Approximately in April of 586 B.C ([Carley, Keith W](https://paperpile.com/app/p/0f6dd263-2cf0-0e67-bbd4-6b9f55446c3d 'The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Cambridge Bible Commentary: On the New English Bible)')). Ezekiel's prophecy foretold the demise of what is widely considered to be the greatest sea empire in ancient history ([Oliver Goldsmith](https://paperpile.com/app/p/1b1a0844-3409-081c-8816-d213eb485b60 'The Great Events by Famous Historians/Volume 2/Alexander Reduces Tyre, Later Founds Alexandria')). In Ezekiel 26 (also mentioned in [Amos 1:9-10](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/AMO.1.9-10) and [Zechariah 9:3-4](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/ZEC.9.3-4)), God declares the destruction of Tyre. This prophesy was made at a time when Tyre had reached the summit of its greatness as mistress of the sea and the center of the commerce of the world.( [Keil & Delitzsch](https://paperpile.com/app/p/a23b2628-6c7a-0005-92ba-712fc774bbac 'Commentary on the Old Testament')) > [!bible]- [Ezekiel 26:1-21 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/26/26/) > 1. In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2. “Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,’ 3. therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4. They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. 5. She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. And she shall become plunder for the nations, 6. and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD. 7. “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. 8. He will kill with the sword your daughters on the mainland. He will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise a roof of shields against you. 9. He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. 10. His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached. 11. With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. 12. They will plunder your riches and loot your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. 13. And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. 14. I will make you a bare rock. You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, for I am the LORD; I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. 15. “Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in your midst? 16. Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground and tremble every moment and be appalled at you. 17. And they will raise a lamentation over you and say to you, “‘How you have perished, you who were inhabited from the seas, O city renowned, who was mighty on the sea; she and her inhabitants imposed their terror on all her inhabitants! 18. Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall, and the coastlands that are on the sea are dismayed at your passing.’ 19. “For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20. then I will make you go down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the world below, among ruins from of old, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set beauty in the land of the living. 21. I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more. Though you be sought for, you will never be found again, declares the Lord GOD.” %% #Ezekiel %% > [!info] Notes about Tyre. > > In the same way the New York consist of several sections of the city, Tyre had two sections that would be identified together ([Bury, John Bagnell; Meiggs, Russell](https://paperpile.com/app/p/d0a660d1-8414-0e99-b54a-9def25a91aaa 'A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great')), the first consisted of an island about an half mile offshore called "**New Tyre**" and the second larger city built on the mainland, where a majority of the city and the defenses were built ([Meloney, William Brown](https://paperpile.com/app/p/0fe1041e-0b92-0056-b0c7-9b689b968cb7 'The Heritage of Tyre'), [ George Rawlinson](https://paperpile.com/app/p/b5c394d9-6ccb-0aee-96d7-420d9b7d11f4 'Phoenicia: History of a Civilization')) [Antonio Ciasca](https://paperpile.com/app/p/51ac1e8b-c57d-0f6f-b287-4fe45be2a344 'The Phoenicians') of Rome calls the city that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar "*The Mainland Sector of the City of Tyre*" or the "*Old City of Tyre*". > > > [!NOTE]- See Attachments > > - ![[Old Tyre.jpg]] > > - ![[Old and New Tyre.png]] >[!Example] After a reading of the chapter we are left with the following points. > >1. Many nations like waves in the sea ([[Newsom1984-mw]], [[Alter2011-jt]]') ) would come against Tyre. ([Ezekiel 26:3](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EZK.26.3)) >2. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would siege wall Tyre ([Ezekiel 26:8](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EZK.26.8)) >3. The other nations would plunder the city ([Ezekiel 26:9-12](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EZK.26.9-12)) >4. The walls of Tyre would be broken down and cast into the sea, left like a bare rock ([Ezekiel 26:4](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EZK.26.4), [12](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EZK.26.12)) >6. The city would never be rebuilt ([Ezekiel 26:14](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EZK.26.14)) >7. Tyre would be a place for the spreading of nets ([Ezekiel 26:5](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EZK.26.5)) > >Partially taken from [[PadfieldUnknown-oq|David Padfield]]. ## 1. Many nations would come against Tyre. (Ezekiel 26:3) Over the years Tyre was attacked from the north by Babylon (Lead by Nebuchadnezzar), then by Macedon, Byblus, Cyprus, Soli, Mallus, Lycia Rhodes, Sidonian. Then later on by Alexander the Great. ([[Arrian2010-ch]]) and even later Arabs, Crusaders and then Muslims took it and reduced it to ashes ([[Orr-James-MA-DD1915-bp]]). Staying uninhabited ([[Davis1944-oo]]) for a while until the ottoman empire took over. ## 2. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would siege wall against Tyre (Ezekiel 26:8) We know that the King of Babylon laid siege to Tyre after sacking Jerusalem. > [!quote] [[@Jacob-Katzenstein1997-ry|Jacob Katzenstein (Tyre historian)]] > "doubts about the authenticity of Ezekiel's words concerning a siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar were shattered after Unger published a tablet which is an official receipt for provisions" > > "for the king and the soldiers who went with him against the land of Tyre." > We also have data from other sources such as Josephus. > [!quote] Josephus >> [!quote] [[@Josephus2018-gw|Antiquities of the Jews 10.11.1]] > >this king [Nebuchadnezzar] besieged Tyre thirteen years, while at the same time Ethbaal reigned at Tyre > > > >... > > > >I will now add the records of the Phoenicians; In them we have this enumeration of the times of their several kings: > >>[!quote] [[@Barclay2013-ur| Against Apion 1.21]] >>Nabuchodonosor besieged Tyre for thirteen years in the days of Ithobal, their king; "in the seventh year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar he began to besiege Tyre;" > Nebuchadnezzar failed to take the island of Tyre and left after 13 years of siege. however he completely destroyed "*Old Tyre*" ([[JidejianUnknown-fz]]). > [!quote] [[@Green1991-tn|(Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon, p. 248]] >> [!quote] [[@Wallis-Budge1991-iu|Babylonian Life and History]] >> "Nebuchadnezzar took all Palestine and Syria and the cities on the seacoast, including Tyre, which fell after a siege of 13 years (573 B.C.)". > >The inhabitants of Tyre fled to a rocky island half a mile offshore. The walls on the landward side of the island were 150 feet high. "The channel between Tyre and the mainland was over twenty feet deep, and frequently lashed by violent south-west winds. Their fortifications, they believed, would resist the strongest battering-ram yet devised. The city-walls stood sheer above the sea: how could any army without ships scale them? Shore based artillery was useless at such a range." ## 3. The nations would plunder the city (Ezekiel 26:9-12) After Alexander took the city, it was ransacked by his soldiers ([[@Ten-Eyck-Olmstead-Arthur-T-Olmstead1948-qj]]). > [!quote] [[@Giunta2015-gh|BeliefMap]] > "Alexander was so furious that this one city had halted his progress for so long, that he gave the city over to plunder and his soldiers sacked it without mercy." > > (E.L. Skip Knox: "Alexander the Great: The Siege of Tyre (333)" online at europeanhistory.boisestate.edu) > ## 4. The walls of Tyre would be broken down and cast into the sea, left like a bare rock (Ezekiel 26:4),(Ezekiel 26:12) After the siege from Nebuchadnezzar, the mainland "*Old Tyre*" was destroyed. Ezekiel 26 Predicted, 250 Years in Advance, How Alexander attacked the island of "**New Tyre**"([[@Warry2005-ec]]), he used the ruins of the mainland to build his way to the island and overtake it. The walls and contents of the city were taken up and thrown into the sea to make a bridge to the island. >[!quote] [[@Warry2005-ec| John Warry]] > The refusal of the Tyrians to surrender led Alexander to connect the isle to the mainland with the construction of a causeway, one of the most difficult marine engineering tasks of that era. The stones of the fresh ruins of ancient Tyre, together with trees limbs, were drawn into the water, and stones and sand were placed on top of them in order to build the mole ([[@UnknownUnknown-ol]]). Using ships to form a blockage around Tyre while laying siege from the man made mole as it neared the island. The seven month siege, from January to July 332 B.C., was over. >[!quote] [[@Green1991-tn| Alexander of Macedon 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography]] > "The great city over which Hiram had once held sway was now utterly destroyed. Her king, Azimilik, and various other