Ezekiel 26:2 Son of man, because that Tyrus has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned to me… It is a singular fact that, in his reproaches and censures directed against the states and tribes by which Israel was surrounded, Ezekiel does not confine himself to a condemnation of their idolatries and their vices and crimes generally, but refers especially to the attitude these peoples had taken towards his own countrymen, their land, and their metropolis. No doubt there was patriotism in this way of looking at matters. But the frequency and evident deliberateness of such references show that it was not mere personal and patriotic feeling which animated Ezekiel. He spoke as a religious teacher and as the prophet of the Lord; and he recognized, as underlying hostility to Israel, hostility to Israel's God. It is observable that in the powerful and eloquent denunciation of Tyre's offences, in the awful prediction of Type's impending fate, which forms so interesting and instructive a portion of this book, Ezekiel puts in the very forefront of his indictment Type's attitude towards Jerusalem, the Hebrew metropolis. Type's jealousy of Jerusalem's historic power, prosperity, and wealth, Tyre's malicious delight in Jerusalem's humiliation and fall, are adduced as reasons for the Divine displeasure, and for the execution of the sentence of Divine condemnation. The proud queen of the seas was to be smitten and deposed, not only because of her luxury, pride, and idolatry, but especially because of her jealousy and malevolence towards the beloved and chosen city of Jehovah. I. THE FACT UPON WHICH THIS JEALOUSY WAS BASED, i.e. THE FORMER PROSPERITY OF JERUSALEM. According to the poetical language of the prophet, Jerusalem had been "the gate of the peoples." In the reign of Solomon especially, and to some extent subsequently, the metropolis of the Jewish people had been an emporium of commerce. Its situation in some degree fitted it to be the center of communication between the great Eastern countries, and Egypt on the south, and the Mediterranean and its traffic Westwards. We are not accustomed to think of Jerusalem in this light; but this verse in Ezekiel's prophecies brings before our minds the unquestionable fact that there was a time when this city was a mart in which the surrounding nations were wont to exchange their produce and their commodities. II. THE REJOICING TO WHICH THIS JEALOUSY LED, i.e. IN THE DOWNFALL OF JERUSALEM. "She is broken," was the exulting exclamation of Type upon beholding the distress of her rival. That Jerusalem deserved her fate there is no room for doubting; yet it was not generous in Type thus to triumph over the misfortunes and calamities of her neighbor. The wealth and prosperity of the Jewish capital was about to end; the days of her glory were over; her streets were to be forsaken; the caravans of the merchants were no more to thread their way through the proud gates of the city. And in this change, in these disasters, Type rejoiced. III. THE HOPE WITH WHICH THIS JEALOUSY WAS ASSOCIATED, i.e. THE EXTENSION OF THE PROSPERITY OF TYRE. The Phoenician city anticipated that she would gain what Jerusalem was about to lose: "I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste." The greatness, opulence, and renown of Tyre were such that it seems scarcely credible that her prosperity could be affected by anything which could happen to a small and inland capital such as Jerusalem. Yet it is evident that the Tyrian spirit was a spirit of selfishness, exclusiveness, and grasping. Nothing was too great for Tyre's ambition, nothing too small to be beneath her notice and cupidity. IV. THE MEANNESS WHICH THIS JEALOUSY REVEALED. In what follows Ezekiel displays the pomp, splendor, and magnificence of the great seaport of Phoenicia; it is strange that he should put in the forefront of his address to Tyre this imputation of littleness. There is a reason for this; it may be that the prophet spoke, not only as a patriot who resented Type's jealousy, but as a religious teacher for whom moral distinctions were all-important, and for whom a moral fault was of more consequence than all material splendor. V. THE DISPLEASURE WHICH THIS JEALOUSY EXCITED IN THE MIND OF THE DIVINE KING AND JUDGE. "I," says God - "I am against thee, O Tyre!" The city which had envied and hated his own Jerusalem, the seat of his worship, and the metropolis of his chosen; the city which was pained by Jerusalem's prosperity, and which rejoiced in Jerusalem's fall, - incurred the indignation as well as the disapproval of the Most High. For dispositions were revealed discreditable to human hate, ire, and repugnant to Divine purity. Because Tyre was against Jerusalem, the Lord God was against Tyre. - T. Parallel Verses KJV: Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: |
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