John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 27

The word of the Lord came again to me
Upon the same subject, the destruction of Tyre: saying
as follows:

Now, you son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus .
] Compose an elegy, and sing it; make a mournful noise, and deliver out a funeral ditty; such as the "praeficae", or mournful women, made at funerals, in which they said all they could in praise of the dead, and made very doleful lamentations for them: this the prophet was to do in a prophetic manner, for the confirmation of what was prophesied of by him; and it may teach us, that even wicked men are to be pitied, when in distress and calamity.

And say unto Tyrus, O you that are situated at the entry of the
sea

Of the Mediterranean sea; at the eastern part of it, not above half a mile from the continent; and so fit for a seaport, and a harbour for shipping; so mystical Tyre sits on many waters, (Revelation 17:1).

which are a merchant of the people for many isles ; the inhabitants of many isles brought the produce of them to her; who took them off their hands, or sold them for them to others; these came from several quarters to trade with her in her markets; and who supplied other isles and countries with all sorts of commodities, for which they either resorted to her, or she sent by ships unto them; so Rome is represented as the seat of merchandise, (Revelation 18:7Revelation 18:11–13).

thus says the Lord God, O Tyrus, you have said ; in your heart, in the pride of it, and with your mouth, praising and commending yourself; which is not right: I am of perfect beauty : built on a good foundation, a rock; surrounded with walls and towers; the streets arranged in order, and filled with goodly houses; having a good harbour for shipping, and being a mart for all manner of merchandise, Jerusalem being destroyed, Tyre assumes her character, (Psalms 48:2) (50:2) (Lamentations 2:15).

Your borders are in the midst of the seas, Fixed by the Lord himself, and which could never be removed. Tyre stood about half a mile from the continent, surrounded with the waters of the sea, till it was made a peninsula by Alexander: your builders have perfected your beauty.

The Sidonians were the first builders of the city, as Justin^F17 says; who began and carried on the building of it to the utmost of their knowledge and skill; and which was afterwards perfected by other builders, who made it the most beautiful city in all those parts;

unless this is to be understood of her shipbuilders, who brought the art of building ships in her to such a perfection, as made her famous throughout the world; since they are immediately spoken of without any other antecedent.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Ex Trago, l. 18. c. 3.

They have made all your ship boards of fir trees of SenirThe same with Sion and Hermon, which the Sidonians called Sirion, and the Amorites Shenir, (Deuteronomy 3:9) (4:48) here, it seems, grew the best of fir trees, of which the Tyrians made boards and planks forshipping; of these the two sides of the ship, as the word ^F18 here used in the dual number isthought to signify, or the fore and hind decks, were made. The Targum is,

``with fir trees of Senir theybuilt for you all your bridges;'' the planks from which they went from one ship to another; but these are oftoo small consequence to be mentioned; rather the main of the ship is intended, which was built of firplanks; but ours made of oak are much preferable:

they have taken cedars from Lebanon, to makemasts for you ;large poles for the yards and sails to be fastened to, for receiving the wind necessary in navigation; calledthe main mast, the foremast, the mizzenmast, and the boltsprit; all these are only in large vessels; whetherthe Tyrians had all of these is not certain; some they had, and which were made of the cedars of Lebanon;which, being large tall trees, were fit for this purpose. The Tyrians ^F19 are said to be the firstinventors of navigation.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (Mytwxl) "tabulata duplicia", Munster; "duas tabulas", Vatablus.
• F19: "Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros." Catullus.