“Your rowers have brought you out into the high seas. The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas.
We have seen Tyre flourishing; here we have Tyre falling, and great is the fall of it, so much the greater for its having made such a figure in the world. Note, The most mighty and magnificent kingdoms and states, sooner or later, have their day to come down. They have their period; and, when they are in their zenith, they will begin to decline.
Commenting on Ezekiel 27:26-36
Thy riches,.... That vast mass of wealth Tyre had got by her trade and merchandise, were all lost, at once, and came to nought, which had been many years gathering; see Rev 18:17, and thy fairs; to which there were such great resorts from all parts, and where such a prodigious traffic was carried on, were now interrupted by the siege, and put to an...
In contrast to her previous greatness, her downfall is here, by a sudden transition, depicted under the image of a vessel foundering at sea. east wind--blowing from Lebanon, the most violent wind in the Mediterranean (Psa 48:7). A Levanter, as it is called. Nebuchadnezzar is meant. The "sea" is the war with him which the "rowers," or rulers of the state vessel, had "brought" it into, to its ruin.