Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 26:20
When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
20. when I shall bring ] Rather in connexion with Eze 26:19: when I shall make thee a desolate city then I shall bring thee down. The prophet regards Tyre’s sinking beneath the waters as her entrance upon the descent into the pit, the place of the dead, just as frequently elsewhere (ch. 32) he snakes the grave the entrance into the underworld of the dead. Cf. Isa 14:11; Isa 14:19.
that descend into the pit ] Rather: them that are gone down into the pit, unto the people. The common phrase “they that go down to the pit” should be rendered: that are gone down (past). Ezek. always says with them that are gone down, Eze 28:8, Eze 31:14: cf. Isa 14:19; Isa 38:18.
The “people of old time” are those dead from of old, Eze 32:27; Lam 3:6; Psa 143:3; hardly with more definite ref. to the Flood, Job 22:15.
low parts of the earth ] the nether parts, i.e. in the underworld of the dead (Eze 31:14, Eze 32:18-24; Lam 3:55; Psa 63:9), which was held to be situated in the bowels of the earth or under the earth.
in places desolate of old ] According to the textual tradition (Baer, Ezek.) the true reading is like places , so LXX., Vulg. The prophet gives Tyre a personality; when buried under the sea she goes down into the abode of the dead, and possibly he regards the “places desolate of old” as also gone down and gathered in the underworld. For “that go down,” that are gone down.
and I shall set glory ] Such an antithesis is entirely unnatural; something further must be said of Tyre in continuation of “thou shalt not be inhabited.” Either: nor set (thy) glory, (reading 2 fem., with final y otiose), a phrase, however, nowhere else occurring; or else the reading presumably before LXX. must be accepted: nor arise (stand forth) in the land of the living (tithyebi).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 20. And I shall set glory in the land of the living.] Judea so called, the land of the living God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Bring thee down; destroy thee, slay thee, and bury thee, throw thee into the grave.
The people of old time; who are long since dead, and gone to eternity, the people of eternity.
In the low parts of the earth; another description of the grave, from the situation, and from the solitudes or desolation of it. In brief, when Tyre, as a dead man, shall be buried, forgotten and perish utterly, and my hand hath done it, then it shall be known my hand hath avenged and punished all her insolence, inhumanity, and covetousness that she discovered when she rejoiced at Jerusalems fall.
Shall set glory; restore the beauty, strength, wealth of Israel, bring them back to Jerusalem, to worship in a rebuilt temple, where they shall enjoy me.
The land of the living; the land of Judea, called land of the living, because a land where God will bless and give life by his word, ordinances, and Spirit: thus different shall Tryres captivity and Jerusalems be.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. the pitTyre’sdisappearance is compared to that of the dead placed in theirsepulchres and no more seen among the living (compare Eze 32:18;Eze 32:23; Isa 14:11;Isa 14:15; Isa 14:19).
I shall set glory in thelandIn contrast to Tyre consigned to the “pit” ofdeath, I shall set glory (that is, My presence symbolized bythe Shekinah cloud, the antitype to which shall be Messiah, “theglory as of the only-begotten of the Father,” Joh 1:14;Isa 4:2; Isa 4:5;Zec 6:13) in Judah.
of the livingasopposed to Tyre consigned to the “pit” of death. Judea isto be the land of national and spiritual life, being restoredafter its captivity (Eze 47:9).FAIRBAIRN loses theantithesis by applying the negative to both clauses, “and thatthou be not set as a glory in the land of the living.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit,…. The grave, and make thee like to them:
with the people of old time; either the people of the old world, or, however, who have been dead long ago:
and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth; where the dead are laid:
in places desolate of old: long ago unfrequented by men; as such places be as are for the burial of the dead:
with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; all the inhabitants being free among the dead; a heap of words made use of to express the same thing, for the confirmation of it; namely, that the condition of Tyre should be like that of dead men, who have been of old dead, and are remembered no more. Jarchi interprets the “pit”, of hell; as if this respected their everlasting perdition, as well as temporal ruin; it may be applied to the beast which goeth into perdition,
Re 17:8:
and I shall set glory in the land of the living; in the land of Israel; so the Targum; and it is interpreted by the Jewish expositors and others the same way; and which may be called “the land of the living”; because the living God was worshipped in it; living men in a spiritual sense dwelt there, who offered up living sacrifices unto God, and who had the promise and pledge of eternal life; and which was the “glory” of all lands, as it is sometimes called, where the same word is used as here, Eze 20:6, which had its accomplishment in some respects at the Jews’ return from Babylon; but, as Tyre here is a type of antichrist, it may be observed, that, at the time of his fall and destruction, God will put a glory upon his church and people, upon which there shall be a defence; see Isa 4:5. This is interpreted by the Talmudists p of the resurrection of the dead, when they that die in the land of Israel shall live.
