Ezekiel’s Prophecy about Tyre
“The Sovereign Lord says: ‘I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets, for I have spoken’, declares the Sovereign Lord…’For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon…They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea…..I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Ezekiel 26:3-14
This text was written by the prophet Ezekiel in 590-570 BC. A contemporary of Daniel, Ezekiel was exiled to Babylon in 597 BC (eight years after Daniel); he mentions Daniel three times in his book (Ezekiel 14:14, 14:20 and 28:30).
Tyre was a city on the north coast of Palestine, an area belonging to the Phoenicians, a strong maritime people greatly feared by their enemies (The king of Tyre supplied timber used by Solomon in building the temple). In 586 BC the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, besieged Tyre. The siege lasted 13 years; when Nebuchadnezzar took the city in 573 BC, he found the Phoenicians had moved everything of value to an island about one-half mile off the coast. Without a navy the Babylonians could not take the island. Though the city had been taken, the Phoenicians were not conquered. The victory over Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled the first part of Ezekiel’s prophecy.
When it was written Nebuchadnezzar was a recognized world ruler, so this part of the prophecy could easily be discarded as an educated guess. One could even claim that it was written while the Babylonians surrounded Tyre. Notice, however, Nebuchadnezzar only captured the city; he did not destroy it as Ezekiel predicted.
And now the rest of the story. Almost 250 years later, Alexander the Great fulfilled the remainder of the prophecy in 332 BC. Alexander feared the fleet of Tyre might be used against his homeland, so he decided to conquer it. He reached Tyre, now an island city, but as Nebuchadnezzar had learned before him, the city was difficult to conquer. First he captured other coastal cities and took their ships, but even these combined fleets did not enable him to take Tyre. Alexander then decided to build a causeway from the mainland to the island by taking the old city’s rubble and throwing it into the sea making a land-bridge.
This left the site of the old city flat like a rock due to the scraping of the material to create the causeway out to Tyre. Seven months later, leading an attack of land forces marching in over the causeway reinforced by his fleet, Alexander was able to conquer the city at last. The old city, long deserted, is now a place for fishermen.
Mathematician Peter W. Stoner calculated the probability that only random chance enabled Ezekiel to have made this prophecy and be correct in its details. His conservative calculations estimate a chance of one in 75,000,000 (75 million) that Ezekiel at the time of writing could have correctly guessed Tyre’s future.
Ezekiel 26:3-14
This text was written by the prophet Ezekiel in 590-570 BC. A contemporary of Daniel, Ezekiel was exiled to Babylon in 597 BC (eight years after Daniel); he mentions Daniel three times in his book (Ezekiel 14:14, 14:20 and 28:30).
Ezekiel prophesies about the city of Tyre:
- Nebuchadnezzar will take the city.
- Other nations will participate in the fulfillment.
- The city is to be made flat like the top of a rock.
- It is to become a place for spreading nets.
- Its stones and timber are to be laid in the sea.
- The old city of Tyre will never be rebuilt.
Tyre was a city on the north coast of Palestine, an area belonging to the Phoenicians, a strong maritime people greatly feared by their enemies (The king of Tyre supplied timber used by Solomon in building the temple). In 586 BC the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, besieged Tyre. The siege lasted 13 years; when Nebuchadnezzar took the city in 573 BC, he found the Phoenicians had moved everything of value to an island about one-half mile off the coast. Without a navy the Babylonians could not take the island. Though the city had been taken, the Phoenicians were not conquered. The victory over Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled the first part of Ezekiel’s prophecy.
When it was written Nebuchadnezzar was a recognized world ruler, so this part of the prophecy could easily be discarded as an educated guess. One could even claim that it was written while the Babylonians surrounded Tyre. Notice, however, Nebuchadnezzar only captured the city; he did not destroy it as Ezekiel predicted.
And now the rest of the story. Almost 250 years later, Alexander the Great fulfilled the remainder of the prophecy in 332 BC. Alexander feared the fleet of Tyre might be used against his homeland, so he decided to conquer it. He reached Tyre, now an island city, but as Nebuchadnezzar had learned before him, the city was difficult to conquer. First he captured other coastal cities and took their ships, but even these combined fleets did not enable him to take Tyre. Alexander then decided to build a causeway from the mainland to the island by taking the old city’s rubble and throwing it into the sea making a land-bridge.
This left the site of the old city flat like a rock due to the scraping of the material to create the causeway out to Tyre. Seven months later, leading an attack of land forces marching in over the causeway reinforced by his fleet, Alexander was able to conquer the city at last. The old city, long deserted, is now a place for fishermen.
Analysis of the prophecy:
- The prophecy depicts the destruction of Tyre , reducing the powerful commercial city to nothing more than bare rock, used only by fisherman.
- It was partly fulfilled by the Babylonians in 572 BC, and completely realized by the Greeks in 332 BC, beyond any control on the part of the Israelites, and recorded by historical sources outside the Bible. Notice how the historical events match all the details of the prophecy.
- The prophecy was written 590-570 BC. The dating and authorship of Ezekiel are beyond any competent dispute.
Mathematician Peter W. Stoner calculated the probability that only random chance enabled Ezekiel to have made this prophecy and be correct in its details. His conservative calculations estimate a chance of one in 75,000,000 (75 million) that Ezekiel at the time of writing could have correctly guessed Tyre’s future.
