Ezekiel 26:1
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ezekiel 26:1 dates the word of the Lord to the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, opening the messages against foreign nations with the prophecy of the ruin and lamentation of Tyre, the great commercial city. The judgment came because Tyre rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem hoping to profit from it, in open God-defying wickedness and injustice, and it was to be executed first by Nebuchadnezzar and later completed when the old city was cast into the sea to reach island Tyre, leaving its site utterly wiped out as a place for fishers to spread nets. Those words were literally fulfilled, and their fulfillment stands evident today with the other prophecies against the nations. The chapter stands as a prophetic warning to every proud, prosperous city that forgets and defies God, as seen when San Francisco was laid low by earthquake for awful wickedness, a fate that threatens New York, Chicago, and every like place, proving with Sidon, Babylon, Nineveh, Rome and Paris that cities are judged and punished or rewarded by the God of Heaven. A city and its government are therefore responsible to God, and alarming political and social evils call for deep and genuine repentance, for purifying private, social and political life by His revealed will, and for moving from mere impulse to do better to principle to do right, for warnings laughed at will end in judgment.
Setting and Prophecy Against Tyre
The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month. That date marks the beginning of the message about Tyre, which belongs to the prophecies against nations that had rejoiced over Judah's humiliation. The month is left unnamed in the dating itself.
The verse opens the section of the book containing messages against foreign nations. It begins the stirring prophecies against the nations in Ezekiel 26 to 28. Those chapters give the ruin of Tyre and the lamentation over her destruction.
The prophecy introduced here concerns Tyre, a great commercial city, and foretells its destruction. It declares Tyre's doom because the city rejoiced when Jerusalem was destroyed, expecting to profit from its ruin. At the same time it judges Tyre for open, flaunting, God-defying wickedness and for human wickedness and injustice.
The judgment was particularly to describe the work of Nebuchadnezzar, who was to bring it and capture the city. The prophecy is also connected with the later destruction of island Tyre, which Alexander captured after using the stones and rubble of the old city to build a way across to it. It predicts the utter destruction of Tyre, wiped out so completely that its site would become a place for fishers to spread their nets.
Fulfillment and Warning Today
The words spoken against the city were literally fulfilled, and that fulfillment, as part of the prophecies against the other nations, remains evident today. The chapter stands among the prophetic warnings of judgment upon wicked cities, given as a lesson for places and people that forget and defy God. Its warning about the punishment of Tyre is linked to the fate of wicked, defiant cities and applied as a lesson for modern cities that forget and defy God.
The verse shows a preliminary punishment upon a proud and thrifty city judged for open, flaunting, God-defying wickedness. The same fate met modern thrifty Tyre when San Francisco was laid low by earthquake, as the fruit of awful wickedness and the mercy of God. The warning is not to San Francisco alone but to New York, Chicago, and every other place forgetting and defying God.
The history of Tyre with Sidon, Babylon and Nineveh, Rome and Paris proves that cities are judged and punished or rewarded by the God of Heaven. A city and its government are responsible to God, and not only officials to taxpayers. Alarming political and social evils call for deep and genuine repentance toward God and for firm and steadfast determination to purify private, social, and political life according to the standard of His revealed will. Warnings from godly men that are laughed at will end in judgment, calling readers to move from mere impulse to do better to principle to do right.