest and most impregnable island fortress of all, should succumb to siege. Third, far off nations such as Carthage sent regular offerings to the temple in Tyre. Tarshish and other far off coastal powers would be shaken at her calamity.
Going back to our British empire theme, as we see Great Britain being destroyed by the islamic horde on the one side, and by the total surveillance and censorship tyranny that has descended upon it, does not her offspring also shudder in fear? Do not the islands of Australia, New Zealand, even Ireland and Scotland, do they also not quake at what is almost certainly coming their way? If Britain, that great spreader and defender of western civilization and freedom, has capitulated to tyranny and madness, what shall become of her offspring? Canada, and even America, who also sprang from her, shall she not take notice and be shaken? How many more women need to be raped? How many more men need to be stabbed? How can we not see that the muslims are here to replace us? They will not rest until the entire world is under the thumb of islam. But the churches are too busy naming and claiming victory and counting their offerings to notice.
Eze 26:16 Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away (take off) their robes, and put off (strip off) their broidered (diverse colored) garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling (khar-aw-daw – fear, anxiety); they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble (khaw-rad – shudder with terror) at every moment (reh-gah – the wink of an eye, very short space of time, instant), and be astonished (shaw-mame – stun, devastate, stupefy) at thee.
I don’t think the emphasis here should be on trying to discover exactly who these princes of the sea are, as that would become unclear over time. What we do sense is that this is sounding somewhat similar to the prophecies against Babylon itself in Revelation. In chapters 17 and 18 we see that the end time power is aptly named Babylon the great. It is also spoken of in terms of its commercial hold upon the peoples of the earth.
So too here we see all those who were made rich by trading with Babylon come and perform the ritual signs of mourning. They strip off their fancy garments, and instead clothe themselves with fear. The verse also carries the idea of a sudden, wink of an eye moment in time, where the realization takes place that all that they relied on will be lost. This resonates with this passage:
Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
We see that at the very end, what the people of God had been waiting for in terms of justice for centuries, may occur in just one hour of time.
We have all seen the predictions of the imminent collapse of our fiat monetary system. For 50 years now, people have been predicting the end. But here we still are. Nevertheless, we do know that London and New York are the financial centers of the planet today. Sooner or later, this system shall not be able to sustain itself. It shall collapse, and the collapse may be very sudden. Looking at the price of silver at the end of 2025, where it is appreciating at a rate never before seen in our time, this may be the strongest hint yet that those in the know are signalling that the game is up. The point in this verse is that if Tyre can fall, anyone can fall. If the richest state cannot hold, then how can anyone else? And speaking of today, if America falls, then certainly anyone else can as well.
Eze 26:17 And they shall take up a lamentation (kee-naw – dirge, beating the breast) for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed (aw-bad – perished, lost, undone), that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong (khaw-zawk – impudent, loud, stiff hearted, bold, violent) in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror (khit-teeth – fear) to be on all that haunt (yaw-shab – sit down, dwell, settle) it!
I think the only way to understand why Tyre would cause such a feeling of terror is to refer back to their commercial dominance. Tyre never had a great army, nor military might. But they did control the gold. Perhaps they were great lenders. For certain many nation’s prosperity depended on maintaining good trade relations with them. Money is power in the kingdoms of this world. That is why Jesus and the apostles so stringently warned us against getting tangled up in the affairs of this world, especially in anything regarding money. Why a Christian would want to devote their time in stressing and obsessing over the stock market is beyond me. Such a person cannot have an intimate relationship with the master. You have to immerse yourself far too deeply in the thoughts and the practices of how the world operates. And we all know that being a friend of the world is making yourself an enemy of God.
Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Jas 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
I included the entire context of this passage, as I could go on a long preach by what is found here. Suffice it so say, a friend of the world is an adulterer in the eyes of God. You cannot resist the devil, if you have not severed your affection for the things of this world, of which filthy lucre is the primary snare. And your whole attitude should be one of humility, mourning, and repentance, not of mirth, glee, and (un)holy laughter, as some have professed, to their eternal damnation.
All this weeping and wailing is not of the sort that James prescribes, but is what Paul speaks of as the sorrow of the world:
2Co_7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Revelation also mentions it:
Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
Rev 18:15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
Rev 18:19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
The wicked and the ungodly cry when their trinkets are taken away. This is not a cry for a life lived foolishly, but for the loss of their gold and silver. But when God judges the world, that is when a Christian is now given free reign to rejoice:
Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
While God hates those who rejoice when his people are being judged, apparently we are allowed to rejoice when the wicked finally receive what is coming to them. That is because true justice is being served. While God is allowed to be jealous toward his people, and will destroy those who celebrate their ruin, we are allowed to celebrate the execution of justice on the truly wicked. And that is just the way it is. If you think that this is somehow unfair, I suggest you take it up with God himself, as he makes the rules, not us.
We see that Tyre was stiff hearted and violent. Money makes you arrogant and cruel. All of us understand that basic truth. Money often causes people to lose empathy for their fellow human being. They think they are somehow superior to the masses, just because they own more gold coins than anyone else.
The stupidity of mankind never ceases to amaze, does it not?
Eze 26:18 Now shall the isles tremble (khaw-rad) in the day of thy fall (map-peh-leth – decadent ruin); yea, the isles (ee) that are in the sea shall be troubled (baw-hal – tremble, alarmed, agitated, vexed) at thy departure.
