Ezekiel 28:19 - Exposition

Thou shalt be a terror , etc. The knell of doom, as heard in Ezekiel 27:36 , rings out again. The same judgment falls alike on the city and on its king. The question when and in what manner the prediction received its fulfillment has been much discussed. Josephus ('Ant.,' 10.11. 1; 'Contra Apion,' 1.19) states that Nebuchadnezzar besieged the island Tyre and Ithobal (Ethbaal III .) for thirteen years; that, on his father's death, leaving his Phoenician and other captives to be brought by slower stages, he himself hastened to Babylon, and that afterwards he conquered the whole of Syria and Phoenicia; but he does not say, with all the Tyrian records before him, that the city was actually captured by him. It has been inferred, indeed, from Ezekiel 29:18 , that Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Tyre ended in, at least, partial failure, that he and his army had no "wages" for their work, i.e. that the spoil of the city was meager and disappointing. Possibly the merchant-princes of the city had contrived to carry off part of their treasures in their ships. On the other hand, it may be noted