(36) Shall hiss at thee.--In Ezekiel 27:35 the prophet again drops the figure of the ship, and looking forward (as in Ezekiel 26:4-6; Ezekiel 26:12-14) to the end, speaks of the final and utter overthrow which shall come upon Tyre. The word hiss is used, as in Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 7:18; Zechariah 10:8, &c., in the sense of calling for. The prophet tells us that the people who have had commercial connection with Tyre shall call for her in vain; she shall be (not a terror, but, as in Ezekiel 26:21) a sudden destruction, and shall not be for ever.
27:26-36 The most mighty and magnificent kingdoms and states, sooner or later, come down. Those who make creatures their confidence, and rest their hopes upon them, will fall with them: happy are those who have the God of Jacob for their Help, and whose hope is in the Lord their God, who lives for ever. Those who engage in trade should learn to conduct their business according to God's word. Those who possess wealth should remember they are the Lord's stewards, and should use his goods in doing good to all. Let us seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee,.... As Tyre had done at Jerusalem, Ezekiel 26:2 as she hoped to make better markets upon the fall of Jerusalem, and therefore rejoiced at it; so these merchants upon her fall will hope that her trade will come into their hands, and therefore despise her, hiss, and laugh at her in her abject state. The Targum is,
"shall be astonished at thee;''
struck with wonder, and even with a stupor at her fall: "and thou shalt be a terror"; not only to thyself, but to kings and merchants, and to all the inhabitants of the isles, and to all that trade by sea; who will be struck with surprise and dread when they hear of thy destruction; see Revelation 18:9,
and never shall be any more; upon the same spot, and in the same grandeur and glory: some understand this only of a long time, as seventy years, when it was rebuilt; see Isaiah 23:15, it may respect its last destruction, since which it has not been, nor now is, or ever will be: this will be true of mystical Babylon, the antitype of Tyre, Revelation 18:21.
"shall be astonished at thee;''
struck with wonder, and even with a stupor at her fall: "and thou shalt be a terror"; not only to thyself, but to kings and merchants, and to all the inhabitants of the isles, and to all that trade by sea; who will be struck with surprise and dread when they hear of thy destruction; see Revelation 18:9,
and never shall be any more; upon the same spot, and in the same grandeur and glory: some understand this only of a long time, as seventy years, when it was rebuilt; see Isaiah 23:15, it may respect its last destruction, since which it has not been, nor now is, or ever will be: this will be true of mystical Babylon, the antitype of Tyre, Revelation 18:21.