1 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
2 "Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;"
God is still upset at Tyrus.
3 "And say unto Tyrus, 'O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus says the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou have said, "I am of perfect beauty."'"
Many ancient documents mention the beauty of Tyrus.
4 "'Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
5 "'They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.'"
The Phoenicians (Tyrus was a major Phoenician city) were first and foremost sea traders. They had mastered the art of ship building.
6 "'Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.'"
Ancient ships used both oars and wind to drive them, depending on the weather and situation. These oars were made from oak from Judah herself.
The term Ashurites is unclear. Some have translated this “With ivory they have inlaid your deck of boxwood from the coast lands of Cyprus.” which does make a little more sense.
7 "'Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was that which thou spread forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.'"
Linen is very expensive and does not always handle getting wet well. Blue and purple dye is expensive. Only kings could afford robes these colors. So God is expressing how very rich these Tyrinians were, so rich they could afford to use blue and purple linen for something so common as sails.
8 "'The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.'"
Zidon and Arvad were other chief cities of the Phoenicians. Tyrus called on them for navigators.
9 "'The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.'"
They had the best shipbuilders to fix their hulls.
10 "'They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.'"
They had an army of men from all over. Persia is by Babylon, Phut is in Africa.
11 "'The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.'"
They had foreign troops hired to guard their city (we aren’t really sure who the Gammadims are. This word has been translated as midget, dwarf, left handed, or idol but is believed to simply be the name of a people we haven’t run across anywhere else yet.)
Phoenicians hung there shields outside the city wall to decorate it and let their enemies know they were prepared for battle.
12 "'Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.'"
Again, we aren’t real sure about Tarshish. Ezekiel may have meant the town we call Carthage (a colony of Tyrus) or he might have meant Spain. Or Tarshish may have simply meant “ocean.”
Anyway about it, the richest traders did business with Tyrus.
13 "'Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.'"
Their trade covered slaves to vases.
14 "'They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.
15 "'The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.
16 "'Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.'"
Riches of all kinds were brought to Tyrus from all over.
17 "'Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.'"
Even Judah had brought their goods to the markets in Tyrus.
18 "'Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.
19 "'Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.
20 "'Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.
21 "'Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
22 "'The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
23 "'Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.'"
These are all countries from all over the known world.
24 "'These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
25 "'The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
26 "'Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind has broken thee in the midst of the seas.'"
The Phoenicians were everywhere in the Mediterranean.
27 "'Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.'"
All of this isn’t going to matter a bit when God destroys them.
28 "'The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
29 "'And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land;'"
Alexander the Great would not attack by sea so their boats wouldn’t do them any good. They would have to go to the land to fight.
30 "'And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:
31 "'And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
32 "'And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, “What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?”'"
Few places have been as completely destroyed as Tyrus was by Alexander.
33 "'When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filled many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
34 "'In the time when thou shall be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall.
35 "'All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance.'"
“The Isles” means the islands around Greece.
36 "'The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shall be a terror, and never shall be any more.'"
Though the island has a city on it today, it is nothing but a two-bit tourist trap, and the people are in no way related to the original inhabitants. The might and power and riches of the Phoenicians is gone.