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Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers Ezekiel 27:26–36.
We have seen Tyre flourishing; here we have Tyre falling, and great is the fall of it, so much the greater for its having made such a figure in the world. Note, The most mighty and magnificent kingdoms and states, sooner or later, have their day to come down. They have their period; and, when they are in their zenith, they will begin to decline. But the destruction of Tyre was sudden. Her sun went down at noon. And all her wealth and grandeur, pomp and power, did but aggravate her ruin, and make it the more grievous to herself and astonishing to all about her. Now observe here, 1. How the ruin of Tyrus will be brought about, Eze 27:26. She is as a great ship richly laden, that is split or sunk by the indiscretion of her steersmen: Thy rowers have themselves brought thee into great and dangerous waters; the governors of the city, and those that had the management of their public affairs, by some mismanagement or other involved them in that war with the Chaldeans which was the ruin of their state. By their insolence, by some affront given to the Chaldeans or some attempt made upon them, in confidence of their own ability to contend with them, they provoked Nebuchadnezzar to make a descent upon them, and, by their obstinacy in standing it out to the last, enraged him to such a degree that he determined on the ruin of their state, and, like an east wind, broke them in the midst of the seas. Note, It is ill with a people when those that sit at the stern, instead of putting them into the harbour, run them aground. 2. How great and general the ruin will be. All her wealth shall be buried with her, her riches, her fairs, and her merchandise (Eze 27:27); all that had any dependence upon her, and dealings with her, in trade, in war, in conversation, shall ball with her into the midst of the seas, in the day of her ruin. Note, Those who make creatures their confidence, place their happiness in their interest in them and rest their hopes upon them, will of course fall with them; happy therefore are those that have the God of Jacob for their help, and whose hope is in the Lord their God, who lives for ever. 3. What sad lamentation would be made for the destruction of Tyre. The pilots, her princes and governors, when they see how wretchedly they have mismanaged and how much they have contributed to their own ruin, shall cry out so loud as to make even the suburbs shake (Eze 27:28), such a vexation shall it be to them to reflect upon their own bad conduct. The inferior officers, that were as the mariners of the state, shall be forced to come down from their respective posts (Eze 27:29), and they shall cry out against thee, as having deceived them, in not proving so well able to hold out as they thought thou hadst been; they shall cry bitterly for the common ruin, and their own share in it. They shall use all the most solemn expressions of grief; they shall cast dust on their heads, in indignation against themselves, shall wallow themselves in ashes, as having bid a final farewell to all ease and pleasure; they shall make themselves bald (Eze 27:31), with tearing their hair; and, according to the custom of great mourners, those shall gird themselves with sackcloth who used to wear find linen, and, instead of merry songs, they shall weep with bitterness of heart. Note, Losses and crosses are very grievous, and hard to be borne, to those that have long been wallowing in pleasure and sleeping in carnal security. 4. How Tyre should be upbraided with her former honour and prosperity (Eze 27:32, Eze 27:33); she that was Tyrus the renowned shall now be called Tyrus the destroyed in the midst of the sea. "What city is like Tyre? Did ever any city come down from such a height of prosperity to such a depth of adversity? Time was when thy wares, those of thy own making and those that passed through thy hands, went forth out of the seas, and were exported to all parts of the world; then thou filledst many people, and didst enrich the kings of the earth and their kingdoms." The Tyrians, though they bore such a sway in trade, were yet, it seems, fair merchants, and let their neighbours not only live, but thrive by them. All that dealt with them were gainers; they did not cheat or oppress the people, but did enrich them with the multitude of their merchandise. "But now those that used to be enriched by thee shall be ruined with thee" (as is usual in trade); "when thou shalt be broken, and all thou hast is seized on, all thy company shall fall too," Eze 27:34. There is an end of Tyre, that made such a noise and bustle in the world. This great blaze goes out in a snuff. 5. How the fall of Tyre should be matter of terror to some and laughter to others, according as they were differently interested and affected. Some shall be sorely afraid, and shall be troubled (Eze 27:35), concluding it will be their own turn to fall next. Others shall hiss at her (Eze 27:36), shall ridicule her pride, and vanity, and bad management, and think her ruin just. She triumphed in Jerusalem's fall, and there are those that will triumph in hers. When God casts his judgments on the sinner men also shall clap their hands at him and shall hiss him out of his place, Job 27:22, Job 27:23. Is this the city which men called the perfection of beauty?
