Reading for February 17th

Read Ezekiel 26.15-21. In verses 15-18: Princes of the sea is an allusion to Tyre's trading partners and allies. They sahll raise a lamentation: This poem is composed in the "qinah" meter, characteristic of laments (see comments on 19.1). In verses 19-21: Ezekeiel employs mythological language to portray Tyre's fall. I bring up the deep over you reverses the imagery of creation in which dry land emerges from the waters (Gen 1). Desccend into the Pit: Descent into the underworld at death (see 32.17-22; Isa 24.22; Ps 63.9; 139.15) was a characteristic motif of Babylonian mythology is which the fertility god Tammuz had to be rescued from the underworld each year by the goddess Ishtar. Comments or Questions..