Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 26:2

"Son of man, because that Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken [that was] the gate of the peoples; she is turned unto me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste:" — Ezekiel 26:2 (ASV)

She is broken that was the gates of the people. —“Gates” is in the plural simply because the word originally means a leaf of a door or gate, and therefore the two leaves mean the gate; accordingly, the sense would be better conveyed by using the singular in English. On the other hand, “people,” both here and in Ezekiel 27:3, is intentionally in the plural, meaning “the nations.” By omitting all the words in italics in this verse, a better idea is obtained of the exultation of Tyre over the fall of Jerusalem.

This exultation is described as purely selfish and commercial in character, and shows nothing of the spitefulness and religious animosity of the nations mentioned in the previous chapter.

In the days of Solomon, Jerusalem had been made the great commercial emporium of the inland trade from Arabia and even from India, as well as a facilitator of trade in products between Egypt, the Hittites, and other northern nations. Doubtless, some of this commercial importance still remained to Jerusalem in her decay, for which we have already seen evidence in Ezekiel 16:0; however this may have been, a considerable city, situated as Jerusalem was, must necessarily have been the centre of many of those transactions between the surrounding nations which Tyre would gladly have monopolised for herself.

Hence her exultation: “Jerusalem being destroyed, all that gave her importance among the nations must come to increase my prosperity.”