Daily Devotions
Ezekiel
"They will take up a lamentation for you"
Text: Ezekiel 26:17
THE LAMENT SONG FOR TYRE
Tyre had many friends. Their vast contacts came about because of commercial trade between Tyre and their trading partners. These countries would come to the funeral of Tyre with a Lamentation song, a dirge.
“And they will take up a lamentation for you,
and say to you:
‘How you have perished,
O one inhabited by seafaring men,
O renowned city,
Who was strong at sea,
She and her inhabitants,
Who caused their terror to be on all her inhabitants!
Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall;
Yes, the coastlands by the sea
are troubled at your departure.'”
Ezekiel 26:17-18
1. A lamentation.
a) This was a common practice.
b) A dirge or a song of lament is composed.
c) It is read or sung at the funeral of the deceased.
d) In this instance, it was Tyre who had expired.
2. The Content of the Lamentation song.
a) The theme:
The perishing of Tyre.
b) The city of Tyre was remembered as:
i) Having been inhabited by sea-faring men.
ii) It was a renowned city.
iii) The inhabitants of Tyre were famous for its strong people.
iv) Their might had caused ripples of terror to be felt by their trading partners.
c) All these features were remembered at the Fall of Tyre.
3. The coastlands.
a) The neighbouring nations trembled at the death of Tyre as a nation.
b) They would have lost a good trading partner.
c) They had lost Tyre as a good friend.
d) They were troubled that such a mighty nation could perish so suddenly and permanently.