Commentary on Prov Ecc SoS Isa Jer Lam Eze Dan, Ezekiel · Chapter 26
CHAP. XXVI.
Ver. 1. IN the eleventh year] Of Je…ojachim's captivity, and Zedekiah's reign.
In the firſt day of the monethmonth] i. e. Of the fifth monethmonth; when the news came to Tyre of the deſtruction of Jeruſalem twenty dayes before, which fell out on the ninth day of the fourth monethmonth, 2 Kings 25.1.
Ver. 2. Becauſe that Tyrus hath ſaid] Wicked men ſhall give account for their hard ſpeeches alſo.Antiq. lib. 8. cap. 2. Sarrano dormiat oſtro. Virg. Geor. l. 2. Jude 15. if not ſooner, yet certainly at the laſt day, with the whole world all on a light fire about their cares. Tyrus was the chief City of Phaenicia, built before Solomons Temple, ſaith Joſephus: and anciently called Sarra, ſaith Servius, of the Hebrew Tſor which ſignifieth a rock; becauſe it was built upon a rock. It became the moſt famous and wealthy Mart-town of the whole Eaſt: and having ſo great reſort to it from all parts, it was a very ſinful place; and framing comedies out of the Churches tragedies, hath this Prophecy to champ upon, for a rebater of its pride and petulancy.
Aha] See chap. 25.3.
That was the gates of the people] Whereinto they entered by troops and caravant, for religion and traffique.
She is turned unto me] Vide hic ingenia mercatorum. Her ruine ſhall be my riſe; Loe, this is the world: envy and avarice rejoyce at, and are fed with other mens tears and loſſes: ſed gaudent pyrauſtae gaudium. Contrarywiſe, God is rich to all that call upon him, Rom. 10. and in ſpiritual things there is no envy, becauſe they may be divided in ſolidum, one may have as much as another, and all alike.
I ſhall be repleniſhed] Mercibus & opibus, with wars and wealth. But how long will it hold?
foreign. Pindar.Ver. 3. Therefore thus ſaith the Lord God] And thy Merchants will ſoon doe thee word of it: for they are great news-mongers, and ill-news is ſwift of foot.
Behold I am againſt thee] Neither can thine Apollo help or deliver thee out of my hands: no though thou chain that idol and nail him to a poſt, that thou maiſt be ſure of him: for ſo theſe Tyrians did when Alexander beſieged their City and took it.
Ver. 4. And they ſhall deſtroy the walls of Tyrus] Which thou holdeſt to be inexpugnable: Hence this and the two following Chapters, purpoſely to undeceive thee, if it may be.
I will alſo ſcrape her duſt from her] Brought from other places, to make her gardens: for ſhe was built upon a rock, & in petram glabram: to a naked rock will God now reduce her.
Ver. 5. It ſhall be a place for the ſpreading of nets] Of fiſhers nets, hung up in the Sun to be dryed. The Prophets uſually fetch their compariſons from things the people were moſt acquainted with and accuſtomed to, as here. Let Miniſters now do the like.
Ver. 6. And her daughters which are in the field] i. e. Other Cities and colonies ſent out by her, and ſubject to her; as ſhe was olim partu clara urbibus genitis, as Pliny ſaith of her, the mother of many fair Cities, Leptis, Ʋtica, Carthage. Some take it literally for people of both ſexes.
Ver. 7. Behold I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar] A name as dreadful then, as was at any time the name of the great Turk: a man as famous for his valour and victories as ever was Hercules, ſaith Megaſthenes in in Joſephus: Antiq. l. 10. c. 13.and ſuch as whom we may well call as Oroſius doth Alexander, magnum miſeriarum gurgitem, & totius Orientis atrociſſimum turbinem, the great Trouble-world.
Ver. 8. He ſhall ſlay with the ſword] See on ver. 6.
He ſhall lift up the buckler] Or, a continued ſeries of bucklers,
— ut omnes
Ferre queant jubter denſa teſtudine caſus.Helepoles injiciet.
Ver. 9. He ſhall ſet engines of war] A graphical deſcription of a ſiege.
And with his axes] Or, battering-rams, or ſlings. Heb. with his ſwords. Gr. with his launces, ferramentis mucronatis helepoleos. Vide Am. Marcell. lib. 23.
