Albert Barnes Commentary Ezekiel 26:15-21

"Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to Tyre: shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at thee. And they shall take up a lamentation over thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, that was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, that caused their terror to be on all that dwelt there! Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be dismayed at thy departure. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and the great waters shall cover thee; then will I bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make thee to dwell in the nether parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living: I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt no more have any being; though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord Jehovah." — Ezekiel 26:15-21 (ASV)

The effect of the fall of Tyre.

Clothe themselves with trembling (Ezekiel 26:16)—Mourners change their bright robes for sad garments.

Of seafaring men (Ezekiel 26:17)—literally, “from the seas,” that is, occupied by men who come from the seas. Tyre was an inhabited city rising from out of the sea.

In Ezekiel 26:20, compare Isaiah 14:9. The image used by Isaiah and Jeremiah of Babylon is applied by Ezekiel to Tyre, as if to show that Tyre and Babylon alike represent the world-power. So, in the Book of Revelation, Babylon is the kingdom of Antichrist.

The land of the living (Ezekiel 26:20)—The land of the true God, as opposed to the land of the dead, to which the glory of the world is gathered.

Here then, together with the utter ruin of Tyre, rises the vision of renewed glory to Jerusalem. The coming Messiah is thus prophetically pointed out. The overthrow of God’s enemies shall be accompanied by the establishment of His true kingdom.