p Vid. Kimchi in loc. & T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 111. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(20) With them that descend into the pit.Comp. Isa. 14:9-20. Tyre is here represented, as Babylon is there, as joining itself to the deada striking figure to indicate its utter and final destruction. This is to be understood of the Tyre that then was, the proud mistress of the sea. The question whether there might or might not ever be other inhabitants on the rock of Tyre is one which does not at all come within the scope of the prophets vision. The way of speaking of the place of the dead, as in the lower part of the earth, so common in Scripture (comp. Eph. 4:9), does not by any means prove that the writers thought this to be the actual place of departed spirits, but only that, as it is a necessity of human thought and expression to indicate some locality, this locality, in association with the burial of the body, is most naturally placed under the earth. In the same way, men, even on opposite sides of the globe, always speak of God as above them, and their gestures and looks, as well as their words, unavoidably involve the same idea, though they perfectly know that He is omnipresent. (Comp. even the example of our Lord in Mar. 6:41; Mar. 7:34; Luk. 9:16; Joh. 17:1.)
Set glory in the land of the living.The word for glory is the same as that used in Eze. 20:6; Eze. 20:15; Dan. 8:9; Dan. 11:16; Dan. 11:41, in connection with Palestine. The prediction is that when Tyre, who is now rejoicing in the calamity of Judah, shall be past and forgotten, numbered with the dead, then God will establish His people as a living Church to Himself. A ray of Messianic promise shines through the prediction, although, for the time, it might seem nothing more than a foretelling of the restoration from the Captivity.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. When Rather, then.
In places Probably, like places. Sinking beneath the sea they drop at the same time into “the nether parts of the earth,” the underworld, where are the people of old time and all the ruined cities of the past. This picture of the dead in Sheol (the pit) is elaborated, Eze 32:18, etc. (Compare Isa 14:9; Psa 88:4-7.)
I shall set [rather, will set ] glory in the land of the living A very difficult phrase. Various readings are suggested, but in any case a contrast appears between the glorious life here and the shadow life in Sheol.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 26:20. And I shall set glory, &c. Nor shalt thou be, or continue in the land of the living. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 26:20 When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
Ver. 20. With the people of old time. ] The multitude of those that are dead from the beginning of the world; or with the people of the old world, as Jerome will have it; and that the Tyrians’ destruction, both temporal and eternal, is hereby hinted.
When I shall set glory in the land of the living,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
descend into the pit. The people of Tyre are meant, as joining those who were dead and buried.
and I shall set glory. This is either a parenthetical contrast referring to Jerusalem (with which the prophecy begins, Eze 26:2), or we may read, with Septuagint, “nor yet arise”, &c, completing the end of Tyre, as in Eze 26:21.
in the land of the living. This expression occurs eight times without the Article (“the” living): here; Eze 32:23, Eze 32:24, Eze 32:26, Eze 32:26, Eze 32:27, Eze 32:32; and Psa 27:13. It occurs three times with the Article (“the living “). See note on Isa 38:11. In each case it refers to the condition of life, is contrast with “Sheol ‘, which is the condition of death.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I shall bring: Eze 32:18-32, Eze 34:1-31, Num 16:30, Num 16:33, Psa 28:1, Isa 14:11-19, Luk 10:15
in places: Job 30:3-6, Psa 88:3-6, Isa 59:10, Lam 3:6
and I shall set: Eze 28:25, Eze 28:26, Eze 39:7, Eze 39:25-29, Isa 4:5, Zec 2:8
in the land: Eze 32:23, Eze 32:26, Eze 32:27, Eze 32:32, Psa 27:13
Reciprocal: Job 3:14 – which built Psa 85:9 – glory Psa 88:4 – counted Eze 32:24 – which are
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 26:20. Pit means a state of obscurity or forgetfulness, and such a lot was decreed against Tyrus. With the people of old times means people of earlier times who had gone down in defeat under the attacks of hostile forces. Set glory in the land, of the living. By putting an end to the greatness of Tyrus so her glory will he dead, Gods own glory will shine in the lands where national life still shines.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
26:20 When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people {o} of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the {k} living;
(i) Who were dead long ago.
(k) Meaning in Judea when it will be restored.