Ezequiel 27
Tyndale Open Study Notes · Tyndale Open Study Notes
Ezequiel 27:1-3
27:1-36 The second panel of the prophet’s address to Tyre (see study note on 26:1–28:19) is a funeral song that contrasts past glory with present loss. It is connected with the previous chapter by being addressed to Tyre, by its imagery of a gateway and a trading center (see 26:1-2), and by the common conclusion you have come to a horrible end and will exist no more (cp. 26:21).
Ezequiel 27:4-6
27:4-7 Tyre’s past greatness is described in great detail under the metaphor of a mighty sailing ship created out of the very best resources from the surrounding nations.
Ezequiel 27:7
27:7 Elishah refers to part of Cyprus.
Ezequiel 27:8-9
27:8-11 The ship of Tyre was manned by a crew gathered from the most famously skilled men in the world. • The locations described in this account cover most of the known world at the time. Tyre’s influence was vast. 27:8-9 Sidon, Arvad, and Gebal were Mediterranean coastal towns.
Ezequiel 27:10
27:10 Persia, Lydia, and Libya: Persia was far to the east over land, while Lydia was northwest in what is now Turkey. Libya was southwest on the shore of the Mediterranean.
Ezequiel 27:11
27:11 Helech is Cilicia, the area around Tarsus on the northeast shore of the Mediterranean. • The location of Gammad is less certain, but it may have been in northern Syria.
Ezequiel 27:12
27:12-25 This vast system of transport was all at the service of Tyre’s insatiable appetite for trade. The list of Tyre’s trading partners goes on and on; Tyre was the source of a wide variety of commodities from slaves to horses, saddle blankets to silver, dyes to figs (cp. Rev 18:11-13). The cargo list for the ship is organized according to the different geographic regions with which she conducted trade, covering all points of the compass and including every trading center, major and minor. Virtually every precious object that could be bought or sold found a place somewhere on the list of Tyre’s goods. 27:12 Tarshish was in the distant west, possibly in Spain.
Ezequiel 27:13-14
27:13-14 Tubal, Meshech, and neighboring Beth-togarmah were regions in Anatolia (modern Turkey).
Ezequiel 27:15-16
27:15 Dedan was a central Arabian oasis (see also 27:20), but it might also refer to a coastal region north of Tyre.
Ezequiel 27:17
27:17 Minnith, located in Transjordan (the area east of the Jordan River), was a well-known source of wheat.
Ezequiel 27:18
27:18 Helbon was a town ten miles north of Damascus. Zahar may have been nearby, although its exact location is unknown.
Ezequiel 27:19
27:19 Greeks from Uzal: Uzal may have been a town in the foothills of Anatolia. • Cassia and calamus were expensive perfumes.
Ezequiel 27:20-21
27:20-21 Kedar was a region of Arabia named for a son of Ishmael (Gen 25:13).
Ezequiel 27:22
27:22 Sheba was a kingdom in southwest Arabia. The location of Raamah is uncertain, but it was always associated with Sheba.
Ezequiel 27:23-25
27:23 Haran, Canneh, Eden, and Asshur were all located in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Kilmad is otherwise unattested in ancient sources and may be a scribal error for “all Media” (the region northeast of Mesopotamia).
Ezequiel 27:26-35
27:26 Though apparently unsinkable, this rich and heavily laden merchant ship was no match for the mighty eastern gale, the army of Babylon.
Ezequiel 27:36
27:36 Tyre’s former occupants and her former trading partners join the lament for her lost way of life. This panel, like the previous one, ends with the statement that Tyre has come to a horrible end and will exist no more (cp. 26:21).