The Prophecy of Tyre

Brent and I are in this mentoring thing with a couple through our connection class (sunday school class) at church. It's good. But we've only met twice, so we aren't very far along. We are doing this book called Mentoring 101. So far this week's sessions is about the Bible and it's accuracy. There is a section in the back we have to read called "Can we trust the Bible?" and it goes through 5 reasons the Bible can be trusted. Most of these I learned in college, so some of it was over view, but this is one prophecy they pointed out that I thought was cool. I like archeology and history.

"In addition to the messianic prophecies, the Bible also contains many prophecies regarding the fate of certain cities and nations. As an example of the astounding accuracy of these biblical prophecies, the following is an analysis of the predictions related to the city of Tyre. This city of ancient Phoenicia is now in southern Lebanon. It was once and enemy of Israel.

In Ezekiel 26 (KJV), written between 592 and 570 B.C., the Lord declares His anger towards Tyre for her extreme arrogance. He predicts her invasion by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and her ultimate destruction. Verses 7, 8, and 14, declare her fate:

"For thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I will bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon...and he will make siege walls against you... And I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more, for I, the Lord, have spoken,' declares the Lord God. "

The fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy is explained by the Encyclopedia Britanica. It states, 'After a 13-year siege (5850573 B.C.) by Nebuchadenezzar II, Tyre made terms and acknowledged Babylonian suzerainty (sovereignty).' It goes on to say: In his war on the Persians, Alexander III.....marched southward toward Egypt, calling upon the Phoenician cities to open their gates.....The citizens of Tyre refused to do so, and Alexander laid siege to the city. Poessing no fleet, he demolished old Tyre, on the mainland....

Philip Myers, a secular historian, summarizes the fate of Tyre:

'Alexander the Great.....reduced [Tyre] to ruins. She recovered in a measure from this blow, but never regained the place she had previously held in the world. The larger part of the site of the once great city is now bare as the top of a rock - a place where the fisherman that still frequent the spot spread their nets to dry.'

The record of history regarding Tyre makes it obvious that each prophetic detail recorded in Ezekiel was fulfilled just as the Bible predicted."