Ezekiel 26:19-21 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Thus saith the Lord, When I shall make thee a desolate city When I shall fulfil these predictions, and make thee what I now threaten to make thee; like the cities that are not inhabited Whose walls are broken down, and whose streets are all solitary. When I shall bring up the deep upon thee This may be understood either figuratively of Nebuchadnezzar's army, or literally of the sea overflowing and covering a great part of the ancient seat of the city, in consequence of the walls and outworks thereof being demolished. And great waters shall cover thee Either, literally, the waters of the sea, or, metaphorically, great afflictions. When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit When thou shalt be brought to utter desolation, like the cities which have been long buried in ruin and oblivion. The phrase of going down into the pit, (by which term is often signified the grave,) is frequently made use of in Scripture, to express the destruction of a person or place. Thus our Saviour says of Capernaum, (Luke 10:15,) Thou shall be thrust down to hell, or, rather, as it ought to be translated, into the state of the dead, that is, thou shall become desolate, or be no longer a city. With the people of old time With those who are now in entire oblivion, as those who lived in the first ages of the world now are. And shall set thee in the low parts of the earth Another description of the grave, from the situation and solitude of it; in places desolate of old Desolate from the beginning. And I shall set glory in the land of the living That is, when I shall reinstate Judea in glory again. Judea is called the land of the living, (which signifies, according to the genius of the Hebrew language, the land of happy men,) because that the inhabitants were assured of all blessings so long as they served God faithfully. The prophet here foretels that the city of Jerusalem, at whose destruction the inhabitants of Tyre had so greatly exulted, should be again rebuilt in the same place, and even attain to a height of reputation and glory, while the city of Tyre should remain a desolation. I will make thee a terror, and thou shall be no more Thou shall be left in the ruins of desolation, a terrible example of my vengeance. Though thou be sought for, yet shall thou never be found again A mode of expression this, which denotes an entire destruction: see notes on Ezekiel 26:4-5; Ezekiel 26:14.