EZEKIEL 26

11th YEAR OF CAPTIVITY-586 BC-CHAPTERS 26-28


Because Tyre rejoiced against Jerusalem, she should be leveled to the ground and scraped clean, like the top of a rock (Tyre="Rock"). Tyre was on an island stronghold, boasting in her insular security, as Britain did for many centuries.

Bro Growcott - Prophecies in the captivity



3 Therefore thus saith Adonai Yahweh; Behold [Hineni], I am against thee, O Tyrus [Tzor ], and will cause many nations [Goyim rabbim] to come up against thee, as the sea [yam] causeth his waves to come up.

This prophecy has been fulfilled to the very letter‭; ‬and man cannot prophesy.‭ ‬Tyre came to ruin,‭ ‬not by natural decay‭; ‬not by the uprise of a commercial rival on another spot drawing away her business from her‭; ‬but in the very way foretold...

...First under Nebuchadnezzar,‭ ‬and then under Alexander,‭ ‬nearly‭ ‬250‭ ‬years after Nebuchadnezzar,‭ ‬imperial armies‭ (‬comprising many nationalities‭) ‬subjected Tyre to the most destructive of sieges,‭ ‬and brought her into the ruin foretold.

It is not as if this were the only case of Bible prophecy fulfilled.‭ ‬There is scarcely an end to such cases.‭ ‬The Bible is full of prophecy to a much greater extent than the common run of people imagine:‭ ‬and all its prophecies have been fulfilled.‭ ‬There is not an exception.‭ ‬Look at the great mountain outlines of the subject.‭

Look at scattered Israel...‭ ‬look at overthrown and obliterated Babylon‭; ‬look at degraded Egypt.‭ ‬Look at the four great empires that have successively ruled the world‭; ‬look at the terrible Papacy that rose out of the fourth of these empires,‭ ‬wielding the most odious tyranny over the consciences and liberties of men that could be imagined,‭ ‬but which was plainly foretold,‭ ‬and losing it exactly at the end of the allotted time‭ (‬1,260‭ ‬years‭)‬.‭

Look at the birth,‭ ‬death,‭ ‬resurrection,‭ ‬and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ-all foreshewn in the prophets many centuries before their occurrence.‭ ‬What verdict of reason can there be but one-that God is in this book,‭ ‬and that the prophets spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit‭?

Bro Roberts - Sunday Morning No 259

The Christadelphian, Nov 1894





5 It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea [yam]: for I have spoken it, saith Adonai Yahweh: and it shall become a spoil to the nations [plunder to the Goyim].


‬In the day when Ezekiel wrote this prophecy,‭ ‬Tyre,‭ ‬like Babylon,‭ ‬was in the zenith of her prosperity,‭ ‬for he wrote at the beginning of Judah's captivity by Nebuchadnezzar‭ "‬among the captives by the river of Chebar‭" (‬Ezek.‭ i. ‬1‭)‬.‭ ‬Tyre,‭ ‬with her extensive shipping,‭ ‬was queen of the sea and nurse of all nations.‭ ‬She enriched the kings of the earth with the multitude of her merchandise‭ (xxvii. ‬33‭)‬.‭ ‬She had a very high position in her own estimation and in the estimation of all who had dealings with her.

‭ ‬She said,‭ "‬I am of perfect beauty.‭" ‬Her builders had perfected her beauty.‭ ‬Her shipboards were of the best timber-cedar of Lebanon‭; ‬her oars,‭ ‬of the oaks of Bashan:‭ ‬her benches of ivory:‭ ‬her sails of the finest material that could be manufactured-fine linen with bordered work from Egypt,‭ ‬blue and purple from the isles of Elishah.‭ ‬The mariners sang of her:‭ ‬they could not find language to describe her glory:‭ "‬What city is like Tyrus‭?" (xxvii. ‬3‭-‬7‭; ‬25,‭ ‬32‭)‬.

‭Well, what does the prophecy say? That God is against her, and that she will be brought to ruin.

‭...‬How has this prophecy worked out‭? ‬The fact is notorious to all who make history their study and not romance:‭ ‬who choose truth and not fiction for their mental pabulum:‭ ‬who prefer knowledge and understanding to the gapes and fripperies of light literature.‭ ‬The prophecy has been fulfilled to the letter.‭ ‬You may go to the sea coast of Palestine by one of Cook's excursions and you will search in vain for Tyre.‭ ‬You will of course find the geographical spot where she stood.‭ ‬You will find the sea-washed island about‭ ‬40‭ ‬miles to the north of Haifa,‭ ‬where the range of Carmel ends in a promontory.‭

The shape of land and sea is the same as when Tyre boasted and Ezekiel wrote.‭ ‬But the busy harbour,‭ ‬crowded shipping,‭ ‬the stately towers,‭ ‬the sumptuous mansions,‭ ‬the villas and castles of the rich stretching away right and left on the main land,‭ ‬the thronging prosperous populace everywhere-you look for them in vain...‭ "‬Thou shalt be no more‭; ‬though thou be sought for,‭ ‬yet shalt thou never be found again,‭ ‬saith the Lord God‭" (v ‬1‭)‬.‭

You cannot even find her architectural relics,‭ ‬except in the water round the island,‭ ‬according to the account of travellers,‭ ‬as it had been written:‭ "‬They shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.‭" ‬Looking down into the depths on a clear day,‭ ‬it is said you can see broken columns and masses of stone work.‭ ‬All is a silent desolation where once were busy sounds of human industry and mirth,‭ ‬as it had been written:‭

‭"‬I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease‭; ‬and the sound of thy harps shall no more be heard‭" (xxvi. ‬13‭)‬.

But on the island itself we see something.‭ ‬There is a small fishing settlement.‭ ‬What is that which,‭ ‬by the eyes of travellers,‭ ‬we see drying and bleaching on the rocks‭? ‬Fishermen's nets.‭ ‬What is this which we read in the chapters before us‭? "‬I will scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a rock.‭ ‬It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea‭" (‬verses‭ ‬4‭-‬5‭)‬.‭ ‬What shall we say‭?

That the word of God is true and cannot be broken.‭

Bro Roberts - Sunday Morning No 259

The Christadelphian, Nov 1894