Tyre Will Never Be a City Again Bible Verse
Permit'south face information technology, an in-depth knowledge of ancient Tyre won't make you the life of whatsoever party (unless it's a party for archaeologists, which I imagine would be pretty dead), but these events are extremely important. Why? Because according to many believers, some of the strongest evidence for the divine inspiration of the Bible is God's power to predict future events, and Ezekiel's prophecies about Tyre are some of the most frequently cited.
Predictive prophecy stands equally one of the most viable proofs of the Bible's divine inspiration. Ezekiel'due south prophecy apropos the city of Tyre provides an excellent example of such evidence.
ApologeticsPress.org
It is our contention that when the passage is exegeted carefully and properly, these verses [most Tyre] are excellent witnesses to the divine inspiration of the Bible.
BibleArchaeology.org
While I'd prefer the evidence exist a scrap more direct (such equally sending fire from heaven, or revealing specific insights about nature, or routinely answering prayers on a testable basis, or but appearing in person), this is the evidence we've been given, and so permit's consider information technology carefully.
A tale of two cities
Before we go started, it'south of import to understand that at the time Ezekiel wrote this prophecy (roughly between 592-586 BC), Tyre was divided into two locations. In that location was the island of Tyre, which was a well-fortified city located about a half-mile off shore from modern Lebanon, and the mainland city, one time called Ushu, which became a suburb of Tyre. The city of Tyre still exists today, only the isle and mainland are now connected by an artificial causeway (i.east. land bridge) offset constructed past Alexander the Great in 332 BC.
Our "proof of divine inspiration" begins in Ezekiel 26; let's accept information technology verse past verse.
1 In the eleventh month of the twelfth year, on the first day of the month, the discussion of the Lord came to me:2"Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, 'Aha! The gate to the nations is cleaved, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,'3therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting upward its waves.
Tyre was rejoicing over Jerusalem'due south autumn to Babylon, which God evidently found distasteful, and then he curses Tyre saying, "I will bring many nations against you."
4They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape abroad her rubble and make her a bare rock.5 Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. She will get plunder for the nations,6 and her settlements on the mainland volition exist ravaged past the sword. And so they will know that I am the Lord.
The island of Tyre was famous for her impressive and impregnable "walls" and "towers." On the side facing the shore, they were said to be twenty′ thick at the base of operations and 150′ loftier.
It's crucial to note that the Tyre "out in the sea" refers to the isle of Tyre, which was to become "a identify to spread fishnets." In order to accommodate those fishnets, the previous sentence tells the states the isle would exist made bare rock past the pulling down of walls and towers. (If there's whatever doubt that these two sentences belong together, verse xiv links the "bare rock" in verse 4 with the "place to spread fishnets" in poetry five, saying, "I volition brand yous a bare rock, and you will go a place to spread fishnets.")
Almost as an afterthought, Ezekiel then turns his attention to the mainland, maxim "…and her settlements on the mainland will exist ravaged by the sword." Ezekiel refers to the island as "Tyre," and the mainland as "settlements."
7"For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring confronting Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a bully army.
Here, Ezekiel describes how God will attain these things. Ezekiel accurately predicts that Nebuchadnezzar will come confronting Tyre. Just how probable was this showtime prediction?
Either Nebuchadnezzar would attack Tyre, or he would not, and at the time of Ezekiel'due south writing, the odds were looking pretty adept.
Ezekiel had been exiled to Babylon where he may have heard almost the king'southward interest in Tyre (the attack happened soon after Ezekiel's prediction). Ezekiel would've known that Babylon had already conquered the Assyrians (612 BC), and was virtually to deal a concluding accident to Jerusalem (587 BC). He likewise knew that Babylon was in the process of incorporating most of the Eastern Mediterranean. Tiny Tyre, with its wealth and strategic ports, was a pretty obvious target, and Ezekiel'south promise of an like shooting fish in a barrel victory may have spurred Nebuchadnezzar to assault.
While information technology'southward also possible that Ezekiel could've written this prophecy later the fact, I tend to think he wrote information technology beforehand, just because he gets many of the post-obit details wrong. (Ezekiel likewise expresses knowledge of the assault just a few chapters afterwards (29:eighteen-19), so it's non unthinkable.)
