On the matter of the city of Tyre being destroyed

God never said that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy Tyre. He did say that Tyre would be invaded by many nations (which has already been fulfilled) and ultimately destroyed by water (which has yet to be fulfilled):

"Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up." - Ezekiel 26:3 KJB

Historically we know that Nebuchadnezzar was the first of these many prophecied invaders. Ezekiel's prophecy already seems to fortell what historical research has later verified:

"For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people." - Ezekiel 26:7 KJB

Nebuchadnezzar was also the only one alive at the time this prophecy was made that had the military power and resources to pull off a successful invasion campaign against Tyre (God wasn't about to choose a bunch of losers as part of any invasion force):

"For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people." - Ezekiel 26:7 KJB

The rest of those "many nations" didn't even exist when the prophecy was given so even mentioning their names would not be material to understanding Ezekiel's message.

The modern large city of Tyre is not located in the same geographic area as the ancient and small city of Tyre was to which this prophecy refers. The original name of the city meant "rock" so called because of the rocky formations on which the place originally stood. The modern city of Tyre is built around the location where it originally stood but not at the old location. In fact fishermen living in the modern city of Tyre use the ancient location to dry their fishing nets on, as the land there is mostly desolate and good for nothing else:

"And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon;" - Ezekiel 26:5 KJB

Finally, even the modern day city whose name is really only a borrowing of the ancient city's name (because no one has ever rebuilt the city on its original ground) will one day be destroyed as the waters of the deep rise up to overwhelm her:

"For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;" - portion of Ezekiel 26:19 KJB

These great waters will not only cover the site where ancient Tyre once stood but also completely submerge the modern locations surrounding her that is only called Tyre as a borrowed term.

If you doubt that this can happen to a city that may never have experienced a tsunami before, consider Japan and more recently Thailand.

Last Edited by SozzledBoot on 10/24/2011 09:19 PM