Historical interpretation
Historical Reception
2 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
(Verse 35, 36, and following) And I will bring you into a desert of peoples, and there I will judge you face to face. Just as I contended with your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, says the Lord. And I will subject you to my scepter, and I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant, and I will choose from among you the transgressors and the wicked: from their place of residence I will bring them out, and they will not enter the land of Israel, and you will know that I am the Lord. Thus says the Lord: I will do for you who are in Babylon, and now serve idols, what I did for your ancestors in Egypt. I will lead you into the desert of the peoples, and there I will judge you face to face, just as I contended with them in judgment when they came out of Egypt. And after I have judged you, I will subject you to my scepter and rule, and I will make a covenant with you and bring you into your land with the bonds of love, so that bound by my love, you will never be able to depart from me. But I will choose from among you the transgressors and the wicked, who persist in the hardness of their hearts in evil deeds, not for possession, but for rejection. And I will indeed bring them out of the land of their dwelling, so that when they are brought out, they will not enter the land of Israel; but they will perish in various regions. And by the distinction between good and evil, you shall know that I am the Lord, who judges all things. The rest of the discourse hastens, and we briefly go through each point, in order to provide only the meaning to the readers.
(Verse 27, 29 onwards) Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them: Thus says the Lord God: Moreover, your fathers have blasphemed against me and have treated me with contempt, even as they spurned me. And I brought them into the land that I had lifted my hand to give them ((Vulgate adds: that land)): they saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and there they offered their sacrifices and presented there the irritation of their offerings, and they placed there the fragrance of their sweetness, and they poured out their ((Vulgate is silent on this)) libations there. And I said to them, 'What is the high place to which you are going?' And its name was called the High Place until this day. Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: As for your fathers, they have provoked Me to anger by their iniquities, by the fact that they have fallen away from Me. So I brought them into the land that I had lifted My hand in an oath to give them.' They saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and there they offered their sacrifices. They also presented there the provocation of their gifts, and they set there their pleasing aroma, and they poured out there their drink offerings. And I said to them: What is abbana, because you enter there? And they called its name abbana until this day. I wanted, he said, to scatter them in the wilderness, and to give them not good precepts, so that they would sacrifice to idols what they should have offered to me, and consecrate all their first-fruits to them by fire, so that I might kill them and destroy them. But when he says, I wanted, he shows that he did not do what he wanted. And that which follows: 'And they shall know that I am the Lord,' is not found in the Septuagint. For it did not seem fitting to them to know after their destruction that he himself is the Lord. But you, son of man, speak again to them, that is, to the elders of the house of Israel, who have come to inquire of you: Your fathers, from whom you have descended, have also blasphemed against me and held me in contempt; after I brought them into the land which I had given them to possess, they turned against me to provoke me. For when they saw every high hill and leafy tree, they would sacrifice on the mountains and in the groves and thickets, and offer victims to the idols, and pour out libations. And when I saw this, I said to them: What is this, Bama? for it is called high: or why do you enter into such a place which you have chosen for yourselves in all the hills, so that even today these places are called Bamoth, and the ancient error retains its original name? Regarding Bama, which we translate as excelsum, there is an error in the Septuagint edition, where it is written as ἀββανὰ, which does not resonate in the Hebrew language. Bama can mean 'in which' if the two syllables are divided into two words, but in the present context, that sense does not fit. However, wherever it is written in the Books of Kings and Chronicles: 'The people still sacrificed and offered incense on the high places,' Bama in the singular and Bamoth in the plural mean 'high places.'
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Summary
Ezekiel 27:30 vividly portrays the profound despair and public mourning that would engulf those connected to Tyre following its catastrophic fall. This verse captures the visceral reactions of the kings, merchants, and mariners who had benefited from Tyre's extensive trade network, depicting their bitter lamentation, self-abasement with dust, and wallowing in ashes as ancient expressions of utter devastation and the irreversible loss of their commercial lifeblood. It serves as a stark prophetic image of the desolation that befalls those whose security and identity are rooted in transient earthly wealth and power, emphasizing the deep sorrow accompanying the collapse of a once-mighty maritime empire.
