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Welcome to the Cross References podcast on the Book of Ezekiel. In this study, you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a newbie Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
Host: Luke Taylor
The Prophecy Against Greedy Tyre
Ezekiel 26
Ezekiel series, part 44
Lego Batman is not Enough
"Can I get a Batman lego? Can I get a Batman lego?”
It’s all I heard from my four-year-old earlier this year as we would visit the store, walk through the Lego aisle. And guys, the Batman legos were expensive. Because for one, they were legos. Two, they were always these giant sets like a full-size Batmobile or the Batcave.
But on the other hand, who could deny a kid such a reasonable request. You take the two most awesome things man has ever created- Batman and Legos- and put them together.
I told him that he couldn’t always get what he wanted.
“No daddy,” he said. “I need it.”
I couldn’t deny his logic. It was Lego, and Batman, and he needed it. I’m sure his mother would understand. Plus, I was able to find a $10 Batcycle on Amazon. And the day it finally arrived, he couldn’t have been more excited.
“I finally have a Batman! I finally have a Batman!” He yelled. But then he turned and with the cheesiest smile you can imagine, he says, “But I don’t have a Robin.”
And he still doesn’t have a Robin. Nor does he need one. Which probably would have gone well with my episode last week about contentment. Now, I didn’t plan this- I did an episode about being content with what you have because it was the week of Thanksgiving- but then I started into studying Ezekiel 26 and what do you know, it was about greed. The greed of a nation named Tyre.
So today, we’ll continue in our Ezekiel series with a look at the ancient little nation of Tyre. One that you’ve probably heard of from other mentions in the Bible, but probably haven’t heard a whole sermon or Bible study on before. But you will today on the Cross References podcast.
[theme music]
(After music, not new section)
Welcome to the Cross References podcast, where you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a new Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
My name is Luke Taylor, and I’m the husband of a branch manager. I say that because today my wife and son put up the Christmas tree, and my son- who is four- liked to cluster the ornaments together. He had the idea that all the snowflakes should go together, all the balls should go together, and so on. So my wife had to show him how to spread things out a bit because the tree looked better when everything was spread out. He also had a tendency to try to load a lot of things on the same branch, but that just weighed the branch down and made everything fall off. So my wife had to keep that under control, and so that’s why I say I am married to a branch manager.
You run the risk of overloading a branch when you try to put two or three ornaments on it. And in a similar way, you run the risk of overloading a podcast episode when you try to force too much of it in all at once. That’s why I’ve really tried to take my time with this study in Ezekiel and not do too much all at once. I only generally cover a few verses at a time. But here lately, the chapters have been pretty straight to the point, which has allowed me to cover more material all in one episode. I covered all of chapter 25 last time, I’ll cover all of chapter 26 today, and we’ll cover all of chapter 27 next time. But don’t worry, we’re going to slow back down again to a screeching halt when we get to chapter 28, one of the most important chapters in the whole Bible.
So get into your Bible today in Ezekiel 26. A chapter you’ve probably never heard a sermon or Bible study on before. But you will today, and you might just learn something new.
V1-6, The Judgment Against Tyre
This is the fifth in a series of seven judgments that Ezekiel is pronouncing against the Gentile nations. He picks 7 nations to speak against, and we covered four of them last time. For the fifth one, he spends quite a bit longer speaking against it. The fifth one is Tyre, and he will spend three chapters excoriating Tyre: chapters 26, 27 and 28. What’s kind of interesting though is that when he gets into it in chapter 28, he ties it into all the problems that God has with Satan. So we learn a lot about Satan in chapter 28- it contains perhaps the most lengthy description of Satan in the entire Bible. So that’s why I said we’re going to slow down when we get to that chapter.
So to start off, this is the prophecy against the small nation of Tyre. We’ll start with a short letter to them similar to the letters we read last time.
Ezekiel 26:1-6
In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,’ 3 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5 She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. And she shall become plunder for the nations, 6 and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
God is upset with Tyre because Tyre has gloated over the destruction of Jerusalem, which we covered in chapter 24. They said “aha” over it, which means they were guilty of the same shadenfreude that Ammon was in the previous chapter.
Not only that, Tyre was excited to see Jerusalem fall because Tyre expected that it would benefit from it economically. They said that Jerusalem’s fortunates may just “swing open” to Tyre, and Tyre shall be replenished. Perhaps because of the elimination of a rival. To quote the New International Commentary on the Old Testament by Daniel Block, “The opening gleeful ‘Aha!’ over the fall of Jerusalem suggests that the Tyrians welcomed Judah’s demise as an opportunity to expand their own commercial interests.”
So there will be four parts to the judgment today. The first part is that God is saying here that He doesn’t like that Tyre was so excited to see Jerusalem destroyed. Yes, God had to do it, but only because God had to. God takes no desire in the death of the wicked. So Tyre shouldn’t have either.
