Глава 26

XXVI-XXVIII ch. contain three prophecies against Tire and one against Sidon. Although Tire, apparently, had no other than trade relations with Israel, and even more so hostile, the prophet devotes as many as three to it, and from Ezekiel 29.17-21 four speeches, because in the conquest of such a large and impregnable city, the first in trade, Nebuchadnezzar showed the power of the latter God acting through the last, and because Tire suffered the same fate as Jerusalem, although it hoped from the fall Jerusalem to benefit. Already in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah threatens Tire with Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 25.22); perhaps he participated in the war between Necho and Nebuchadnezzar at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, he is subordinate to Nebuchadnezzar, but inclined to fall away from him (Jer. 27.3 etc.), which was probably accomplished by him in alliance with Zedekiah, the Ammonites, etc. (Ezek. 21.1). After this uprising, Nebuchadnezzar rushed first of all to Jerusalem, for which he was afraid that it would fall into the hands of the Egyptians moving from the south; He took over Phenicia, which did not have such strategic importance, when he drove back the Egyptians; and when Jerusalem fell, Nebuchadnezzar was already in Hamath, on the border of Phenicia (2 Kings 25.21; Jer 52.27). The siege of Tire, which began immediately, lasted 13 years and ended, it seems, not entirely successfully for Nebuchadnezzar (Ezek. 29.18, Josephus Antiqu. 10:11, 1). The prophet, who began his speeches against Tire even before the siege (Ezek. 26.1), predicts in them the destruction of the city, first drawing a picture of this destruction (chap. XXVI), in which he is so sure that he pronounces a funeral song over the city (chap. XXVII); then the prophet turns to the king of Tyre (chap. XXVIII), whose destruction also first describes (vv. 1–10), and then mourns (11–19). The speeches against Tire are the most poetic and beautiful part of the book, especially the description of the Tyrian ship in Chapter XXVII. – The picture of the destruction of Tyre, given in Chapter XXVI, breaks down into a general threat to it (v. 1–6), a description of the horrors of the siege and its conquest (7–14) and a description of the impression that its destruction will make on the world (15–21). Ezek.26:1. In the eleventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of the Lord came to me: “The 11th year,” that is, the captivity of Jeconiah and the prophet, which was also the 11th year of the reign of Zedekiah, and, consequently, the year of the destruction of Jerusalem. 586 BC. The month is not indicated in either the Hebrew or the LXX, perhaps because the date refers to all three speeches against Tire, delivered in different months. The agreement in the omission of this date by all manuscripts does not allow us to assume that it has been lost. Since Jerusalem was conquered on IV 9 of this year, destroyed on V 10 (Jer 52.6, 12), and the prophet received news of this on 5 X (Ezek. 33.21), then a speech suggesting the event was known and even assessed by its significance in Tire (v. 2) could not have been pronounced or written earlier than the 11-12 month of 585. Ezek.26:2. son of man! because Tire says about Jerusalem: “Ah! A! he is broken - the gate of the nations; he addresses me; I will be filled; he is devastated,” There are also prophecies against Tyre in Am 1.9–10; Joel 3.4; Isa 23.1; Jer 25:22, 47:4; Zech 9.2–4. Shooting range in Hebrew “Tzor” means “rock”. LXX, everywhere conveying this word “Tyre” Τυρος, here for some reason they prefer the transcription Σορ, glory. “Sor”: perhaps they want to indicate by this the insular Tire, which replaced the continental Tire taken by Shalmaneser and subsequently destroyed by Alexander, from which the first was 1,200 feet; the prophet, indeed, seems to have in mind the more island Tire: v. 5, 14; Ezek.27:4, 25. - "A! A!" – see explanation of Ezek.25.3. – “The Gate of the Nations” Jerusalem was for Tire, since trade caravans coming from the south, from rich, for example, Egypt, had to pass through Judea and hardly duty-free or at least unprofitable for Jerusalem and without damage to Tire, which is why the latter is happy about the destruction of these gates. LXX: “the Gentiles perished,” that is, those who lived at the expense of Jerusalem. “I will be filled; he is devastated." Jerusalem will not be a trade rival for Tire. Slav.: “what was filled in vain.” Ezek.26:3. Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will raise up many nations against you, as the sea raises its waves. “Behold, I am upon you” - Ezek.5.13. - “I will raise up many nations against you.” “The nations will come to Tire, but differently than he expected” (Smend). The plural indicates that, of course, it was not only the Chaldean invasion, from which Tire did not completely perish. - “As the sea raises its waves.” Tire was often subject to floods (Seneca Nat. quaest. VI, 26. Movers Phoenic. II, 201). The sea, which enriched Tire, often destroyed it. Ezek.26:4. And they will break down the walls of Tyre and destroy its towers; and I will sweep away his dust from him and make him bare rock. According to Arrian (II, 18, 3) and Quintus Curtius (IV, 2, 9), the island Tire was surrounded by walls and towers, which probably already existed at the time of the prophet. - “And I will sweep away his ashes from him.” After the siege, only rubbish will remain from Tire. Perhaps this also refers to the earthquakes to which Tire was often subjected (Movers, 1. c.). - “Bare rock.” The expression shows, like the next article, that this refers mainly to the island Tire, built on a rocky island. Ezek.26:5. It will be a place for spreading nets in the middle of the sea; For I have said this, says the Lord God: and it will be a plunder for the nations. “A place for spreading nets.” The most convenient place for drying fishing nets is a rocky, open and deserted place. The expression, beautiful in its specificity, sounds like horror for Tire, reinforcing the idea of ​​its complete devastation. - “In the middle of the sea”. Consequently, what is meant, at least mainly, is the island Tire. – “For the plunder of the nations” - see the next article. Ezek.26:6. And his daughters who are on earth will be killed with the sword, and they will know that I am the Lord. “Daughters” – cities: the nearest cities and settlements dependent on it; see Ezek.16.46. In relation to Tire, such daughters can only be settlements located on the shore, on the continent, “on the ground,” i.e., the so-called Old Tire, Palaetyrus. – “They will be killed by the sword” not the settlements, but their inhabitants: the comparison turns into direct speech. There may be an indication that the inhabitants of the island Tire will only lose their property (“to the plunder of the nations” - v. 5), since many of them will have the opportunity to escape, and Old Tire will pay with their lives. Ezek.26:7. For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, against Tire from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and with an army, and with a great people. "Against Tyre". LXX: “na cha Sor.” - "Nebuchadnezzar". According to EUR “Nebukadnetsar”, as elsewhere in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 29.18 et al. Ezek. 30.10) and Jer 21.2, 27.5, 29.21 instead of the more common later form “Nebukadnetsar” (Jer 27:6, 29:3; 2 Kings 24.1 et al. Ezra; Neh.; Esther; Dan.; Par), but less true: in Vav. Nabu – kudurri – ussur “Heaven, guard the crown.” "From the north" is how Nebuchadnezzar's invasion appears in Jer 1.13–14, 4:6, 6:1, 22, 10:22. This is unlikely to mean Rivla, where Nebuchadnezzar's military quarters were then located (2 Kings 25.21; Jer 52.9). "King of Kings". The title adopted by the Babylonian kings (Dan 2.37) must have been in view of the many vassal kings (Isa 10.8) and adopted from them by the Persians (1 Ezra 7.12), and may be a replacement and strengthening of the title “great king”, which the Assyrian kings already had (Is 36.4; 2 Kings 18.28). In this place, as in others, God Himself, through the mouth of the prophet, seems to sanction this title, because only God could give power to this king over other kings. But by full right such a title belongs only to the Son of God, who accepted it when the kings of the earth clearly showed that they had abused such a great prerogative (1 Tim. 6.15; Rev. 17:12–14, 19:15–16). - “With a large people” glory. stronger: “a collection of many languages”. Ezek.26:8. He will slay your daughters on earth with the sword, and build siege towers against you, and build a rampart against you, and put up shields against you; In his campaign against Tire, Nebuchadnezzar will first of all encounter those mentioned in v. 6. mainland ("on earth") settlements of Tire ("thy daughters"); these small cities will hardly be able to offer him any resistance (“beat him with a sword”). On the contrary, in relation to the island Tire it will be necessary to resort to a regular siege, which will be greatly complicated by the maritime position of Tire. "Siege towers" Heb. dayek – Ezek.4.2. – “Bal” in this case had to be led through the sea strait. But the Chaldeans were masters in siege work: Hab 1.10; Isa 