Context
Literary Context
Ezekiel 27 is a meticulously crafted lamentation, or dirge, for the city of Tyre, serving as a powerful follow-up to the prophecies of judgment detailed in Ezekiel 26. The chapter personifies Tyre as a magnificent, globally connected merchant ship, built with exquisite materials and crewed by various nations, symbolizing its vast commercial empire and far-reaching influence. The preceding verses systematically describe Tyre's impressive components—its materials, sailors, merchants, and trading partners—only to foreshadow its inevitable and violent shipwreck. Verse 30 specifically depicts the immediate, devastating aftermath of this symbolic destruction, focusing on the intense, public reactions of those who witnessed and were directly impacted by Tyre's demise, thereby concluding the vivid imagery of its fall from unparalleled glory to utter ruin.
Historical & Cultural Context
Tyre was an immensely powerful and wealthy Phoenician city-state, renowned throughout the ancient Near East for its unparalleled maritime trade and its seemingly impregnable island fortress. During Ezekiel's prophetic ministry in the early 6th century BCE, Tyre stood as a dominant economic force, facilitating extensive trade routes across the Mediterranean and beyond. The actions described in verse 30—crying bitterly, casting dust on heads, and wallowing in ashes—were deeply ingrained and universally recognized mourning customs in the ancient world. These were not mere symbolic gestures but profound, physical expressions of overwhelming grief, humiliation, despair, and often, a public acknowledgment of utter ruin. Such displays are extensively documented in various biblical texts (e.g., Job 2:12, 1 Samuel 4:12) and extra-biblical sources, indicating a common, potent language of lament for catastrophic personal or communal loss.
Key Themes
This verse significantly contributes to several overarching themes within Ezekiel's prophecy against Tyre and the broader book. It powerfully underscores the theme of Divine Judgment, demonstrating God's absolute sovereignty over nations and His righteous judgment against human pride, idolatry, and an over-reliance on worldly wealth. The lament also highlights the Fleeting Nature of Earthly Glory and Wealth, serving as a potent reminder that even the most powerful and prosperous human endeavors are ephemeral and ultimately subject to God's ultimate decree, echoing warnings found in passages like Proverbs 23:5. Finally, the vivid depiction of Profound Grief and Despair among Tyre's dependents emphasizes the devastating consequences of placing ultimate trust in transient material security rather than in the eternal God, whose kingdom alone is unshakeable.
Exposition and Analysis
Key Word Analysis
A primitive root; to shriek from anguish or danger. In this context, it denotes a loud, desperate outcry of lamentation, indicative of deep distress and hopelessness in the face of an overwhelming calamity.
Referring to powdered or gray earth. In ancient mourning rituals, casting dust upon one's head symbolized deep humility, defilement, and utter despair, a physical manifestation of being brought low.
A primitive root; to roll (in dust); roll (wallow) self. This action, often in dust or ashes, signifies an extreme state of mourning, humiliation, and desolation, a public surrender to overwhelming grief.
Verse Breakdown
"And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee"
This opening clause describes a public and audible expression of lament. The "voice" (H6963, qôwl) implies a loud sound, a wailing or outcry, directed "against thee" (Tyre), signifying not just mourning for the city's demise but also a desperate cry of protest or accusation against the fate that has befallen it and, by extension, them.
"and shall cry bitterly"
This intensifies the preceding phrase, specifying the nature of the outcry. The act of crying (H2199, zâʻaq) is not merely loud but filled with profound bitterness (H4751, mar), indicating deep anguish, sorrow, and despair over the magnitude of Tyre's destruction and its devastating impact on their own livelihoods and prosperity.
"and shall cast up dust upon their heads"
This describes a specific, ancient mourning ritual. The act of "casting up" (H5927, ʻâlâh, to ascend/lift) "dust" (H6083, ʻâphâr) "upon their heads" (H7218, rôʼsh) symbolizes deep humiliation, defilement, and utter despair. It is a physical expression of being brought low, reduced to nothing, and acknowledging the overwhelming nature of the tragedy.
"they shall wallow themselves in the ashes"
This final clause depicts another powerful mourning custom. To "wallow" (H6428, pâlash) "in the ashes" (H665, ʼêpher) signifies an extreme state of grief, self-abasement, and desolation. It represents a complete surrender to sorrow, a public display of being utterly overwhelmed by loss, and a recognition of utter ruin.
