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Take up a lamentation for Tyrus. The dirge over the merchant-city that follows, the doom sic transit gloria mundi, worked out with a fullness of detail which reminds us of the Homeric catalogue of ships ('Iliad,' 2:484-770), is almost, if not altogether, without a parallel in the history of literature. It can scarcely have rested on anything but personal knowledge. Ezekiel, we must believe, had, at some time or other in his life, trod the sinful streets of the great city, and noted the mingled crowd of many nations and in many costumes that he met there, just as we infer from Dante's vivid description of the dockyards of Venice ('Inf.,' 21.7-15) that he had visited that city. Apart from its poetic or prophetic interest, it is for us almost the locus classicus as to the geography and commerce of that old world of which Tyre was in some sense the center. We may compare it, from that point of view, with the ethnological statements in Gen_10:1-32.; just as, from the standpoint of prophecy, it has to be compared with Isaiah's "burden" against Babylon (Isa_13:1-22; Isa_14:1-32.), and with St. John's representation of Rome as the spiritual Babylon of the Apocalypse (Rev_18:1-24.).
Eze_27:3
We begin with the picture of the city, situate at the entry (Hebrew, entries), or harbors of the sea. Of these Tyre had two—the northern, known as the Sidonian; the southern, as the Egyptian. There she dwelt, a merchant of the peoples, that came, in the wider sense of the word (see Eze_26:15), from the isles of the Mediterranean. I am perfect in beauty. The boast here put into the mouth of the city appears afterwards as the utterance of its ruler, or as applied to him (Eze_28:2, Eze_28:15-17). We are reminded of Genoa, la superba.
Eze_27:4
In the midst of the seas; literally, in the heart (Revised Version). The words were true of the island-city, but Ezekiel has already present to his thoughts the idealized picture of the city under the figure of its stateliest ship. The builders are ship-builders, and in the verses that follow we have a picture of the Bucentaur of the Venice of the ancient world.
Eze_27:5
Fir trees of Senti. The name appears in Deu_3:9 and Son_4:8 as Shenir; in 1Ch_5:23 it is spelt as here. From Deu_3:9 we learn that it was the Amorite name for Hermon, as Sirion was the Sidonian name. In 1Ki_5:10 Hiram King of Tyro appears as supplying Solomon with the fir and cedar timber mentioned here for the erection of his palace, the house of the forest of Lebanon (1Ki_7:2). The fir tree was more commonly used for ships, the cedar for houses (Virgil, 'Georg.,' 2.444). The Hebrew for "boards" is unique in its form as a plural with a dual form superadded to indicate that each plank had its counterpart on the other side of the ship.
Eze_27:6
The high plateau of Bashan, the region east of the sea of Galilee and the Jordan, now known as the Hauran, was famous then, as it is now, for its oak forests and its wild cattle (Psa_22:12). The company of the Ashurites, etc.; better, with the Revised Version, they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood. The Authorized Version follows the present Hebrew text, but the name of the nation there is not the same as that of the Assyrians, and corresponds with the Ashurites of 2Sa_2:9—an obscure tribe of Canaanites, possibly identical with the Geshurites. A difference of punctuation or spelling (Bithasshurim for Bath-asshu-rim) gives the meaning which the Revised Version follows; thasshur being used in Isa_41:19 and Isa_60:13 for the box tree, or perhaps cypress, or larch, as forming part of the glory of Lebanon. The use of ivory in ship or house building seems to have been one of the arts for which Tyre was famous. So we have the ivory palace of Ahab, after he had married his Sidonian queen (1Ki_22:39) and those of the monarch who had married a Tyrian princess in Psa_45:8 (see also Amo_3:15). For the use of such inlaid wood in later times, see Virgil, 'AEneid,' 10:137. Either the ivory or the wood is said to come from the isles of Chittim. The word was about as wide in its use as the "Indies" in the time of Elizabeth. Josephus ('Ant.,' 1.6. 1) identifies it with Cyprus, which perhaps retains a memorial of it in Citium. The Vulgate, as in Num_24:24, identifies it here with Italy, and in Dan_11:30 translates the "ships of Chittim" as trieres et Romani, while in 1 Macc. 1:1, it is used of Greece as including Macedonia. In Gen_10:4 the Kittim appear as descended from Javan, i.e. are classed as Greeks or Ionians. The ivory which the Tyrians used probably came from Northern Africa, and may have been supplied through Carthage or other Phoenician colonies. A supply may have come also from Ethiopia through Egypt, or from the Red Sea ports, with which the Phoenicians carried on a trade with Arabia. Inlaid ivory-work, sometimes in wood, sometimes with enamel, is found both in Egyptian and Assyrian remains ('Dict. Bible,' s.v. "Ivory").
Eze_27:7
For the fine linen of Egypt, the Byssus famous in its commerce, see Gen_41:42; Exo_26:36. This, which took the place of the coarse canvas of the common ships, was made more magnificent by being embroidered with purple or crimson, with gold borders. The ship of Antony and Cleopatra had purple sails, which, as they swelled out with the wind, served as a banner. The ancient ships had no flags or pennons. So the Revised Version renders, of fine linen, was thy sail, that it might be to thee for an ensign. The word for "sail" in the Authorized Version is rendered" banner" in Psa_60:4; Isa_13:2, and "ensign" in Isa_11:12. The isles of Elishah. The name appears in Gen_10:4 as one of the sons of Javan. It has been identified, on the ground chiefly of similarity of sound, with Ells, Hellas, or AEolia. Laconia has been suggested as being famous for the murex which supplied the purple dye. The Targum gives Italy. Sicily also has been conjectured. The murex is common all over the Mediterranean, but Cythera and Abydos are named as having been specially famous for it. Probably, as in the case of "Chittim," the word was used with considerable latitude. The latter clause of the verse describes the awning over the deck of the queenly ship. Was Ezekiel describing what he had actually seen in the state-ship of Tyro?
