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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
E Z E K I E L.
CHAP. XXVII.
Still we are attending the funeral of Tyre and the lamentations made
for the fall of that renowned city. In this chapter we have,
I. A large account of the dignity, wealth, and splendour of Tyre, while
it was in its strength, the vast trade it drove, and the interest it
had among the nations
(ver. 1-25),
which is designed to make its ruin the more lamentable.
II. A prediction of its fall and ruin, and the confusion and
consternation which all its neighbours shall thereby be put into,
And this is intended to stain the pride of all worldly glory, and, by
setting the one over-against the other, to let us see the vanity and
uncertainty of the riches, honours, and pleasures of the world, and
what little reason we have to place our happiness in them or to be
confident of the continuance of them; so that all this is written for
our learning.
| The Prosperity of Tyre. | B. C. 588. |
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1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2 Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;
3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of
the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of
perfect beauty.
4 Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have
perfected thy beauty.
5 They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir:
they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
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 Chittim.
7 Fine linen with broidered 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.
8 The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy
wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
9 The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee
thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in
thee to occupy thy merchandise.
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 kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they
traded in thy fairs.
13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they
traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
14 They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with
horses and horsemen and mules.
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 ebony.
16 Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the
wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds,
purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.
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.
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.
19 Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs:
bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.
20 Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.
21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with
thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy
merchants.
22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy
merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices,
and with all precious stones, and gold.
23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur,
and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
24 These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue
clothes, and broidered 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.
Here,
I. The prophet is ordered to take up a lamentation for Tyrus,
v. 2.
It was yet in the height of its prosperity, and there appeared not the
least symptom of its decay; yet the prophet must lament it, because its
prosperity is its snare, is the cause of its pride and security, which
will make its fall the more grievous. Even those that live at ease are
to be lamented if they be not preparing for trouble. He must lament it
because its ruin is hastening on apace; it is sure, it is near; and
though the prophet foretel it, and justify God in it, yet he must
lament it. Note, We ought to mourn for the miseries of other nations,
as well as for our own, out of an affection for mankind in general; it
is a part of the honour we owe to all men to bewail their calamities,
even those which they have brought upon themselves by their own
folly.
II. He is directed what to say, and to say it in the name of the
Lord Jehovah, a name not unknown in Tyre, and which shall be better
known,
1. He must upbraid Tyre with her pride: O Tyrus! thou hast said, I
am of perfect beauty
(v. 3),
of universal beauty (so the word is), every way accomplished,
and therefore every where admired. Zion, that had the beauty of
holiness, is called indeed the perfection of beauty
(Ps. l. 2);
that is the beauty of the Lord. But Tyre, because well-built and
well-filled with money and trade, will set up for a perfect beauty.
Note, It is the folly of the children of this world to value themselves
on the pomp and pleasure they live in, to call themselves beauties for
the sake of them, and, if in these they excel others, to think
themselves perfect. But God takes notice of the vain conceits men have
of themselves in their prosperity when the mind is lifted up with the
condition, and often, for the humbling of the spirit, finds a way to
bring down the estate. Let none reckon themselves beautified any
further than they are sanctified, nor say that they are of perfect
beauty till they come to heaven.
2. He must upbraid Tyre with her prosperity, which was the matter of
her pride. In elegies it is usual to insert encomiums of those whose
fall we lament; the prophet, accordingly, praises Tyre for all that she
had that was praiseworthy. He has nothing to say of her religion, her
piety, her charity, her being a refuge to the distressed or using her
interest to do good offices among her neighbours; but she lived great,
and had a great trade, and all the trading part of mankind made court
to her. The prophet must describe her height and magnificence, that God
may be the more glorified in her fall, as the God who looks upon
every one that is proud and abases him, hides the proud in the dust
together, and binds their faces in secret,
Job xl. 12.
(1.) The city of Tyre was advantageously situated, at the entry of
the sea
(v. 3),
having many commodious harbours each way, not as cities seated on
rivers, which the shipping can come but one way to. It stood at the
east end of the Mediterranean, very convenient for trade by land into
all the Levant parts; so that she became a merchant of the people
for many isles. Lying between Greece and Asia, it became the great
emporium, or mart-town, the rendezvous of merchants from all parts:
They borders are in the heart of the seas,
v. 4.
