Miracle of the Prophecy Concerning Tyre

The prophecy against Tyre is recorded in Ezekiel 26:1-28:19.  Tyre is the fifth nation upon which judgment is pronounced.  The seacoast city of Tyre was popular for its commercialism, and when Jerusalem was destroyed she rejoiced thinking that she would receive all of Jerusalem’s business (26:1, 2).  Since Jerusalem had control over all the trade routes, this would mean that Tyre would experience more visitors.  Nevertheless, God was against Tyre for her attitude toward Jerusalem.  God declared that He would cause many nations to rise against her to destroy the wall of the city and her towers.  When God’s judgment was complete, Tyre would be scraped to dust and the seacoast that was so crucial to her commerce would be filled with the “spreading of nets” (26:3-5).  Tyre would be “slain by the sword” and unable to be rebuilt (26:6).

God used many nations in the judgment of Tyre (26:3).  Nebuchadnezzar was the first to come against Tyre.  He came “from the north, with horse, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people” (26:7).  It was because Tyre rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem that the Babylonians would besiege her from 587-574 BC.  Feinberg details the literalness of the account in Ezekiel 26:7-11 as follows:

The forts, the mound and the buckler were all familiar features.  The buckler or the testudo or roof of shields was used to protect against missiles thrown from the walls.  The battering engines were the battering rams employed to breach the walls….  Because of the multitude of the enemy’s calvary, they would cover the city with dust upon entering, at the same time shaking the walls with the noise of the horsemen and chariots.  Every street was to be commandeered and the people slain with the sword.1

When the Babylonians destroyed Tyre, the people rebuilt their city on an offshore island thinking they were safe from any other invasions.  In 332 BC, Alexander the Great laid siege to the island port of Tyre for 7 months.  He took the ruins of the old city and scraped the dust into the water to make a causeway to the island port (Ezek. 26:12-14).2  The bare ground today is evidence of the literalness of this prophetic fulfillment.

The complete destruction of Tyre that is described in Ezekiel 26:15-21 was fulfilled.  Jerusalem could be rebuilt, but Tyre could never be rebuilt after the invasion of Alexander and his armies (Ezek. 26:21).  The destruction of Tyre caused great mourning among her consumers (27:1-36).  Tyre was compared to a beautiful ship in Ezekiel 27:5-7.  The inhabitants of Tyre spoke of themselves as “of perfect beauty” (27:3).  It was the sin of pride that led to the destruction of Tyre (28:2, 5, 17).

The materials required to build Tyre came from all over the known world.  Both merchandise and knowledge were for sale in Tyre (27:8, 9).  The armies of Tyre contained peoples from Persia, Lud, and Phut (27:10).  The vast merchandise that Tyre provided was renowned; nevertheless, the Babylonians (“the east wind”) destroyed their great wealth (27:12-27).

The other nations would lament at the destruction of Tyre (27:28-36).  They cried over the ruins of Tyre, “What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea” (27:32).  Tyre was a great ship cast into the sea and all her inhabitants would fall into the sea (27:34).  The literalness of the prophecy stands as “a terror” since the once great commercial center of Tyre “never shall be any more” (26:27; 27:36).

1 Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago:  Moody Press, 1969), 149.

2 D. J. Wiseman, “Tyre, Tyrus,” in Baker Encyclopedia, 301-302.