Eze_27:8
The two cities are named as tributaries of Tyro from which she drew her sailors, the Tyrians themselves acting as captains and pilots. Zidon (now Saida) is named in Gen_10:15 as the firstborn of Canaan, and was older than Tyre itself (Isa_23:2, Isa_23:12). Arvad is identified with the Greek Aradus, the modern Ruad, an island about two miles from the coast, about two miles north of the mouth of the river Eleutheros (Nahr-el-Kebir). It is scarcely a mile in circumference, but was prominent enough to be named here and in Gen_10:18; 1Ch_1:16. Opposite to it on the mainland was the town of Antaradus. For mariners, the Revised Version gives rowers.
Eze_27:9
The ancients of Gebal. The word is used in the sense of "elders" or "senators," the governing body. Gebal, for which the LXX. gives Biblii, is identified with the Greek Byblus. The name appears in Psa_83:7 in connection, among other nations, with Tyre and Asshur, as allied with them against Israel; in Jos_13:5 as near Lebanon and Hermon; in 1Ki_5:18 (margin Revised Version) as among the stonemasons who worked with Hiram's builders. Byblus was situated on an eminence overlooking the river Adonis between Beirut and Tripoli. Its modern name, Gebail, retains the old Semitic form, and its ruins abound in marble and granite columns of Phoenician and Egyptian workmanship. The work of the caulkers was to stop the chinks of the ship, and the men of Gebal appear to have been especially skilful in this. We note that the metaphor of the ship falls into the background in the latter clause of the verse, and does not appear again.
Eze_27:10
Persia. The name does not meet us in any Old Testament book before the exile, Elam taking its place. It was just about the time that Ezekiel wrote that the Persians were becoming conspicuous through their alliance with the Modes. So we find it again in Eze_38:5; Dan_5:28; Dan_8:20; 2Ch_36:20, 2Ch_36:22; Ezr_1:1; Ezr_4:5; Est_1:3. Here they are named as mercenaries in the Tyrian army. Lud. The LXX. and the Vulgate, led by the similarity of sound, give Lydians. In Gen_10:13 the Ludim appear as descendants of Mizraim, while Lud in Gen_10:22 is joined with Elam and Asshur as among the sons of Shem. Its combination with "Phut" (i.e. Libya) here and in Jer_46:9 is in favor of its referring to an African nation (comp. also Eze_30:5; Isa_66:19). Phut. Both the LXX. and the Vulgate give Libyans. In Gen_10:6 the name is joined with Cash and Mizraim. The Lubim (Libyans) are named as forming part of Shishak's army in 2Ch_12:3; 2Ch_16:8, and in Nah_3:9 and Jer_46:9 as closely allied with the Egyptians. Ezekiel names Phut again as sharing in the fall of Tyre (Eze_30:5), and as serving in the army of Gog (Eze_38:5). Mr. R. S. Peele is inclined to identify them with the Nubians.
Eze_27:11
(For Arvad, see Eze_27:8.) Gammadim. The LXX. translates "guards" ( φύλακες ); the Vulgate, Pygmies, probably as connecting the name with Gamad (equivalent to "a cubit"). The Targum gives "watchmen;" Gesenius, "warriors:" Hitzig, "deserters." The name probably indicates that they were the flower of the Tyrian army—the life-guards (like the "Immortals" of the Persians) of the merchant-city. On the whole, we must leave the problem as one that we have no data for solving. The grouping with Arvad, however, suggests a Syrian or Phoenician tribe. They hanged their shields. The custom seems to have been specially Phoenician. Solomon introduced it at Jerusalem (So Eze_4:4). The sight of the walls thus decorated, the shields being sometimes gilt or painted, must have been sufficiently striking to warrant Ezekiel's phrase that thus the beauty of the city was "made perfect" by it. The custom reappears in 1 Macc. 4:57.
Eze_27:12
Tarahish. The description of the city is followed by a catalogue raisonnee of the countries with which she traded. Here we are on more certain ground, there being a general consensus that Tarshish, the Greek Tartessus, indicates the coast of Spain, which was pre-eminent in the ancient world for the metals named (Jer_10:9). The ships of Tarshish (1Ki_22:48; Isa_2:16) were the larger merchant-vessels that were made for this distant traffic. Like all such names, it was probably used with considerable latitude, and it is worth noting that both the LXX. and the Vulgate give Carthaginians. Probably the chief Phoenician colonies in Spain, notably, of course, Carthago Nova, were offshoots from Carthage, in which, by the way, we trace the old Hebrew Kirjath (equivalent to "city"). Traded in thy fairs; better, with the Revised Version, traded for thy wares; i.e. they bartered their mineral treasures for the goods brought by the Tyrian merchants. The same Hebrew word appears in Eze_27:14, Eze_27:16, Eze_27:19, Eze_27:22, Eze_27:23, but is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament, and may have been a technical word in Tyrian commerce. The LXX. gives ἀγορά ; the Vulgate, nundinae, which seems to have suggested the Revised Version.
Eze_27:13
Javan (father of Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim, and son of Japheth, Gen_10:2, Gen_10:4) stands generically for Greece, and probably represents Ionia. Tubal and Meshech are sons of Japheth in Gen_10:2, and are always grouped together, except in Psa_120:5, where Meshech appears alone, and in Isa_66:19, where Tubal is named, but not Meshech. In Eze_32:26 they are associated with Elam and Asshur (Assyria); in Eze_38:2, Eze_38:3 and Eze_39:1 with Gog. The two names probably represented the tribes on the southeast coast of the Black Sea. Here the chief traffic was in slaves, the Tyrian traders probably buying them in exchange for their manufactured goods, and selling them to the cities of Greece as well as Phoenicia. In Greek history the names appear as Tibaroni and Moschi (Herod; 3.94; Xenophon, 'Anab.,' 5.5. 2, etal.). In Joel 4:6 Tyriaus are represented as selling Israelites as slaves in Greek cities (Hebrew "sons of Javan"). Thrace and Scythia were at all times the chief countries from which Greece imported her slaves. Vessels of brass. Here, as throughout the Old Testament, we should read "copper," the mixed metal which we know as "brass" not Being known to ancient metallurgy. Copper-mines were found near the Caucasus, and Euboea was also famous for them. The region was also noted for its iron.