8He [Nebuchadnezzar] will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will ready siege works against you, build a ramp upwards to your walls and raise his shields against you lot. 9He will directly the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons.
Here, God says that Nebuchadnezzar will make quick piece of work of the mainland settlements, ravaging them with the sword. Nebuchadnezzar will and then attempt to "build a ramp" to the isle in order to "direct the blows of his battering rams against [their] walls."
This prophecy fails.
When Nebuchadnezzar arrives at the mainland, he actually finds the city abased. There is no "ravaging of the settlements on the mainland with the sword," because the residents had all relocated to the isle. Nebuchadnezzar likewise fails to demolish the towers of island Tyre.
To whitewash this prophecy, some Christians interpret these verses equally referring to the mainland only, only there are several problems with this interpretation:
- In that location is no historical evidence suggesting the mainland was fortified with walls and towers.
- Such heavy fortifications were unnecessary, since the mainlanders would (and did) escape to the isle in times of problem.two
- The merely way to evangelize a battering ram to the walls of island Tyre was to "build a ramp upwardly to [its] walls." (This would be the aforementioned conclusion reached by Alexander the Peachy some 250 years later on.) On the mainland withal, a battering ram could exist employed without the utilize of a ramp.
- Finally, information technology was the towers of the isle "out at sea" that were to be removed in order to make the island "a place to spread fishnets." Not the towers of the mainland (bold there were any).
Ancient depiction of the fortified isle city of Tyre, circa 837 BC, illustrating its walls and towers.
When speaking of Tyre, history typically places its emphasis on the island city and its well-fortified walls and ports. In fact, fifty-fifty the word "Tyre" means "rock."
So when you motion to set on Tyre, y'all move to accept the island, not the mainland. The mainland was nothing more than an unimpressive "line of suburbs rather than one mainland city."ane
But more than importantly, fifty-fifty Ezekiel himself refers to the mainland every bit "settlements," not as Tyre. Even in the capacity that follow, all accent is placed on the island: "Your domain was on the high seas, your builders brought your dazzler to perfection;" "You say, 'I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the center of the seas,'" and "Who was ever silenced like Tyre, surrounded by the sea?" The most logical assumption is to assume Ezekiel was referring to Nebuchadnezzar destroying walls and towers of the island of Tyre. Just this results in a failed prophecy, so Christians must adopt a far less obvious, and more than convoluted, interpretation.
10His horses will exist so many that they will cover y'all with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the warhorses, wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls accept been broken through.elevenThe hooves of his horses volition trample all your streets; he volition kill your people with the sword, and your potent pillars will fall to the ground.
Ezekiel predicts that one time Nebuchadnezzar has built this ramp to the isle, the walls of Tyre would be breached, and the people of the island would be killed "with the sword." (Note that the mainland settlements had already been ravaged in verse eight. Information technology is now citizens of island Tyre who are killed with the sword.)
Again, this prophecy fails.
Ezekiel probably imagined that building a ramp would be a fairly rudimentary task for Nebuchadnezzar's impressive army. In reality however, Nebuchadnezzar must've concluded that a ramp was too impractical, and so he settled upon laying siege to the island.
The siege lasted thirteen years, and in the stop, Nebuchadnezzar never bankrupt through the walls, or killed the people with the sword, or brought downwards Tyre's mighty pillars.
Again, Christians cannot take this every bit a failed prophecy, and so some insist this verse was still speaking of the mainland. Only if Ezekiel were still referring to the mainland, then the prophecy still fails, because the mainland was found abandoned. Nebuchadnezzar never ravaged whatever community with the sword.
The isle city probably made submission upon atmospheric condition, without receiving the hostile ground forces within her walls. The capture of the city was far dissimilar from the prophecy of information technology co-ordinate to the prophet Ezekiel himself… The siege probably ended with the nominal submission of the metropolis and the give up of a number of her nobles.
~Wallace Bruce Fleming, The History of Tyre, 1915
12They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they volition break downwards your walls and annihilate your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the body of water.thirteenI will put an end to your noisy songs, and the music of your harps volition be heard no more.14I will make you a blank rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets.