23.13. - “Shields”. Probably a whole roof of shields to protect those working during a siege from enemy arrows - testitudo of the Romans, and not ordinary shields, to which the verb to put up would not go. However, the Assyro-Babylonians had a special kind of larger, human-sized shields that were placed on the ground, under the cover of which the besieged city was mined (Beitrage zur Assyrologie und semitisch. Sprachwissenschaft III, 75). LXX have a lot of unnecessary things in this verse against Heb. (there may be doublets or additions according to 4:2): “and he will put a guard (siege) on you and protect you (with a siege wall), and dig you in with a ditch, and make a cross for you fort (χαρακα - frontier), and surround you with weapons (περιστασυ ᾿οπλων - maybe rams) and a copy of his own (maybe a catapult) will be delivered directly to you”; the latter must be a doublet translation of the first sentence of the Hebrew. 9 tbsp. Ezek.26:9. and he will bring battering machines against your walls and destroy your towers with his axes. “Breaker machines” is a speculative, but most likely translation of the Hebrew. απ. λεγ - bellows kabol, of which the first must mean “blow”, and the second is consonant with the name of the ram in the Marseilles and Carthaginian Phoenician inscriptions. - “Your towers”. Slav. leaves the Greek without translation. the word “your pies”, and from the previous sentence it attracts “your walls”. – “Axes” – cherev, Heb. "sword", but own. there must be “iron” and every iron tool, for example, an adze (Exodus 20.25); slav.: “with your weapons”. Ezek.26:10. Dust will cover you from the multitude of his horses, your walls will shake from the noise of horsemen and wheels and chariots, when he enters your gates, as they enter a broken city. A cavalry invasion was something unheard of for the island Tire and may have been thanks to a dam or jetty across the sea strait. While this pier was being built, Tyre could hear for a long time the ominous noise of the enemy cavalry and chariots (cf. Jer 8.16) on the shore, from which its walls shook. There is so much cavalry that a whole layer of dust will settle from it on the city (cf. Nahum 1.3). “When he enters your gates, as they enter a broken city,” glory. "in the hail from the field". The comparison, especially in the transfer of its glory, is explained by the island position of Tire: enemies will enter it as easily as they enter a continental city through a ruined wall (slav. “from the field”). This involves a dam or bridge across the strait. Nebuchadnezzar did not have a fleet at his disposal. The ancient historians who wrote about Tire (Berosus, Philostratus, Menander) do not talk about the siege of Tire by Nebuchadnezzar; and the place Eze.29.18 may apparently indicate that the siege of Nebuchadnezzar ended unsuccessfully and Tire was not taken. In view of this, not only the newest, rationalists, consider the present prophecy not to be fulfilled, but also the old interpreters allowed such an assumption, defending the prophet by saying that God canceled his formidable decree for the repentance of Tire, as he once did in relation to Nineveh (Scaliger). But the silence of historians about the siege does not disprove its fact: historians drew from Phoenician sources (Berosus), who for obvious reasons could have missed this sad page of their history. Josephus (S. Arr 1, 21) according to Phoenician sources says that around the era of Ezekiel, two of the Tire princes - Merbah and Eirom - lived in Babylonia, from where they were invited to Tire to take the throne. It is natural to think that they were brought there, like Jeconiah, or as hostages; this indicates that the result of the siege of Tire was at least its vassalage from Babylon, if not destruction. That Tire was not destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar can be proven by its siege by Alexander the Great and Antipater (315–313). But Ezekiel does not speak of destruction, but only of the capture of Tire by Nebuchadnezzar; see esp. Art. 14. Ezek.26:11. With the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets, he will slay your people with the sword and throw down the monuments of your power to the ground. “Your people” - military people mainly - as in Art. 7. Ezek.30.11. – “Monuments of your power” – lit. “statues of the fortress” (Vulg. statuae tuae nobiles). There must be, first of all, two well-known, described by Herodotus (II, 34), high pillars - statues of Melqart (Baal of Tyre, as the god of trade), of which one was gold and the other emerald, and which stood at the entrance to the church of this god (cf. 1 Kings 7.21), and then other sacred