Eze_27:14
Togarmah. The name appears in Eze_38:6 as an ally of Gog, in Gen_10:3 as a son of Gomer. Jerome identifies it with Phrygia, others with Cappadocia, but there is a wider consensus for Armenia, which was famous for its horses and mules (Xenophon, ' Anab.,' 5. 34; Strabo, 11.14. 9; Herod; 1.194).
Eze_27:15
The men of Dedan. The name occurs again in Eze_27:20, and has already met us in Eze_25:13 (where see note). Here the words probably refer to the many isles of the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea. So the ships of Solomon and Hiram—ships of Tarshish (name used generically for merchant-vessels)—brought ivory among their other imports, starting from Ezion-Geber (1Ki_9:26; 1Ki_10:22). Ebony came from Ethiopia and India. Virgil, indeed, names the latter country as the only region which produced it ('Georg.,' 2.115). Ceylon is at present one of the chief sources of supply. The LXX. curiously enough gives Rhodians, the Hebrew letters for d and r being easily mistaken by copyists.
Eze_27:16
Syria; Hebrew, Aram. The LXX. which gives ἀνθρώπους , seems to have read Adam (equivalent to "man"), another instance of the fact just referred to. And this has led many commentators (Michaelis, Ewald, Hitzig, Furst) to conjecture, following the Peshito Version, that Edom must have been the true reading. As regards the products named, we know too little of the commerce of Edom to say whether it included them in its exports, and the fact that the broidered work of Babylon had been famous from of old (Jos_7:21), and that it was also the oldest emporium for precious stones, may be urged in favor of the present reading, and of taking Aram in its widest sense as including Mesopotamia. On the other hand, the mention of onyx, sapphire, coral, pearls, topaz, in Job_28:16-19, the local coloring of which is essentially Idumaean, supports the conjectural emendation. Emeralds (comp. Exo_28:18). Some writers identify it with the carbuncle. It meets us again in Eze_28:13. The fine linen (butz) is different from that of Eze_28:7 (shesh) and appears only in the later books of the Old Testament (1Ch_4:21; 2Ch_3:14; Est_1:6, etal.). It was probably the byssus of the Greeks, made of cotton, while the Egyptian fabric was of flax. Coral. The Hebrew (ramoth) occurs only here and in Job_28:18. "Coral" is the traditional Jewish interpretation, but the LXX. transliterates, and the Vulgate gives secure. Agate is found here and in Isa_54:12, and has been identified with the ruby or carbuncle. In Exo_28:19 and Exo_39:12 the English represents a different Hebrew word.
Eze_27:17
Judah and the land of Israel. The narrow strip of land occupied by the Phoenicians was unable to supply its crowded population. It was dependent on Israel for its corn and oil and the like in the days of Solomon (1Ki_5:9-11) and continued to be so to those of Herod Agrippa (Act_12:20). Minnith appears in Jdg_11:33 as a city of the Ammonites near Heshbon, and the region of Ammon was famous for its wheat (2Ch_27:5). Minnith wheat probably fetched the highest price in the Tyrian markets. Pannag is found here only. The versions, Targum, LXX; give "ointments" ( μύροι ), Vulgate, balsam. Most modern commentators take it as meaning sweetmeats, the syrup of grape-juice, possibly something like the modern rahat-la-koum of Turkish commerce. Possibly, like Minnith, it may have been a proper name the significance of which is lost to us. Honey was at all times one of the famous products of Palestine (Jdg_14:8; 1Sa_14:27; Psa_19:10; Exo_33:3).
Eze_27:18
Damascus. The chief expert of the great capital of Syria was the wine of Helbon. The name occurs only here in the Old Testament. The LXX. gives Chel-ben; the Vulgate, as if it described the quality of the wine, vinum pingue. It has been identified with Aleppo and with Chaly-ben, but both of these places are too remote from Damascus, and Mr. J. R. Porter ('Dict. Bible,' s.v.) finds it in a place a few miles from Damascus, still bearing the name, and famous as producing the finest grapes in Syria. Strabo names the wine of Chalybon as the favorite drink of the Persian kings, and Athenaeus (Eze_1:22) says the same of the wine of Damascus. The name appears in Egyptian monuments in conjunction with Kedes, as a Hittite city, and Brugsch ('Geogr. AEgypt.,' 2:45) agrees with Porter as to its position. White wool. The adjective has been taken as a proper name (Smend) "wool of Zachar,' the region being identified with Nabatheaea, which was famous for its sheep. The LXX. gives "wool of Miletus," the city most famous in Greek commerce for its woollen fabrics.
Eze_27:19
Dan also; Hebrew, Vedan. The Authorized Version, following the Vulgate, takes the first syllable as the common conjunction "and;" but no other verse in the chapter begins in this way, and the Revised Version is probably right in giving the Hebrew word as its stands. Dan, it may be added, was hardly likely to have been singled out of all the tribes after the mention of Judah and Israel, especially as it had shared in the exile of the ten tribes. Smend identifies it with Waddan, between Mecca and Medina, or with Aden. Javan, too. already named in Eze_27:13, can scarcely here be Greece, though it may possibly refer to Greek traders. It also has been identified conjecturally with an Arabian city. The words, going to and fro, have been rendered "from Uzal" (Gen_10:27), the ancient name of the capital of Yemen, in Arabia; or, as in the Revised Version, with yarn. The bright iron describes the steel used for sword-blades, for which Yemen was famous. Cassia (Exo_30:24; Psa_45:8) and calamus (Exo_30:23; So Exo_4:14) both belong to the class of perfumes for which Arabia was famous. It is probably the Acorns fragraas, the "sweet cane" of Isa_43:24; Jer_6:20.
