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EZEKIEL 26

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects (reading cycle #3). Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Third paragraph, etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: EZEKIEL 26:1-6
 ¹Now in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying, ²"Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, 'Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has opened to me. I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste,' ³therefore thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. ⁴They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; and I will scrape her debris from her and make her a bare rock. ⁵She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,' declares the Lord God, 'and she will become spoil for the nations. ⁶Also her daughters who are on the mainland will be slain by the sword, and they will know that I am the Lord.'"

26:1 Ezekiel dates his prophecies (cf. Ezek. 1:1; 8:1; 20:1; 26:1; 29:1,17; 30:20; 31:1; 32:1,17; 33:21). Surprisingly, the month is not named here. His book is not in chronological sequence, which implies an editor. It must be admitted that moderns do not know how or when the OT was written and edited in its current form.

Ezekiel 26:1 through 28:19 forms a literary unit denoting Phoenicia's judgment and total destruction. See note at Ezek. 26:11! The subdivisions are identified by the literary marker "the word of the Lord came to me saying" (cf. Ezek. 26:1; 27:1; 28:1,11).

26:2 "I shall be filled" This VERB (BDB 569, KB 583, Niphal COHORTATIVE) expresses the joy of the Phoenicians at the demise of Judah ("she is laid waste," BDB 351, KB 349, Hophal PERFECT). The VERB stem implies it was permanent.

▣ "because Tyre has said" Chapters 26-28 form a literary unit of judgment (a funeral dirge, cf. Ezek. 19:1-14; 26:17-18; 27:2-9,25-36; 28:12-19; 32:2-8) against the Phoenician maritime nations of Tyre and Sidon (cf. Isa. 24; Jer. 47:4).

▣ "Aha, the gateway to the peoples is broken" Jerusalem is located on a major international highway between the powerful nation of Egypt and the powerful nations of Syria, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. Because of her strategic location, Judah charged a tax on all of the caravans who passed this way. Tyre, also a commercial center, was glad that one more middleman was eliminated.

26:3 These nations who gloated over Judah's fall were judged by YHWH (e.g., Micah 4:11).

▣ "as the sea brings up its waves" This is a play on the fact that Tyre was an island fortress. Most of the city was located on the mainland, but the citadel was located on a rocky island about one-quarter mile off shore. During ancient times it proved to be one of the most impregnable fortresses in the Near East.

26:4 This is another reference to the island fortress (cf. Ezek. 26:17). The city was finally captured by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.

26:5 This curse is repeated in Ezek. 26:14. There were two types of fishing nets used.

1. casting nets, 12:13; 32:3
2. dragnets, 26:5,14; 47:10

26:6 "her daughters who are on the mainland" This refers to the part of the city which surrounded the harbor. Only the walled citadel was on the island. It was the walls of the houses and buildings that Alexander used to build a causeway to the islands (cf. Ezek. 26:12).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: EZEKIEL 26:7-14
 ⁷For thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses, chariots, cavalry and a great army. ⁸He will slay your daughters on the mainland with the sword; and he will make siege walls against you, cast up a ramp against you and raise up a large shield against you. ⁹The blow of his battering rams he will direct against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. ¹⁰Because of the multitude of his horses, the dust raised by them will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of cavalry and wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city that is breached. ¹¹With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will slay your people with the sword; and your strong pillars will come down to the ground. ¹²Also they will make a spoil of your riches and a prey of your merchandise, break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses, and throw your stones and your timbers and your debris into the water. ¹³So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the sound of your harps will be heard no more. ¹⁴I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more, for I the Lord have spoken," declares the Lord God.

26:7 "from the north" This compass direction became a proverb (e.g., Jer. 4:6; 6:1,22; 10:22; 13:20; 15:12; 46:20, 24) for evil because this was the only land route for invasion from the Fertile Crescent (i.e., Assyria in Isa. 14:31; Babylon in Jer. 1:13-15).

▣ "Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon" This Neo-Babylon king's name is spelled in two ways.

