Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 26:3
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
3. The punishment of Tyre. Many nations shall be brought up against her ( Eze 26:3); her dust shall be scraped from her into the sea, leaving her a naked rock, a place for drying nets ( Eze 26:4-5), and her dependent cities on the mainland shall be laid waste ( Eze 26:6).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3. the sea causeth his waves ] The comparison is powerful. It is not the succession, but the multitude and overwhelming power of the waves that is referred to.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 3. Will cause many nations to come up against thee] We have already seen that the empire of the Chaldeans was composed of many different provinces, and that Nebuchadnezzar’s army was composed of soldiers from different nations: these may be the people meant; but I doubt whether this may not refer to the different nations which in successive ages fought against Tyre. It was at last finally destroyed in the sixteenth century of the Christian era.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I am against thee; and if God be against them, they will soon have enemies enough too against them: God purposeth, threateneth, and assureth them he is and will be against them.
Many nations, for number, and mighty for strength, riches, authority, and feats of war already done.
As the sea causeth his waves to come up, with such violence, constancy, swelling in height, and making thee fear the issue, so shall the Babylonians come.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3, 4. nations . . . as the sea . . .wavesIn striking contrast to the boasting of Tyre, Godthreatens to bring against her Babylon’s army levied from “manynations,” even as the Mediterranean waves that dashed againsther rock-founded city on all sides.
scrape her dust . . . makeher . . . top of . . . rockor, “a bare rock”[GROTIUS]. The soil whichthe Tyrians had brought together upon the rock on which they builttheir city, I will scrape so clean away as to leave no dust, but onlythe bare rock as it was. An awful contrast to her expectation offilling herself with all the wealth of the East now thatJerusalem has fallen.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore thus saith the Lord God,…. Who knew the thoughts of the inhabitants of Tyre, and what joy possessed their hearts, and which their lips expressed; and who informs the prophet of it, though at a great distance, and declares his resentment at it:
behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus; and nothing can be more dreadful and formidable than to have God against a nation, city, or a particular person: Tyre was a type of antichrist, who will express a like joy at the death of the witnesses; thinking that the merchandise of Rome will be increased greatly, and there will be nothing to interrupt it,
Re 11:10, but God will show his displeasure, and bring sudden destruction on it:
and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up; the Chaldean army, consisting of soldiers of many nations; who for their number, noise, and fury, are compared to the raging waves of the sea. So the Targum,
“I will bring up against thee an army of many people, as the sea ascendeth in the raging of its waves;”
the ten kings shall hate the whore, and destroy her, even those very people she reigns over, compared to many waters, Re 17:15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) Many nations.The prophet here, at the outset, glances down through the ages of Tyres future history. He has in mind not merely the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, of which he will speak more particularly presently (Eze. 26:7-11), but all the successive conquests until the proud city should be reduced to utter desolation. Most appropriate to the situation and habits of Tyre is the illustration, as the sea causeth his waves to come up: God will bring nation after nation to the destruction of Tyre as the sea throws wave after wave against her rock.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. As the sea causeth his waves to come up This figure would be particularly vivid and frightful to the inhabitants of an island city. (See Eze 28:2.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes his waves to come up. And they will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock, she will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it,” says the Lord Yahweh.’
But she had overlooked the fact that Jerusalem was Yahweh’s own special possession. These ideas are important in that they reveal that Yahweh was still caring for His own even while He was chastising them severely, and that as the Lord of the whole earth He could summon nations to do His bidding.
The picture of the sea crashing against the shore is a vivid one. The sea was ever seen by Israel as an alien element, a destructive and powerful force. And it would overwhelm Tyre in the form of powerful armies, leaving it deserted and barren. The prophecy was literally fulfilled through the activities of Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great and others.
‘I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock, she will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea’ This powerful fortress would be levelled to the ground and disappear under the sea. This eventually became literally true.
‘For I have spoken it,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ And it was all to be the result of Yahweh’s word. What He says, happens.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 26:3. As the sea, &c. They shall be as loud, as numerous, as irresistible, as the waves of the sea. This is one of the beautiful and expressive ironies which occur in the magnificent prophesy here recorded.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 26:3 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
Ver. 3. Therefore thus saith the Lord God. ] And thy merchants will soon do thee word of it; for they are great newsmongers, and ill news is swift of foot. a
Behold, I am against them.
a . – Pindar.
the Lord GOD. Hebrew. Adonai Jehovah. See note on Eze 2:4
Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.
Behold: Eze 26:3-6, contain a summary prediction of what befell both the continental and insular Tyre, during a long succession of ages. The former was totally destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, after a siege of thirteen years, bc 573; and the latter, which arose out of its ruins, after seventy years recovered its ancient wealth and splendour, as foretold by Isaiah – Isa 23:15-17. After it was taken and burnt by Alexander, bc 332, it speedily recovered its strength and dignity, and nineteen years afterwards withstood both the fleets and armies of Antigonus. Agreeably to the prophetic declarations – Psa 45:12, Psa 72:10. Isa 23:18. Zec 9:1-7, it was early converted to Christianity; and after being successively taken by the Saracens, Christians, Mamalukes, and Turks, in whose hands it still remains, it became “a place for the spreading of nets.”
I am: Eze 5:8, Eze 21:3, Eze 28:22, Eze 38:3, Jer 21:13, Jer 50:31, Nah 2:12
many: Mic 4:11, Zec 14:2
as the sea: Eze 27:26, Eze 27:32-34, Psa 93:3, Psa 93:4, Psa 107:25, Isa 5:30, Jer 6:23, Jer 51:42, Luk 21:25
Reciprocal: 2Ch 28:9 – because the Lord God Isa 23:4 – I travail Jer 48:27 – was not Jer 50:11 – ye were Jer 51:55 – her waves Lam 2:13 – for Eze 13:8 – behold Eze 26:7 – I will Eze 26:19 – bring Nah 2:13 – I am
Eze 26:3. Therefore expresses the conclusion of the Lord against Tyrus. He decrees that many nations were to come against this city, so many and so powerful that it is compared to the waves of the sea dashing up against the land.
The Lord would set Himself against Tyre and would bring up many nations against her, like waves against her shore. This was an apt description since both parts of ancient Tyre stood on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. These nations would destroy Tyre’s defensive fortifications and would even scrape the site as clean as a rock (Heb. sela’), a play on the name of the city (Heb. sor).
"The siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar lasted for thirteen years (ca. 586-573 B.C.). Under King Ba’ali II, Tyre accepted Babylonian suzerainty and was ruled by ’judges.’ However, when Babylonia declined in power, Tyre regained her independence once again. This brief freedom lasted till the second ’wave’ of destruction brought her into submission to the Persians around 525 B.C. Tyre’s remaining history demonstrated the continuing ’waves’ of conquerors: the resistance to Alexander the Great, eventuating in her collapse; her initial resistance to the Seleucid kingdom of Antiochus III, terminating in her becoming part of that kingdom; her submission to Rome; and her fall to the Saracens in the fourteenth century A.D., after which she never again regained any importance. God was faithful to bring the ’many nations’ against Tyre in successive ’waves’ of conquest." [Note: Alexander, "Ezekiel," p. 870.]
Alexander the Great led the third "wave" of God’s judgment that destroyed the walls of fortified Tyre in 332 B.C. He was the first to conquer both parts of the city in battle. He did so by enlarging the causeway from the mainland to the island and then attacking the island fortress by land and by sea. [Note: Cooper, pp. 251-52; Zimmerli, Ezekiel 2, p. 24.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)