Eze_27:20
Dedan (see Eze_27:15). Here probably we have another portion of the same race. The precious clothes for riding (Revised Version) were probably of the nature of the carpets used then as now as saddle-cloths—the ephippia of the Greeks—in Persia and other parts of Asia. Compare "ye that sit on rich carpels," in Jdg_5:10 (Revised Version). So the Vulgate, tapetibus ad sedendum. The LXX. gives κτήνη ἔκλετα , as though it referred to horses.
Eze_27:21
Arabia. The word, commonly in connection with Dedan, is used in the limited sense which attaches to it in the Old Testament (2Ch_9:14; Isa_21:13; Jer_25:24)for the tribes of what in Greek and Roman geography were known as Arabia Deserts. Kedar. The name (equivalent to "black-skinned") appears as that of the second son of Ishmael (Gen_25:13). The black tents of Kedar (Psa_120:5; So Psa_1:5) indicate a nomadic tribe of the Bedouin type, famous, as in Isa_60:7 and Jer_49:28, Jer_49:29, for their flocks of sheep and camels. They appear, also, as having cities and villages in Isa_42:11. The name is used in later rabbinic writings for all the inhabitants of Arabia.
Eze_27:22
Sheba. The Sabaea of the Greeks. It is applied, in Gen_10:7 and 1Ch_1:9, to a grandson of Cush; in Gen_10:28 and 1Ch_1:22, to a son of Joktan; and in Gen_25:3 and 1Ch_1:32, to a grandson of Abraham. Geographically, in Ezekiel's time it probably included the South-Arabian region, that of Yemen, or Arabia Felix, and was famous, as in the history of the Queen of Sheba, for its gold, gems, and spices (1Ki_10:1, 1Ki_10:2; Psa_72:10, Psa_72:15). Raamah. Named in Gen_10:7 as father of the Cushite Sheba, and probably, therefore, connected with it ethnologically and geographically. The chief of all spices had probably a technical name, like the "principal spices" of Exo_30:23 and So Exo_4:14 for the genuine balsam, the product of the Amyris opobalsamum, which is found between Mecca and Medina. The precious stones includes onyx, rubies, agates, and cornelians found in the mountains of Hadramant, and the jaspers and crystals of Yemen. In the Rhammanitae, mentioned by Strabo as a Sabaean tribe (16:782), we have, perhaps, a survival of the old name.
Eze_27:23
Haran and Canaeh, etc. From Arabia we pass to Mesopotamia. Haran (Gen_11:31) stands for the Carrhae of the Romans, situated at the point where the old military and commercial roads bifurcated Cowards Babylon and the Delta of the Persian Gulf in the one direction, and Canaan in the other. It appears in Gen_24:10 and Gen_29:4 as the city of Nahor, in Mesopotamia (Aram-Naharaim, equivalent to "Syria of the two rivers"), or, more definitely, in Parian-Atom, which lies below Mount Masius, between the Khabour and the Euphrates. It is famous in Roman history for the defeat of Crassus by the Parthians. Caaneh. The eastern of the two roads just mentioned ran on to Calneh (of which Cauneh is a variant), named in Gen_10:10 as one of the cities built by Nimrod. It is probably represented by the modern Niffer, about sixty miles southeast of Babylon. It is named in Isa_10:9 in connection with Carehemish, in Amo_6:2 with Hamath the great, as conquered by the Assyrians. It has been conjecturally identified by the Targum and other ancient writers with Ctesiphon, but (?). Eden; spelt differently in the Hebrew from the Eden of Gen_2:8. It is probably identical with the Eden near Thelassar (Td. Assar) of Isa_37:12 and 2Ki_19:12, where, as here, it is connected with Haran as among the Assyrian conquests. Its site has not been determined, and it has been placed by some geographers in the hill-country above the Upper Mesopetamian plains; by others near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. The position of the Eden of Amo_1:5, near Damascus, points to a Syrian town of the same name. The merchants of Sheba. The recurrence of the name after the full mention of the people in Verse 22 arises probably from the fact that they were the carriers in the commerce between the Mesopotamian cities just named and Tyre. Asshur. The name may stand (Smend), as it commonly does, for Assyria as a country; but its juxtaposition with the names of cities has led some geographers to identify with a city Sum (Essurieh) on the west bank of the Euphrates, above Thapsacus (the Tiphsah of 1Ki_4:24), and on the caravan-route which runs from Palmyra (the Tadmor of 2Ch_8:4) to Haran. Chilmad. The name is not found elsewhere. The LXX. gives Charman, a town near the Euphrates, mentioned in Xenophon, 'Anab.,' 1.5. 10, as Charmaude. It can scarcely have been a place of much general note, but may have had some special reputation which made it prominent in Tyrian commerce.
Eze_27:24
In all sorts of things; better, with the Revised Version, in choice wares. Hebrew, articles of beauty; or, as in margin of the Authorized Version, "excellent things." The words have been variously interpreted,
(1) by Ewald, as "suits of armor;"
(2) by Keil, as "stately dresses;"
by Havernick, as "works of art" generally. The description in detail that follows is so vivid as to give the impression that Ezekiel had seen the merchants of Sheba unloading their camels and bringing out their treasures as they arrived at Tyro. The blue clothes (wrappings of blue, as in the Revised Version) were the purple robes of Babylon, which were famous all over the world. The words that follow are somewhat obscure, but are probably rightly translated by Keil, "embroidered of twisted yarn, in-wound, and strong cords for thy wares." The yarn may have been used for the cordage of the Tyrian ships. The words, made of cedar, are in this rendering taken as an adjective, equivalent to "firm" or "strong" (so Furst).
