Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
In this chapter, and the two following, the Prophet passes to Tyre, and threatens it with the same destruction as the other nations, because, envious and jealous of the glory of Jerusalem, it exulted in its fall. Therefore he graphically describes the destruction of Tyre. Then, from verse 15, he asserts that the islands, princes, and ships will be astonished at the overthrow of Tyre. Isaiah threatens the same to Tyre in chapter XXIII (see the comments there); Jeremiah, chapter XLVII, 3; Amos, chapter I, 9.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 26:1-21
1. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2. Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem: Aha, the gates of the peoples are broken, it has turned to me: I shall be filled, now that it is deserted. 3. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea rises with its waves. 4. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down its towers: and I will scrape its dust from it, and make it a bare rock. 5. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken, says the Lord God: and it shall be a plunder to the nations. 6. Its daughters also, who are in the field, shall be slain by the sword: and they shall know that I am the Lord. 7. For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the north, a king of kings, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and a company and much people. 8. Your daughters who are in the field he shall slay with the sword: and he shall set up siege works against you, and shall cast up a mound against you,
...and he shall raise the shield against you. 9. And he shall direct his battering rams and siege engines against your walls, and shall break down your towers with his weapons. 10. By the flood of his horses, their dust shall cover you: at the noise of the horsemen, and wheels, and chariots, your walls shall shake, when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached. 11. With the hooves of his horses he shall trample all your streets: your people he shall slay with the sword, and your noble statues shall fall to the ground. 12. They shall plunder your riches, pillage your merchandise: they shall destroy your walls, and overthrow your splendid houses: and your stones, and your timber, and your dust they shall cast into the midst of the waters. 13. And I will cause the multitude of your songs to cease, and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more. 14. And I will make you a bare rock, a place for the spreading of nets, and you shall not be built again: for I have spoken, says the Lord God. 15. Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the islands shake at the sound of your ruin, and the groaning of your slain when they are killed in your midst? 16. And all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones: and shall lay aside their robes, and put off their embroidered garments, and shall clothe themselves with astonishment: they shall sit upon the ground, and shall be astonished at your sudden fall, and shall marvel. 17. And taking up a lamentation over you, they shall say to you: How have you perished, who dwelt in the sea, O renowned city, who were mighty in the sea with your inhabitants, whom all feared? 18. Now the ships shall tremble in the day of your terror: and the islands in the sea shall be troubled, because no one goes forth from you. 19. For thus says the Lord God: When I shall make you a desolate city, like cities that are not inhabited: and shall bring the deep upon you, and many waters shall cover you: 20. and I shall bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old, and shall place you in the lowest parts of the earth, like ancient ruins, with those who go down into the pit, that you may not be inhabited: and when I shall give glory in the land of the living, 21. I will reduce you to nothing, and you shall not be, and you shall be sought and not found any more forever, says the Lord God.
Verse 1: In The Eleventh Year
1. IN THE ELEVENTH YEAR — from the captivity of Jehoiachin, which was also the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, in which year Jerusalem was besieged and overthrown by the Chaldeans, which in turn was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Therefore in that year Tyre was not yet besieged. For in verse 3, he says: "I will cause many nations to come up against you;" and in verse 7: "I will bring Nebuchadnezzar against Tyre." Therefore those who claim it was besieged in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar are mistaken. The same will be evident from chapter XXIX, verse 17.
On the first day of the month, — namely the fifth, when Tyre could already within 20 days have received the news about Jerusalem's capture on the ninth day of the preceding fourth month, as recorded in 2 Kings XXV, 1. From the circumstances of time therefore R. David, Prado, and others rightly conjecture that the fifth month is indicated here. And so Tyre, rejoicing over the destruction of Jerusalem, said:
Verse 2: The Gates Of The Peoples Are Broken
2. THE GATES OF THE PEOPLES ARE BROKEN, — that is, the gates of Jerusalem are broken, to which from every direction nations come together as to a most famous marketplace of trade and religion. Hence he designates it by its gates. Whence Vatablus and Maldonatus translate and explain, as if to say: The city of gates is broken, or the city which was the gate of the peoples. For he calls the city "gates" because it had gates on every side, through which all peoples from all around flowed to it. Alternatively, Maldonatus says: The city of gates, that is, the city from which all peoples name some gate of their own. For lesser cities are accustomed to name the gates by which one goes to the greater cities, as in many cities of France a certain gate is called the Parisian Gate.