Hither'south where things get fifty-fifty more tricky. Ezekiel is still speaking of King Nebuchadnezzar, but Nebuchadnezzar never received any loot, or broke down the walls of Tyre. And every bit we'll run across in a moment, Nebuchadnezzar clearlyexpected to!
Considering this leads to a failed prophecy, believers expect at the discussion "they" in verse 12 and assume "they" refers to the "many nations" mentioned back in verse 3, and not Nebuchadnezzar.
In reading the pronoun "they," 1 must first assume it refers to the most recently divers antonym, which is Nebuchadnezzar'due south regular army. It was Nebuchadnezzar'south regular army that God was sending to make state of war with Tyre, and there is a very natural progression of events: Nebuchadnezzar'south army comes, they break downwardly walls, they ravage and siege, and they plunder. Stop of story.
It is foreign to assume we have suddenly switched gears and are now speaking of events that wouldn't take place for another 250 years. If that were the truth, the prophecy should've predicted that Nebuchadnezzar would come, lay siege to Tyre, and negotiate peaceful concessions. Then, hundreds of years subsequently, God would cascade out his wrath on island Tyre.
Does it make sense that God would wait to take out his vengeance on a hereafter generation of Tyre? And not the people who rejoiced in Jerusalem's autumn? Why let the guilty off with only a few concessions? Simply destroy a population that had zippo to exercise with the events at manus?
Interestingly, in verse seven, God refers to Nebuchadnezzar equally "king of kings." It may be that God (or Ezekiel) considered him the king of these "many nations" that would come against Tyre.
Merely this is but half the problem.
The other point of argue is which Tyre was supposed to be thrown into the sea.
Believers prefer the mainland, because (not surprisingly) it was rubble from the mainland that Alexander the Bully threw into the sea to build his causeway.
Just Ezekiel indicates that it would exist the stones of the island that fall into the sea. It was the isle "out in the sea" that would exist used for spreading fishnets, after its towers had been pulled down and fabricated bare rock. And after speaking of the devastation of the island in verses 4-5, Ezekiel turns his attention to the "settlements on the mainland, once more proving that he was speaking about the island's stones.
Being encircled past the ocean, it makes sense that Ezekiel would've imagined the island's walls tumbling into the ocean every bit they are pulled downwardly. If you're going to make the island bare (a place to spread fishnets), you have to do something with all that rubble, and at that place is nowhere for the rubble to go but into the surrounding sea.
14 (Cont.) You will never exist rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.
The last prophecy is that Tyre would never be rebuilt. But Tyre was rebuilt, and however exists today. In fact, Tyre was fifty-fifty visited past Jesus himself. So what's a Christian to do?
Some believers defend Tyre'due south beingness by suggesting that mainland Tyre was never rebuilt on the exact same spot. However, even Biblical archaeologists admit that the area was and so well cleared by Alexander the Peachy that no one knows where the original metropolis stood. If we don't know where it was, nosotros certainly can't confirm information technology was never congenital upon. And this defense assumes Ezekiel was speaking of the mainland never being rebuilt, and I'm positive Ezekiel was referring to the island… which was never even completely destroyed.
Other believers have suggested that this prophecy was fulfilled considering Tyre would never again exist rebuilt by the Phonecians,or never rebuilt in exactly aforementioned way, or with the same measure of success. Just Ezekiel is clear that information technology would "never be rebuilt," and he offers no escape clauses. We cannot have it both means. If the prophecy tin can be said to have been fulfilled regardless of whether or not the city is rebuilt, then the prophecy is rendered worthless. It succeeds no matter what happens.
Later, in Ezekiel 29, Ezekiel gives us a glimpse of what actually happened post-obit Nebuchadnezzar's siege confronting Tyre:
29:18-nineteenSon of homo, Nebuchadnezzar rex of Babylon drove his army in a difficult campaign confronting Tyre; every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder made raw. Nevertheless he and his army got no advantage from the campaign he led confronting Tyre. Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will carry off its wealth. He will loot and plunder the land every bit pay for his army.
In that location are a couple interesting facts most these verses.
