Ezekiel 27:2 - Homiletics

A lamentation for Tyre.

In the previous chapter the prophet denounced judgment on Tyre; in this chapter he utters a lamentation over the doomed city. The one is in the spirit of vengeance, the other in the spirit of sympathy. The prophet thus reveals to us two elements in the Divine treatment of sin—first the wrath that punishes, then the tenderness that commiserates.

I. TYRE IS IN A LAMENTABLE CONDITION . At present she is wealthy and prosperous. But the prophet looks into the future and sees her doom approaching. Therefore he sings her funeral dirge while the thoughtless city still revels in luxury. Christ uttered his lament over Jerusalem before a shadow of approaching calamity had fallen on the wicked city.

1. It is lamentable to be living under a doom of destruction . In ignorance, unbelief, or carelessness, men enjoy life although they are guilty of sins that must bring down the wrath of Heaven. "As in the days that were before the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark" ( Matthew 24:38 ). But to thoughtful spectators such unseemly gaiety is only a source of profound distress. Surely if men would but look up, the sword of Damocles above their heads should arrest the untimely mirth. It is fearful for the wise to be lamenting over the approaching fate which the foolish will not perceive.

2. It is more lamentable to be living in the sin that deserves this doom . Sin is worse than its punishment. Whatever men may believe about the future, the present case of the sinner is most deplorable. If he glories in his shame, that shame is only the more lamentable. The most wretched condition of the prodigal son is that before he has come to himself, when he revels insanely in his degradation.

II. THE CONDITION OF TYRE EXCITES COMMISERATION IN THE SERVANT OF GOD . Ezekiel does not merely threaten vengeance, he bewails the ill-fated city. It was the crowning fault of Jonah that he had no pity for Nineveh ( Jonah 4:1 ). No one is fit to speak of future punishment who is not moved to tenderness by a contemplation of its woes. A harsh denunciatory style is not in harmony with the example of Hebrew prophecy, much less does it agree with the New Testament model.

1. Sin should not destroy pity, but excite it . Jerusalem was most wicked; therefore Christ wept ( Luke 19:41 ).

2. The heathen call for our commiseration . Missionary enterprises are founded on two great motives—the claims of Christ, and the pitiable condition of the Christless. Human brotherhood should excite sympathy for the condition of the most remote. This was here seen in Judaism; much more is it to be looked for in Christianity.

3. We should be most concerned at the sin and danger of our friends . Tyre was an old ally of Israel. If the Jews had been more faithful, possibly the Phoenicians might have been saved. Our negligence may be to blame for the fate of our friends.

III. THE LAMENTATION FOR TYRE DID NOT SAVE THE CITY .

1. Lamentation will not save without repentance . The fear of future punishment will not give a means of escape from that punishment. We must go farther to a confession of sin and a desire for a better life.

2. The lamentation of others will not save the impenitent . Ezekiel's elegy did not deliver Tyre. Even Christ's tears did not save Jerusalem.

3. The cross of Christ is the supreme condition of salvation . Our own tears, a prophet's tears, even Christ's tears, will not save. But Christ's death brings deliverance for all who will have it, by atoning for sin and reconciling the sinner to God. When no prophet's lamentation will move the hardened sinner, the sight of Christ on the cross dying for him should melt him to penitence.