Ezekiel (Ch 27-28)
Chapter 27 and 28 continue with the same prophecy and lamentation against Tyre that started in Chapter 26. Why three chapters? Something must be rather significant.
Whereas Chapter 26 centers on Tyre, chapter 27 branches out to surrounding territories and many trading outposts. And chapter 28 starts with the prince of Tyre but goes beyond the temporal, the king of Tyre.
Ezekiel 27
1 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
2 “Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre, — take up a lamentation for Tyre; this compares to the mournful lamentations as practiced at funerals.
3 and say unto Tyre, ‘O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, who art a merchant of the people for many isles, thus saith the Lord God: “‘O Tyre, thou hast said, “I am of perfect beauty.”
— who art a merchant of the people for many isles; the inhabitants of many isles brought the produce to her; who took them off their hands, or sold them to others; these came from several quarters to trade with her in her markets; and who supplied other isles and countries with all sorts of commodities, for which they either resorted to her, or she sent by ships unto them.
4 Thy borders are in the midst of the seas; thy builders have perfected thy beauty. — thy borders are in the midst of the seas, fixed by the Lord himself and which could never be removed. Tyre stood about half a mile from the continent, surrounded with the waters of the sea, till it was made a peninsula by Alexander;
— thy builders have perfected thy beauty. The Sidonians were the first builders of the city and which was afterwards perfected by other builders, who also brought the art of building ships in her to such a perfection which made her famous throughout the world.
5 They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir; they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
— they have taken cedars to make masts; large poles for the yards and sails to be fastened to, for receiving the wind necessary in navigation; all these are for large vessels; most were made from the cedars of Lebanon; the Tyrians are said to be the first inventors of navigation.
6 Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Cyprus. — isles of Chittim; Chittim is the Old Testament name for Cyprus;
7 Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. — isles of Elishah; Elishah is mentioned among the sons of Javan; the regions here referred to are the coasts of Asia Minor.
8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy mariners; thy wise men, O Tyre, that were in thee, were thy pilots. — thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots; such, as had learnt the art of navigation;
9 The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy caulkers; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to trade for thy merchandise. — all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise; ships from all parts were in her harbours, which brought goods into her, and carried goods out of her, by way of merchandise;
— so the Targum says, “all that go down into the sea, and the ships; they were rowers, and they brought merchandise into the midst of thee.”
10 “‘They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war. They hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.
11 The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers. They hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.
12 “‘Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. — Tarshish; Tartessus in Spain; Spain was rich in the metals named, which were exported to Tyre.
13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. — these are Japhet’s sons as documented in Genesis 10:2; so Tyre was even trading with people from east Asia.
14 Those of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and and mules — is listed in Genesis 10:3 as the third son of Gomer, and grandson of Japheth, brother of Ashkenaz and Riphath.
— Togarmah is again mentioned in Ezekiel as a nation from the “far north.” Ezekiel 38:6 mentions Togarmah together with Tubal as supplying soldiers to the army of Gog. Ezekiel 27:14 mentions Togarmah together with Tubal, Javan and Meshech as supplying horses to the Tyrians.
15 The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand; they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and — Dedan (now part of Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia); a descendant of Ham through Cush, was an oasis and city-state of north-western Arabia.
16 Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making; they traded in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. — the Syrians had these to trade with at Tyre.
17 Judah and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants; they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. — Judah; the two tribes, or kingdom of Judah; the land of Israel; the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes until their dispersion.
18 Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches, in the wine of Helbon and white wool. — wine of Helbon; identified with a village of the same name, three and a half hours north of Damascus.
19 Dan also and Javan, going to and fro, traded in thy fairs; bright iron, cassia, and calamus were in thy market. — Dan also and Javan, going to and fro, occupied in thy fairs; either the inhabitants of the tribe of Dan; or of Laish, sometime called Dan.
20 Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. — Dedan and Sheba occur both among the descendants of Ham.
21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they traded with thee in lambs and rams and goats; in these were they thy merchants. — regions which afforded good pasturage for sheep and goats for their altars and for sacrifices.
22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants; they traded in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. — according to Josephus Sheba was also the home of the biblical “Princess Tharbis” said to have been the first wife of Moses when he was still Prince of Egypt;
— Raamah or Rama is a name found in the Bible (Hebrew: רעמה, Ra‛mâh), means “lofty” or “exalted” and also may mean “thunder”. The name is first mentioned as the fourth son of Cush, who is the son of Ham, who is the son of Noah in Genesis 10:7.
23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad were thy merchants. — those who live at ease enriching themselves are to be lamented, if they are not prepared for trouble.
