An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 165: In Which God Helps the Babylonians Conquer. And Tyre Sounds Like a Great Place (Ezekiel 26-30)

Ezekiel 26-30
In Which God Helps the Babylonians Conquer. And Tyre Sounds Like a Great Place.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Ezekiel 26

“And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.”

The city of Tyrus (Tyre?) is cursed by God for daring to mock the fall of Jerusalem (and there’s an implication of looting as well). God’s answer is to use Nabuchadnezzar of Babylon to invade Tyre and destroy it, and that’s about it for this chapter; most of it is descriptions of destruction. “And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water”, that kind of thing.

I’d hazard a guess that Nabuchadnezzar thinks that he’s doing this as part of his general conquest of the near east, not because God wants him to punish people on His behalf.

Ezekiel 27
“Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.”

The theme of the destruction of Tyrus is continued, and this chapter really feels like rubbing salt into the wound, because it discusses in great detail all the various trade goods and riches that pass through Tyrus, and all the various nationalities to be found there, either as merchants, sailors or craftsmen. Oil from Israel, linen and emeralds from Syria, sheep from Arabia, metals from Tarshish, ivory from Dedan, horses from Togarmah – a great list of exotic goods and evocative names.

Which makes the destruction seem even more petty and malicious. I can see what message is trying to be portrayed here – don’t be too proud of your worldly wealth because God can take it away if He wants. But this is a trading port where many nations come together for mutual gain, rather than the brutal cycle of conquest and re-conquest that seems the norm elsewhere in the bible. Surely this is a good achievement. In fact, from what’s given above I’d find it hard to believe that the people of Tyrus would, as a whole, take a delighted view in the fall of Jerusalem. Rather they’d mourn the loss of the wheat, honey, oil and balm trades.

Ezekiel 28

“Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.”

The reasons for destroying Tyre are expanded upon in this chapter – the reason being pride of the ruler, whose riches have made him think himself a god. So I was right about the hubris aspect of things, but it still seems like a terrible shame, when even God Himself admits that there is wisdom and beauty in Tyre, to conduct such cultural vandalism. The final few verses also prophesy against Zidon, as an enemy nation to Israel, promising “pestilence, and blood into her streets”.

Ezekiel 29

“Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt”

In this chapter Ezekiel is told to prophesy against Egypt. Its crime was to be an inconstant ally to Israel, a “staff of reed” that breaks when most needed. There’s a nice metaphor about a dragon in the river (one assumes the Nile and so possibly the “dragon” is a crocodile) that God will fish up, along with the fish of the Nile and leave to rot in the wilderness, thus the bounty of the Nile is removed. I know that there were periodic times of famine and chaos in Egypt, I wonder if this was one of those. It just so happens, as well, that Nabuchadrezzar has finished his conquest of Tyre and needs to pay his soldiers, and so looks to Egypt for plunder. How he managed not to get his hands on all the wealth listed in Ezekiel 27, I don’t know.

Ezekiel 30

“Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.”

Another chapter, more destruction. More detail on the destruction of Egypt and her allies, including places such as Sin and No. That’s really about it for this chapter, it’s the usual threats of sword and fire and famine, scattering the Egyptians into other countries. I do find myself wondering why the God of the Israelites is putting so much investment in the expansion of the Babylonians, that really doesn’t make any sense. Maybe things will become clearer as we go forward.