IT HAS TURNED (namely that throng of peoples and trade, from Jerusalem) TO ME — Tyre. I SHALL BE FILLED — with wealth and merchandise, because Jerusalem has been devastated, as if to say: Its emptying will be my filling; its devastation will be my fame; its disgrace will be my glory.
Morally, observe here the world's poverty, condition, and practice: it does not adorn these without stripping those: if it heaps one with riches, it oppresses another with want: this one cannot be filled without that one being emptied; and so it causes one to envy another and covet his goods. Just as the sun, while it illuminates one hemisphere with its light, casts darkness upon the other; and just as in a well, while one bucket is raised, the other is lowered: so in the world no one can be raised up and become famous unless others are brought down and obscured, says H. Pintus. In contrast, God is rich toward all. Whence the Psalmist says of the just man, who is enriched by dwelling in God, Psalm CXI: "Glory and riches are in his house: and his justice endures forever and ever." And Psalm XXXVI: "Trust in the Lord, and do good: and dwell in the land, and you shall be fed with its riches."
...and the soil they had brought in for building houses and planting gardens, which God says will be overthrown, indeed scraped clean, so that the bare rock may be left, as it was before the city was built. Hence follows: "I will make it a bare rock," that is, I will cause only the clearest — the Septuagint says brightest — rock on which it was built to remain in Tyre (hence in Hebrew Tyre is called tsor, that is, rock), and the desolation of Tyre will be so great that fishermen will spread out and dry their wet nets in it. So Theodoretus. This is what he adds: "It will be a place for drying nets," Tyre. Therefore let no city, no merchant, no prince glory in his strength, his riches, his citizens, his dependents; for though he abound in them like Tyre, and be as if walled by waters, yet if he offends God, he will easily be stripped of all by Him and reduced to bare, dry rock.
Verse 3: AGAINST YOU.
3. AGAINST YOU. — Vatablus: against you, supply, I will come, or I will brandish My rod and sword. THE SEA WITH ITS WAVES. — It signifies the multitude, tumult, and crashing of the Chaldeans, through the waves well known to Tyre, which sits beside the sea. Therefore he calls the forces of the Chaldeans waves, because they were very great, very numerous, and most savage. So also Jeremiah, chapter XLVI, 9, calls the forces of Egypt, and chapter LI, 42, the forces of Cyrus, waves.
Verse 4: AND I WILL SCRAPE ITS DUST FROM IT.
4. AND I WILL SCRAPE ITS DUST FROM IT. — This is hyperbole, as if to say: I will overthrow Tyre and scrape it down to its foundations, I will cause not even dust to remain in it. For Tyre was built on a rock, in the midst of the sea. And its inhabitants had brought in earth for building,
Verse 6: ITS DAUGHTERS ALSO.
6. ITS DAUGHTERS ALSO. — That is, Sidon, and the other cities and towns subject to Tyre as their metropolis. For these are called daughters by the Hebrews, just as the metropolis itself is called the mother.
Verse 7: THE KING OF KINGS.
7. THE KING OF KINGS. — Thus he calls Nebuchadnezzar, who had many kings subject to him. Hence Megasthenes, cited in Josephus, Antiquities X, XIII, maintains that Nebuchadnezzar surpassed Hercules in strength and the greatness of his exploits. On this see more in Daniel II, 37. Others by the king of kings understand Alexander the Great, who after Nebuchadnezzar, 243 years later, conquered Tyre. Whom Paulus Orosius calls a great abyss of miseries, and the most atrocious whirlwind of the entire East. Note: Many think that Tyre was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar shortly after Jerusalem, namely in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, when he had besieged Tyre for three and a half years, according to Philostratus cited in Josephus. Hence in Isaiah XXIII, 17, it is said that Tyre would be rebuilt after 70 years, namely together with Jerusalem, by Cyrus: but they are mistaken; for Tyre was besieged for 13 years, and was captured in the thirty-fifth year of Nebuchadnezzar, as I shall show in chapter XXIX, 17.
