TYRE: PINNACLE OF PROPHECY

An essay

Steve Losee

In approximately 580 BC, when the Hebrews were in exile in Babylonia, one among them claimed to be a prophet. His name was Ezekiel, and his words are recorded in the Bible, in a Book that bears his name.

Ezekiel believed he had been given a word from the Lord for the Gentile city of Tyre. It’s recorded in what we now know as the 26^th chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, and includes the following verses:

1. 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.
2. 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.

1. 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.
2. 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.

1. 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.
2. And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon: thou shalt be built no more; for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

1. 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. (1)

While there have always been may self-proclaimed prophets claiming to have a message from God, few have made prophecies so difficult to fulfill. Whether Ezekiel indeed heard from God or not in this instance is simple to determine. One needs only to ask one simple question: were these predictions fulfilled?

The first prediction is relatively easy, since it involves a contemporary of Ezekiel. In verses seven and eight, the prophet declares that Nebuchadnezzar (the normal spelling) would destroy the city.

This was no mean feat, even for the king of Babylon. Soon after this prediction, he began a siege against Tyre that was to last 13 years. Tyre finally surrendered in 573 BC. (2)

Upon entering the city, Nebuchadnezzar found it practically deserted. The majority of the people had fled to an island six hundred and fifty feet off the coast. While Tyre was being destroyed by the Babylonians, a new city was being founded on the island, also named Tyre. (3)

In verse four it says Tyre will be made "…like the top of a rock". This can be partially explained by verse 12, where it says, "…and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water." However, an apparently irrational act like that also requires elucidation.

Again we turn to history for the answer. Alexander the Great experienced only two delays on his conquering of the coast of Syria and "Palestine"; one of them was caused by Tyre. (4)

Since the city was now on an island half a mile off the coast, king Azemilkos was confident that it was impregnable. He refused to cooperate with Alexander. (5)

The Macedonian (i.e. Alexander) had not fleet with which to attack Tyre, so it had to be done by land. He answered this dilemma by demolishing the old city and using the debris to build a mole, or a causeway, about two thousand feet out to the island. (6)

The siege lasted seven months, from January to July of 332 BC, before Alexander finally breached Tyre’s defenses. (7)

So from secular history these apparently illogical prophecies are not only fulfilled, but explained.

The next prediction to be examined is in verse three, that many nations would come against Tyre. Here we can say that the armies of at least three nations must attack this city before this prophecy could be considered fulfilled. So far, we have seen two nations come against Tyre. History will show us if there were, in fact, any others.

18 years after Alexander, Tyre had managed to build itself up somewhat and repair its walls. At that time, Antigonus seized all of Syria, (8) but had to lay siege to Tyre for 15 months before conquering the city. (9)

Now we have established three armies against Tyre, but the history does not end there.

About five years after Antigonus, Ptolemy of Egypt added all of Phoenicia (including Tyre) to his domain. (10) But Ptolemy favored Egypt, and through his efforts the center of trade moved from Tyre to Alexandria. (11) Though there doesn’t appear to have been much violence involved in this transition of economic power, Ptolemy’s Egypt could still be seen as a nation that had "…come up against…" Tyre.

The city has now been virtually destroyed, both militarily and economically. But the end was still not in sight. The nations continued to come. In 198 BC, Tyre was taken by the Seleucids. While they made it a free city, that did not prevent the Romans from taking it in 68 BC. (12)

In the Christian Era, Muslim Arabs conquered the city in 636b AD. In 1124 the Crusaders succeeded in capturing Tyre. The Crusaders held it until 1291, when the Muslims again gained control. The brutality used by the Muslims reduced the city once again to rubble, from which it was never again to rise as a major city. (13)

Nor was this quite the end. The French made an appearance during Napoleon’s reign, and as late as 1918 the area was taken by British troops under General Allenby. (14)

Ezekiel’s prophecy said not only that many nations would come against Tyre, but that they would come "…as the sea causeth his waves to come up."; in other words, one at a time.

We have seen that since the utterance of those words, Tyre has been marked by bloodshed and defeat, again and again.

In verse 14 of the passage, it says Tyre shall be "…a place to spread nets upon…". The fulfillment of this prediction might best be seen in a quotation from the 1978 edition of the Encyclopedia Americana:

Since professional fishing is still done with nets, and fishing is one of the main sources of income in Tyre today, it takes little imagination to see modern Tyre as "…a place to spread nets Upon…".

What was once the international center of commerce for the Middle Eastern civilzations is now just a fishing village. Its status as a city is gone. No one, even today, seems interested in rebuilding Tyre. This in itself seems to be a sufficient fulfillment of the other prediction of verse 14: "…thou shalt be built no more…". In place of a bustling metropolis, there is now a small community of fishermen.

Ezekiel claimed to have heard from God. He recorded one of the most exact and long-range predictions in history. Since we have seen that this message was exactly fulfilled, we can safely conclude that Ezekiel was not suffering from fanatical delusions of grandeur.

Indeed, we would do well to consider the message of the entire Bible as relevant and authoritative.

END

1. William L,. Langer, An Encyclopedia of World History, p. 48
2. Josh P. McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. 286
3. Werner Keller, The Bible as History, p. 361
4. William A. Langer, An Encyclopedia of World History, p.48
5. Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1970 Edition, Vol. 22, p. 452
6. Langer, op. Cit., p. 48
7. Ibid, p. 90
8. James Hastings, Editor, Dictionary of the Bible, p. 953.
9. Edward McNall Burns, Western Civilizations, p. 82.
10. Nina Jidejian, Tyre Through the Ages, p. 82, cited by Josh McDowell in Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Vol 2, p. 565
11. Collier’s Encyclopedia, Volume 22, p. 565
12. Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 27, 1978 Edition, p. 331
13. Collier’s Encyclopedia, op. cit.
14. Encyclopedia Americana, op. cit.