Also, God is upset with Tyre because it was so greedy. It heard that it’s neighbor had fallen and immediately started plotting at how it could financially benefit from this. So God’s judgement is that Tyre is going to be broken down and destroyed, and that it will be left as nothing but a fishing spot. This prophecy is literally true today. At the time Ezekiel wrote this, Tyre was an impressive city on a tiny island about 600 yards off the coast of Lebanon. It was considered an impregnable fortress, and though it did eventually fall, it had good reason to think it was unreachable. It’s pretty hard to mount an offensive siege against an island stronghold. So Tyre looked pretty mighty, but yes, it did fall, and today there is no city on the island of Tyre. It is today, literally, exactly what God said it would be: She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets. That is all Tyre is today. A fishing spot. God’s Word is true.
The second part of this chapter will focus on Nebuchadnezzar’s siege against the city. The first part was God’s role in the fall of Tyre, but this next part is about the human beings that God will use. We’ll read about that now in verses 7-14.
V7-11, The Siege Against the City
Ezekiel 26:7-14
7 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers.
Just to break in here: this demonstrates God’s sovereignty over what’s going on. If you were to ask Nebuchadnezzar whose idea it was to go attack Tyre, he would have said it was his own idea. He didn’t realize God was using him to do this. But God turns the kings hearts like streams of water in His hand. God is in control of who is in control. And so everything Nebuchadnezzar was doing was fulfilling God’s purposes here, and he didn’t even know it. OK, verse 8:
8 He will kill with the sword your daughters on the mainland. He will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise a roof of shields against you. 9 He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. 10 His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached. 11 With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. 12 They will plunder your riches and loot your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. 13 And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. 14 I will make you a bare rock. You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, for I am the Lord; I have spoken, declares the Lord God.
As I said before, this is true. Today, it’s a fishing spot. Tyre was never rebuilt. You can look at pictures today; it’s nothing but ruins. You can still see the ancient columns- some submerged, some sticking out of the water. And you can look at it and say: God did that.
However, things did not happen in reality as quickly or instantly as they sound right here. Nebuchadnezzar did bring an attack against Tyre, and he took everything that belonged to Tyre on the mainland. But the main city on the island that was 600 yards away was not taken by Nebuchadnezzar. The city was not finally conquered until Alexander the Great, a few hundred years later. Alexander the Great was the one who finally figured out how to conquer an island city. And so, I’d like to share some history from a commentary by Jon Courson, because he puts it so much more succinctly than I probably can if I just try to tell it to you myself. I’m going to read a bit of what Jon Courson says in his Application Commentary on this chapter:
So eventually, the city was destroyed; and eventually, there was nothing left because its ruins were tossed into the sea. But it didn’t happen all at once as many assumed. And that is a recurring feature of the Bible: things don’t always happen as quickly as you think they will. Sometimes prophecies are fulfilled in stages rather than all at once.
Look at Jesus; they were expecting a warrior king who would take over the world, what they got was salvation for their sins, but a promise that someday He would return to rule the world. So that prophecy will be fulfilled, but not on a human timeline. God gives us the big picture sometimes but keeps the details close to the chest.
In the third section next, we’ll learn about the public reaction to Tyre’s fall.
V15-18, The Reaction to Tyre’s Fall
Ezekiel 26:15-18
15 “Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in your midst? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground and tremble every moment and be appalled at you. 17 And they will raise a lamentation over you and say to you,
“‘How you have perished,
you who were inhabited from the seas,
O city renowned,
who was mighty on the sea;
she and her inhabitants imposed their terror
on all her inhabitants!
18 Now the coastlands tremble
on the day of your fall,
and the coastlands that are on the sea
are dismayed at your passing.’
I’ll keep this part short. The nations are mourning Tyre’s fall. Tyre was a really powerful little location at this time. Probably with it being a coastal location. It probably had a lot of commerce running through it. A lot of trade. And a lot of nations were relying on it.
It was probably like America. America, over the past 100 years, has been such a powerhouse on the world scene. When the American economy stalls, it affects nations all over the planet, because so much of the world economy depends on America. And Tyre was probably like that for a lot of people back then, too. So when people saw Tyre fall, they were dismayed. They knew the whole supply chain had just got messed up. They’re lamenting.
And it only gets worse for Tyre. It’s not just that Tyre was destroyed. In the last few verses of this chapter, it discusses how Tyre was literally dragged down to hell.
V19-21, Tyre is Dragged Down to Hell
Ezekiel 26:19-21
19 “For thus says the Lord God: When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20 then I will make you go down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the world below, among ruins from of old, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set beauty in the land of the living. 21 I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more. Though you be sought for, you will never be found again, declares the Lord God.”
The ESV, which is my preferred translation, is perhaps a bit too vague here. It keeps mentioning “the pit.” And that’s what other translations say, too. But what it’s referring to is the underworld. This Hebrew word “the pit” is not Sheol, although it is used very similarly. It can also mean “the grave,” as in, a pit that you put a dead body into. But right here, in this context, its speaking of a supernatural location- where people go when they die. That’s why it says in verse 20 that Tyre will go down to “the people of old.” It means all the people who have died before. Tyre is going to be dragged down to where they are.
