| JUST WHAT THEY DESERVED |
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| Ezekiel goes on to Tyre, 100 miles up the coast. Tyre's soul was profit: its merchants controlled trade for the whole Mediterranean. Because of their wealth and success, they considered themselves virtual gods (28:2, 6). They had callously rejoiced in Jerusalem's downfall, seeing it as a chance for increased trade (26:2). For such unfeeling arrogance, God would sentence them. Nebuchadnezzar began this punishment in Ezekiel'e era, and centuries later Alexander the Great finished it off by razing the city. Tyre became, as Ezekiel had predicted, "a bare rock, a place to spread fishnets" (26:14). A Comic Condemnation Pausing briefly to give a judgment of Sidon, Ezekiel travels on to Egypt. His words might have seemed comic. Who does he think he is, passing judgment on one of the great powers of his day? Ezekiel, a captive from a two-bit country about to be overrun, sounds rather like a refugee from Haiti shaking his fist at American or Russia. Yet Ezekiel confidently asserts that Egypt can start mourning now. As it happened, Egypt, a great power for many centuries, lost its dominance and has never regained it (29:15). Perhaps, in taking up these nations' fates, Ezekiel intended to build suspense for the climatic tragedy of Jerusalem's fall. But certainly this trial of the nations demonstrated that Jerusalem had not been singled out for justice. Every nation would be judged by the standard of right and wrong that they knew. If God was harder on Judah, it was only because Judah knew so much more about God and his expectations. Life Questions: Do you believe in universal standards of right and wrong? What "code of conduct" applies to everybody, regardless of their upbringing? |