tuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic: therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee; and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. 20. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying; 21. Son of man, set thy face against Zidon*, and prophesy against her, 22. And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. 23. For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know, that I am the Lord. 24. And unto the house of Israel there shall be no more a thorn which causeth to rankle, nor a sharp thorn that causeth * Set thy face against Zidon.] If Zidon mean something different from Tyre, which perhaps is not very probable, we may suppose it to typify the smaller spiritually trading states in close connection with Rome; such as the German ecclesiastical electorates, episcopal principalities, and monastic baronies. I think however, that this distinction is a needless refinement. Tyre was the daughter of Zidon, and they are always represented as most closely connected together. € 3 to to ulcerate, of all that are round about them that despised them; and they shall know, that I am the Lord God. 25. Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they have been scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in the land which I have given unto my servant, unto Jacob. 26. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God. COMMENTARY. In the 26th chapter, Ezekiel undoubtedly speaks of the overthrow of the literal Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar; but, in the 27th and 28th chapters, he cannot mean the literal Tyre and its prince, because their predicted overthrow is immediately connected with the restoration of Israel*. Nor See Ezek. xxviii. 24, 25, 36. Mr. Lowth, commenting on the passage there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, justly observes, that "the following verse shews that "this promise chiefly relates to the general restoration of the "Jews, when all the enemies of God's church and truth are vanquished and subdued; often denoted in the prophetical "writings by the names of Edom, Moab, and other neighbouring "countries, who upon all occasions shewed their spite and ill "will against the Jews." is this the only reason: the character of the prince is totally inapplicable to any real sovereign of ancient Tyre. He is represented as having been once a faithful worshipper, and as having afterwards apostatized; as having been in the holy mountain and paradise of God, or the true church of upright believers; as having once been perfect in his ways; and as having at length defiled his sanctuaries by the multitude of his iniquities and the iniquity of his traffic, or, in other words, as having debased his originally pure worship of God by some iniquitous dealings which the prophet compares to a fraudulent and base trade. In all this we can perceive no resemblance to the character of the ancient Tyrian sovereigns. Whatever notions of the true God Hiram might have learned by his intercourse with Solomon, his kingdom by the universal consent of history was idolatrous from the very first *; and, whatever worship Hiram might pay to Jehovah, we have little reason to doubt that he mingled it with the worship of his national deities. But, let this be as it may, it is of very little moment to the present question; for the overthrow of Tyre and its prince, being (as I have already observed) manifestly connected with the restoration of Israel† which is yet future, cannot possibly relate to the overthrow of the literal Tyre either by Nebuchadnezzar or Alexander which * See Herod. Hist. L. ii. C. 44. Ver. 23, 24. + See Chap. xxviii. is long since past. If then it cannot relate to the overthrow of the literal Tyre and its prince, it must relate to the overthrow of some power and some potentate at the era of the restoration of Israel, considered by the prophet as antitypical to ancient Tyre and its prince. Here therefore the question is, What power and what prince, at the time of the end, can we reasonably suppose to be intended in this typical prediction, to which Ezekiel, after the manner of the ancient prophets, glides as it were insensibly from his literal prediction respecting the overthrow of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar ? The first idea, that will probably strike the reader, is, that the antitypical Tyre must be the great maritime and commercial nation, so frequently pointed out, either more or less directly, as taking a very active part in the troubles of the last ages, and in the first restoration of the Jewish part of the Israelitish people: more especially since, if this Similar instances of double prophecy occur in Isaiah xiii. xiv. 1-27. and Zephaniah ii, 13-15. iii. This last prediction will be discussed hereafter in its proper place. Mr. Lowth, when treating of Isaiah x. 20, very justly observes, that it is "usual with the prophets, when they foretell some extraordi"nary event in or açar their own times, to carry their views on "farther, and point at some greater deliverance which God "shall vouchsafe to his people in the latter ages of the world." Much the same remark is made by Bp. Hurd, "The style of the prophet so adapts itself to this double prospect, as to "paint the near and subordinate event in terms that empha "tically represent the distant and more considerable." maritime maritime power itself be no where else precisely styled Tyre, its navy is undoubtedly typified by the Tyrian ships of Tarshish *. This idea, however probable at the first sight, is certainly erroneous. The antitypical Tyre is to be utterly destroyed at the era of the restoration: the great maritime power is not then to be destroyed, but is to be successfully engaged in accomplishing that very restoration. The antitypical Tyre is plainly described as a persecutor, as the principal persecutor, of the Jews; for, when it is overthrown, then the rankling and ulcerating thorn shall cease for ever to afflict the children of Israel: the great maritime power is employed in the honourable office of carrying God's message to his people; of taking them under the shadow of its wings; and of bringing their sons from far, not spoiled, but their gold and silver with them, in a navy that securely hids defiance to all the oppoșition of their enemies †. The antitypical Tyre is some state or empire, that once professed pure religion, but at the era of the restoratiou had notoriously apostatized from it: the great maritime power is plainly a nation of faithful worshippers, as sufficiently appears from the prophecies respecting it that have been already considered. Finally, Daniel and St. John gives us jointly a very full list of all the states and superstitions that are to Isaiah lx. 9. + Sce Isaiah xviii. and Ix, 8, 9. be |