Ezekiel 27:1-11: a reflection

1The LORD’s word came again to me, saying, 2“You, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre; 3and tell Tyre, ‘You who dwell at the entry of the sea, who are the merchant of the peoples to many islands, the Lord GOD says: “You, Tyre, have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’ 4Your borders are in the heart of the seas. Your builders have perfected your beauty. 5They have made all your planks of cypress trees from Senir. They have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. 6They have made your oars of the oaks of Bashan. They have made your benches of ivory inlaid in cypress wood from the islands of Kittim. 7Your sail was of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt, that it might be to you for a banner. Blue and purple from the islands of Elishah was your awning. 8The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers. Your wise men, Tyre, were in you. They were your pilots. 9The old men of Gebal and its wise men were your repairers of ship seams in you. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise. 10“‘“Persia, Lud, and Put were in your army, your men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in you. They showed your beauty. 11The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around, and valiant men were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around. They have perfected your beauty.

God tells Ezekiel to raise a lament over Tyre, the great merchant city of the sea. The picture drawn is of a magnificent trading ship, built of the finest materials from every land, cypress planks, a cedar mast, oars of oak, ivory-inlaid benches, sails of embroidered Egyptian linen. Skilled workers from many nations rowed and steered and repaired her, and warriors hung their shields on her walls. Tyre had said of herself, I am perfect in beauty.

That self-assessment is the heart of the lament. Tyre gloried in her own splendor, gathering the best of everything into herself and taking pride in the result. The description is genuinely beautiful, and that is part of the tragedy. A city truly gifted with wealth and skill had turned all of it into a monument to her own perfection. What could have been received with gratitude became instead a source of self-admiration, and the lament tells us this beauty is about to sink beneath the waves.

The danger Tyre embodies is a common one, dressed in finer clothes. When we are gifted, accomplished, or surrounded by beautiful things, it is easy to slide from enjoying them to admiring ourselves in them, to say in our hearts, I am perfect in beauty. Whatever good you have, your abilities, your possessions, your achievements, receive it as a gift and give the glory back to God. Beauty that becomes a mirror for self-admiration is already beginning to sink.

Lord, Tyre gathered every good thing into herself and said, I am perfect in beauty, and her splendor became a monument to her own pride. Guard me from that slide, from enjoying your gifts to admiring myself in them. Whatever good I have, help me to receive it with gratitude and return the glory to you. Let nothing beautiful in my life become a mirror for my own pride. Amen.