It’s quite a terrifying picture that God is painting right here. The city will be destroyed, its bricks and columns hurled into the sea, the people will be swallowed up by the waves, and they’ll sink into those waters, and just keep sinking, and sinking, until they’re under the earth, in the underworld, never to be seen again.
And that sounds like it would be the end of the story, but God has a lot more to say about Tyre in the next two chapters of Ezekiel. So we’ll leave it there for today, I’ll be back in a few moments to wrap up with some closing thoughts on what we can take away from Ezekiel 26.
[music]
Housekeeping/Mailbag
Next time on this podcast, we’ll keep right on going through Ezekiel with chapter 27, and as I said earlier, we’ll cover it all in one episode.
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
Also, check out my new podcast: Weird Stuff in the Bible. That basically tells you what it’s all about. Lately, I’ve had episodes titled Who Are the Sons of God, Who are the Nephilim, and this week, it’s Who Are the Sons of Anak. Go subscribe to that show, too, so you can learn all about that this Wednesday.
Mailbag: Only one piece of feedback on my last episode from Ezekiel on chapter 25, and it was from Scott, who simply said: “I agree.” Which, if I’m going to get any feedback, I’d say that’s the kind of feedback I like. So thank you Scott. I had 100% positive feedback. Which was kind of surprising out of the literally hundreds of you who listened to that episode, to only get one comment, and to have it be positive. So, thank you Scott. And if you want to leave feedback on this episode crossreferencespodcast@gmail.com (or leave a comment if you’re on a platform that does comments)
When it comes to prophecy, don’t assume
In closing today, I just want to share a couple of reflections on this chapter. Pretty straightforward chapter, and I hadn’t really studied Tyre before. That’s a fun thing in the Bible; to get to learn about something historic that you had never studied before. And so we got to learn about how Tyre was defeated today.
And what we learn from it is that prophecy is not always as instant as it sounds. Remember the history lesson we covered earlier. It took years, actually hundreds of years, before Tyre fell. It fell in stages- the people being driven out to sea, then Nebuchadnezzar left them alone, then Alexander the Great comes along later and finishes them off.
And what sticks out is that you’d never think it would happen that way based on the prophecy in chapter 26. You’d think that it was saying that there would be one war, or perhaps one big battle, and then Tyre’s story would be over. It certainly feels that way as you read it. Chapter 26 sounds so apocalyptic, like doom is coming. And yet, there was more to it than that.
Prophecy is like that often. Something that you think is going to happen quickly actually takes a great deal of time. The fall of Jerusalem was prophesied several times, but it happened in three stages. Babylon took a little more each time. If you just re-read the prophecy after one of the first two stages, you’d think: “wow, that really wasn’t so bad. I thought we were all gonna get wiped out.” So I guess what we observe is that prophecy doesn’t always get fulfilled as quickly as we think it will.
So I guess my point is: be careful not to assume too much when it comes to Bible prophecy. So many people think they have it all figured out. Gog and Magog is another prophesied battle coming in Ezekiel, one that hasn’t happened yet, and I think a lot of us have this idea that it’s all gonna happen in like one day, in one grand event. And maybe it will. But perhaps it’ll be a war that lasts several weeks, months, years, who knows? It’ll happen, but it’ll happen on God’s timetable.
And some people may watch it play out and perhaps it gets hot and then settles down and some people think: well that wasn’t as big as I thought it would be. But everything God said would happen would happen, it just might not happen fast. It’s OK to theorize. But don’t assume more than what the Bible says when it comes to Bible prophecy.
Kinda like all the Bible prophecy teachers who say that the Antichrist will make a peace treaty with Israel. That is nowhere in the Bible. It says the Antichrist makes an agreement with many nations for seven years. But we have no idea if it’s a peace treaty or if Israel is even involved. So if we’re here for it, the Antichrist could literally sign that covenant and half the Bible prophecy experts out there could miss it because they’re looking for a peace treaty with Israel. Don’t assume more than what the Bible says.
Getting What You Deserve
A second thing we learn, perhaps on a more practical level, is that you reap what you sow. Tyre’s issue was that they were so greedy that when Jerusalem got destroyed, they got thrilled because they immediately started trying to think of how they could profit off of it. So God twisted their fates.
Tyre was greedy, so God stripped them of what they had.
They wanted more, so they lost everything.
Tyre wanted to be the envy of the nations, instead they were the lament of the nations.
They wanted Jerusalem’s money to flow their way. Instead Jerusalem’s conquerer came their way.
They thought the sea made their city invincible. It ended up being their tomb.
You know, the previous nations that God pronounced judgment on were more violent. They were killers. They behaved like savages.
That wasn’t Tyre’s problem. Tyre wasn’t described here as a violent and scary nation. It was wealthy. It was sophisticated. It was civilized. And yet it still ended up on God’s radar because it was so materialistic. It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how far you think you’ve come, no matter how far above other people you may feel that you are, God sees your heart, and your heart is all that matters. The heart of the matter is the matter of your heart.
Thanks for listening to the Cross References Podcast. This has been Luke Taylor, reminding you don’t need a Lego Robin, so don’t ask.