Ezekiel 26:8-14

8-14. The description is startingly vivid, the outlying villages (“daughters”)

suffer first, then the well-known “fort” and “mount” are erected, and under cover of “the buckler” (a barricade of wickerwork covered with skins) the “engines of war” (R.V., “battering engines”) come into position and the axes (literally, swords) begin their deadly work. A breach is made in the wall, and then comes the charge of the cavalry and chariot force, the dust fills the air, and the fleeing people fall under the hoofs of the horses and the stroke of the swords. Even the temple of Baal is invaded and his sacred pillars (unfortunately translated “garrisons”) are cast to the ground. (Compare 2 Kings 10:26.) The city is sacked, and the riches of her temples, her pleasant palaces, and bazaars become the spoil of her conqueror. The city is destroyed, never to be built again, and the music for which she was famous (Isaiah 23:16) sinks into a groan. Now it is certain that a complete destruction of the city such as Ezekiel 26:12-14 contemplate was not wrought by Nebuchadnezzar, for after this campaign Tyre was able to sustain a very protracted siege under Alexander the Great (see also Ezekiel 29:17-21); but it seems most probable that the prophet’s description of the Nebuchadnezzar campaign melts into the more awful destruction, which he has formerly said would be wrought by “many nations,” which should dash up against the proud city “as I bring up the sea, wave after wave” (Ezekiel 26:3). This fusion of various events is not unusual in prophecy. (Compare particularly Matthew 24:0; Mark 13:0.)