Misleading explanation for the fulfillment of the Prophecy against Tyre

by opusdei1972 18 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  opusdei1972

  As we know, Nebuchadnezzar could not conquer the island of Tyre, so he could not fulfill what was predicted in Ezekiel chapter 26. Many years later, Ezekiel admitted that the prediction failed in chapter 29:

  17 And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw; yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre, for the labor which they expended on it. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God : ‘Surely I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he shall take away her wealth, carry off her spoil, and remove her pillage; and that will be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor, because they worked for Me,’ says the Lord God .

  Interestingly, the Jewish Encyclopedia presents a sincere explanation of this fiasco:

  Ezekiel had positively prophesied the capture and destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, but after thirteen years of fruitless labor the latter had to raise the siege and to arrange terms of peace with the city. Thereupon, in the above-mentioned passage, Ezekiel promises Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as an indemnity. Here, then, is an oracle the non-fulfilment, of which the prophet himself is destined to see. Yet he does not venture to change or to expunge it. Incidentally it may be stated that the transmission of oracles of which the prophets themselves were doomed to see the non-fulfilment is the strongest proof that they regarded these as messages for which they were not personally responsible, and which, consequently, they did not venture to change; they regarded them as God's word, the responsibility for the non-fulfilment of which rested with God, not with themselves. In view of these facts it must be assumed that although Ezekiel completed his book in 572, he availed himself of earlier writings, which he allowed to remain practically unchanged. (Jewish Encyclopedia, Ezekiel, book of)

  So, it seems that Ezekiel did not delete his past unfulfilled predictions, because he thought these came from God. Who deceived him?, Aliens?, no one knows. However, there are currently guys who want to show us deceptively that the Prophecy against Tyre was actualy fulfilled

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8_jV6R0_5A
• 

  NAVYTOWN

  And WHY should we care about those long-ago stories that are probably just a figment of some writer's fevered imagination? With the MULTITUDE of real-life things going on in the world RIGHT NOW, why do we need to spend time worrying about and dissecting what 'may' have happened in some long-ago cloud cuckoo-land? REALITY is MY religion!!
• 

  Perry

  Here are some other thoughts:

  After a closer look at the text, however, such an interpretation is misguided. Ezekiel began his prophecy by stating that “many nations” would come against Tyre (26:3). Then he proceeded to name Nebuchadnezzar, and stated that “he” would build a siege mound, “he” would slay with the sword, and “he” would do numerous other things (26:7-11). However, in 26:12, the pronoun shifts from the singular “he” to the plural “they.” It is in verse 12 and following that Ezekiel predicts that “they” will lay the stones and building material of Tyre in the “midst of the waters.” The shift in pronouns is of vast significance, since it shifts the subject of the action from Nebuchadnezzar (he) back to the many nations (they). Till and others fail to see this shift and mistakenly apply the utter destruction of Tyre to the efforts of Nebuchadnezzar.

  Furthermore, Ezekiel was well aware of Nebuchadnezzar’s failure to destroy the city. Sixteen years after his initial prediction, in the 27th year of Johoiachin’s captivity (circa 570 B.C. ), he wrote: “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw; yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre, for the labor which they expended on it” (29:18). Therefore, in regard to the prophecy of Tyre as it relates to Nebuchadnezzar’s activity, at least two of the elements were fulfilled (i.e., the siege mound and the slaying of the inhabitants in the field).

  Regarding the prediction that “many nations” would come against Tyre, the historical records surrounding the illustrious city report such turmoil and war that Ezekiel’s prophecy looks like a mild understatement of the facts. After Nebuchadnezzar’s attack of the city “a period of great depression” plagued the city which was assimilated into the Persian Empire around 538 B.C. (Fleming, p. 47). In 392 B.C. , “Tyre was involved in the war which arose between the Persians and Evagorus of Cyprus” in which the king of Egypt “took Tyre by assault” (p. 52). Sixty years later, in 332, Alexander the Great besieged Tyre and crushed it (see below for further elaboration). Soon after this defeat, Ptolemy of Egypt conquered and subjugated Tyre until about 315 B.C. when Atigonus of Syria besieged Tyre for 15 months and captured it (Fleming, p. 65). In fact, Tyre was contested by so many foreign forces that Fleming wrote: “It seemed ever the fate of the Phoenician cities to be between an upper and a nether millstone” (p. 66). Babylon, Syria, Egypt, Rome, Greece, Armenia, and Persia are but a sampling of the “many nations” that had a part in the ultimate destruction of Tyre. Thus, Ezekiel’s prophecy about “many nations” remains as a historical reality that cannot be successfully gainsaid.
• 

  Moses Joe

  I was about to say something similar but not as detailed as Perry regarding the verbiage of the initial prophecy. Something else that comes to mind as well is the big picture of the bible shows that God does not FORCE something to happen a certain way. This seems likely because he will not take a persons free will away.