24 These were thy merchants in all sorts of things—in blue clothes, and embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
25 The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market, and thou wast replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. — even the ships of Tarshish sung or spake great things of Tyre’s riches, like sing praises.
26 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters; the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. — the prophet now, in metaphorical language, speaks of the danger into which the rulers and statesmen of Tyre had brought her by their pride and ill-concerted measures.
27 Thy riches and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy caulkers, and the traders of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. — thy riches and all thy company, shall fall into the midst of the seas; shall be as utterly ruined and destroyed as if they were sunk in the sea by a shipwreck.
28 The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots. — thy pilots, or governors, as the Targum says; the sense is, that such should be the cry of the principal men of the city when it should be taken;
29 And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea shall come down from their ships; they shall stand upon the land, — the most mighty and magnificent kingdoms and states, sooner or later, would come down.
30 and shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly and shall cast up dust upon their heads; they shall wallow themselves in the ashes. — shall cry bitterly; with great weeping, howling, and shrieking;
31 And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird themselves with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. — and they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee; either by shaving their heads, or tearing off their hair, as mourners in distress have been used to do;
32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee and lament over thee, saying, “What city is like Tyre, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?” — in the midst of the sea: alas! what was once her safeguard is now her grave, what enriched her once hath now swallowed all up at once.
33 When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filled many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. — thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and pithy merchandise;
— by taking off the goods of their subjects, whereby they were able to pay their taxes, and support them in their grandeur and dignity; as well as by furnishing them gold and silver, and precious stones; or by the toll and custom of the goods traded.
34 In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall. — thy merchandise shall fall; trade shall cease, and the mixed multitude of traders from all parts shall be seen no more; they shall perish; mariners and soldiers, and persons of every rank and degree, age and gender.
35 All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid; they shall be troubled in their countenance. — and their kings shall be sore afraid; that it will be their turn next; and as well knowing that they were less able to contend with so mighty a monarch as the king of Babylon was, or Alexander the great, than Tyre;
36 The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.’”” — the merchants of the peoples hiss at thee?” how fickle are the people of mankind! Tyre was then the most popular and powerful nation on earth; but the very merchants who were delighted to be “her traffickers” are here revealed as “hissing at their former leader.”
— could this prophecy speak of the United States and her G7 compatriots? Could the Global South all rise up and hissed at Nato and the G7?
— “They totally disowned her; they hissed at her in a derogatory manner, perhaps thinking thereby to gain favor with the Babylonians.
— and never shalt be any more; historically Tyre was still an important city centuries later during the times of Alexander the Great, so this must be for the endtime; and is this a prophecy against Tyre that has no promise of restoration? Seems so as the end of chapter 26 says the same thing that Tyre “shalt be no more.”
— other concluding versions for Tyre: from now on you are nothing; and you will never exist again; and you are gone forever; for you are gone, never to return.
Ezekiel 28
Chapter 28 is still a prophecy of the destruction and a lamentation of Tyre, starting as the “prince of Tyre,” but ends up as the “king of Tyre.” God has a mysterious way of conveying his messages!
1 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, — as before, with another prophecy against the city of Tyre, now shift to the king of Tyre;
2 “Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said, “I am a god, I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas,” yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God. — because thy heart is lifted up in pride and self-conceit; and thou hast said: Namely, in thy heart; I am a god I am like a god. I sit in the seat of God;
— I sit in the seat of God; words denoting the speaker’s pride; the language, though primarily here applied to the “king” of Tyre, as similar language is to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon
— inaccessible by mortals; indicating this the prince of Tyre goes beyond the temporal, became the king of Tyre.
3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee. — the Septuagint render it by way of interrogation, “art thou not wiser than Daniel?
— it is just like Nebuchadnezzar’s pride but under God who said of him Daniel 4:30-31. Yet thou art man, and not God;
4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasuries. — thou art wiser than Daniel, with thy wisdom and with thy understanding thou hast gotten thee riches;
— through skill in navigation and trade, for which the Tyrians and their princes were famous, they acquired great wealth: by carnal policy has amassed vast treasures through the sale of pardons and indulgences has brought immense riches into the pope’s coffers, and the paying of three tithes among the CoG Communities when temple services had been abolished long ago.
5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. — and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches; which are apt to puff up and swell with a vain opinion of themselves, and to make haughty, insolent, and scornful, in their behaviour to others; the whore of Rome is represented as proud, vain, and haughty, Revelation 18:7.
6 “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God, — thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; seeking thine own glory; setting up thyself above all others; assuming that to thyself which belongs to God; and making thyself equal to him, or showing thyself as if thou art God.
