Ezekiel 26:8, commentary and pictures

The "he" is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who would first cut down Tyre's dependent towns and people in the open country around it, then lay close siege to the city itself with forts, raised earthworks, and lifted shields. This doom was pronounced because Tyre rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem and expected to profit from it, as an example of God bringing down pride and defiance among the nations around Israel. Tyre held out thirteen years before he subdued it, carrying its leading families away, yet many of its people escaped. Its ruin was literally fulfilled, so that the site of the old city lies barren while the new town stands on the former island now joined to the mainland, the very place become a spreading of nets in the sea. That fulfilled word stands as a colossal proof of the divine origin of prophecy, growing stronger with every fulfilled event. It also stands as a warning that cities and their governments are accountable to God for their public life, and find safety only in deep repentance and purifying life by His revealed will.

Tyre's Siege Predicted

Ezekiel 26:8 stands within the prophecies against foreign nations in Ezekiel 26 to 28, in the section containing prophecies against seven nations. It belongs to the prophecy against Tyre, one of the prophecies concerning other nations, foretelling the ruin of Tyre and lamenting her destruction. The prophecy foretells the utter destruction of Tyre, the great commercial city, and includes Sidon in its foretold destruction.

The doom was declared as judgment pronounced on the nations and kingdoms around Israel that rejoiced when Jerusalem was destroyed and Judah was humiliated. Tyre rejoiced at the fall of Jerusalem expecting to profit from it. It was given as an illustration of how God brings down the pride and defiance of the kingdoms around Israel.

The “he” is Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Chaldeans, whom the false prophets said was not coming against Jerusalem. He would slay with the sword Tyre’s “daughters in the field,” meaning its dependent mainland settlements and the people in the surrounding open countryside. He would then besiege the city itself with a fort, a siege mound or earthwork ramp, and raised shields or bucklers.

The verse announces conquest by the Chaldeans after prolonged resistance, for Tyre resisted thirteen years before Nebuchadnezzar captured it. The capture came in 574 BC, when he reduced the great city to subjection and carried its leading families to Chaldea, though many of its citizens would escape. That subjection of Tyre stands alongside his routing of the Egyptians and his destruction of Jerusalem and carrying of the Jews into captivity. From Tyre he would go on to conquer Jerusalem.

Fulfillment Proves and Warns

The assault foretold against Tyre was literally fulfilled, and its fulfillment is evident today. The site of the old city, the former metropolis of Phoenicia, lies barren and desolate, while the new town stands on what was formerly an island now joined to the mainland by a narrow stretch of sand. The great commercial city was utterly wiped out of existence, so that the very place where she stood became a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea. That fulfilled word confronts observers today in the existing facts of Tyre.

The fulfillment came in stages. Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled the work of destroying the walls of Tyre, breaking down her towers, and treading down all her streets with the hoofs of his horses. The scraping of her dust to make her like the top of a rock and the laying of her stones and timber and dust in the midst of the water remained unfulfilled at that time. That later work was related to Alexander, who used the stones and rubble of old Tyre to build a causeway to the island city.

That fulfilled word concerning Tyre, together with the histories of the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman powers and the existing facts of Babylon, Egypt and Nineveh and the remarkable dispersion of the Jews, furnishes a colossal argument for the divine origin of the prophetic Scriptures. Prophetic evidence of this kind goes on accumulating, growing stronger with every fulfilled event. The convergence of such lines of prophecy is the greatest miracle and seal of God.

The verse shows part of Tyre's preliminary punishment for open, flaunting, God-defying wickedness. It describes an invading force killing the city's dependent settlements in the surrounding countryside and laying siege to the city with a fort, an earthwork ramp or siege mound, and raised shields. It belongs to the warning of judgment against Tyre, whose fate is presented as a consequence of its defiance of God, and as a lesson of warning and judgment for cities and people who forget and defy God.

Cities and their governments are responsible to God, and God judges and punishes or rewards cities for their political and social life. Safety comes only through deep repentance toward God and purifying private, social, and political life according to the standard of His revealed will. Proud, thrifty Tyre met the fate its wickedness invited, not as an avenging God but as the fruit of awful wickedness joined with the mercy of God. The same fate fell on modern proud and beautiful Babylon and modern thrifty Tyre in the earthquake ruin of San Francisco, and stands as a lesson and warning for New York, Chicago, and every other place forgetting and defying God, with Tyre standing alongside Babylon and Nineveh, Sidon, Rome and Paris as proof.