notables, including envoys from Carthage, had taken refuge in the temple of Melkart, and Alexander spared their lives. The remaining survivors, some 30,000 in number, he sold into slavery. Two thousand men of military age were crucified. Then Alexander went up into the temple, ripped the golden cords from the image of the god (now to be renamed, by decree, Apollo Philalexander), and made his long-delayed sacrifice: the most costly blood-offering even Melkart had ever received." One historian wrote, >[!quote] [[@Creasy2016-zv|Edward Shepherd Creasy]] > "Alexander did far more against Tyre than Shalmaneser or Nebuchadnezzar had done. Not content with crushing her, he took care that she never should revive; for he founded Alexandria as her substitute, and changed forever the track of the commerce of the world". >[!info]- Causeway made by Alexander > ![[Causeway made by Alexander in Tyre.jpg]] ## 5. The city would never be rebuilt (Ezekiel 26:14) When Alexander destroyed Tyre, he rebuilt a new city over **Old Tyre**, replacing the population ([[@Sandoval2010-ab]]). Romans removed the old removed Phoenician remains ([[@Ward1994-ew]]). However the island sank below the waves or has been built over, never to be seen again ([[@Pritchard2014-rv]]). Of the hundreds of ancient instructions found in Lebanon, the name Tyre is only found among those found elsewhere and the phrase and inscriptions referring to any king or Tyre is not to be found ([[@Negev2005-ov]], [[@Vance1994-ni]], [[@Gibson1982-mi]], [[@Aubet2001-wq]]). >[!quote] [[Dutt1879-pd|Historical studies and recreations]] > After treating Tyre with the greatest atrocity, Alexander rebuilt and replanted it, that future generations might regard him as the founder of a new city. >[!quote] [[@UnknownUnknown-qr|encyclopaedia britannica]] > "Alexander replaced the population by a colony of Greeks or Carians (Quin, Curt. iv; Arrian II.; Diod. Sic. xvii.). With this memorable siege terminated the glory of Phoenician Tyre;" >[!quote] [[@Summers2015-cv|Thomas Summers]] > "Having cleared the city of its former inhabitants, the Macedonian conqueror endeavored to repeople it by colonies from other parts, and styled himself as the founder of Tyre, for the former city had been destroyed. It might be sought, but none could find it. It had passed away." >[!quote] [[@Wesley1987-qz|John Wesley]] >>[!quote] [[@Warry1980-uc|John Gibson Warry]] >> "Alexander ordered all but those who had fled to the temples to be put to death and the buildings to be set on fire [These are just the buildings on the small island; virtually all of Tyre's structures were _already_ thrown into the sea] he repopulated Tyre with Greek emigrants and loyal Phoenicians, together with a permanent Macedonian garrison" [and the place was] redesigned as a Greek city, with a colonnaded street" (Quotes from [livius.org](livius.org) here, here, and here). For this and other reasons, it seems more appropriate to say a new city rose from the ashes of the old city (allowing scholars to speak of "Alexander's destruction of _Phoenician_ Tyre..."). > > After all, despite being given the same name (for convenience), what rose up "in propriety of speech, was another city." After the Arab Conquest in AD 638, Deterioration continued until total destruction in AD 1291 The final destruction took place in AD 1291, almost 2,000 years after Ezekiel was written. ([BibleArchaeology.org](https://biblearchaeology.org/research/divided-kingdom/3304-ezekiel-26114-a-proof-text-for-inerrancy-or-fallibility-of-the-old-testament)) > [!quote] [[@Crossway2023-ma|Dennis and Grudem]] > "The modern city of Tyre is of modest size and is near the ancient site, though not identical to it. Archaeological photographs of the ancient site show ruins from ancient Tyre scattered over many acres of land. No city has been rebuilt over these ruins, however, in fulfillment of this prophecy." >[!quote] [[@Archer1982-xr]] > "In point of fact, the mainland city of Tyre later was rebuilt and assumed some of its former importance during the Hellenistic period. But as for the island city, it apparently sank below the surface of the Mediterranean. All that remains of it is a series of black reefs offshore from Tyre, which surely could not have been there in the first and second millennia b.c., since they pose such a threat to navigation. The promontory that now juts out from the coastline probably was washed up along the barrier of Alexander's causeway, but the island itself broke off and sank away when the subsidence took place; and we have no evidence at all that it ever was built up again after Alexander's terrible act of vengeance. In the light of these data, then, the predictions of chapter 26, improbable though they must have seemed in Ezekiel's time, were duly fulfilled to the letter-first by Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century, and then by Alexander in the fourth." ## 6. Tyre would be a place for the