Garrisons - pillars, on which stood statues of some protecting god. Compare 2 Kings 10:26.

With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets,.... Such a number of horses running to and fro in the streets, and prancing upon the pavements, shall break them up, and destroy them, so that they shall be mere mire and dirt:

he shall slay thy people by the sword; such as would not lay down their arms and submit; or their principal ones, who encouraged the inhabitants to hold out the siege to such a length of time as they did; which might provoke Nebuchadnezzar to use them with more severity:

and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground: where their soldiers were placed for defence; their citadel and other towers: or, "the statues of thy strengths" (k); their strong statues made of marble, &c. erected as trophies of victories obtained by them; or to the honour of some worthy magistrates, and principal citizens; or of their confederates and allies; or rather of their deities, such as Hercules and Apollo, their tutelar gods; which, though chained as they were, that they might not depart, shall now fall to the ground, unable to protect themselves or their worshippers: all that is here said, concerning the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, seems to be understood of old Tyre, which was upon the continent; for this account agrees not with the isle.

(k) "statuae fortitudinis tuae", Pagninus, Montanus; "columnas tuas robustas", Cocceius; "columnas ruboris tui", Starckius.

With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong {e} garrisons shall go down to the ground.

(e) For Tyre was built by art and by labour of men was won out of the sea. Some refer this to the image of the noble men which they had erected for their glory and renown.

26:11 Garrisons - Bastions, or forts, or triumphal arches.

11. thy strong garrisons-literally, "the statutes of thy strength"; so the forts which are "monuments of thy strength." Maurer understands, in stricter agreement with the literal meaning, "the statues" or "obelisks erected in honor of the idols, the tutelary gods of Tyre," as Melecarte, answering to the Grecian Hercules, whose temple stood in Old Tyre (compare Jer 43:13, Margin).

26:1-14 To be secretly pleased with the death or decay of others, when we are likely to get by it; or with their fall, when we may thrive upon it, is a sin that easily besets us, yet is not thought so bad as really it is. But it comes from a selfish, covetous principle, and from that love of the world as our happiness, which the love of God expressly forbids. He often blasts the projects of those who would raise themselves on the ruin of others. The maxims most current in the trading world, are directly opposed to the law of God. But he will show himself against the money-loving, selfish traders, whose hearts, like those of Tyre, are hardened by the love of riches. Men have little cause to glory in things which stir up the envy and rapacity of others, and which are continually shifting from one to another; and in getting, keeping, and spending which, men provoke that God whose wrath turns joyous cities into ruinous heaps.