statues-idols, in the protection of which the Tyrians believed their power. Hardly any monuments to heroes. LXX: “the composition (υποστασιν) of your fortress.” Ezek.26:12. And they will plunder your wealth, and plunder your goods, and destroy your walls, and break down your beautiful houses, and throw your stones and your trees and your land into the water. The city will be plundered and destroyed. "Wealth" glory. letters from euros “strength”, but hail means wealth in Ezek.28.4; Jer 15.13. - “Goods”, slav. "estates". The "beautiful houses" mentioned in Isaiah 23.13, which were very high due to the small space the city had. – “Earth” – garbage; Wed Art. 4. LXX verbs are put in singular. h., meaning Nebuchadnezzar. Ezek.26:13. And I will stop the noise of your songs, and the sound of your harps will no longer be heard. There will be no manifestation of joy: singing and music, which, therefore, were much practiced in Tire. Slav. instead of “sound” - “many”; “songs” - “music”; “zither” – “singers” – ψσαλτηριων. Wed. Amos 5:23, 6:5; Isa 14.11; Jer 7:34, 48:33; Open 18.22. Ezek.26:14. And I will make you a naked rock; you will be a place for spreading nets; thou shalt not be built again: for I the Lord hath spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. At the conclusion of the 1st part, its beginning is repeated - Art. 4 and 5. “You will not be built again.” Nowadays there is not a trace left of the mainland Tire, but ruins remain of the island Tire, preserved from the time of the Crusaders and Saracens, who finally destroyed Tire. But in times of bliss. Hieronymus Tire was still a very rich and prosperous city and blessed. Jerome, in his interpretation of this passage, eliminates the contradiction of the prophecy of reality by suggesting that Ezekiel, like Isaiah in Chapter XXIII. (see v. 17), says only that Tire will no longer be the queen of the nations; at the same time blessed Jerome notes that, according to other interpreters, the prophecy refers to the end times. The Prophet, indeed, does not say that Tire will be destroyed precisely by Nebuchadnezzar: in v. 12 he is 3 l. units h., the previous verses are changed to indefinite 3 l. pl. hours, and at 13 and 14 tbsp. His active figure is God, to whom, therefore, the final destruction of Tyre is attributed. The last destinies of Tyre were not to the same extent as the immediate ones clear to prophetic contemplation, which cannot but have its limits. Ezek.26:15. Thus says the Lord God to Tire: at the sound of your fall, at the groaning of the wounded, when the slaughter is carried out among you, will not the islands tremble? The stunning and depressing news of the fall of Tire is poetically presented as if the noise of this fall and the groan of the wounded reached the surrounding states. “Won’t they shudder?” A question as a sign of certainty of fact. – “Islands” are usually called not only islands, but also all coastal powers of the Mediterranean Sea. With the fall of Tyre, all of them could not be sure of their safety from the great conqueror. Ezek.26:16. And all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their mantles, and take off their embroidered garments, clothe themselves with trembling, sit down on the ground, and every moment they will tremble and marvel at you. “They will come down” to sit on the floor as a sign of mourning. - “Princes of the sea” - or the princes of the sea states, whose social structure the prophet represents, in the image of Tire (cf. Eze. 28.21), as well as LXX: “princes of the language of the sea,” or the Tyrian merchants who ruled the colonies of Tire, whose wealth and luxury likened them to kings (Is. 23.8). - “From their thrones” - royal or luxurious seats (1 Samuel 4.13). - “Mantles”, Heb. “meil” – sleeveless outerwear; LXX: "crowns", μιτρας. – “Patterned garments” Ezek.16.10. – “They will put on trembling” - instead of rich clothes (Ezek.7.27); This must mean mourning clothes, the wearing of which in this case, in addition to grief, will be combined with fear. Slav. “They will be horrified.” – “They will sit on the ground” is a sign of mourning, see Job 2.13. - “And every minute they will tremble and be amazed at you,” glory: “and they will fear their destruction and groan for you.” Ezek.26:17. And they will cry for you and say to you: how you perished, inhabited by seafarers, the famous city that was strong on the sea, you and its inhabitants, who brought fear to all its inhabitants! "How" Heb. “ek” is the usual beginning of a lamentable song (Lamentations 1.1), which is very short here: v. 17 and maybe 18. - “Inhabited by seafarers.” Slav.: “you scattered from the sea” - disappeared