Ver. 10. Thy walls ſhall ſhake] With the noiſe of one charret, walls and windows ſeem to ſhake: what then with the rattle of ſo many? Me thought I heard the noiſe and fright that ſhall be at the laſt day, ſaid one that was at the taking of a Town in the Low-countries. The fragour and terrour was ſo great ſay,A Lapide. the Turkiſh hiſtories (ſpeaking of a bloody battel betwixt Amurath the third, and Lazarus Deſpot of Sernia) that the Angels in heaven (ſo they are pleaſed to Hyperbolize)Turk. Hiſt. amazed with that hideous noiſe, for that time forgat the heavenly hymnes wherewith they alwaies glorifie God.
When he ſhall enter into thy gates] As our Henry the eighth did into Tournay a City of France, which was ever counted ſo impregnable that this ſentence was engraven over one of the gates, Jannes ton me a perdu ton pucellage, i. e. Thou haſt never loſt thy maiden-head.
Ver. 11. And thy ſtrong garriſons] Or ſtatues, or idols. Their chief idols were Apollo, Hercules, and Aſtarie: See on ver. 3.Curt. l. 4. Plut. Probl.
Ver. 12. And they ſhall make a ſpoil of thy riches] Raked together by right and wrong. See on ver. 2. Malè parta malè dilàbuntur.Salluſt.
Ver. 13. And I will cauſe the noiſe of thy ſongs to ceaſe] The Tyrians were much addicted to Muſick, Iſa. 23.16. Ezek. 28.13. Pleaſure-mongers ſhall ſuffer deeply, by pain of loſſe and pain of ſenſe.
And the ſound of thy harp] Qua tu O Tyre, mercatrix quaſi meretrix mercatores ad te pellicis, wherewith thou getteſt cuſtom.
Ver. 14. Thou ſhalt be built no more] i. e. Not in haſte, and not at all by the ſame inhabitants, nor with the like neatneſſe, and celebrity. Some ſay it was not built in the ſame place with Palaetyrus or old Tyre: yet was it a famous City again, near unto which our Saviour wrought miracles;Hieron. Ulp. diget. Tit. de …enſ. in which Paul abode ſeven dayes with the brethren. Here Origen dyed, Ʋlpian the great Lawyer was born, &c. Of this City read Gul. Tyrius de bello ſacro. lib. 13. cap. 1.
Ver. 15. Shall not the Iſles] See the like Eſa. 23.
Ver. 16. All the Princes of the ſea] i. e. Of the neighbouring Iſlands.
Cloath themſelves with trembling] Luth. with mourning.
Ver. 17. And they ſhall take up a lamentation] The like ſhall be done ſhortly at Rome, Rev. 18.9.
That waſt inhabited of ſeafaring men] Who are uſually the worſt of men; whence the Proverb Maritimi mores, &c.
On all that haunt it] Haunt the ſea, littorales qui ſunt ferè duri, horridi, immanes, latrociniis dediti, feri & inhoſpitales, tales olim Britanni.
Iſidor.Ver. 18. Now ſhall the Iſles tremble] And ſeeing thy ſhipwrack, they ſhall look better to their tackling. Alterius perditio tua ſit cautio.
At thy departure] Into captivity. Or tuus exitus, hoc eſt tuum exitium.
Ver. 19. When I ſhall bring up the deep upon thee] As ver. 3. great forces.
And great waters ſhall cover thee] So that thou ſhalt be irrecoverably loſt, as places drowned and never ſeen any more: Godwins ſands here in Kent for inſtance. Theſe did once belong to Godwin Earle of Kent as his lands: but in the reign of William Rufus they were overflowed, and remain to this day a dangerous ſandy place, where periſhed this preſent year 1658. Col. Reynolds and others, in their return from Mardike.
Ver. 20. With the people of old time] The multitude of thoſe that are dead from the beginning of the world. Or, with the people of the old world, as Hierom will have it: and that the Tyrians deſtruction both temporal and eternal is hereby hinted.
When I ſhall ſet glory in the land of the living] i. e. In Judaes, (where the living and true God is worſhipped, and where are the right heires of life) will I reeſtabliſh my Church, which is my glory. Or when I ſhall glorifie mine elect in mine heavenly Kingdom.
Ver. 21. Yet ſhalt thou never be found again] See on ver. 14.