Literary Devices
Ezekiel 27:30 employs several powerful literary devices to convey the depth of despair and the totality of Tyre's collapse. Imagery is paramount, painting a vivid and visceral picture of public lament through specific, culturally recognizable actions: the loud, bitter cries, the casting of dust upon heads, and the wallowing in ashes. These are not abstract concepts but concrete, physical manifestations of grief that allow the audience to viscerally experience the sorrow and humiliation. The passage also utilizes Hyperbole to emphasize the extreme nature of the mourning; while these were real mourning customs, their collective and intense depiction here underscores the unparalleled catastrophe of Tyre's fall. Furthermore, the verse functions as an integral part of a larger Lamentation or dirge, a poetic form designed to express profound sorrow and mourning, which lends a somber, elegiac tone to the entire chapter. The Repetition of actions associated with extreme mourning (crying, dust, ashes) reinforces the pervasive and overwhelming nature of the despair that grips Tyre's former partners.
Theological and Thematic Connections
Ezekiel 27:30 serves as a powerful theological statement on the transient nature of worldly power and wealth when divorced from divine favor. It underscores God's absolute sovereignty over nations, demonstrating that even the most formidable human empires are ultimately subject to His righteous judgment. The abject despair of Tyre's trading partners highlights the futility and danger of placing ultimate trust in material prosperity and human achievement. This prophetic lament is a stark reminder that true security and lasting hope are found not in fleeting earthly resources but in the eternal God, whose kingdom is unshakeable. It warns against the spiritual dangers of pride and self-sufficiency, which inevitably lead to downfall and desolation, emphasizing that God alone is the source of true and lasting prosperity.
Reflection and Application
Ezekiel 27:30 offers profound and timeless lessons for contemporary believers, challenging our innate human tendency to seek security and identity in worldly achievements, material wealth, or human systems. The bitter lament and abject despair of Tyre's commercial partners serve as a potent warning: when our ultimate hope is anchored in anything other than God, its inevitable collapse will lead to profound sorrow and desolation. This verse calls us to a deep examination of where our ultimate trust truly lies. Are we building our lives on foundations that can be swept away by economic downturns, political shifts, personal losses, or the changing tides of culture? Or are we investing our lives and priorities in the eternal kingdom of God, which alone offers unshakable hope and security? The passage powerfully affirms God's justice and His ultimate control over the rise and fall of nations, encouraging us to align our priorities with His divine plan and to find our true and lasting prosperity, joy, and identity in Him alone.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why were Tyre's trading partners so devastated by its fall?
Tyre was far more than just a city; it was the central hub of a vast, intricate, and highly influential global trade network. Its extensive maritime commerce brought immense wealth and prosperity to countless merchants, mariners, and nations who traded with it, making them economically dependent on its stability. When Tyre fell, it wasn't merely the destruction of a single city but the catastrophic collapse of an entire economic ecosystem. The profound devastation described in Ezekiel 27:30 reflects the catastrophic loss of their livelihoods, their source of wealth, and their commercial identity, leaving them with profound despair and no immediate alternative for their prosperity. This is why the lament is so widespread and bitter, as their entire economic world had crumbled. The imagery here powerfully foreshadows the mourning of merchants and kings over the fall of "Babylon the Great" in Revelation 18, highlighting a recurring biblical theme of the ultimate collapse of worldly economic systems built apart from God.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
While Ezekiel 27:30 directly describes the lament over Tyre's destruction, its imagery of profound sorrow and the collapse of a worldly kingdom finds its ultimate Christ-centered fulfillment in the broader biblical narrative of God's righteous judgment on sin and the establishment of His eternal kingdom. The despair of those who mourn Tyre's fall foreshadows the ultimate judgment on all human systems built apart from God, culminating in the final destruction of "Babylon the Great" in Revelation 18, where kings and merchants likewise weep and mourn over its desolation. In stark contrast to the fleeting nature of Tyre's wealth and glory, Christ offers an unshakable kingdom and an eternal inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade (1 Peter 1:4). The bitter crying and wallowing in ashes represent the futility of placing hope in earthly power and transient security; Jesus, however, invites those who mourn to find ultimate comfort and blessedness in Him (Matthew 5:4). His redemptive work on the cross, where He bore the ultimate judgment for sin, provides the only true escape from the despair of a world under judgment, offering instead a new creation and an eternal city where there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4). Thus, the lament over Tyre points powerfully to the desperate human need for the redemptive work of Christ, who alone offers lasting hope, true security, and deliverance from the consequences of a world built on transient foundations.