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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
Why Land in the Middle East is so Important
Ezekiel 27
Ezekiel series part 45
Introduction
Today, we set sail into a chapter that might seem like just another history lesson, but beneath the waves of Ezekiel 27 lies a profound understanding of why the Middle East stands as the crossroads of humanity. As we explore the fallen city of Tyre and the bustling trade routes that crisscross ancient lands, we'll unravel the layers of significance that make this region more than just geography.
So why is the Middle East such a hotbed of controversy? Why do the peoples of this area get into a scrap over every acre of property in that region? And why did God select this region as the setting for essentially all of Biblical history? You’ll find out today on the Cross References podcast.
[theme music]
This Land is (not) Your Land
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 not a world traveler. I’ve gone to Hawaii, but I’ve never actually visited a foreign country. Unless you count a couple of trips to Utah. I’m also not a time-traveler. I was born in the late 1900s, I am still alive today in the 2000s, and I have not lived in any other periods of time. Again, unless you count those trips to Utah.
The Bible, however, IS from another time and another place. The Bible was written in a foreign country and thousands of years ago, and we have to understand that location and time period if we’re going to understand what it’s actually communicating to you and I today. And on this episode, I’d like to help us understand the place a little bit better. Not just the land of Israel that the Bible was written in, but the entire Middle East territory. Because in case you haven’t noticed, there seem to be a lot of disputes in that territory, and it’s always been that way, and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. Why? You’ll learn about that today.
We are going in a little bit different direction with this episode. Today I’m going to cover chapter 27 of Ezekiel, and this is his second chapter on prophecies against the nation of Tyre.
The thing is, I kinda covered Tyre last week. We went through the history, why the nation fell, how they had a city on an island where they thought they were invincible, but how Alexander the Great eventually came and wiped them out. That was chapter 26 of Ezekiel. Chapter 27 is a lament over the fallen city. Tyre was basically the World Trade Center of the ancient Middle East. When Tyre fell, lots of other nations suffered economically. Supply chains totally disrupted. It might very well be like if America were to fall today. But again, that was all stuff we covered last week. I don’t intend to repeat all that information again today. What I’d rather do is talk about another issue on this week’s study and then tie that into Ezekiel 27.
We’re also gonna flip the script. I usually study the verses and then we dive into the application. Today, I’m going to start with the application- or, the knowledge and information that is meant to benefit your life today in 2023- and then we’ll run through the verses of today’s chapter at the end.
What is the Levant?
So let’s get into it. There was a man who lived a long long time ago named Abraham. God came and talked to Abraham in Genesis 15 and said that He was giving a portion of real estate in the Middle East to Abraham and Abraham’s descendants.
Genesis 15
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
If you were to plot this all out on a map, it would be a region about 10x as much as what Israel has ever actually held in history. God always had more for the Isrealites than they ever actually took, because they were too fearful and faithless to step into all that God had for them. But before we get too hard on them, the same is probably true for us. There is probably much more God would have liked to do with each one of our lives than what we have actually taken hold of.
Now, if Israel had gotten ahold of all its land, what would that be today? Bible prophecy expert and pastor David Jeremiah said this:
By the way, this IS an Ezekiel lesson, and according to the last chapter of Ezekiel- chapter 48- it lists all the portions of land that Israel will someday occupy in the Millennial Kingdom, and he goes into painstaking detail. So eventually, Abraham’s descendants will occupy what they were always meant to, but it’s gonna be a while. It’s at least seven years away, if you know what I mean.
So if Israel had taken all that it was supposed to, they would basically own all of this territory that we call the Middle East. And despite what you might think, it wasn’t all a bunch of useless desert. There are many reasons that this was some prime real estate.
Why the Middle East is Special
For one thing, this includes the Fertile Crescent, a region of Mesopotamia known as the Cradle of Civilization. And what an interesting name. That’s the secular name for it. But according to the Bible, this is the region where the Garden of Eden was placed. This is where Noah and his Ark landed. And this is where the Tower of Babel dispersed the peoples into the nations. And thousands of years later, secular anthropologists come along and label it the Cradle of Civilization. And what do you put in a cradle? A baby. This is truly where mankind was born. Not only that, it was the birthplace of the Bible, and it was where God placed His people and His land.