It was surrounded with water, which was a great advantage to its trade;
it was the darling of the sea, laid in its bosom, in its heart. Note,
It is a great convenience, upon many accounts, to live in an island:
seas are the most ancient land-mark, not which our fathers
have set, but the God of our fathers, and which cannot be removed
as other land-marks may, nor so easily got over. The people so situated
may the more easily dwell alone, if they please, as not
reckoned among the nations, and yet, if they please, may the more
easily traffic abroad and keep a correspondence with the nations. We
therefore of this island must own that he who determines the bounds of
men’s habitations has determined well for us.
(2.) It was curiously built, according as the fashion then was; and,
being a city on a hill, it made a glorious show and tempted the ships
that sailed by into her ports
(v. 4):
They builders have perfected thy beauty; they have so improved
in architecture that nothing appears in the buildings of Tyre that can
be found fault with; and yet it wants that perfection of beauty into
which the Lord does and will build up his Jerusalem.
(3.) It had its haven replenished with abundance of gallant
ships,
Isa. xxxiii. 21.
The ship-carpenters did their part, as well as the house-carpenters
theirs. The Tyrians are thought to be the first that invented the art
of navigation; at least they improved it, and brought it to as great a
perfection perhaps as it could be without the loadstone.
[1.] They made the boards, or planks, for the hulk of the ship,
of fir-trees fetched from Senir, a mount in the land of
Israel, joined with Hermon,
Planks of fir were smooth and light, but not so lasting as our English
oak.
[2.] They had cedars from Lebanon, another mountain of Israel, for
their masts,
v. 5.
[3.] They had oaks from Bashan
(Isa. ii. 13),
to make oars of; for it is probable that their ships were mostly
galleys, that go with oars. The people of Israel built few ships for
themselves, but they furnished the Tyrians with timber for shipping.
Thus one country uses what another produced, and so they are
serviceable one to another, and cannot say to each other, I have no
need of thee.
[4.] Such magnificence did they affect in building their ships that
they made the very benches of ivory, which they fetched
from the isles of Chittim, from Italy or Greece, and had workmen
from the Ashurites or Assyrians to make them, so rich would they have
their state-rooms in their ships to be.
[5.] So very prodigal were they that they made their sails of
fine linen fetched from Egypt, and that embroidered too,
v. 7.
Or it may be meant of their flags (which they hoisted to notify
what city they belonged to), which were very costly. The word signifies
a banner as well as a sail.
[6.] They hung those rooms on ship-board with blue and purple,
the richest cloths and richest colours they could get from the isles
they traded with. For though Tyre was itself famous for purple, which
is therefore called the Tyrian dye, yet they must have that
which was far-fetched.
(4.) These gallant ships were well-manned, by men of great ingenuity
and industry. The pilots and masters of the ships, that had command in
their fleets, were of their own city, such as they could put a
confidence in
(v. 8):
Thy wise men, O Tyrus! that were in thee, were thy pilots. But,
for common sailors, they had men from other countries; The
inhabitants of Arvad and Zidon were thy mariners. These came from
cities hear them; Zidon was sister to Tyre, not two leagues off, to the
northward; there they bred able seamen, which it is the interest of the
maritime powers to support and give all the countenance they can to.
They sent to Gebal in Syria for calkers, or strengtheners of
the clefts or chinks, to stop them when the ships come home,
after long voyages, to be repaired. To do this they had the
ancients and wise men
(v. 9);
for there is more need of wisdom and prudence to repair what has gone
to decay than to build anew. In public matters there is occasion for
the ancients and wise men to be the repairers of the
breaches and the restorers of paths to dwell in. Nay, all the
countries they traded with were at their service, and were willing to
send men into their pay, to put their youths apprentice in Tyre, or to
put them on board their fleets; so that all the ships in the sea
with their mariners were ready to occupy thy merchandise.
Those that give good wages shall have hands at command.