Verse 8: He Shall Raise The Shield Against You
8. HE SHALL RAISE THE SHIELD AGAINST YOU, — to protect himself with it against your missiles when he attacks you; or, as if to say: With shields raised and joined together, the soldiers will form a testudo against you in the customary manner, by means of which they will scale your walls to invade the city. For the testudo was a continuous row of shields held by soldiers below, curved into the shape of the animal called the tortoise. Hence Livy: "He himself ordered scaling ladders to be brought to the walls on every side of the wall, and advanced to the gates with a testudo;" "testudo," that is, a continuous frame of shields over their heads. The same author, book IV On the Macedonian War: "Then, having raised their shields above their heads, and joining them together so closely that there was no room even for a blind blow, much less for thrusting a weapon from close range, they advanced under a testudo."
Verse 9: SIEGE SHELTERS.
9. SIEGE SHELTERS. — These were like large baskets of wicker (hence they are called vineæ, as if vimineæ, from wicker), with which the besiegers covered themselves, and sheltered under them they advanced to undermine the foundations of the walls. So Vegetius, book IV, chapter XV. Vatablus translates differently, namely, battering engine. For the Hebrew macha means to destroy, to overthrow. Hence mechi means an engine for overthrowing walls.
AND BATTERING RAMS. — The battering ram, for the ancients who did not have cannons and bronze siege engines, was a beam tipped with iron in the shape of a ram's head, which, driven by the force of many soldiers, struck the walls, and no tower was so strong, nor wall, which, even if it withstood the first blows of the ram, could withstand the continuous ones, says Josephus, Jewish War III, IX. See the form of the battering ram in Lipsius, book On Roman Military Service. The Septuagint translates dorata, that is, lances; R. Solomon, catapults which hurl stones against walls.
Verse 10: By The Flood Of His Horses
10. BY THE FLOOD OF HIS HORSES, — that is, as the Septuagint puts it, by the multitude of horses their dust shall cover you, meaning: So many Chaldean horsemen will invade you, and will raise so much dust with their hooves, that you will seem to be entirely covered and obscured by dust. So says Isaiah, chapter LX, verse 6: "A flood of camels shall cover you." AT THE NOISE OF THE HORSEMEN. — One can scarcely believe, unless he has experienced it, how great is the crashing and terror of horsemen rushing through a city taken by force, both to seize the forum, streets, alleys, and every place of refuge; to catch soldiers and inhabitants lest they escape in flight; and to terrify those who wish to resist. I myself saw and heard these things while living in Belgium at Maastricht, when that city was being taken by force by the Spaniards. Truly I seemed to myself to see and hear the crashing and terror that will be on the last day of the world.
Verse 11: YOUR NOBLE STATUES (that is, your trophies, or images of
11. YOUR NOBLE STATUES (that is, your trophies, or images of illustrious men) SHALL FALL TO THE GROUND. — So Vatablus. For these in Hebrew are called mattsebot, that is, statues. Such are columns, pyramids, and triumphal arches, like those we see here in Rome: namely the column of Trajan, 120 feet in height, and of such thickness that one ascends inside it by a spiral staircase from bottom to top, on which all the victories of Trajan are carved. Likewise the column of Antoninus, the Egyptian obelisks before the church of St. Peter, before the Lateran basilica, and before the church of St. Mary Major. Likewise the arch of Titus and Vespasian celebrating the conquest of Judea, the arch of Septimius Severus at the foot of the Capitol; the arch of Constantine celebrating the defeat of Maxentius.
Alternatively, Prado takes mattsebot as the idols which the Tyrians guarded so anxiously, lest their gods, summoned away by hostile incantation or offended, should depart, that they bound them with chains. These were images of Hercules and Apollo, according to Curtius, book IV On the Life of Alexander, and Plutarch, Problems 61. The Septuagint translates: the substance of your strength; and R. David: the towers of your strength.
