Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 27

Verses 1-36

Lament Over Tyre (27:1-36)

The city is likened unto a ship whose builders have made her perfect in beauty with materials drawn from many places : fir trees from Senir, a cedar from Lebanon, oaks from Bashan, pines from Cyprus, linen from Egypt, and dye from the seacoasts (vss. 5-7). Her builders, rowers, and pilots have also been drawn from other nations. Much of the skill and raw material of the ancient world had been combined to enrich Tyre (vss. 8-9). After the interruption of verses 10-25a the poem resumes.

The ship, heavily laden with much cargo in the midst of a stormy sea, is wrecked. All the skilled men of Tyrian trade go down with the ship. Outcries from the stricken ship cause terror and mourning on the shore. Contrast the greatness that was Tyre (vs. 33) with the desolation that Tyre has become (vs. 34). The psychological shock was almost too much for the ancient world to bear (vss. 35-36).

Verses 10-25a are an editorial insertion placed in the midst of the poem to detail how extensive and multifarious Tyrian trade was. Place names and materials traded are presented in dazzling array.