(5.) Their city was guarded by a military force that was very
considerable,
The Tyrians were themselves wholly given to trade; but it was necessary
that they should have a good army on foot, and therefore they took
those of other states into their pay, such as were fittest for service,
though they had them from afar (which perhaps was their policy), from
Persia, Lud, and Phut. These bore their arms when there was occasion,
and in time of peace hung up the shield and buckler in the
armoury, as it were to proclaim peace, and let the world know that they
had at present no need of them, but they were ready to be taken down
whenever there was occasion for them. Their walls were
guarded by the man of Arvad; their towers were
garrisoned by the Gammadim, robust men, that had a great deal of
strength in their arms; yet the vulgar Latin renders it
pygmies, men no longer than one’s arm. They hung their
shields upon the walls in their magazines or places of arms; or
hung them out upon the walls of the city, that none might dare to
approach them, seeing how well provided they were with all things
necessary for their own defence. “Thus they set forth thy
comeliness
(v. 10),
and made they beauty perfect,”
It contributed as much as any thing to the glory of Tyre that it had
those of all the surrounding nations in its service, except the land of
Israel (though it lay next them), which furnished them with timber, but
we do not find that it furnished them with men; that would have
trenched upon the liberty and dignity of the Jewish nation,
It was also the glory of Tyre that it had such a militia, so fit for
service, and in constant pay, and such an armoury, like that in the
tower of David, where hung the shields of mighty men,
Cant. iv. 4.
It is observable that there and here the armouries are said to be
furnished with shields and helmets, defensive arms, not
with swords and spears, offensive, though it is probable that there
were such, to intimate that the military force of a people must be
intended only for their own protection and not to invade and annoy
their neighbours, to secure their own right, not to encroach upon the
rights of others.
(6.) They had a vast trade and a correspondence with all parts of the
known world. Some nations they dealt with in one commodity and some in
another, according as either its products or its manufactures were, and
the fruits of nature or art were, with which it was blessed. This is
very much enlarged upon here, as that which was the principal glory of
Tyre, and which supported all the rest. We do not find any where in
scripture so many nations named together as are here; so that this
chapter, some think, gives much light to the first account we have of
the settlement of the nations after the flood,
The critics have abundance of work here to find out the several places
and nations spoken of. Concerning many of them their conjectures are
different and they leave us in the dark and at much uncertainty; it is
well that it is not material. Modern surveys come short of explaining
the ancient geography. And therefore we will not amuse ourselves here
with a particular enquiry either concerning the traders or the goods
they traded in. We leave it to the critical expositors, and observe
that only which is improvable.
[1.] We have reason to think that Ezekiel knew little, of his own
knowledge, concerning the trade of Tyre. He was a priest, carried away
captive far enough from the neighbourhood of Tyre, we may suppose when
he was young, and there he had been eleven years. And yet he speaks of
the particular merchandises of Tyre as nicely as if he had been
comptroller of the custom-house there, by which it appears that he was
divinely inspired in what he spoke and wrote. It is God that saith
this,
v. 3.
[2.] This account of the trade of Tyre intimates to us that God’s eye
is upon men, and that he takes cognizance of what they do when they are
employed in their worldly business, not only when they are at church,
praying and hearing, but when they are in their markets and fairs, and
upon the exchange, buying and selling, which is a good reason why we
should in all our dealings keep a conscience void of offence,
and have our eye always upon him whose eye is always upon us.
[3.] We may here observe the wisdom of God, and his goodness, as the
common Father of mankind, in making one country to abound in one
commodity and another in another, and all more or less serviceable
either to the necessity or to the comfort or ornament of human life.
Non omis fert omnia tellus–One land does not supply all the
varieties of produce. Providence dispenses its gifts variously,
some to each, and all to none, that there may be a mutual commerce
among those whom God has made of one blood, though they are made
to dwell on all the face of the earth,
Acts xvii. 26.
Let every nations therefore thank God for the productions of its
country; though they be not so rich as those of others, yet there is
use for them in the public service of the world.
[4.] See what a blessing trade and merchandise are to mankind,
especially when followed in the fear of God, and with a regard not only
to private advantage, but to a common benefit. The earth is full of
God’s riches,
Ps. civ. 24.