Verse 13: And I Will Cause The Multitude Of Your Songs To Cease
13. AND I WILL CAUSE THE MULTITUDE OF YOUR SONGS TO CEASE, — by which you, O Tyre the merchant, like a harlot, entice merchants to you. See the comments on Isaiah XXIII, 15 and 16.
Verse 14: NOR SHALL YOU BE BUILT AGAIN.
14. NOR SHALL YOU BE BUILT AGAIN. — You will object: In Isaiah XXIII, 17, it is said that Tyre is to be rebuilt after 70 years. St. Jerome responds that Tyre was restored as a city, but not as a kingdom; for Tyre was thenceforth subject to the Chaldeans, Greeks, and Romans; second, the Scholiast responds that nearly all the citizens of Tyre were destroyed, and therefore afterward there was, as it were, another Tyre, which was restored by a different nation of people, with different laws and customs, indeed, as some hold, in another location; third and plainly, the Hebrew od, that is "more" or "again," signifies the time of a jubilee, that is, a period of 50 years (as is clear from Exodus XXI, 6) within which Tyre was not rebuilt, but only after 70 years. So Theodoretus. See the comments on Isaiah XXIII, 15.
Verse 15: AT THE SOUND OF YOUR RUIN.
15. AT THE SOUND OF YOUR RUIN. — This is hyperbole, as if to say: Just as when a tower falls, everything nearby is shaken: so when Tyre falls, the neighboring islands, that is, the islanders, at the report and news of Tyre's devastation were shaken, that is, will be shaken with fear and amazement.
Verse 16: They Shall Come Down From Their Thrones
16. THEY SHALL COME DOWN FROM THEIR THRONES, — to sit upon the ground in the manner of mourners. THE PRINCES OF THE SEA, — that is, of the neighboring islands, which are in the sea just like Tyre. THEIR ROBES. — In Hebrew meilehem, that is, their mantles; the Septuagint: their crowns and diadems. ASTONISHED AT YOUR SUDDEN FALL. — For sudden and unforeseen disasters are more bitter. Hence the Emperor Hadrian wore a ring which he said had belonged to Drusus Germanicus, on which was engraved: "Fortune is heavy for those to whom it is sudden." And Seneca: "Whatever strikes us unexpectedly," he says, "does more harm: it is better to take precautions than to take care." This is what St. Augustine says in his book On the Singular Clergy: "Wherever there is foresight, all adversities are frustrated: but where foresight is neglected, all adversities prevail." If therefore you are wise, use counsel, which is the eye of the future, and by it discern and foresee what is to come.
Verse 17: AND TAKING UP A LAMENTATION OVER YOU.
17. AND TAKING UP A LAMENTATION OVER YOU. — Isaiah introduces a similar lament over destroyed Babylon in chapter XIV, 10.
Tropologically, St. Jerome aptly applies this lament to the noble soul that falls into mortal sin.
Verse 18: ON THE DAY OF YOUR TERROR.
18. ON THE DAY OF YOUR TERROR. — The Septuagint: on the day of your ruin.
Verse 19: THE ABYSS.
19. THE ABYSS. — The Chaldean: an immense army, so that many waters may cover you, that is, many enemies and peoples, and consequently many sorrows and grievous and deep disasters. So the Psalmist says, Psalm XLI, 8: "Deep calls unto deep, at the voice of your cataracts," that is, one affliction drags another with it, while You, O Lord, open Your cataracts and rain calamities upon us.
Verse 20: Those Who Descend Into The Pit
20. THOSE WHO DESCEND INTO THE PIT, — that is, into the grave and tomb. TO THE ETERNAL PEOPLE. — In Hebrew, to the people of the age, that is, to the people already dead for many ages, who sleep an eternal sleep, as Jeremiah says in chapter LI, 57, whom therefore he calls "the everlasting dead," Lamentations III, 6; second, as if to say: With those who descend into the pit, that is, into hell, destined for eternal fire, I will place you, to burn forever. So St. Jerome and R. Solomon.
IN THE LOWEST PARTS OF THE EARTH. — In Hebrew tachtiot, that is, the lower parts, namely in the grave and in hell.
