Ezekiel 26:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He will trample upon your streets with the hooves of his horses, your people will fall by the edge of the sword, and your cherished idols will be thrown to the ground. He will plunder your wealth and seize your goods, demolishing your walls and ravaging your beautiful homes; your stones, wood, and debris will be cast into the sea. I will cease the sound of your melodies, and the music of your instruments will no longer be heard. I will make you a smooth rock, a place for drying nets, and you will never be rebuilt again; for I, the Lord, have declared it, says the Sovereign God.

Having stated that He will raise many nations against you, like a tumultuous sea, it is made clear that Tyre will become a spoil for the nations. The Lord depicts how Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, ruler of rulers, will come from the north with his horses and chariots leading an countless army. He will first devastate the cities and strongholds under Tyre along the coast and then besiege Tyre itself, surrounding it with forces, ramparts, and siege devices, assaulting and dismantling its walls. The multitude of his horsemen will create such dust that the foundations of the city will tremble from the noise of the army, the clashing wheels, and the snorts of horses. He will enter the city after its walls have fallen as confidently as one strides into a city from the fields, and the victorious army will trample the streets of Tyre. The inhabitants will be laid low, and the prominent idols once venerated will be toppled to the ground; the city's former wealth will be entirely stripped away. The strong houses and walls will be destroyed with such savagery that wood and stone will be tossed into the sea. Either Nebuchadnezzar or the Lord Himself will bring an end to the joyous celebrations once expressed through song and instrument, leaving the city as a place for drying nets, utterly destroyed.

The statement that it shall never be rebuilt again raises questions about how this city, currently the most renowned and beautiful in Phoenicia, could possibly be rebuilt. Some argue that Tyre will face this final destruction and will never rise again. Yet how can one uphold the reputation of Nebuchadnezzar, especially since records indicate he conquered Tyre and received no reward for his efforts, with Egypt given to him as a prize for fulfilling the divine decree to conquer Tyre? They claim to reference the histories of the Greeks and Phoenicians, notably Nicholas of Damascus and various foreign accounts, which contradict this narrative, finding no mention of the Chaldean conquest of Tyre. However, it is evident that numerous events occur that are overlooked by Greek records, and we must not rely on the accounts of those whose deceit we reject. Therefore, the phrase that Tyre will never be rebuilt can be understood to mean that it will no longer hold dominion over nations or have a government of its own, as it once did under Hiram and other kings. It will come under the control of the Chaldeans, the Macedonians, the Ptolemies, and ultimately the Roman governors. Yet it remains certain that, symbolically speaking, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon coming from the northern winds, represents the devil himself, who, despite being a severe and adverse force, is the ruler of all kingdoms. He demonstrated this to the Lord, saying, "These have been delivered to me, and I will give them to You if You fall down and worship me" (Matthew 4:9). He possesses horses and chariots, as it is written: "A horse is a vain hope for salvation" (Psalm 32:17), and also, "He tramples upon the horses of all people" (Psalm 75:7), and in another instance: "He hurled the horse and its rider into the sea" (Exodus 15:1).