There is a multitude of all kinds of riches in it (as it is
here,
v. 12),
gathered off its surface and dug out of its bowels. The earth is also
full of the fruits of men’s ingenuity and industry, according as their
genius leads them. Now by exchange and barter these are made more
extensively useful; thus what can be spared is helped off, and what is
wanted is fetched in, in lieu of it, from the most distant countries.
Those that are not tradesmen themselves have reason to thank God for
tradesmen and merchants, by whom the productions of other countries are
brought to our hands, as those of our own are by our husbandmen.
[5.] Besides the necessaries that are here traded in, see what
abundance of things are here mentioned that only serve to please fancy,
and are made valuable only by men’s humour and custom; and yet God
allows us to use them, and trade in them, and part with those things
for them which we can spare that are of an intrinsic worth much beyond
them. Here are horns of ivory and ebony
(v. 15),
that are brought for a present, exposed to sale, and offered in
exchange, or (as some think) presented to the city, or the great men of
it, to obtain their favour. Here are emeralds, coral, and
agate
(v. 16),
all precious stones, and gold
(v. 22),
which the world could better be without than iron and common stones.
Here are, to please the taste and smell, the chief of all spices
(v. 22),
cassia and calamus
(v. 19),
and, for ornament, purple, broidered work, and fine linen
(v. 16),
precious clothes for chariots
(v. 20),
blue clothes (which Tyre was famous for), broidered work,
and chests of rich apparel, bound with rich cords, and
made of cedar, a sweet wood to perfume the garments kept in
them,
Upon the review of this invoice, or bill of parcels, we may justly say,
What a great many things are here that we have no need of, and can live
very comfortably without!
[6.] It is observable that Judah and the land of Israel were
merchants in Tyre too; in a way of trade they were allowed to converse
with the heathen. But they traded mostly in wheat, a substantial
commodity, and necessary, wheat of Minnith and Pannag, two
countries in Canaan famous for the best wheat, as some think. The whole
land indeed was a land of wheat
it had the fat of kidneys of wheat,
Deut. xxxii. 14.
Tyre was maintained by corn fetched from the land of Israel. They
traded likewise in honey, and oil, and balm, or
rosin; all useful things, and not serving to pride or luxury.
And the land which these were the staple commodities of was that which
was the glory of all lands, which God reserved for his peculiar
people, not those that traded in spices and precious stones; and
the Israel of God must reckon themselves well provided for if they have
food convenient; for those that are acquainted with the delights
of the children of God will not set their hearts on the delights of
the sons and daughters of men, or the treasures of kings and
provinces. We find indeed that the New-Testament Babylon trades in
such things as Tyre traded in,
For, notwithstanding its pretensions to sanctity, it is a mere worldly
interest.
[7.] Though Tyre was a city of great merchandise, and they got
abundance by buying and selling, importing commodities from one place
and exporting them to another, yet manufacture-trades were not
neglected. The wares of their own making, and a multitude of
such wares, are here spoken of,
It is the wisdom of a nation to encourage art and industry, and not to
bear hard upon the handicraft-tradesmen; for it contributes much to the
wealth and honour of a nation to send abroad wares of their own
making, which may bring them in the multitude of all riches.
[8.] All this made Tyrus very great and very proud: The ships of
Tarshish did sing of thee in they market
(v. 25);
thou wast admired and cried up by all the nations that had dealings
with thee; for thou wast replenished in wealth and number of
people, wast beautified, and made very glorious, in the midst of the
seas. Those that grow very rich are cried up as very glorious; for
riches are glorious things in the eyes of carnal people,
| The Fall of Tyre. | B. C. 588. |
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26 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east
wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.
27 Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners,
and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers 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.
28 The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy
pilots.
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;
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:
31 And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and
gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with
bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for
thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus,
like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?
33 When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst
many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the
multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
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.
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.
36 The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou
shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.
We have seen Tyre flourishing; here we have Tyre falling, and great is
the fall of it, so much the greater for its having made such a figure
in the world. Note, The most mighty and magnificent kingdoms and
states, sooner or later, have their day to come down. They have their
period; and, when they are in their zenith, they will begin to decline.