Yahweh seems to want to make a great case about the isles trembling. Ellicott has this to say about the matter:
“Isles” here, as elsewhere, includes coasts. It must be remembered how numerous the colonies of Phœnicia were. They had been established in Cyprus. Rhodes, Malta, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, and Africa. In some of these there were several colonies, as Utica and Carthage in Africa, Gades (Cadiz), Kalpe (Gibraltar), and Malaka (Malaga) in Spain. All of these looked up to Tyre as their mother-city, and received from her their high priests. Even Carthage, the greatest of them, sent yearly presents to the Tyrian Hercules. [end]
How many outfits today are tied into the day to day fortunes of the New York or London stock exchanges? Banks, investment houses, pension plans, investors, government policy, the entire world economy itself, all nervously keep an eye on the fortunes of the world’s great exchanges, especially America’s. If the New York market crashes, it is almost a guarantee that every other market on the globe suffers in lockstep. Thus it seemed to be with Tyre as well. If Tyre was ruined, it signalled the ruination of many others.
Eze 26:19 For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate (khaw-rab) city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep (teh-home – abyss) upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;
The deep can be thought of metaphorically with Babylon’s great army coming up and engulfing them, or the sea itself swelling up and covering it, after it had been levelled by multiple invading forces over the centuries. It can easily be thought of as some future punishment, perhaps in the Tribulation itself.
Perhaps a great flood is in Britain’s cards in the near future? I suppose if that does happen, it would help to cement the validity of this secondary meaning for Tyre as being Britain that I have proposed. But let us remember that while projecting old nations onto new ones may be fun, chances are that they are incorrect. While some verses seem to fit our present reality perfectly, give it a few years and those similarities often fade away as geopolitics take its toll on the fortunes of the people and the nations.
But whatever we wish to speculate, Tyre shall not be inhabited. Whether Nebuchadnezzar accomplished that at least temporarily, it was said that Alexander the Great certainly managed to do so in his time (332 BC). If Tyre is to permanently sink under the sea, that is yet to happen.
Eze 26:20 When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit (bore – dungeon), with the people (am) of old time (o-lawm – vanishing point, time out of mind), and shall set thee in the low parts (takh-tee – lowermost) of the earth (eh-rets), in places desolate (khor-baw – decayed, wasted) of old (o-lawm), with them that go down to the pit (bore), that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory (tseb-ee – prominence, splendor, beauty) in the land (eh-rets) of the living;
We now receive the first of many verses that will take us into a deeper, darker realm of the scripture. Both Tyre and Egypt will contain several verses of prophecy that refer to the netherworld, the place of departed spirits. Rather than focusing on what these ancient people really believed about the abode of the dead, as so many commentators do, I would rather wish to share what the Spirit of the Lord would reveal to us, given the fact that the church has 2000 years of theology and experience with the further revelations of the spirit world that Jesus and the apostles gave us, which were not available in Ezekiel’s day.
Looking at this verse, Yehovah is definitely speaking of an eternal punishment for Tyre, not merely a temporal one. And that indicates that Tyre is standing in for something not of this world. We have already speculated on an alternate identity of the British empire as far as geographical and financial similarity goes. That financial aspect leads us to the Babylonian beast system of commerce that Revelation alludes to. We can all sense that we are being herded into a digital world, where everything about our lives may be controlled. One may be able to hide gold coins, or even paper dollars, but how does one hide digital currency? As the beast system, and those evil spirits responsible for it, are headed for the pit of hell, so is Tyre, as a type and shadow of it.
The people of old time refers to those from before the flood. That was a special time in history, when the fallen ones defiled not only mankind, but all of creation with their illicit mixing. They are down in the pit, and that is where Tyre is headed. The idea here is that this Tyre-Babylonian system of commerce is spawned by the same creatures that justified the flood. These are sins that are on a level of wickedness all of its own, and hell has been especially created for them.
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Tyre, and all its types and shadows in the future that their systems of trafficking represent, have a special place in hell reserved for them. It is in the lowermost parts of the earth. A place that is desolate even by hell’s standards. Peter speaks of this place:
2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
The word for hell is tar-tar-o-o, or Tartarus. It was known in Greek culture, as an especially awful place, where the Titans of old were chained forever. Strong’s says it is the deepest abyss of Hades. This is what this verse is also referring to, I believe. All of Tyre, since they represent this Babylonian system of defiance and rebellion to God and his ways that began in Babel, shall be thrust down to this part of hell, to join those that sinned with women in Gen 6:4.
But wait. Yehovah is not quite finished. Almost as if it is out of place, he manages to sneak in a positive promise in the midst of all this unrelenting judgment. He says he will set glory in the land of the living, or on the earth. Most see this as an obscure reference to the reign of the Messiah at some future date, and I have to agree. Yahweh loves to drop little hints here and there that no matter how dark man’s sins make our present look, there is coming a future where all of that shall be wiped away. It is primarily this promise of the future that allows us to fix our eyes firmly ahead, and not despair, regardless of how bad it gets.
Eze 26:21 I will make thee a terror (law-law-haw – alarm, trouble, destruction), and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never (lo o-lawm – not time out of mind) be found again, saith the Lord GOD.
Tyre shall be made an example of judgment that will never be forgotten. What a terrible thing to be remembered for!
There are other passages in scripture that refer to those who will be remembered for all the wrong reasons:
Isa 66:24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
This last verse in Isaiah seems to indicate that there is some place where we will be able to view those in the eternal lake of fire. I don’t know how that all fits in with an eternal state of happiness and joy, but there it is. The context seems to place this in the Millenium, though. Perhaps in that era, man is kept in check by an actual window into hell itself!
Rev 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
Rev 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Rev 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
These verses in Revelation parrot this verse in Ezekiel. As Tyre would never be found again, so also will the great and final Babylon suffer the same fate.
Thus ends the opening salvo of Yehovah against Tyre, this mysterious entity that the Lord wants us to spend some time studying. We have another two chapters to go, so let us see what God says next.
Solitary Man
https://solitaryman.substack.com/