Beginning, at that place seems to be an expectation that Nebuchadnezzar would plunder the wealth of Tyre (v. 12), just that didn't happen. Ezekiel must now resort to offering alternative concessions. This could exist seen equally an access that what was expected of the prophecy, and what was delivered, did not match up.
Second, nosotros can infer that Ezekiel'southward words were indeed reaching the King'southward ears (how else would the king have known that God now offered him Egypt?). If Nebuchadnezzar also heard Ezekiel'southward prophecies virtually Tyre before he attacked, then his attack (the only part of the prophecy to really come to pass) becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As for Nebuchadnezzar'due south defeat of Egypt, history is fuzzy on the details.
Decision
So what actually happened?
Ezekiel was nearly probable angry over the loss of Jerusalem to Babylon, and enraged by Tyre's rejoicing. This fueled Ezekiel's visions of Tyre'south cherished isle walls being pulled down into the surrounding ocean, and the city condign a devastated and uninhabited rock. No doubt this prophecy tickled the ears of many exiled Jews, and Ezekiel probably also hoped it would further motivate Nebuchadnezzar to assault.
The near reasonable interpretation of the prophecy is a failed one, just coincidentally, 250 years later, Alexander the Great would utilize some textile from the mainland (and elsewhere) to construct a causeway to attack Tyre. Later, believers would apply this fortuitous event to Ezekiel's predictions, and claim it was e'er Alexander the Great (not Nebuchadnezzar) who was always supposed to conquer Tyre, and that information technology was the mainland stones that were always supposed to be tossed into the body of water (even though the prediction is clearly almost the island stones).
If you were living in Nebuchadnezzar'south time, there is no way yous would've read Ezekiel's prophecy and concluded that Nebuchadnezzar would neglect, compromise with Tyre, and Alexander the Keen would show up 250 years to capture Tyre without destroying information technology. That'south certainly non how Nebuchadnezzar understood it.
Ezekiel's prophecy is actually ambiguous enough that information technology doesn't matter who somewhen conquers Tyre, or when , or which stones finish up in the sea, or why. You could shoehorn millions of possible combinations of events into this prophecy and however make information technology work. It is merely in hindsight that the Christian can proclaim: "What God meant to say was that the stones would be thrown from the mainland , past Alexander the Great , 250 years afterwards , in order to build a causeway !"
Maybe the virtually fascinating and meaning change to the landscape of Tyre was that it went from being an island "out in the sea" to a full-blown peninsula! Who could've predicted that a causeway built to attack the island would slowly silt up and one day get a thriving metropolis unto itself!? Apparently not Ezekiel, whose vision ends with an uninhabited island rock.
I believe Ezekieldid accurately predict that Nebuchadnezzar would make a move on Tyre, though this was probably more than likely than not, and possibly self-fulfilling. All the same, I likewise believe that Ezekiel predicted that Nebuchadnezzar would slaughter the people of Tyre, pull the island walls and towers into the ocean, and that the island would get an uninhabited blank rock. Ezekiel was wrong on all of these counts, and seems willing to admit it.
Ezekiel's prophecies are made to appear successful through a combination of predictions that are highly likely (5, 6 & sixteen), ambiguous (3), open-ended (17), liberally reinterpreted in hindsight (vii, 8, 9 & xv) and mayhap self-fulfilling (4). At that place is non a single solid prophecy here that we could use as proof of divine inspiration.
If we're going to insist that the prophecies of Tyre are proof "of the Bible'due south divine inspiration," we need to beabsolutely sure of what is beingness predicted. And ideally, one would hope that proof from God would be far less ambiguous and open up-concluded. After all, my eternal life hangs in the remainder, and information technology would be a shame to spend an eternity in hell considering I misunderstood which Tyre God was referring to.
1 Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911, Vol. 27
2 "[Tyre'due south] numbers swelled greatly in time of state of war, when residents of nearby cities on the mainland (such as Ushu) found refuge on the island…" Katzenstein, H.J.,The History of Tyre, 1973
Source: https://500questions.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/43-did-the-bible-accurately-predict-the-future-of-tyre-ezekiel-26/
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