And God wasn’t offering Abraham anything second-rate. Listen to this breakdown on that territory by National Geographic: Named for its rich soils, the Fertile Crescent, often called the “cradle of civilization,” is found in the Middle East. Because of this region’s relatively abundant access to water, the earliest civilizations were established in the Fertile Crescent, including the Sumerians. Its area covers what are now southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, and parts of Turkey and Iran. Two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, regularly flooded the region, and the Nile River also runs through part of it. Irrigation and agriculture developed here because of the fertile soil found near these rivers.
So this was a special location because of its natural resources. But something else to keep in mind is that the middle east- and especially the nation of Israel- is a land-bridge connecting three different continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. Israel itself is a narrow strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea to its west and a bunch of desert to its east.
So every time there’s a conflict- even if Israel has nothing to do with it- it’s always getting caught in the crossfire because other nations are constantly traveling through that territory to get to where they’re going. It’s a blessing and a curse, as they say.
It can be bad, but it can also be good. The territory of the Middle East is perfect for trade and commerce. It’s the hub between many peoples. Lots of money passing through this region. Trade. Goods and services.
So this shows us why everybody wants it. Everybody always has. Everybody always will. We don’t even have to get into the spiritual side of things today. Yes, we could talk about angels and demons and territorial spirits and I get into those things a lot on this podcast- and on my other podcast, Weird Stuff in the Bible- but we don’t even have to get super spiritual or theoretical today. You can see this by looking at a map. If you control the Middle East, you control the transfer of wealth between three continents.
Ancient civilizations didn’t have a satellite to take pictures but they figured this out. They had a map of the earth that was something like a Venn diagram with three circles, and all three circles converge on the Middle East. The three big circles were Europe, Asia and Africa. Those are the modern names; to them, they might have thought of themselves as Shem, Ham and Japheth. And it all meets in the middle, right there at the Middle East. Actually, it’s not so much a Venn diagram as it is a fidget spinner. Remember fidget spinners? If so, I’m sorry. I’ll pray for you. They must have had fidget spinners back in Bible times because that’s how they drew their map here. They knew there were three main land areas, and Israel and the Middle East were where they met in the middle. And in the Middle of the Middle East is Israel, and the city of Jerusalem is the center of Fidget Spinner Earth.
So, I hope I’ve helped you understand today why this is such a fought-over piece of real estate. I didn’t even get into the spiritual side of things today. You could throw a whole faith angle on all this mess, too. But I don’t think we need to get into it, I think you get it.
Tyre the World Trade Center
Now, one of the regions I mentioned earlier as being part of this Middle East was this territory of Lebanon, a modern nation, and in the days of Ezekiel, there was a city in Lebanon called Tyre. And I’m not going through a whole history of the fall of Tyre all over again because that was already covered last week’s episode. But since Tyre fell, there’s a lengthy description of Tyre and why it was so sad when Tyre fell. That is Ezekiel 27. So let’s get started on reading it, and as we do, you’ll understand more and more why not just Tyre, but the entire Middle East, is the centerpiece of human civilization on that side of the planet.
So as we read the next passage, don’t dwell on trying to place all these locations on a map as I go through them. The main takeaway is that: there are a lot. In this chapter, 23 different places are mentioned as being negatively affected by the fall of Tyre. God creates a metaphor here, that Tyre is like a great big ship. He does that because Tyre was heavily into maritime activity. It was that island city. And in God’s metaphor or analogy here, the ship of Tyre is sinking.
Ezekiel 27:1-11
27 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Now you, son of man, raise a lamentation over Tyre, 3 and say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, thus says the Lord God:
“O Tyre, you have said,
‘I am perfect in beauty.’
4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
your builders made perfect your beauty.
5 They made all your planks
of fir trees from Senir;
they took a cedar from Lebanon
to make a mast for you.
6 Of oaks of Bashan
they made your oars;
they made your deck of pines
from the coasts of Cyprus,
inlaid with ivory.
7 Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt
was your sail,
serving as your banner;
blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah
was your awning.
8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad
were your rowers;
your skilled men, O Tyre, were in you;
they were your pilots.
9 The elders of Gebal and her skilled men were in you,
caulking your seams;
all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you
to barter for your wares.
10 “Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as your men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in you; they gave you splendor. 11 Men of Arvad and Helech were on your walls all around, and men of Gamad were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around; they made perfect your beauty.
When it comes to a lament, it’s kind of like Hebrew poetry. I’m not usually so interested in picking it apart line-by-line. I like to just get the flavor of it. The mood. The vibe that it’s giving off. And so I’m not going to go through and explain what the spiritual significance of Bashan was and where it is and what it’s called today. I could, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to miss the forest for the trees. The big picture here is that all of these places are sad because Tyre fell. Tyre had a lot of irons in the fire. And for Tyre to be destroyed because of its sins was going to affect a lot more than just Tyre.