Eze_27:25
The verse beaus a new section, and glides back into the original metaphor of the ship, as in Eze_27:4-9. The ships of Tarshish are used generically for merchant-ships. The catalogue of the commerce ends with Eze_27:24, and the more poetic imagery reappears. It was, as centering in herself all that they brought to her that the merchant-city was very glorious in the midst of the waters. For sing of thee, read, the ships of Tarshish were thy caravans (Revised Version). The word has also the sense of "wall," as in Jer_5:10 and Job_24:11; and this, describing the ships as the "wooden wails" of Tyre, gives a tenable sense here.
Eze_27:26
Thy rowers have brought thee. The metaphor goes on its course. The state-ship is in the open sea, and the east wind, the Euroclydon of the Mediterranean (Act_27:14), blows and threatens it with destruction (comp. Psa_48:7). In that destruction all who contributed to her prosperity were involved. The picture reminds us of the description of the ship of Tarshish in Jon_1:4, Jon_1:5. The city shall be left, in that terrible day, in the heart of the seas (Revised Version).
Eze_27:28
The suburbs. The word is so translated in Eze_45:2, and Eze_48:17, and is used of the pasture-lands round the cities of refuge in Num_35:2. Here it is probably used in a wider sense for the coast-lands of Phoenicia, or even for the "waves" that washed the shores of the island-city. The Vulgate gives classes (equivalent to "fleets").
Eze_27:29-31
And all that handle the oar, etc. The picture is, perhaps, figurative. As Tyre itself was the great state-ship, so the other ships may stand for the other Phoenician cities that beheld her downfall. Looking to the picture itself, it presents the rowers and others as feeling that, if the great ship had been wrecked, there was little hope of safety for them, and so they leave their ships and stand on the coast wailing. (For casting dust, as a sign of mourning, see Jos_7:6; 1Sa_4:12; Job_2:12, et al.; for "wallowing in the dust," Jer_6:26; Jer_25:34; Mic_1:10-16. For the "baldness" and "sackcloth" of Verse 31, see Eze_7:18.)
Eze_27:32
As in other instances of extreme sorrow, the inarticulate signs of grief pass after a time into spoken words. What city is like Tyrus, etc.? What parallel can be found in the world's history, either for her magnificence or her fall? The shipwreck of her fortunes (we are still in the region of the prophet's metaphors) would be utter and irretrievable.
I. TYRE IS IN A LAMENTABLE CONDITION. At present she is wealthy and prosperous. But the prophet looks into the future and sees her doom approaching. Therefore he sings her funeral dirge while the thoughtless city still revels in luxury. Christ uttered his lament over Jerusalem before a shadow of approaching calamity had fallen on the wicked city.
1. It is lamentable to be living under a doom of destruction. In ignorance, unbelief, or carelessness, men enjoy life although they are guilty of sins that must bring down the wrath of Heaven. "As in the days that were before the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark" (Mat_24:38). But to thoughtful spectators such unseemly gaiety is only a source of profound distress. Surely if men would but look up, the sword of Damocles above their heads should arrest the untimely mirth. It is fearful for the wise to be lamenting over the approaching fate which the foolish will not perceive.
2. It is more lamentable to be living in the sin that deserves this doom. Sin is worse than its punishment. Whatever men may believe about the future, the present case of the sinner is most deplorable. If he glories in his shame, that shame is only the more lamentable. The most wretched condition of the prodigal son is that before he has come to himself, when he revels insanely in his degradation.
II. THE CONDITION OF TYRE EXCITES COMMISERATION IN THE SERVANT OF GOD. Ezekiel does not merely threaten vengeance, he bewails the ill-fated city. It was the crowning fault of Jonah that he had no pity for Nineveh (Jon_4:1). No one is fit to speak of future punishment who is not moved to tenderness by a contemplation of its woes. A harsh denunciatory style is not in harmony with the example of Hebrew prophecy, much less does it agree with the New Testament model.
1. Sin should not destroy pity, but excite it. Jerusalem was most wicked; therefore Christ wept (Luk_19:41).
2. The heathen call for our commiseration. Missionary enterprises are founded on two great motives—the claims of Christ, and the pitiable condition of the Christless. Human brotherhood should excite sympathy for the condition of the most remote. This was here seen in Judaism; much more is it to be looked for in Christianity.
3. We should be most concerned at the sin and danger of our friends. Tyre was an old ally of Israel. If the Jews had been more faithful, possibly the Phoenicians might have been saved. Our negligence may be to blame for the fate of our friends.
III. THE LAMENTATION FOR TYRE DID NOT SAVE THE CITY.
1. Lamentation will not save without repentance. The fear of future punishment will not give a means of escape from that punishment. We must go farther to a confession of sin and a desire for a better life.
2. The lamentation of others will not save the impenitent. Ezekiel's elegy did not deliver Tyre. Even Christ's tears did not save Jerusalem.
3. The cross of Christ is the supreme condition of salvation. Our own tears, a prophet's tears, even Christ's tears, will not save. But Christ's death brings deliverance for all who will have it, by atoning for sin and reconciling the sinner to God. When no prophet's lamentation will move the hardened sinner, the sight of Christ on the cross dying for him should melt him to penitence.
Eze_27:3
(last clause, "Thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty")
I. AESTHETICISM AS A RELIGION IS THE WORSHIP OF BEAUTY.
1. It is more than the enjoyment of beauty, which is innocent and even helpful to a right appreciation of God's wonderful works. Beauty implies harmony and refinement; it excludes everything harsh and coarse. So far it is good.
2. AEstheticism is more than the effort to produce beauty. This aim of art is good.
3. It is more also than the consecration of beauty to the service of religion. This is right; we should bring our best to God; religion should be honored with the homage rendered to it by art.
4. But aestheticism as a religion makes an idol of the sacrifice, by putting the beauty, which should be enlisted in the service of God, in the place of God himself. It is bowing the knee to beauty. It sees nothing higher than the perfection of grace and color and melody. This is as much idolatry as the Hottentot's adoration of a hideous fetish.
