This great ship (commercial empire) was headed for shipwreck.
27:25 Ships from Tarshish, probably Spain, carried Tyre's merchandise. Tyre became very rich because of all this sea trade.
27:26-27 Tyre's merchants had brought her "ship"into great waters, but there it encountered a strong east wind that broke it, namely, Babylon. All who contributed to the success of Tyre's enterprise would fall into the chaotic sea when God overthrew this ship of state.
"Any ship can be sunk by the Master of the seas."375
27:28-31 The cry of the Tyrians when destruction came would cause all her merchants, trading partners, and onlookers to bewail and to mourn (cf. Rev. 18:17-19).
27:32-34 They would lament the demise of this great commercial empire regarding it as the mightiest power of its kind on the earth.376It had satisfied the materialistic desires of many nations and kings. These onlookers would wail because Tyre's "ship"had sunk.
27:35-36 Tyre's trading partners would stand appalled at her, and their kings would fear for the prosperity of their own kingdoms. Other merchants would whistle in amazement at her unbelievable collapse (cf. 1 Kings 9:8; Rev. 18:15-19). Tyre herself would quake with terror and would pass into oblivion.
"The record of Tyre has a peculiar relevance for our day, for those areas in which she excelled and was the envy of the entire ancient world are precisely the fields in which every modern nation seeks superiority. But Tyre has a message for our age, and it is that riches without God are unable to satisfy the heart of man and often keep many from dependence upon God. Has not this spirit invaded the church, and does it not pervade the lives of too many Christians?"377