LIKE ANCIENT RUINS, — that is, similar to the ruins of ancient cities, of which scarcely any trace can be discerned. So Maldonatus.
WHEN I SHALL GIVE GLORY IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING, — when I shall restore the happiness and former glory of Jerusalem, from which all will glorify My power. Hence the Chaldean translates: I will give joy in the land of Israel. Jerusalem is called the land of the living, first, because in it the true and living God was worshiped, who makes His worshipers like Himself — living — just as dead idols make their worshipers stupid. Second, because in Jerusalem were buried the faithful and just, who after a short time would rise again to eternal life, Isaiah XXVI, 20; Revelation VI, 9. Third, as if to say: You, Tyre, insulted Jerusalem because it was now a land of death and the dead: behold, I will cause you to descend into the pit and to be a land of the dead: but Jerusalem shall be a land of the living, when it flourishes again with the number and glory of living people. So R. David, Maldonatus, Prado and others. Others explain it thus: When I shall give glory in the land of the living, that is, when in your punishment and destruction I shall show the glory of My vengeance and power throughout all lands. Here our Prado ends his commentary together with his life, and passes to the land of the living.
Verse 21: I Will Reduce You To Nothing
21. I WILL REDUCE YOU TO NOTHING, — that is, your glory, empire, riches, delights, palaces, fortresses, etc., so that they may exist no longer, nor subsist in their form and essence, and as regards these they are as it were annihilated. For as regards prime matter, it is certain that this is not annihilated. Things are therefore said to be annihilated when their species, form, and beauty perish, and they are as it were reduced to prime matter and to the rude chaos from which they came. Hence he adds, explaining: "And you shall not be, and you shall be sought and not found any more forever." This is the end of renowned Tyre. This is the end of kings, kingdoms, riches, honors, and the pomp of the world. So in Revelation XVII, of the kingdom of Antichrist and of the world, it is said: "The beast was, and is not;" but of God and His kingdom it is said in Revelation I, 4: "Who is, who was, and who is to come." And Daniel VII, 27: "Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve and obey Him." This therefore is the eulogy, praise, and name of a king and of every dead person: "He was, and is not." But of God and the Blessed: "He was, is, and will be forever." Thus passes the glory of the world; but the glory of heaven endures.
There survives an epitaph of a certain king of France, apt and moving on this subject, which Delrio cites, Adage 8, and it reads: I laughed, I weep. I was, I am not. I studied, I rest. I played, I play no more. I sang, I make no sound. I fed my body, I feed worms. I watched, I sleep. I said Hello, I say Farewell. I seized, I am seized. I conquered, I am conquered. I fought, I am at peace. By right I lived. By right therefore I die: I do not resist, I could not resist. Once I was earth, again I am earth. I am nothing. Perishable earth, farewell; worms, greetings; I lie down.
This will be the epitaph of each of us. O how foolish is he who spurns what is passing and soon to fall, and pursues what is eternal and ever-enduring! Hear the epitaph of Rome captured and devastated by Genseric, king of the Goths, under the Emperor Honorius, in the year of our Lord 410; which St. Jerome, hearing and groaning in Bethlehem, thus begins the Preface of book III of his Commentary on Ezekiel: "Nothing that has an end is long, and the whole series of past ages is of no profit, unless it has prepared a provision of good works, which always look to the future, to the eternal, and are limited by no boundaries. A true maxim: all things born die, and all things grown grow old. And elsewhere: For nothing made by human effort and hands exists that time does not destroy and consume. Who would have believed that Rome, built by the victories of the entire world, would fall, that she herself would become for her peoples both mother and tomb? That the entire shores of the East, Egypt, and Africa would be filled with the slaves and handmaidens of that once-ruling city? That holy Bethlehem would daily receive as beggars those once noble, of both sexes, and abounding in all riches? Since we cannot bring them aid, we grieve with them, and join our tears to tears: and occupied with the pursuit of our holy work, since we cannot look upon those who stream in without groaning...
...we desire the study of Scripture, and to turn our commentaries on Ezekiel and almost all our words into works; and not to speak holy things, but to do them."