1. Nebuchadnezzar ‒ 2 Kgs. 24:1,10,11; 25:1,8,22; 1 Chr. 6:15; 2 Chr. 36:6,7,10,13; Ezra 1:7; 2:1; 5:12,14; 6:5; Neh. 7:6; twenty-seven times in Daniel
2. Nebuchadrezzar ‒ thirty-seven times in Jeremiah, four in Ezekiel

▣ "kings of kings" This title reflects the conquests of the Neo-Babylon Empire under Nebuchadnezzar II (cf. Jer. 27:6-7; Dan. 2:37). It was also later used of Artaxerxes, the Persian king in Ezra 7:12. It came to be a title for the Messiah (cf. 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:16). A similar title was used of YHWH in Deut. 10:17 and I Enoch 9:4. It is a phrase that emphasizes sovereignty!

Special Topic: OT Titles of the Special Coming One

▣ "a great army" The Babylonian army grew by including the defeated armies into their ranks as mercenaries.

26:8 "siege walls against you, cast up a mound" This may refer to two separate siege tactics or just to one (cf. 2 Sam. 20:15; 2 Kgs. 19:32; Isa. 37:33; Jer. 6:6; Ezek. 4:2; 17:17; 21:22; 26:8). These ramps allowed soldiers and siege machines (i.e., battering ram, BDB 867) to approach the stone walls of a city in order to loosen the stones and cause the wall to fall.

▣ "raise up a large shield against you" This is a technical term (BDB 857, cf. 1 Kgs. 10:16) for what was known as "the roof," which was raised as a shield to protect the attacking soldiers from being pelted by stones from the walls of citadels. We know that Nebuchadnezzar began this siege in 587 B.C., and it lasted until 574 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar never defeated the main citadel (cf. Ezek. 29:18), but it apparently surrendered. There is no record of the city's capture in the Babylonian chronicles.

26:9 Nebuchadnezzar's siege machines never reached the island citadel of Tyre, but Alexander's did in 332 B.C.

▣ "blow of his battering rams" This is a rare term (BDB 562 II). In Num. 34:11 it is translated "border" (KB 568 or "to run along beside"), but that meaning does not fit this text in Ezekiel.

26:11-12 There is a switch from the PRONOUN "he" (Ezek. 26:11) to "they" (Ezek. 26:12) in these verses. Some have assumed a theological significance that this refers to subsequent besiegers of Tyre, like Alexander the Great, to whom the city fell in 332 B.C. See Gleason L. Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, pp. 276-278.

26:11 Some would read these words and assert that the Bible is in error at this point. We must remember that prophecy is hyperbolic literary genre. One book that has really helped me in my understanding of both prophecy and apocalyptic literature is D. Brent Sandy, Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic.

▣ "your strong pillars" From the historian, Heroditus (II. 44), we understand there were two famous obelisks in the city of Tyre. One was gold and the other was emerald and they were dedicated to the god Melqart ("King of the City"), probably the Ba'al brought into Israel by Jezebel (cf. 1 Kgs. 16:21-32).

26:13 This is an idiomatic way of asserting their society will cease (i.e., Isa. 23:16; 24:8,9). Tyre may have been renowned for her musicians (cf. Isa. 23:16).

26:14 "a place for the spreading of nets" The citadel will be so completely destroyed that all it will be good for is drying fishermen's nets (cf. Ezek. 26:5). This was historically fulfilled in Alexander's conquest.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: EZEKIEL 26:15-18
 ¹⁵Thus says the Lord God to Tyre, "Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall when the wounded groan, when the slaughter occurs in your midst? ¹⁶Then all the princes of the sea will go down from their thrones, remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble every moment and be appalled at you. ¹⁷They will take up a lamentation over you and say to you,
 'How you have perished, O inhabited one,
 From the seas, O renowned city,
 Which was mighty on the sea,
 She and her inhabitants,
 Who imposed her terror
 On all her inhabitants!
 ¹⁸Now the coastlands will tremble
 On the day of your fall;
 Yes, the coastlands which are by the sea
 Will be terrified at your passing.'"

26:15 "groan" This VERB (BDB 60, KB 72) occurs three times in Ezekiel.

1. 9:4, those who sigh and groan over Judah's sins
2. 24:17, Ezekiel groans quietly over the death of his wife
3. 26:15, the dying of Tyre groan loudly at their approaching death (cf. Job 24:12; Jer. 51:52; Ezek. 30:24). It occurs only one other time in the OT, Jer. 51:52. The NOUN (BDB 60) occurs in Ps. 12:5; 79:11; 102:20; Mal. 2:13.