Tyre did lumber business. It talked about where it purchased the fabric for its sails. Where it hired workers from, where it hired soldiers and mercenaries from to keep the peace and act as enforcement. And next he’ll talk about the world economy that flowed through here.
Ezekiel 27:12-25
(Yes, I’m reading a big chunk here, because we’re not picking it apart line-by-line this time. We’re getting the flavor of the passage; we’re trying to look at the big picture)
12 “Tarshish did business with you because of your great wealth of every kind; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. 14 From Beth-togarmah they exchanged horses, war horses, and mules for your wares. 15 The men of Dedan traded with you. Many coastlands were your own special markets; they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony. 16 Syria did business with you because of your abundant goods; they exchanged for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and ruby. 17 Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, meal, honey, oil, and balm. 18 Damascus did business with you for your abundant goods, because of your great wealth of every kind; wine of Helbon and wool of Sahar 19 and casks of wine from Uzal they exchanged for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were bartered for your merchandise. 20 Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. 21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they did business with you. 22 The traders of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the best of all kinds of spices and all precious stones and gold. 23 Haran, Canneh, Eden, traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you. 24 In your market these traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored material, bound with cords and made secure. 25 The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. So you were filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas.
There is a regional order to all this. Ezekiel starts by listing all of the merchants and goods that traveled here from the Northwest. Then he talks about merchants in the Levant, and then the merchants to the Southeast in Arabia, and then he concludes by moving to the Northeast.
One of the ways that this chapter helps us in understanding Ezekiel is in placing the regions where some of these cities were. So later in Ezekiel, when we get to chapters 38 and 39 and we’re talking about Beth-togarmah and Meshech, it is hotly debated where some of those nations are today. But if we cross reference them with the areas that they’re described in Ezekiel 27, it can help us to narrow it down. And of course, that’s a chapter about future prophecy, the Gog and Magog war.
Let’s read the last segment of verses for today, and then we’ll wind things down. And I really like this last section. It gets away from focusing on all the countries and right here it goes back to the sinking ship metaphor.
Ezekiel 27:26-36
26 “Your rowers have brought you out
into the high seas.
The east wind has wrecked you
in the heart of the seas.
27 Your riches, your wares, your merchandise,
your mariners and your pilots,
your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,
and all your men of war who are in you,
with all your crew
that is in your midst,
sink into the heart of the seas
on the day of your fall.
28 At the sound of the cry of your pilots
the countryside shakes,
29 and down from their ships
come all who handle the oar.
The mariners and all the pilots of the sea
stand on the land
30 and shout aloud over you
and cry out bitterly.
They cast dust on their heads
and wallow in ashes;
31 they make themselves bald for you
and put sackcloth on their waist,
and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,
with bitter mourning.
32 In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you
and lament over you:
‘Who is like Tyre,
like one destroyed in the midst of the sea?
33 When your wares came from the seas,
you satisfied many peoples;
with your abundant wealth and merchandise
you enriched the kings of the earth.
34 Now you are wrecked by the seas,
in the depths of the waters;
your merchandise and all your crew in your midst
have sunk with you.
35 All the inhabitants of the coastlands
are appalled at you,
and the hair of their kings bristles with horror;
their faces are convulsed.
36 The merchants among the peoples hiss at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
and shall be no more forever.’”
The mighty ship that thought itself unsinkable had sunk. It may remind you of a similar story in the real world, the Titanic. That ship proudly boasted that it was indestructible. And yet, on its very first voyage, the ship struck an iceberg and sank. Since they thought it was indestructible, they were totally unprepared for this occurrence, and so they didn’t have enough lifeboats, and 1500 of the 3000 passengers died. That’s what pride does to you; it makes you unprepared for reality. And think of all the wailing and lament that went on for the sinking of the Titanic. Because this is a chapter of lament for the fallen city. And think of all the people who have expressed sadness over the story of the Titanic. If you’ve ever read the history or seen the movie, it’s a heartbreaking tragedy, to see the people plunging to their doom with absolutely no hope of escape, not to mention when that old lady threw the necklace into the ocean and wasted all that money.
