FM489

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Ezekiel 26:1. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. – Chapter 26 depicts ecclesiasticism in the guise of an elaborate system of philosophy. The name Tyrus signifies "Rock;" and human philosophy, particularly Greek Platonic philosophy, is the real rock foundation of ecclesiastical teachings. Any true ecclesiastic, when driven by the Word of God from his untenable errors, claims sanction for them by reference to the philosophy of Plato and the inherent immortality of man, etc.

Ezekiel 26:2. Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people; she is turned unto me; I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste. – This system and its adherents will manifest their essentially non-Christian nature when Christendom (Jerusalem) falls at the hands of the revolutionists in 1918. Philosophy, Higher Criticism, will rejoice that ecclesiasticism, which claimed to be the gateway to God for the people, is broken. They will imagine that the adherents of a Christianity that has failed will turn to philosophy, and that the adherents of philosophy will be increased now that ecclesiasticism is desolated. Human philosophy will seem to be the sole refuge of the people of Christendom.

Ezekiel 26:3. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. – Because Christendom has borne the name of Christ and had the oracles of God, therefore God is against philosophy and will cause the many nations of Christendom to come up against established philosophy, as a sea of anarchy, with the discontented masses attacking, wave after wave, endlessly.

Ezekiel 26:4. 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 anarchists shall destroy the walls of defense, composed of the adherents to human philosophy, and shall break down the loftiest and strongest organizations, its towers of defense. FM490 God will remove the last vestiges of human adherence to Christendom's system of philosophy.

Ezekiel 26:5. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations. – In the anarchy, human philosophy shall be utterly abandoned – deprived of all its former supporters, by whole nations of anarchists.

Ezekiel 26:6. And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword: and they shall know that I am the Lord. – The religious organizations (daughters) founded on philosophy, which are in the world (field), shall be wiped out; and in the Kingdom their former adherents shall come to know Jehovah as He is.

Ezekiel 26:7. For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. – Jehovah God declares that against human philosophy (Tyrus) and its systems and adherents, He will array Satan – the king of this evil world, ruler of mystic Babylon, "the gateway to Bel," to devil worship, king over the kings and other children of disobedience. He shall be permitted to come by God Himself, (the North) (Jer. 1:14), with teachings (horses), of anarchy, with institutions based upon such teachings (chariots), with leaders and teachers riding these hobbies (horsemen), with an organized following (companies) and with many people following after anarchy in unorganized mobs (much people).

Ezekiel 26:8. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. – With weapons of destruction (swords) anarchy shall seek to destroy the philosophical churches and other religious organizations (daughters) in the world (field) and shall systematically besiege them.

Ezekiel 26:9. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. – Anarchy shall make war against their defenders (walls), and with keen, strong, cutting arguments (axes), shall break down philosophy's strongholds (towers).

Ezekiel 26:10. By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. – Anarchistic teachings (horses) without limit shall fill the air with confusion (dust); philosophy's defenders (walls) shall fear and quake at the tumult (noise) of the leaders and teachers of FM491 anarchy (horsemen), and of their systematic plans (wheels) of destruction, and of the anarchistic organizations (chariots), when Anarchy shall pour its forces through the great ones (gates) of Philosophy, for the great ones will become channels (breaches) for the inpouring teachings of anarchy.

Ezekiel 26:11. With the hoofs of his horses shall be tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. – With the impact (hoofs) of doctrines (horses) of destruction, anarchy shall beat down all the orderly ways (streets) of philosophy. Anarchy shall destroy the adherents of philosophy with weapons of destruction, and the learned and mighty colleges and universities (garrisons) shall go down in failure and ruin.

Ezekiel 26:12. 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. – And the anarchists shall spoil the ideals (riches), and stop the teaching (merchandise) of philosophy; they shall break down the defense of philosophy's adherents (walls), and destroy the pleasing philosophical organizations (pleasant houses). They shall engulf the believers (stones) and supporters (timbers) in the rising tide of anarchy.

Ezekiel 26:13. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. – And God will cause the noise of philosophy's siren songs, her falsely pleasant teachings (songs) to cease; and the utterance of her melodious books (harps) shall be no more heard forever.

Ezekiel 26:14. And I will make thee like the top of rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shall be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God. – Philosophy, falsely so-called, shall be utterly desolated, and shall be built up no more forever; for Jehovah God has spoken it.

Ezekiel 26:15. Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? – The world will be full of revolutionary republics (isles), devoid of Christian principles and following man-made ideas; these republics shall be shaken to their foundations when anarchy begins its dread slaughter of men and of systems.

Ezekiel 26:16. Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves FM492 with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee. – Then shall the rude rulers of the revolutionary, half-anarchistic republics lose their positions of power (thrones), and lay aside their honors (robes), and discard their works of revolution (broidered garments); they shall be filled with dread and with trembling, and shall marvel at the downfall of their socialistic and revolutionary philosophies.

Ezekiel 26:17. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it! – They shall lament; for the great systems of human philosophy shall be destroyed, where abode polished cosmopolitan men of the world (seafaring men), the renowned system of thought which was strong among all peoples (in the sea), even in the midst of a world of restless, discontented masses.

Ezekiel 26:18. Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure. – Now shall the revolutionary republics (isles) tremble in the year of philosophy's downfall; the republics in the midst of the anarchistic peoples (sea) shall be in trouble with the failure of the system of manmade philosophy.

Ezekiel 26:19. For thus saith the Lord God; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee. – For God will utterly desolate philosophical teachings; when He brings up the sea of anarchy upon them, and engulfs them in the tidal wave.

Ezekiel 26:20. When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living. – God will bring human philosophy down to destruction, without an adherent and in disgrace and reproach (into the pit), in order that He may establish His glorious truth in the Kingdom of resurrection and of life.

Ezekiel 26:21. I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God. – God will make human philosophy a wasted, desolated thing (a terror); never shall it exist any more; though men and devils should seek to reestablish it, never shall it be found again, saith Jehovah God.