spreading of nets (Ezekiel 26:5) Once the center of the world trade and hotspot for tourism, ships now would bypass the ports altogether as it wasn't worth the stop at such a tiny village that now stood in it's place ([[@Bikai1990-ie]]). >[!quote] [[@Giunta2015-gh| BeliefMap.org 'Was the Tyre prophecy fulfilled? (Ezekiel 26)')]] >> [!failure] [[@Carrier2005-bcRichard Carrier]] >> "[Tyre] was rebuilt immediately after Alexander's attack, and remained a powerhouse of trade for the next two thousand years" > > I should confess that, in my studies, I often did see certain scholars speaking of Tyre's recovery, even when on a previous page they confessed that it was technically a new city. It seems very easy for people to revert back into talking as if Tyre had somehow survived (and I noticed myself slipping into this during my discussions, perhaps just in virtue of the land and name being the same). Interestingly, even Ezekiel slips when noting that this Tyre which was destroyed, and which would never be rebuilt, would nevertheless become a place for the spreading of nets. If Tyre was destroyed, then is it really Tyre that the nets are spread over? Of course, one explanation for this is that it is easy to identify Tyre with the land, the people, or the structures, leading to a lot of Theseus's ship type debate ("When is it a new city?"). Re-reading the prophesy, however, it is easy enough to discern that Phoenician Tyre would be destroyed, and yet the place would need to be re-occupied to allow fisherman. But in what sense is it still the same place, if the essential city-features are destroyed? Plausibly, the relevant vestige that remains is something like the name itself: Tyre. [BibleArchaeology.org](https://biblearchaeology.org/research/divided-kingdom/3304-ezekiel-26114-a-proof-text-for-inerrancy-or-fallibility-of-the-old-testament 'biblearchaeology.org') reports the followings. > [!quote] > > In 1838, the year following a devastating earthquake, [[@Robinson1856-mm|Edward Robinson]] visited the area and made the following remarks: > > >[!quote ] > > I continued my walk along the shore of the peninsula, part of which is now unoccupied except as "*a place to spread nets upon*" [Ez 26:5, 14] musing upon the pride and fall of ancient Tyre. Here was the little isle, once covered by her palaces and surrounded by her fleets: but alas! Thy riches and thy fame...Where are they? Tyre has indeed become like "*the top of a rock*" [Ez 26:4, 14]. [Seeing only broken pillars beneath the waves, he remarked:] The hovels that now nestle upon a portion of her site present no contradiction of the dread decree, *You will never be rebuilt* [Ez 26:14] (1852: 395). > > The lithographs of David Roberts (see front cover and pages 48-49) show the utter devastation there in 1839. In 1894 [[@Miller1894-xa|D.L, Miller]] wrote the following about Tyre: > > >[!quote ] > >When Volney visited the place some years ago he wrote, "The whole village of Tyre contains only 50 or 60 poor families who live obscurely on the produce of their little and trifling fishery" (587). > > A traveler visiting Tyre over a century ago made this observation: > > >[!quote ] [[@Wiseman2008-qa]] > > The island, as such, is not more than a mile in length. The part which projects south beyond the isthmus is perhaps a quarter of a mile broad, and is rocky and uneven. It is now unoccupied except by fishermen, as a "*place to spread nets on*" (Thompson 1969: 190-91). > > In the early 20th century, only 500 impoverished Persian schismatics lived there in miserable hovels ([[@Unger1995-lt]]). In 1911, [[@Hastings2015-fe|Hastings]] called Tyre > >[!quote ] > > "a stagnant village in a stagnant Turkey." > > It was avoided by steamers, being considered too insignificant for a visit (Mackie 1911: 825). > A Quote from [[@Douglas2011-ug|Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary]] also sums up the state of the once great city. >[!quote] > "...the causeway still remains, now as a place, as Ezekiel foretold, on which fishermen dry their nets." ![[Tyre Fishing Boats.jpg]] The prophecy of Ezekiel 26 regarding Tyre was fulfilled in a multi-layered and intricate manner. Initially besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the mainland part of Tyre, the city faced further attacks from Alexander the Great and later from various empires, fulfilling the prophecy of many nations coming against it. Alexander's campaign led to the dismantling of the city's walls and throwing them into the sea to build a causeway, exactly as Ezekiel had foreseen. The city that was rebuilt was not the original Tyre but a new entity, aligning with the prediction that it would never be rebuilt. Finally, its decline into an inconspicuous fishing village where nets are spread fulfills the last part of the prophecy. Thus, the prophecy was realized over centuries through multiple events, and the modern status of Tyre stands as a testament to its accuracy.