A lamentation for Tyre (Ezek 26:17-26:18)

“The princes of the sea

Will raise

A lamentation

Over you.

They will say

To you.

‘How you have vanished

From the seas!

O city renowned!

Once mighty one

On the sea!

You!

Your inhabitants!

You imposed

Your terror

On all the mainland!

Now coastlands

Tremble On the day

Of your fall!

The coastlands

By the sea

Are dismayed

At your passing.’”

The princes of the sea or the trading partners of Tyre would lament over what had happened to Tyre, since it had vanished from the seas. This once renowned city had been a mighty force on the Mediterranean Sea. They and their inhabitants had imposed terror on all the mainland towns. Now these coastland towns were trembling because they had lost this mercantile seaside town. They saw what had happened to Tyre. Thus they were dismayed by the passing and demise of Tyre.

The death of the prophet Uriah (Jer 26:21-26:23)

“When King Jehoiakim,

With all his warriors,

With all his officials,

Heard his words,

The king sought

To put him to death.

When Uriah heard this,

He was afraid.

He fled.

He escaped to Egypt.

Then King Jehoiakim sent

Elnathan,

The son of Achbor,

With other men with him,

To Egypt.

They took Uriah

From Egypt.

They brought him

To King Jehoiakim.

He struck him down

With the sword.

They threw his dead body

Into the burial place

Of the common people.”

King Jehoiakim or King Eliakim (609-598 BCE), the same king as when Jeremiah was prophesying, heard about the prophecies of Uriah. He had an immediate reaction as he with his warriors and officials wanted to kill Uriah for his prophecy about the demise of Judah and Jerusalem. This prophet Uriah then fled to Egypt. However, the king of Egypt had put King Jehoiakim on the throne. Elnathan, the son of Achbor, may have been the father-in-law of the king of Judah. Achbor had helped King Josiah in his religious reforms. Thus when he showed up with some men in Egypt, they were able to bring him back to the king of Judah. There they killed Uriah with a sword. Then they threw his dead body in the common burial place. Uriah did not have a happy ending. He was one of the few prophets to be killed.