Fulfilled Prophecy: The Fall of the Phoenician Empire
Aerial photo of Tyre made by France air force before 1934, public domain
It is no secret that the Bible boasts a wealth of fulfilled prophecies, but I would venture a guess that few Christians could name one if asked. My favorite prophecy as of now is the destruction of Tyre (the capital of the Phoenician empire). This prophecy holds a special place in my mind because of its verifiability due to the extra-biblical historical and geographic evidence available to us 2300 years after its fulfillment! It is important that we have extra biblical evidence in order that we may use this prophecy as evidence itself that God exists, and has spoken to us through His Word in hopes to bring people to Christ. Let’s take a look at Ezekiel 26:1-14 {NIV]:
In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: “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,’ 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. 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. 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, and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord. “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. 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. He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. 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. 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. 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. And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. 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.
Many nations were to come against Tyre, but Nebuchadnezzar would specifically lead the armies of Babylon to lay siege to the city, which he did (c. 585 B.C.), as is recorded by Menander of Ephesus, who is quoted by Josephus (both extra biblical authors). In fact, we know from history that it took Nebuchadnezzar thirteen years to finally conclude his siege of Tyre. Why did it take so long? Sieges basically trapped the people of the besieged city in its own walls until all food and water is used up and people either surrender, starve to death, or go out and fight for their freedom; none of which are particularly pleasant options, but are nonetheless the only options that remain. But surely no one city has enough food and water stockpiled to last for thirteen years. Well, Tyre was actually split into two cities: the mainland city and the island city, which was about half a mile offshore from the mainland. During the siege, Tyre was able to ship in food and fresh water to the ports from the island city. Nebuchadnezzar dared not confront the navy of the Phoenician empire. Their navy was the greatest water-borne military in existence at the time. Controlling the most powerful navy, as well as controlling the trade of the known world, Tyre was called the “Queen of the Seas”. So, after thirteen long years, Nebuchadnezzar finally storms the mainland city, slaughters those who hadn’t fled to the island city, and plunders whatever he pleased before returning home, half victorious for destroying the mainland, and half frustrated at the failure to completely destroy the Phoenician capital. Many other nations rise against Tyre until finally, almost 250 years later, the last nation to attack Tyre comes to -quite literally- wipe them off of the map: The Greek/Macedonian empire, with its ruthless leader, Alexander the Great (c.332 B.C.).
Alexander the Great is taking over the known world faster than anyone in history up to that point in time. When he gets to Tyre, he gives whoever is left of the city a choice, as he did to other nations; either submit to his rule, or face the slaughter from his armies. At first, the people of Tyre accept his generous offer and are ready to submit to his rule. But, Alexander strikes a nerve when he sends messengers with his conditions of surrender. No harm will come to the city of Tyre, so long as they make Alexander their king, and allow him to make a sacrifice in their temple to their gods. This was too far for the people of Tyre. Only citizens of the city were even allowed inside their temple. But instead of simply telling Alexander this, they took such great offense at this demand that they took Alexander’s messengers atop the city wall, slit their throats, and tossed them over.
Alexander was furious. He laid waste to whatever remained of the mainland, and, unable to engage in battle at sea, decided to make a daring assault on the island city. Observing the island city to be only a relatively short distance from the shore, Alexander orders his men to take up all of the rubble from the mainland and cast it into the sea, creating a land-bridge allowing them to cross over to the island city. After the inconvenience of the Phoenician navy ramming a flaming ship into the land bridge, destroying part of the causeway, the Greeks continue to scrape the city bare and complete the bridge allowing them to transport their army, and even their newly invented ballistas across the watery barrier to destroy the wall protecting the island city and utterly destroy anything that was left of Tyre. Over 8000 Phoenician soldiers were killed along with anyone who remained on the island. The city itself is now underwater, and over the last 2300 years, sediment and debris have collected on top of it, creating what now looks like a peninsula, which is the island and mainland now connected by that original causeway. It is now nothing more than a place where fishermen cast their nets. The ancient Greek historian Diodorus records Alexander’s conquest in great detail.
Now, let’s look at the elements of the prophecy that were fulfilled in great detail:
1) Nebuchadnezzar would slay the daughter villages and lay siege to the Mainland.
a) Nebuchadnezzar did slaughter all of the farming villages surrounding the mainland city (the daughter villages) to cut off their food supply. He laid siege to Tyre for 13 years and destroyed the city after breaching its walls.
2) The stones, timber, and soil would be cast into the sea. It will be made a bare rock.
a) Alexander the Great did exactly that in order to reach the last remaining people on the island city and destroy it. The remains of the city remain underwater and covered in sediment built up over the last 2300 years.
3) It will be nothing more than a place for the spreading of nets (fishing).
a) That is all it was good for after being made into a peninsula protruding into the sea. In fact that may have made it an ideal fishing place.
4) Tyre will never be rebuilt.
a) This is one of two major objections skeptics bring to the fulfillment of this prophecy. And it is to these two objections that we now turn.
Objection one: Tyre was rebuilt.
Ezekiel’s prophecy says clearly that Tyre would never be rebuilt, but some say that it has been rebuilt. You can even look up on Google pictures of modern-day Tyre. So how do we explain this? Well it depends on what you mean by rebuilt. By rebuilt, we do not mean that a new city was constructed and given the same name. This would be akin to having your 1970 Dodge Challenger crushed and thrown into a scrapyard, and then building a new Dodge Charger with new parts in your garage that doesn’t even resemble the original, and calling it a “rebuilt” Dodge Charger. If you look at the history of this “New Tyre,” as we’ll call it, you’ll clearly see that it was nothing like the original. In fact, it was quite pathetic compared to the original. The New Tyre could hardly be called the “Queen of the Seas,” and all of the original parts and materials of the original Tyre were in the sea. You can’t rebuild what is underwater. What we do mean by “rebuilt,” as is meant by the text, is to be restored to a prior state of existence. And Tyre, as it was known by the world before Alexander the Great, was never restored to its former grandeur, influence, or power in the world. Thus, Tyre was never rebuilt.
Objection two: Nebuchadnezzar didn’t destroy Tyre, Alexander the Great did.
This objection is easily defeated by a closer reading of the text. God says “Many Nations,” will come against Tyre. Nebuchadnezzar is prophesied to do certain things to Tyre in particular. But if you go back and read the prophecy again, you’ll see that there is a point which the pronoun “he,” referring to ol’ Nebby, is switched out for the remainder of the prophecy for the pronoun, “they.” This is where Nebuchadnezzar’s role ends, and is picked up by other nations and finally culminated in Alexander the Great’s conquest.
This is but one of the many amazing prophecies that our Lord spoke through His prophets and saw through to its fulfillment. The Christian can have great confidence in God’s sovereignty over all of creation and assurance that the things He said will happen, He will be faithful to bring about in His time.
Recommended Resources:
The Destruction of Tyre - EVIDENCE for the Bible pt 2 by Mike Winger