II. AESTHETICISM AS A RELIGION MAY BE JOINED TO THE GREATEST ERRORS. The beautiful is not always the true. There are lovely lies and there are ugly truths. By exalting the idea of the beautiful above all else, we sacrifice truth wherever the two do not agree. Thus the sterner facts of life are ignored and its less attractive duties left out of account.
III. AESTHETICISM AS A RELIGION RISKS MORALITY. It is satisfied with something lower than the beauty of holiness. If it rose to the celestial beauty, it could not afford to discard goodness, for all beauty that admits evil is corrupted with moral ugliness; but this is not perceived by the religion of aestheticism. Therefore there is a degradation of the very idea of beauty. Too often this is in danger of falling even lower, till Beauty becomes a tempter to sin.
IV. AESTHETICISM AS A RELIGION WILL NOT SATISFY THE SOUL. A man cannot live on the perpetual contemplation of a lily. Too much beauty cloys. The soul needs the sustenance of solid truth. It requires inward spiritual grace. In the hour of temptation and in the season of great sorrow the religion of beauty utterly fails. It may charm the sentimental; it has no spell for the suffering; it cannot save the fallen; it has no evangel.
V. AESTHETICISM AS A RELIGION CANNOT AVERT RUIN. Tyre was proud of her beauty and confident in it. But this was only a piece of senseless self-deception. Her imposing palaces did not keep back the invader; they rather invited his ruthless armies. She found no security in the vain boast, "I am of perfect beauty." There is no redemption in aestheticism. The sinner will not find here any refuge from the doom of his guilt. It would be a poor diet for unfallen angels; for fallen men it is assuredly no healing balm. Beauty has been brought down to shame and suffering. No culture of art or literature will lift the refined mind out of the danger that threatens "the common herd" of sinners. Cultured and rough people must come through the same strait gate of penitence and walk the same narrow way of the footsteps of Christ if they would hope for salvation.
Eze_27:13
I. THE SLAVE-TRADE IS CARRIED ON TO A TREMENDOUS EXTENT. This is no small evil. Every traveler into the interior of Africa writes of its wide prevalence; Whole provinces, vast regions as big as European kingdoms, are completely wrecked and depopulated. We are here face to face with one of the most gigantic evils of the human race.
II. THE SLAVE-TRADE IS DIABOLICALLY CRUEL. There is cruelty in the very seizing of innocent human beings, depriving them of their liberty, tearing them from their families, driving them from their native villages, and exporting them to foreign countries, there to live in perpetual bondage. But, the manner in which this process is carried out aggravates the cruelty of it immensely. No proper provision is made for the transport of great companies of men, women, and children through vast regions of African forest to the coast, and thence by sea to their destination. By far the larger portion of the stolen victims perish on the way, after suffering piteously.
III. THE SLAVE-TRADE IS AN OUTRAGE ON HUMANITY. All slaves are our fellow-men. The Greek slaves of antiquity were higher in race than their captors. But we have no reason to believe that they were treated so cruelly as the African slaves are treated by the Arabs. The modern slaves are lower in civilization than their captors—they cannot Be lower in morals. But it is the more shameful that a powerful people should oppress these children of nature. They are human, and God "hath made of one blood all nations of men" (Act_17:26). Mankind is insulted in the person of the slaves and degraded to the level of devilry in that of their hunters.
IV. THE SLAVE-TRADE IS A WRONG IN THE SIGHT OF HEAVEN. The notion that the Arabs are civilizing Africa, and even preparing for Christianity by leading the native people out of their heathen darkness to the belief in one God and the higher life of Mohammedanism, is not encouraged by the reports of those who have witnessed what is happening on the spot. On the contrary, the enforced conversion of whole tribes who are terrorized by the slave-hunters cannot mean any real advance in religion, while the awful wickedness of the trade carried on by these Mohammedan missionaries is one of the greatest sins in the sight of God.
V. THE SLAVE-TRADE MUST BE STOPPED. NO crusade could be more needed or more blessed in its result than one that was wisely directed for the suppression of this curse of Africa. Christianity is the inspiration of philanthropy. Christ infuses an enthusiasm of humanity in his true followers. Christians should not rest till they have done all that in them lies to suppress the vile, cruel slave-trade.
Eze_27:26
I. SOULS MAY HAVE TO ENCOUNTER GREAT WATERS OF AFFLICTION.
1. Their troubles are multitudinous. People talk of "a sea of troubles," referring to the number of distresses that they have met with.
2. Their troubles are restless. They come with changes, and they make disturbance like the ceaseless tossing and moaning of the sea.
3. Their troubles are aggressive. The great waters roll in waves, beat against the ship, sweep her deck, and threaten to dash her to pieces. Troubles are not merely negative evils like cold and darkness; they are positive in their activity, and they threaten to dash the soul to destruction.
4. Their troubles are overwhelming. The waves pour over the ship, the great waters threaten to drown the sailor.
5. Their troubles are deep. Fathoms deep the sinking ship goes down in the black, engulfing waters. So souls sink in sorrow and despair.
II. THESE GREAT WATERS OF AFFLICTION MAY BE FOUND WHERE ONLY PROSPERITY IS EXPECTED. The Phoenicians were not helpless landsmen. Familiar with the sea from their childhood, they regarded it as the highway of their commerce. Their wealth was got by trading over its waters. Yet the treacherous sea can turn against. its most trusting children. None dread it so much as sailors who have learnt its power and their own helplessness when it rises in its fury. It often happens that calamity meets a man in his most familiar haunts. Where he looks for a blessing he meets with a curse. This is possible with all earthly things. Therefore the most confident is not secure against trouble.
III. TOO OFTEN MEN BRING THEMSELVES INTO THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. "Thy rowers have Brought thee into great waters." Instead of keeping to the sheltered. course in the lea of the cliffs, the heedless rowers have pulled out into a reach of water where the sea is running high. It is no fault of the waters that the ship is thus thrust into danger. Men rush headlong into trouble by folly and sin. They have no right to set down the consequences to the inscrutable mystery of Providence.