7 behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. — “strangers” refugees: Afghans, Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Sudanese, Moroccans, Algerians and Libyans; Mexicans, Haitians and Venezuelans are coming;
— “the terrible of the nations” the most heinous and depraved of the nations, the strangers: al-Qaeda, ISIS and their affiliates; “and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom;”
— their beautiful city and spacious buildings, the palaces of their king and nobles, their walls and towers erected and warriors so well skilled in military affairs.
8 They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. — “and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas” ~ that die in a sea battles, whose carcasses are thrown overboard, and devoured by fishes.
9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, “I am God”? But thou shalt be a man, and no god in the hand of him that slayeth thee. — but thou art just be another mortal; and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.’” — thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised; or the death of the wicked.
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — here is a new scene, or a prophecy concerning the ruin of the king of Tyre.
12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. — take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, who is before called the prince of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:2); and who he was. Note a subtle change of scene, from “the prince” to “the king.”
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy taborets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
— now this prophecy of Tyre has moved beyond the temporal; he was in the garden of Eden, for none since Adam and Eve has there being another being in the Garden of Eden.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. — that is, “the anointed cherub that covereth;” the Targum understands all this of regal power, and renders it, “thou art a king anointed for a kingdom:”
— for out of the throne of God went thunders and lightnings, the cherub’s sword of fire is identified with the lightning-flash, and that in its turn met the thunderbolts of God;
— the idea of a holy mountain of God, as being the seat of the king of Tyre; the Targum says, “and over the holy people thou hast thought to rule.” So perhaps he was supposed to rule, but because of iniquity, that privilege was taken away?
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. — this being, the adversary, was created; till iniquity was found in thee; pride, blasphemy against God, and contempt of his people, as well as violence and deceit;
— thy heart has lifted itself up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom together with thy splendour: all these characteristics were found in “the king of Tyre.”
16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
— and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire; from among the creation (people, angels) of God.
— the Targum says, “I will destroy thee, O king that art anointed, because thou thoughtest to rule over the holy people.”
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground; I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. — thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; riches, wealth, power and authority.
— thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; outward lustre and glory, which dazzled his eyes;
— I will cast thee to the ground; I will bring down thy pride, dethrone thee, and make thee sit in the dust; sully and darken all thy brightness.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic. Therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee; it shall devour thee; and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
— and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee; the kings and merchants of the earth, who shall stand and look on the city as it is burning, and when reduced to ashes; which denotes the utter destruction of it, Revelation 18:9.
The Targum is, “I will give thee as ashes on the earth,’ and shall be no more.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.’”
— ll they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee; at thy fall; that such a mighty cherub, and powerful prince, should be destroyed;
— and never shalt thou be any more; similar to Ammon, this prophecy against the anointed cherub, the king of Tyre has no promise of restoration.
20 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — with another prophecy as before, against the city of Sidon, from where Jezebel hailed from;
21 “Son of man, set thy face against Sidon, and prophesy against it — Sidon is a city in Lebanon, but further north of Tyre.
— Tyre, and its sister city Sidon, both in Lebanon, were pagan to the center of their existence. It was Jezebel, the daughter of Eth-Baal, king of the Sidonians, who brought the whole pagan institution into Israel in the days of Ahab, precipitating the contest with Elijah on Mount Carmel.
— incidentally, that development demonstrated the godless influence of Israel’s apostate kings and their foreign wives. Jezebel was the wife of Ahab. Together they instituted the worship of Baal and Asherah on a national scale. Later, in Revelation 2:20, Jezebel is associated as a false prophetess for seducing and fornicating an endtime church.
22 and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her and shall be sanctified in her. — I will be glorified; when my judgements make my justice, power, sovereignty and truth appear, both you Sidonians and others about, shall confess my glory and ascribe honour to me.
23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord. — “and they shall know that I am the Lord” repeated four times (verses 22, 23, 24, 26) — Sidon survives, unlike Tyre, which perished and be remembered no more: Ezekiel 26:21.
24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all who are round about them, who despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. — the Targum of the whole says, “and there shall be no more to the house of Israel a king that doth evil (or hurt), or a governor that oppresses all round about them that spoil them.”
25 “‘Thus saith the Lord God: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to My servant Jacob. — the house of Israel are now scattered; the land they live now are never declared their land; their land is the one “given to My servant Jacob.”
26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.’”
— and they shall know that I am the Lord their God; Sidon survives, after they could see the hand of God in it, acknowledge his justice, and confess that their gods were idols, and that the God of Israel is the only true God.
Joel Huan
The Mystery of Ephraim 
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