Ezekiel 26
McGeeCHAPTER 26THEME: Judgment against Tyre
Ezekiel 26:1
JUDGMENT AGAINST TYREChapters 26-28 give us prophecies against Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon belong together like pork and beans, or ham and eggs. You never think of one without the other. These chapters are a marvelous example of the exactness of the literal fulfillment of prophecy. Tyre was the capital of the great Phoenician nation which was famous for its seagoing traders. They plied the Mediterranean and even went beyond that. We know today that they went around the Pillars of Hercules and the Rock of Gibraltar, and into Great Britain, where they obtained tin. They established a colony in North Africa. Tarshish in Spain was founded by these people. They were great colonizers and went a lot farther than we used to think they did in their explorations. Tyre was a great and proud city. Hiram, king of Tyre, had been a good friend of David and supplied him with building materials. Solomon and Hiram did not get along as well as David and Hiram had. Apparently Hiram was a great king. But, also, the center of Baal worship was there in Tyre and Sidon. Jezebel, the daughter of a king and former priest, married Ahab, king of Israel, and introduced Baal worship into the northern kingdom. Now let’s look at the tremendous prophecy God gives concerning Tyre and Sidon. Tyre was destroyed at the same time Jerusalem was destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar took Tyre.
Ezekiel 26:3
When God says, “Behold, I am against thee,” you can be sure He is against that place. Just as the waves break on the shore, God says, nations will come against Tyre, that great commercial center that had been invincible.
Ezekiel 26:4
Nebuchadnezzar came against the city and destroyed it, but he didn’t scrape it.
Ezekiel 26:5
God said it would be a fishing villagenot the proud commercial capitaland that is what it is today.
Ezekiel 26:6
“Her daughters” are, I believe, the colonies that she established. She had established one on the island of Cyprus, by the way. Cyprus means “copper”, and she obtained copper from there. The Phoenicians were the traders who brought these metals into the ancient civilized world.
Ezekiel 26:7
Nebuchadnezzar breached the walls of ancient Tyre just as he had at Jerusalem, and this prophecy was literally fulfilled.
Ezekiel 26:11
It is very interesting to note that verses Eze_26:7-11 clearly predict that Nebuchadnezzar will take the city, and the pronoun he is all through that section. But now, beginning with the next verse the pronoun changes to they. God had said that the nations were coming and here is that prediction:
Ezekiel 26:12
Now this prophecy waited centuries for fulfillment. For three hundred years the ruins of Tyre lay there, and they were very impressive. Although Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the city, this second prophecy had not been fulfilled. Who was going to take up the stones and even scrape the dust into the ocean? Well, out of the west there comes Alexander the Great, symbolized as the he goat in Daniel’s prophecy. You see, after the return of the Tyrians from Babylonian captivity, they decided to rebuild their city on an island and forget all about the mainland. Since they were a seafaring power, they could better protect themselves on an island. Well, when Alexander got there, he saw the ruins of the city, but the inhabited new city was out yonder on the island out of his reach. He had plenty of time and he had plenty of soldiers, so he decided to build a causeway to the city. Where did he get the material to construct it clear out there in the ocean?
He took the building material of old Tyre, the stones, the pillars, and even the dust of the city, and built a causeway over which his army marched right into the new city of Tyre. He destroyed the city, and from that day to this it has never been rebuilt. My friend, this is a remarkable prophecy! As I mentioned, the critics try to explain away the prophecy regarding Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of the city by saying that Ezekiel wrote it after it had happened, but it is impossible for them to claim that Ezekiel wrote after Alexander the Great! Only God can prophesy with such accuracy. I have walked out on the isthmus that Alexander made from the mainland to the island and have seen the ruins. The ruins are being excavated and there were all kinds of broken pieces of pottery and artifacts around. Ezekiel’s prophecy was literally fulfilled. You cannot look at the ruins of Tyre and say that the Word of God is guesswork. Sidon stands today as it always has, but Tyre is gone. Nobody has tried to rebuild it. Lebanon hasn’t tried. God’s Word says that Tyre will never be rebuilt. If you can rebuild Tyre, you can contradict God’s word, but I advise you to invest your money somewhere else.