26:16 "they will sit on the ground" This is a sign of mourning (e.g., Lam. 2:10, esp. for a king, cf. Isa. 47:1).

Special Topic: Grieving Rites

▣ "trembling. . .tremble" This term (BDB 353, KB 350) denotes great fear. It is used twice (VERB and NOUN) in this verse. The ones trembling are the colonies which the Phoenicians had started all around the Mediterranean. These outposts of Phoenician culture were dependant on Tyre.

▣ "be appalled at you" This VERB (BDB 1030, KB 1563, Qal PERFECT with waw) denotes astonishment at YHWH's judgment (cf. Lev. 26:32; Job 17:8; Isa. 52:14; Jer. 50:13; Ezek. 26:16; 27:35; 28:19; 32:10; Dan. 8:27). This fear at the fall of a powerful commercial nation is used in Revelation 18.

26:17-18 This is a lamentation (BDB 884, cf. Ezek. 2:10; 19:1,14; 27:2,32; 32:2,16) in poetic form.

26:17 The questions about this verse are:

1. are there two parallel VERBALS
   1. "perished"
   2. "ceased" (NET Bible)
2. are there two parallel titles
   1. O inhabited one
   2. O renewed city
3. is there one of each

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: EZEKIEL 26:19-21
 ¹⁹For thus says the Lord God, "When I make you a desolate city, like the cities which are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and the great waters cover you, ²⁰then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, like the ancient waste places, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set glory in the land of the living. ²¹I will bring terrors on you and you will be no more; though you will be sought, you will never be found again," declares the Lord God.

26:19 "the deep over you and the great waters" This refers to the chaotic waters of creation (cf. Gen. 1:2,6-7,9-10), which became known as Sheol or the holding place of the dead (i.e., "the pit," Ezek. 26:20; 31:16; Ps. 28:1; 30:3; 40:2; 88:4; 143:7; Pro. 1:12; Isa. 14:15; 38:18).

"The deep" is the Hebrew term tehom (BDB 1062 #3, KB 1690-91). A similar, but different, Hebrew root is personified as Tiamat in the Sumerian and Babylonian creation myths as the monster of chaos and the mother of the gods, wife of Apsu. She tried to kill all lesser gods that came forth from her. Marduk killed her. Out of her body Marduk fashioned heaven and earth in the Babylonian Genesis account called Enuma Elish. The Hebrews believed that water was the beginning element of creation (cf. Ps. 24:1; 104:6; 2 Pet. 3:5). It is never said to have been created. However, the Hebrew term is masculine, not feminine and it is unrelated etymologically to Tiamat.

There are passages in the OT which describe YHWH in conflict with personified watery chaos (cf. Ps. 74:13-14; 89:9-10; 104:6-7; Isa. 51:9-10). However, these are always in poetical, metaphorical passages. Water is a crucial aspect of creation (cf. Ezek. 1:2b,6-7), but its creation is never mentioned.

Special Topic: The Dead, Where Are They?, I. B.

Special Topic: Ancient Near East Creation and Flood Myths

Special Topic: Waters

26:20 "I shall bring you down with those who go down to the pit" This refers to Sheol, the holding place of the dead until judgment day. The rabbis speculated that it was divided into two sections—the righteous dead and the wicked dead.

This three-level worldview (earth for the living, below the earth for the dead, and heaven above, e.g., Ps. 139:8; Amos 9:2) was based on the burial practice of the Jews. The dead were buried, so they were in the ground (cf. Ezek. 31:14,16,18; 32:18,24). Smoke from the sacrifices and incense altars rose to God so heaven was up. This is metaphorical, not literal (e.g., Isa. 14:9-10). In reality Scripture reveals very little about the afterlife (heaven or hell), but focuses on choices, actions, and consequences of current reality!

Special Topic: The Dead, Where Are They?

The MT has "and I will give beauty (BDB 840) in the land of the living," which does not make sense in this context, unless it is a statement of pride, like Ezek. 28:2,12. So, most modern English translations follow the Septuagint. The Syrian (Aramaic) text relates the phrase to Judah's restoration.

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