IV. GOD IS THE ONE REFUGE FROM THE GREAT WATERS OF AFFLICTION.
1. He may still the waters. As Christ quieted the storm on Gennesaret, so will he still tumults of trouble. Our course is to pray for help, and trust him where we can do nothing for ourselves.
2. He may draw us out of the waters. Thus David says, "He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters" (Psa_18:16). Christ put forth his hand and saved Peter from perishing (Mat_14:31). When circumstances cannot be altered, we may be uplifted and saved from sinking in them.
3. He may be with us on the waters. It may not be possible to alter circumstances nor to remove us from them. Then we may be strengthened to withstand them, as St. Paul's ship was strengthened when the sailors undergirded it.
"With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm."
Eze_27:32
I. THE GREATEST SIN BRINGS THE GREATEST DOOM. All men do not sin equally, and all will not be punished to the same extent—some with few stripes, others with many stripes. Tyre sinned grievously, therefore Tyre was to be punished grievously. It is not the man who thinks himself the lightest sinner who will certainly be let off with the smallest amount of punishment. We are not to be our own judges and the assessors of our own guilt. There will be many great surprises in the day of judgment. The heaviest doom will be for those who knew the right way and yet did not walk in it (Luk_12:47, Luk_12:48). Therefore there will be heavier penalties even than those earned by Tyre. Christ says it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for Bethsaida and Chorazin, for the heathen Phoenician cities had not the opportunities that were afforded to the Galilaean towns in which Christ had labored (Luk_10:13). If London sins like Tyre, London's doom must be greater than Tyre's, for a city of Christendom has privileges which the pagans never enjoyed.
II. THE GREATEST DOOM WILL BE FELT IN CONTRAST TO THE HIGHEST PROSPERITY. The fall of Tyre was most appalling because her previous splendor had been most imposing. Dives writhing in agony in Hades arrests attention because he was previously enjoying the greatest luxury. The contrast is not merely a striking dramatic effect for the outside observer. It produces the most intense results in the feelings of the sufferer. We feel by contrast, and the greater the contrast the keener are our feelings. Thus a millionaire brought down to destitution feels the hardships of the poor-house far more acutely than the beggar who has never been accustomed to more sumptuous fare. Souls that have tasted of Christ's grace must suffer more agonies, if they become castaways at last, than souls that have never experienced its blessedness.
III. THE GREATEST DOOM MAY BE AVERTED. These things are written for our instruction—to warn us to flee from the approaching wrath, not to paralyze us with hopeless dismay. Tyre was overthrown, and its foundations became drying-grounds for the fisherman's nets exactly as Ezekiel had predicted (Eze_26:5). The threats of future punishment are equally certain so long as the sin that rouses them remains. But Christ has come to destroy the curse of sin and to free the soul from its doom. It is foolish to seek some faint encouragement from risky attempts to minimize the prospect of future punishment, and so to lull the soul to sleep in its peril. There can be no use in exaggerating the statements of Scripture, nor can there be any wisdom in making the least of them. True wisdom lies in recognizing the unspeakable horror of sin and its doom to the full, and then turning to Christ for deliverance from the sin as much as from its penalties.
Eze_27:35
I. MEN EXPECT THE CUSTOMARY TO CONTINUE. The intellect is conservative. Novelty is unlocked for. We believe that the future will be like the past for no other reason than that, on the whole, things seem to be stable and the course of the world uniform. But every now and then the unexpected happens, as though to warn us that things may not continue forever in their present quiet state. The antediluvians were too much accustomed to the regular rotation of the seasons to believe Noah's preaching. Vesuvius had slumbered for unknown years before the great eruption overthrew Herculaneum and Pompeii, and the consequence was that its foot was covered with buildings. People have but faint apprehensions of Divine judgment because life runs on at present in its old groove.
II. SUPERFICIAL PROSPERITY IS OFTEN MISTAKEN FOE SOLID SECURITY. Tyre was so great and rich and beautiful that her neighbors had never anticipated her downfall. There is no surprise at the destruction of poor little pastoral kingdoms like Ammon and Moab. But when a nation that is in the foremost rank of the world's progress is smitten down, men are simply confounded. Thus the destruction of Tyre surprised her neighbors, as the sack of Rome by the Goths astounded the contemporaries of St. Augustine and St. Jerome. Men have to learn that splendor is not strength, and that prosperity is not its own security.
III. PEOPLE MAY BE TAKEN FOR A TIME AT THEIR OWN ESTIMATE. Tyre boasted of her magnificence. "Thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty" (Eze_27:3). She prided herself in her strong sea-walls, and until they were tested in battle none knew that they were not strong enough to withstand the shock of the northern invader. The Church is proud of her orthodoxy, her splendor, her strength, and thus she may lead simple minds to trust in her certain safety. But all such boasting brings no real strength. It goes down at a touch from hard realities. Then the deceived are dismayed. In the end the discovery brings shame on the head of the boasters.
IV. A FEARFUL CALAMITY IS ASTOUNDING. We use big words, but we fail to comprehend their meaning; and even when our own language is translated into fact we are surprised at seeing what it really meant. There is a tendency to water down the strong language of Scripture. No doubt this is largely due to a reaction against the coarse literalism of earlier ages. A revolt from descriptions of future punishment which quiet, thinking people could not believe to be true of their own familiar acquaintances, has landed us in a region of mild theology. But there are stern and terrible realities in God's judgments on that horrible thing sin. When these are witnessed assuredly they will give a great surprise to complacent people who are now content to imbibe the thinnest dilutions of Scripture doctrines of coming judgment.
I. THE STATELINESS OF THE CITY'S BEAUTY.
II. THE SPLENDOUR OF THE CITY'S FLEETS.
III. THE SKILL OF THE CITY'S MARINERS.
IV. THE VALOR OF THE CITY'S ARMIES.
V. THE VASTNESS OF THE CITY'S TRADE. It is in this connection that Ezekiel introduces neighboring and even distant states, showing in detail in what manner each was connected with Tyre, what were the natural productions or manufactures which they brought to the world's great emporium. It was as a commercial port that Tyre was celebrated, and by its ships and its fearless, adventurous navigators distant lands were brought within the range of civilization.
