Ezekiel 26 explained: The Fall of a Gloating Sea City

Tyre gloats over Jerusalem (vv. 1-2)

This message is dated around the time Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, about 586 BC. Tyre saw Jerusalem less as an enemy than as a business rival, and expected the trade that once passed through Jerusalem to flow to Tyre instead.

Waves of nations (vv. 3-6)

Tyre's main city sat on an island, so the threat comes as attacking armies rolling in like sea waves. The name Tyre means rock, and the city will be scraped down to bare rock where fishermen dry their nets, while its towns on the mainland fall too.

Babylon's siege (vv. 7-11)

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is named as the attacker, with siege ramps, battering rams, cavalry and slaughter in the streets. The pillars that fall in verse 11 may mean the city's defenses, or monuments to its gods; interpreters are unsure.

Plunder and silence (vv. 12-14)

The wealth is looted, the rubble is thrown into the sea, and the city's famous music stops. In history Nebuchadnezzar's siege lasted about thirteen years and did not wipe Tyre out, and Ezekiel himself later admits it brought Babylon little gain (29:18); centuries later Alexander the Great used rubble to build a causeway to the island and took it in 332 BC.

Coastal rulers mourn (vv. 15-18)

Tyre's trading partners and colonies around the Mediterranean step down from their thrones, take off their fine robes and sit on the ground, which were ancient signs of mourning. They sing a lament for the sea power that once made everyone afraid of it.

Down to the pit (vv. 19-21)

The deep waters covering Tyre and the pit picture the realm of the dead, where Tyre joins vanished peoples of long ago. The point is total disappearance: people will look for the old Tyre and not find it.

Key verse: Ezekiel 26:3

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether this prophecy was fulfilled literally over time, through Babylon, Alexander and later conquests, or is a poetic oracle of judgment whose promise that Tyre would never be rebuilt should not be pressed, since Ezekiel himself notes the siege's limited result and Tyre still exists as a city today.

Something to think about

When someone else's loss turns out to be your gain, where is the line between simply taking an opportunity and quietly enjoying their downfall?