  Lot was told to leave Sodom and go somewhere specific, but upon begging to go somehwere else it was allowed.

  The Israelites were clearly chosen for something, but didn't keep their end of the covenant. Once considered broken God made a way for what he wanted to still be accomplished, just differently, and now the opportunity went out to gentiles.

  The point being that something not happening a certain way doesn't mean, at least in the bible, that gods will will go unaccomplished. Perhaps this somehow accounts for Babylon being given Egypt in place of Tyre if they were ever meant to have Tyre at all, which the verbiage of the prophecy seems to indicate isn't the case.

  Ultimately though, this is just pointless banter of the same kind the Governing Body uses to distract it's followers from the fact that they are hypocrites. The important point of the bible is missed by focusing in on little things like this. The point is a message to be loving, hope for better, and have faith in the fact that better is coming, and tell other's about it. That's a goal that is completely undone by debating.
• 

  opusdei1972

  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 26:14)

  Tyre was conquered in 332 B.C. by Alexander but at no time was the city totaly destroyed. It was soon rebuilt on the same site. It exists to this day.
• 

  Perry

  Were you aware that there were essentially two Tyres?

  Tyre was originally an island “surrounded by the sea” (Ez 27:32). “Today, ” Aubet says, “Tyre is a peninsula joined to the mainland.” The peninsula was created by the silting up of a mole or causeway built by Alexander the Great in 332 BC (Aubet 1993: 27). Aubet notes that there was a city on the mainland known as “ancient Tyre” to Roman historians, also referred to as “Palaeo-Tyre.” The Egyptian and Assyrian texts call it Uzu/Ushu. The scribe in Papyrus Anastasi I (1290–1186 BC), for example, says,

  What is Uzu like? They say another town is in the sea named Tyre-the-Port. Water is taken to it by boats (Wilson 1969: 477). Aubet adds:

  It was considered to be a second Tyre on the mainland and lasted as a satellite city until it was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar (1993: 30, emphasis added).

  

  Nineteenth-century map of Tyre, showing the present-day causeway between the mainland and the island city. When Alexander the Great besieged the island in 332 BC he built a narrow mole from the rubble of the destroyed mainland city of Tyre. It spanned the 1/3 mi (600 m) between the mainland and the island. In time, the causeway became enlarged by sand deposits washed in by the waves. Today the causeway and the island form a peninsula stretching out into the Mediterranean. Evidence of Tyre’s ancient ports can still be seen on the north and south sides of the former island.

  After his defeat of Jerusalem in 587 BC, Nebuchadnezzar turned his attention to Tyre. Although he defeated mainland Tyre, a 13-year siege of the island city proved fruitless. The historian Diodorus attested that Alexander used the stones from the Old Tyre destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar to build his mole (Diodorus, 17.40; Wells 1936). The causeway was a half-mile (0.8 km) long and 200 ft (60 m) wide, and was built so Alexander could move his siege equipment over to the island. The rubble from Old Tyre was so thoroughly cleaned out by Alexander’s engineers that no trace of the ancient city can be found today. Thus, according to H. J. Katzenstein, the precise location of mainland Tyre is a point of controversy. According to this specialist on the history of Tyre, it was “totally dismantled by Alexander the Great in his famous siege…and disappeared totally” (1997: 15).
• 

  Viviane

  And the fact remains there are still people living in both cities, Perry. Just another failed prophecy.
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  opusdei1972

  Perry: English is not my native language, but I am trying to understand what you meant. I knew that Tyre was an Island with lesser cities called "daughters in the land". So the main material richness was in the Island, as Ezekiel said:

  Your wealth, merchandise and wares,

  your mariners, sailors and shipwrights,
  your merchants and all your soldiers,
  and everyone else on board
  will sink into the heart of the sea
  on the day of your shipwreck.

  (Ezekiel 27:27)

  Let us see, here are portions of the NIV translation of Ezekiel 26:

  7 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a great army. 8 He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp up to your walls and raise his shields against you. 9 He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons. 10 His horses will be so many that they will cover you 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 have been broken through. 11 The hooves of his horses will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. 12 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.

  From the Hebrew language and from the Septuagint we may understand that when NIV says "your settlements on the mainland", it comes from the literal phrase "your daughters that are in the land", in which "land" comes from the Hebrew Sadeh which is opposed to sea. Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian king, identifies Ushu in the mainland: "ON MY RETURN MARCH, I CONQURED THE TOWN USHU THE EMPLACEMENT OF WHICH IS ON THE SEACOAST." (ANET, p.300)

  So, as I see, when the prophecy uses the pronoun "YOU" in chapter 26, it means the city in the Island. Doesn't it?. So, it seems clear that Nebuchadnezzar did "ravage your daughters in the land", but did Nebuchadnezzar demolish the walls protecting the Island? did Nebuchadnezzar enter with his horses into the city of the Island? It does not happen. If so, why he could not get any "reward from the campaign he led against Tyre"?, because he could not enter there.