VI. THE ABUNDANCE OF THE CITY'S WEALTH.
VII. THE GLORY OF THE CITY'S RENOWN.
VIII. THE HOLLOWNESS OF THE CITY'S PROSPERITY. NO wonder that Tyre was the envied of the nations; no wonder that men looked upon the city as secure of a long lease of opulence, of ease and luxury, of splendor, of power, and of fame. Yet beneath all this there was wanting the basis upon which alone can be surely reared the edifice of true prosperity. There was boasting and arrogance; but there was no humility, no subjection to the righteous sway of the Eternal King, no recognition of the sacred responsibilities which accompany the possession of advantages and acquisitions such as those of Tyre. Thus it was that in the time of trial the city was found incapable of enduring and of profiting by Divine discipline. It was founded, not upon the rock of righteousness and piety, but upon the shifting quick sands of worldly prosperity and renown. It fell, and great was the fall of it. "Every plant," said Jesus, "which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be plucked up."—T.
Eze_27:26, Eze_27:27
I. TYRE IN ITS PROSPERITY IS LIKE A MAJESTIC AND RICHLY LADEN GALLEY. Commerce and wealth, maritime and military greatness, are characteristic of the famous Phoenician port; and these are represented as the freight of the vessel as she skims the surface of the smooth waters beneath the sunny skies.
II. TYRE IN ITS TIME OF TRIAL IS LIKE A GALLEY OVERTAKEN BY A SUDDEN AND VIOLENT TEMPEST. The vessel is built for calm weather, and is ill fitted to contend with storms. When war was waged against Tyre by "the king of kings," Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, then the power of "the queen of the seas" was put to the proof. Not that Tyre succumbed at once; the resistance offered was long and stubborn; the city was fighting for its life. It was not like a great and populous nation occupying an extensive territory, which may be vanquished, but cannot be exterminated. If the city upon the rock was captured and destroyed, Tyre was annihilated as well as conquered. Hence the severity of the struggle, which was a struggle, not for wealth and power merely, but for existence.
III. TYRE IN ITS DEFEAT AND DESTRUCTION IS LIKE A GALLEY WHICH, WITH ALL ITS CARGO, SINKS IN THE MIDST OF THE SEAS. The great waters and the east wind work their will. The rowers are powerless; skill and strength are of no avail. The richly laden vessel goes down with all her costly freight and gallant crew. Riches and magnificence, valor and experience, are powerless to save when the decree has gone forth that opportunities have been neglected, privileges have been abused, that moral laws have been violated, and that the God of nations has been defied. The lessons of history have been studied to little purpose if they have not taught us that "the Lord reigneth," that he "doeth according to his will among the inhabitants of the earth," that he "brings down the lofty from their seat." The multitude of the host and much strength are a vain refuge from the justice and the power of "the Lord of lords."—T.
Eze_27:28-36
I. ASTONISHMENT AT THE SPECTACLE OF DESTRUCTION. The scene was so unexpected, so much in contradiction to all human anticipation and foresight, so revolutionary, so appalling, that amazement was the predominant emotion of those who witnessed it.
II. SENSE OF THE WORLD'S LOSS BY REASON OF THE SHIPWRECK. The earth seemed poorer for the overthrow and annihilation of Tyre—the leading seaport and commercial center of the nations. In Eze_27:33 this loss is depicted, the loss alike of peoples and of kings. Riches and merchandise disappeared, engulfed with Tyre in the insatiable deep. The march of human civilization seemed to be arrested.
III. CONTRAST WITH THE REMEMBERED AND MEMORABLE PAST. Cities, like men, are sometimes best understood and appreciated when they are no more. Those who recollected Tyre's splendor would, in their old age, tell a new generation of the bygone wonders. "Who is there like Tyre, like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea?" The puny successors to the peerless seaport would point many a moral, and inspire many a regret for vanished glories.
IV. UNSETTLEMENT AND FOREBODING AS TO THE FUTURE. Astonishment is often associated with fear and trouble. When a vast calamity occurs, it is as if the fountains of the great deep were broken up. Men's hearts fail them for fear. What is to be the future of the world's history? What nation is secure? What throne is stable? What principle, what power, shall bear sway in coming times? There is but one answer to these questions, but one confidence that can never be shaken, "The kingdoms of the earth are the Lord's."—
I. THE COMPONENT PARTS OF THIS SHIP WERE GATHERED WORLD-WIDE. The timber was supplied from one country, iron from another, cordage from a third, sails from a fourth. Evidently God intended that nations should be linked together in interdependence. The commodities essential for civilization are wisely distributed through many lands, so that friendly intercommunion may be mutual advantage. National exclusiveness is substantial loss. No country is prosperous in the highest measure that is not willing to import learning and legislation, scientific inventions and natural products, from other lands. Tyre owed her greatness and her prosperity to a large and generous commerce. She was willing to receive from the most obscure or most distant people. The ripest sage can learn from a little child.
II. THE SHIP'S CREW. "Thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots." Sailors, helmsmen, and defenders were chosen of those most skilful for their particular work. Such a course is the only reasonable one; and yet, in the direction of political affairs, this course is often abandoned. Men are allowed to rule, or are chosen to rule, either in supreme or subordinate places, because of their pedigree, or their titles, or their wealth, or their arrogance. The interests of the state are imperiled, the safety of the state is jeopardized, by partiality or by partisanship. The only qualification for office is personal fitness. No one would entrust his life in a ship which was not commanded by a skilful and experienced captain.
III. THE SHIP'S BUSINESS. The proper business of a ship is usefulness. She has been constructed and manned to convey passengers and commodities from land to land. The over plus of