But the destruction of Tyre was sudden. Her sun went down at
noon. And all her wealth and grandeur, pomp and power, did but
aggravate her ruin, and make it the more grievous to herself and
astonishing to all about her. Now observe here,
1. How the ruin of Tyrus will be brought about,
She is as a great ship richly laden, that is split or sunk by the
indiscretion of her steersmen: Thy rowers have themselves
brought thee into great and dangerous waters; the
governors of the city, and those that had the management of their
public affairs, by some mismanagement or other involved them in that
war with the Chaldeans which was the ruin of their state. By their
insolence, by some affront given to the Chaldeans or some attempt made
upon them, in confidence of their own ability to contend with them,
they provoked Nebuchadnezzar to make a descent upon them, and, by their
obstinacy in standing it out to the last, enraged him to such a degree
that he determined on the ruin of their state, and, like an east
wind, broke them in the midst of the seas. Note, It is ill with a
people when those that sit at the stern, instead of putting them into
the harbour, run them aground.
2. How great and general the ruin will be. All her wealth shall be
buried with her, her riches, her fairs, and her merchandise
(v. 27);
all that had any dependence upon her, and dealings with her, in trade,
in war, in conversation, shall ball with her into the midst of the
seas, in the day of her ruin. Note, Those who make creatures their
confidence, place their happiness in their interest in them and rest
their hopes upon them, will of course fall with them; happy
therefore are those that have the God of Jacob for their help,
and whose hope is in the Lord their God, who lives for ever.
3. What sad lamentation would be made for the destruction of Tyre. The
pilots, her princes and governors, when they see how wretchedly they
have mismanaged and how much they have contributed to their own ruin,
shall cry out so loud as to make even the suburbs shake
(v. 28),
such a vexation shall it be to them to reflect upon their own bad
conduct. The inferior officers, that were as the mariners of the state,
shall be forced to come down from their respective posts
(v. 29),
and they shall cry out against thee, as having deceived them, in
not proving so well able to hold out as they thought thou hadst been;
they shall cry bitterly for the common ruin, and their own share
in it. They shall use all the most solemn expressions of grief; they
shall cast dust on their heads, in indignation against
themselves, shall wallow themselves in ashes, as having bid a
final farewell to all ease and pleasure; they shall make themselves
bald
(v. 31),
with tearing their hair; and, according to the custom of great
mourners, those shall gird themselves with sackcloth who used to
wear find linen, and, instead of merry songs, they shall weep with
bitterness of heart. Note, Losses and crosses are very grievous,
and hard to be borne, to those that have long been wallowing in
pleasure and sleeping in carnal security.
4. How Tyre should be upbraided with her former honour and prosperity
(v. 32, 33);
she that was Tyrus the renowned shall now be called Tyrus the
destroyed in the midst of the sea. “What city is like Tyre?
Did ever any city come down from such a height of prosperity to such a
depth of adversity? Time was when thy wares, those of thy own
making and those that passed through thy hands, went forth out of
the seas, and were exported to all parts of the world; then thou
filledst many people, and didst enrich the kings of the
earth and their kingdoms.” The Tyrians, though they bore such a
sway in trade, were yet, it seems, fair merchants, and let their
neighbours not only live, but thrive by them. All that dealt with them
were gainers; they did not cheat or oppress the people, but did enrich
them with the multitude of their merchandise. “But now those
that used to be enriched by thee shall be ruined with thee” (as is
usual in trade); “when thou shalt be broken, and all thou hast
is seized on, all thy company shall fall too,”
There is an end of Tyre, that made such a noise and bustle in the
world. This great blaze goes out in a snuff.
5. How the fall of Tyre should be matter of terror to some and laughter
to others, according as they were differently interested and affected.
Some shall be sorely afraid, and shall be troubled
(v. 35),
concluding it will be their own turn to fall next. Others shall hiss
at her
(v. 36),
shall ridicule her pride, and vanity, and bad management, and think her
ruin just. She triumphed in Jerusalem’s fall, and there are those that
will triumph in hers. When God casts his judgments on the sinner
men also shall clap their hands at him and shall hiss
him out of his place,
Job xxvii. 22, 23.
Is this the city which men called the perfection of beauty?
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