from the sea where you were so famous. - “He was strong on the sea, himself and his inhabitants” - he thanks to his maritime position (Nahum 3.8, they - thanks to the fleet). - “They brought fear to all its inhabitants.” “His,” that is, either the sea or Tyre: the population of Tyre could be divided into an upper class and a lower one, who trembled before the first, or by “inhabitants” we mean colonies that were subordinate in everything to the strict metropolis. Glory: “Who didst thou give thy fear to all that dwell in thee?”: the Tyrians themselves felt fearful respect for the power of their city, a feeling similar to that which every Roman later experienced. Ezek.26:18. Now, on the day of your fall, the islands trembled; The islands of the sea are thrown into confusion by your destruction. “They shuddered” no longer from fear of Tyre, but from horror of its fall, which reminded them of their powerlessness. - “Islands”, maybe shores. "Islands". As the explanation “on the sea” shows, these are islands in the proper sense; especially since in Heb. the first has an unusual, Aramaic plural ending (on nun instead of mem). - “Thy destruction”, glory. more precisely: “from your departure.” Ezek.26:19. For thus says the Lord God: When I make you a desolate city, like uninhabited cities, when I bring up the deep upon you, and great waters cover you; Again, at the conclusion of the speech, a direct prediction about the death of Tire is given, and the previous thought is reinforced (v. 14) that its death will be final. Here it is already made clear that before the final destruction, Tire will lose its former power and will eke out a miserable existence, which was the result of the siege of Nebuchadnezzar. The final destruction of Tire seems here to be a direct matter of the sea, as in Art. 4 it was only compared to drowning in the sea: the sea could not be indifferent to the wickedness and pride of Tire, which owed everything to it, and, like the earth, which cannot bear great wickedness, it had to drown it, coming with its floods and vibrations from the earthquake (see explanation, article 3) to the aid of the conquerors. - “Abyss”, Heb. tag (Gen. 1.2) – the depth of the sea, considered as the first sea, feeding the upper or simply sea. Ezek.26:20. Then I will bring you down with those who go to the grave to a people who were long ago, and I will place you in the depths of the earth, in the everlasting deserts, with those who go to the grave, so that you will no longer be inhabited; and I will show glory in the land of the living. The verse emanates an afterlife spirit, the coldness of the grave and hell. - “With those who go to the grave.” Not directly: “I will bring down to the grave,” for we are talking about the city in its entirety, with buildings, etc. - “Tomb” Heb. boron personal yak; glory "abyss"; Vulg. lacus (lake). See Isaiah 14.15. - “To the people who were long gone”, glory. more precisely: “people of the century,” i.e., to peoples that have long disappeared from the earth, for example, the Rephaim and other giants; Wed Eze.28.8 et al. – “In the depths of the earth”, lit. – in the depths of the earth: for clarity, the kingdom of darkness is represented in the depths of the earth, as the totality of all graves. - “In the eternal deserts”, more precisely: “like an eternal desert.” The place of Tire will be no different from the wastelands that have never been inhabited. - “And I will show glory in the land of the living.” While Tire will be in the underworld, God on earth, in a world that with living people represents the opposite of the dead afterlife, more specifically in the land of Israel, as the best of all (Ezek.39.21; Ezek.20.6), will do something glorious, will establish the kingdom of His glory, the foundation of which Tire seemed to interfere with its existence (Ezek.38.16). But, more consistent with the context, the reading of LXX: “lower rise up on the earth of the belly”; – another, softer fate for Egypt: Ezek.29.13 et c. Is. 19.18 et c. Ezek.26:21. I will make you a terror, and you will be no more, and they will seek you, but will never find you, says the Lord God. “I’ll make you a horror.” Vulg. in nihilum redigam te. - “And they will look for you, but they will never find you again.” There will be no ruins left of Tire by which its place could be determined. The location of mainland Tyre, indeed, remains unknown to this day. A terrible fate, rarely destined for any of the ancient kingdoms, probably for the special depravity inevitable with enormous wealth, and, perhaps, for the destructive role played in the corruption of the kingdom of Israel. You might be interested in: