Ezekiel’s prophecy also addresses nations beyond Israel. Yesterday’s reading included brief proclamations against Ammon (Ezekiel 25:2-7), Moab (25:8-11), Edom (25:12-14), and Philistia (25:15-17). Today we read a long proclamation regarding Tyre.

Located on the Mediterranean coast and near the major caravan route from Babylon to Egypt, Tyre was a major center of commerce, with shipbuilding (Ezekiel 27:4-9) and trade in all kinds of goods: metals, animals, precious stones, and cloth (27:12-24). But that has changed: “Now you are wrecked by the seas … all the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled at you, and their kings are horribly afraid … you have come to a dreadful end, and shall be no more forever” (27:34-36).

What brought this disaster about? First of all, the gloating of the people of Tyre over the misfortune of Jerusalem had incurred God’s wrath (26:2-3). And even deeper than this: the pride of Tyre over their wealth, and especially the pride of its king. The prophecy addresses the king: “your heart is proud and you have said, ‘I am a god’” (28:2). It offers him sarcastic mockery: “You are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you” (28:3). And this “wisdom” has apparently amassed great riches (28:4). But successful commerce doesn’t add up to deity: “you are a mortal, and no god though you compare your mind with the mind of a god” (28:2).

Pride may seem to be doing well for itself in the midst of prosperity, but hard times can wipe that away so quickly. “Will you still say, “I am a god,” in the presence of those who will kill you, though you are but a mortal, and no god, in the hands of those who wound you?” (28:9).

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Help us, O Lord, for we also are full of pride, and too ready to gloat over the misfortunes of others. We are proud of knowledge and wealth, scarcely recognizing that these gifts come to us from your hand; and we pay no regard to how quickly our understanding and our economy could fail. Teach us to live in humility before you: for you are God, and we are not.