  Now it seems that you apply the pronoun "THEY", to the nations, though I understand it to be Nebuchadnezzar and his army, because Ezekiel then admitted that " he and his army got no reward from the campaign he led against Tyre" (Ezekiel 29:18)

  14 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 .

  "You will never be rebuilt" must mean "the city of the Island never be rebuilt". But we know that the city in the Island was rebuilt.

  19 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I make you a desolate city, like cities no longer inhabited, and when I bring the ocean depths over you and its vast waters cover you, 20 then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you will not return or take your place in the land of the living. 21 I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign Lord .” (NIV)

  I don't see where it was fulfilled, because Tyre is still inhabited.
• 

  Perry

  From the same article:

  “You will never be rebuilt”

  Literary Artistry of Ezekiel 26:3–14

  The Hebrew poetry of this oracle is not static, but is progressive and climactic. The original ideas are gradually magnified, enlarged, and developed into a climactic crescendo. One must also take note of the technique of personification used in this passage. The oracle does not relate to Tyre merely as an inanimate conglomerate of building materials; Tyre is introduced as a person using pronouns like “I” and “me” in Ezekiel 26:2. At the end of the oracle (v. 14), God himself addressed Tyre as “you.” Throughout the oracle feminine singular pronouns like “your,” “her” and “she” are used of the city. Tyre is addressed with personal pronouns over 30 times in only 12 verses. This emphasis presents Tyre as a vibrant, prosperous, influential, living organism, rather than just a pile of stones.

  The portrayal of Tyre becomes more and more personal as the oracle progresses. In verses 3 to 6, seven personal pronouns are used. In verses 12 and 13 there are 17 such pronouns. As the oracle continues, the allusions to destruction become more and more personal and “grass roots.” In the first ten verses towers, gates, walls and suburbs are the objects of destruction. In verses 11 to 14, people, wealth, houses, business profit, music and merchandise are focused upon. This culminates with God addressing her as a “you” in the phrase, “You will not be built anymore” (author’s translation).

  If one considers the poetic progression, the statement that Tyre “will not be rebuilt” pertains to the final state of the city after the succession of waves has fully destroyed it. Also, if the elements in verses 12–14 are considered, the rebuilding would include personal, commercial and national features. The context of how Tyre was built when the oracle was written must also be considered. Its original builders made it “perfect in beauty” with the most extravagant, opulent trappings (Ez 27: 3, 4–11). She was an exquisite, richly adorned world ship in chapter 27. Any potential rebuilding would have to include all these features.

  Use of the Hebrew Root bnh with Persons in the Old Testament

  In defining the verb “build,” it is instructive to observe how it is used of feminine singular personifications. The best parallel for this is “Virgin Israel” in Jeremiah 31:4. Israel is also the collective personification of a nation. There is almost identical wording here as in 26:14 except for the “not.” God says, “I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel” (Jer 31:4). The rebuilding would include musical instruments, dancing and joyous celebration. According to verses 5 and 12, agricultural prosperity is also included. Verse 28 includes the rebuilding of waste places.

  The following are some of the Biblical elements inherent in the word “build” when used with the building of a nation considered as a collective single person:

  1. Flourishing population. Genesis 16:2, 30:3 and Ruth 4:11 use the verb for “build” as building up the House of Israel by her matriarchs.

  2. National prominence and influence. Amos 9:14 speaks of rebuilding the fallen tent into some form of the old Davidic empire. Psalm 89:5 included the building of David’s throne. His dynasty is to be built in Samuel 7:11, 16, 27.

  3. National Strength and Security. A righteous nation will be built and planted by God (Jer 18:9).

  4. Prosperity. Both wicked and repentant may be built up (Mal 3:15; Job 22:23; Prv 24:3).

  The statement that Tyre will never be rebuilt means more than the restructuring of stones, wood and mortar. Tyre will never regain international prominence as a world trader and colonizer. She will never be a rich, prosperous, flourishing, world power as she was in Ezekiel’s day. The denial of rebuilding goes far beyond a mere architectural project. It must include making Tyre into the person she was in the early sixth century BC. It must be kept in mind that the meaning is “you will never be rebuilt,” not “the city will never be rebuilt.”

  The statement in 26:14 does not deny there would be buildings on the island. It means that Tyre would never be rebuilt into the commercial superpower she was in Ezekiel’s day. It means that the palaces and temples of Ezekiel’s day would forever lie deep underneath the ground (and the water!), never to be revived. It would in no way be rebuilt into the prosperous, powerful living entity she was at the time the oracle was given.
• 

  Bart Belteshassur

  Perry - Can you please explain then if there are some many reasons for why the prophecy of Tyre is so complete, why in verse 19 does the lord declare that he is giving the land of Egypt to Neb. This , according to history this event never happened. There is no acheological evidence of Neb invding and gaining control of Egypt, which not only shows this prophecy to be a lie but also the one in Jeremiah?