Speaking of money, a good cross reference for this chapter is the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3. There’s a lot of similarities here to Tyre. As I said in the last episode, Tyre’s problem was not that it was barbaric and cruel to its neighbors. It was civilized; it was a banking center. It made everybody richer. And yet, it still ended up on God’s list, because they had prideful hearts, and despite their material riches, they were spiritually poor.
In Revelation 3:15, Jesus says to the church at Laodicea:
17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
It was an extremely secular environment. And they were so focused on the material that they had forgotten spiritual reality. That’s the lesson we learn from the church at Laodicea, and I think it’s also the lesson we should take away from Ezekiel 27.
And this ends one of the most secular chapters of the Bible. I call it that because this chapter has no references to God or spiritual things; this chapter is all about the physical world. That’s why I focused in this episode on the physical realm of the Middle East and why it’s such a valuable territory on planet earth even from just a purely materialistic perspective. That’s what Tyre had put all its hope into, but you can’t trust in physical things to take care of you. Money, possessions, material goods. That’s idolatry.
Look to God to sustain you. Anything else will leave you with that sinking feeling.
Housekeeping/Mailbag
Next time on this podcast, I have a recap and review of 2023. What has happened this year in the realm of Bible prophecy. What do Christians need to be ready for for next year? And
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Weird stuff- this week, I’ll be discussing the sons of Anak, which were descendants of the Nephilim. If you don’t know about the Nephlim after Noah’s flood, listen to that upcoming episode. If you don’t know about the Nephliim before the flood, listen to the previous episode.
Email: crossreferencespodcast@gmail.com
Mailbag: I’ll keep this anonymous:
So guys, I said on the first episode that I wouldn’t always force in an application, but often I do, and this is why. Bible study is not just for information but for transformation. Some passages and chapters are going to be more applicable than others. It might be hard to get a good application out of something like Ezekiel 27. You don’t HAVE to have an application for it to be a good bible study. But if I can, I’ll try to include one, because messages like this show that the Holy Spirit can do work when you bring the Word alive to someone.
And the application today was perhaps just helping you understand today’s news headlines. I can go to FoxNews.com right now and here’s what I see:
Israel releases photo of smiling senior Hamas leaders killed in terror tunnel
Jewish groups launch '10/7 Project' to 'set the record straight' on Israel-Hamas war
Women's groups face outrage for silence on Hamas crimes
School district teachers plan pro-Palestinian ‘teach in'
I’m not cherry-picking. Those are all on the home page. I go to CNN.com:
IDF should retain control for disarmament of Gaza after war, Netanyahu says
Steven Spielberg comments on ‘unspeakable barbarity against Jews’ after October 7
Biden decries reported sexual assaults by Hamas and says acts must be forcefully condemned
The crisis of aid to Gaza
Again, these are all right there on the home page. I checked it just a few days ago. December 5, 2023. No headlines about Ecuador. No headlines about South Korea. No headlines about Denmark. No headlines about Utah. No headlines about Nicaragua. Doesn’t mean those are unimportant countries. No offense to any of those places, except Utah, offense to them, but not offense to anyone else. Every country is important to God, every person is. But this land in the Middle East is a hotspot of controversy. And that’s why it matters.
And God used it as the vehicle through which He visited and revealed Himself to humanity. Jesus didn’t touch down in Ecuador, He just didn’t.
The book Windows Into the Bible by Marc Turnage says, “The land of Israel stood at the crossroads of the ancient world. Its geographic location served as the arena where God put on display the children of Israel to teach the world about Him. The land became the platform and the classroom through which His redemptive message spread to the ends of the earth. The land became the stage where God’s message of redemption unfolded. And from this land His message would travel from the crossroads tot he four corners of the earth.”
Closing Thoughts: A Land of Milk and Honey
Exodus 3:8
I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey,
A land of milk and honey. A land of plenty. A fruitful land.
Milk referred to goat milk. It meant that it was land that was good for the herds. Honey was date honey; it meant land good for the farmer.
It was Israel’s as a gift, as long as the obeyed the Lord their God. At this time in Israel’s history, they had not. They blew it. They’d get a second chance. But they had blown it. And Tyre did as well.
Remember, don’t look down on Israel. God had more for them; God has more for you, too. No need to live in the wilderness anymore. Walk in your Promised Land. If you feel like you’ve blown it, God can give you a second chance, too.
Thanks for listening to the Cross References Podcast. I hope the Bible makes more sense to you after this episode. This has been Luke Taylor, reminding you that when you read the Bible, you become a world-traveler and a time-traveler- and you don’t even have to go to Utah to do it.