Ezekiel 27:26 - Meaning and Application

We have already seen Tyre in her pride and success. Here we see Tyre in her fall, and it is a great one, especially because she once stood so high in the world. The most powerful and splendid kingdoms and states come down at last. They have their appointed time, and even at their peak they begin to decline. Tyre’s destruction was sudden, like a sun going down at noon. Her wealth, honor, show, and power only made her ruin more painful to herself and more startling to everyone around her.

Notice first how Tyre’s ruin came about (Ezekiel 27:26). She is like a large ship, richly loaded, but broken or sunk because her pilots were careless. Her rowers, that is, her rulers and those who managed public affairs, brought her into deep and dangerous waters by bad judgment. Their mismanagement involved the city in war with the Chaldeans, and that war became the ruin of the state. Their pride, and some insult or challenge they gave to the Chaldeans, stirred up Nebuchadnezzar to attack them. Then, by stubbornly resisting to the end, they angered him so much that he determined to destroy them, and like an east wind he broke them in the midst of the seas. It is a sad thing when those at the helm, instead of guiding people safely into harbor, run them aground.

Notice also how complete and widespread the ruin would be. All her wealth would be buried with her, her riches, her markets, and her trade (Ezekiel 27:27). Everyone who depended on her, whether in trade, war, or daily dealings, would go down with her into the sea on the day of her fall. Those who trust in created things, who build their happiness on their goods and business, will naturally fall when those things fall. Happy are those who have the God of Jacob for their help, and whose hope is in the Lord their God, who lives forever.

Notice next the sad mourning that would be made for Tyre’s destruction. Her pilots, meaning her princes and governors, would see how badly they had managed things and how much they had helped bring ruin on themselves. In grief and shame they would cry out so loudly that even the surrounding places would seem to shake (Ezekiel 27:28). The lower officers, like the mariners of the state, would come down from their posts (Ezekiel 27:29). They would cry against Tyre because she had disappointed them, not holding out as they had expected. They would bitterly lament the common ruin and their own share in it. They would throw dust on their heads in self-condemnation and roll in ashes, as if saying farewell to all comfort and pleasure. They would shave their heads, tear their hair, and wear sackcloth instead of fine linen (Ezekiel 27:31). Instead of songs, they would weep with bitter sorrow. Losses like these are very hard to bear for people who have long lived in comfort and careless ease.

Notice too how Tyre would be mocked with reminders of her former honor and prosperity (Ezekiel 27:32, Ezekiel 27:33). She, once called Tyre the famous, would now be called Tyre destroyed in the middle of the sea. People would ask, “What city is like Tyre? Has any city ever fallen from such greatness into such misery?” There was a time when her goods, both those she made and those that passed through her hands, went out over the seas and reached every part of the world. She filled many people and enriched the kings of the earth and their kingdoms. Even in her trade, the Tyrians seem to have dealt fairly. Others not only lived by them, but prospered by them. They did not simply cheat people out of gain, but helped enrich them through the great amount of their merchandise. Yet now those who had been enriched by Tyre would be ruined with her, as often happens in trade (Ezekiel 27:34). When she is broken and all her goods are seized, all her company falls too. So ends Tyre, that once made such a noise and stir in the world. That great blaze goes out in a moment.

Finally, Tyre’s fall would strike some with fear and others with scorn, depending on how they were affected by it. Some would be greatly afraid and troubled, thinking their own turn would come next (Ezekiel 27:35). Others would hiss at her, mocking her pride, vanity, and poor management, and judging her ruin to be deserved (Ezekiel 27:36). She had rejoiced over Jerusalem’s fall, and now others would rejoice over hers. When God brings judgment on the sinner, people also clap their hands at him and hiss him out of his place (Job 27:22-23). Is this the city that men called the perfection of beauty?