About 590 B.C. the ancient city of Tyre was at its peak in wealth and glory. As far as anyone could tell, it was going to last forever.
That was not to be the case though; the prophet Ezekiel, speaking the words of God said, “’Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ says the Lord God; ‘it shall become plunder for the nations.’” – Ezekiel 26:3-5.
Sounds rather straightforward from my perspective. Let me see now; God said he was going to allow the city of Tyre to be destroyed; he would bring many nations against the city like waves of the sea; its walls and towers would be pulled down and he was going to see to it that the entire city, even the dust, would be removed. The site of the city would become as bare as the top of a rock. In the end, the fishermen of the area would spread their nets to dry where the city once stood.
The city of Tyre was actually made up of two parts. There was the city built on the mainland and approximately ½ mile from the shoreline of that city there was an island fortress; a place of refuge for royalty, government officials and important members of the community during wartime.
When Nebuchadnezzar attacked the city in 585 BC he was only able, after 13 years, to conquer the mainland city but left the island fortress alone. He considered it impossible to conquer because of the surrounding water and because its walls had been built right up to the sea. After destroying the walls of the mainland city he laid siege to the island from 586 until 573 BC. Nebuchadnezzar eventually left after the people of Tyre agreed to pay him tribute.
Tyre was later attacked in 332 BC by Alexander the Great who was able to conquer the island by first blockading and besieging it for several months. He connected the island to the mainland by constructing a causeway using the demolished remains of the mainland city and used its stone and timbers to build that causeway. It is said that Alexander was so enraged at the Tyrians' defense and the loss of his men that he destroyed half the island fortress. According to Arrian, 8,000 Tyrian civilians were massacred after the island fell. 30,000 residents, mainly women and children, were sold into slavery.
In 315 BC, Alexander's former general Antigonus began his own siege of Tyre, taking the city a year later.
After a first failed siege in 1111, it was later captured by the Crusaders in 1124, becoming one of the most important cities of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
In the 13th century, Tyre was separated from the royal domain as a separate crusader lordship. In 1291, it was retaken by the Mameluks which then was followed by Ottoman rule before the modern state of Lebanon was declared in 1920.
The prophecy said, “I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves” and that is how it has been.
The present-day city of Tyre covers a large part of the original island and has expanded onto and covers most of the causeway, which had increased greatly in width over the centuries because of extensive silt depositions on either side. However, the original city itself continues to remain barren…uninhabited.
Instigating rebellion against God is not an activity I care to pursue; but if it were my idea of a challenge it would be easy in this situation. What a perfect place to build a new city, right where the old city of Tyre once stood. I would think that with a one time $20 donation from every unbeliever in the world that you could build a great new city and call it Tyre II-The Sequel. It would be a great place for all the atheists of the world to live. You have to admit it would be interesting to see what would happen if someone were to try to do just that. God said it would never be rebuilt…ever, and so far it has not. What would happen if you tried to rebuild? Would anybody even want to try?
No, that kind of defiance is not in my character, but the opportunity for those who are defiant is there. From what I understand there is plenty of fresh water at the site and the soil is rich and fertile all the way to the mountains in the distance.
Getting back to the subject of prophecy, there are some people who might think that Ezekiel would just naturally assume that the city of Tyre would never again be inhabited after Nebuchadnezzar had torn it down to the ground, but God does not always condemn cities to permanent destruction and desolation.
A good example of that would be the city of Sidon that was only thirty miles away from Tyre. It was an older city than Tyre and for centuries it had been slowly slipping in power and falling apart, while the city of Tyre was still growing and thriving. If you were to judge by appearances, Ezekiel should have naturally said that Sidon would be destroyed and never inhabited again. That is not what Ezekiel said however; he said, “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against her, and say, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold I am against you, O Sidon; I will be glorified in your midst; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I execute judgments in her and am hallowed in her. For I will send pestilence upon her, and blood in her streets; the wounded shall be judged in her midst by the sword against her on every side; then they shall know that I am the Lord.’” – Ezekiel 28:20-23.
The judgment against Sidon was not complete extinction like the old city of Tyre. There was to be blood in the streets and the sword on every side. In spite of all it has gone through, the city of Sidon has continued as a city to this day.
If Ezekiel had said that the old city of Tyre was to keep on living but go through a great amount of difficulty while the decaying city of Sidon would be destroyed and never inhabited again, then you would have a reason to distrust the word of God. Ezekiel was exactly right however, in both cases.
There are other examples in the Bible of cities where God foretold their futures and history has proven those predictions to be 100% accurate.
Another example would be Ashkelon, a city as famous as the old cities of Tyre and Sidon. During the time of those two cities, Ashkelon was still going strong. The city had begun around 1800 B.C. and it was still powerful during the time of Jesus/Christ. From all appearances, it should have continued in existence until the present day. However, the prophet Zephaniah said, “Ashkelon will be desolate.” – Zephaniah 2:4.
Later, the prophet Zechariah said, “Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.” – Zechariah 9:5.
Probably the clearest words concerning the fate of Ashkelon can be found in The Encyclopedia Britannica (which is now out of print). It describes the old city of Ashkelon this way:
“It is now a desolate site on the seacoast, twelve miles north of Gaza. Protruding from this sand swept terrain, shattered columns, and the remnants of ruined buildings and broken walls bear ample testimony to a past magnificence. The country around is fertile. Vines, olives and a variety of fruit trees flourish.”
It is kind of interesting that the writer of history would use the same words as Zephaniah when he describes the present condition of Ashkelon as being “desolate.” God saw twenty-five hundred years ago what we see today.
Another city, Babylon, was without question the greatest city of the world and yet Isaiah said:
"Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver; and as for gold, they will not delight in it. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation; nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there. But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of owls; ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will caper there. The hyenas will howl in their citadels, and jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged." - Isaiah 13:17, 19-22.
What a scene of absolute ruin and wild desolation is described for the end of the greatest city on Earth. From golden glory, to wilderness meant only for wild animals; ending with the imagery of hyenas and jackals howling in the empty ruins of its greatest buildings. Wikipedia.org gives this description of the ancient city of Babylon:
"All that remains today of the ancient famed city of Babylon is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in Iraq. It was the "holy city" of Babylonia by approximately 2300 B.C., and the seat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 612 B.C. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. By 141 B.C., when the Parthian Empire took over the region, Babylon was in complete desolation and obscurity."
God had said, "It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation".
In spite of what God says there are always those who believe they can do as they please and make the word of God of no effect. That has always been the case of those who do not acknowledge the existence of God, or who think themselves above the word of God. A case in point is in regard to the quote of Isaiah 13.
In 1985, Saddam Hussein decided that he would rebuild the city of Babylon on top of the old city ruins. On many of the bricks used in the construction, Hussein had this inscription written: "This was built by Saddam Hussein, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq." After Hussein was removed from power, those bricks became collectors' items, were removed from the site of construction and the ruins are no longer being restored to their original state.
There was an article published on April 2006 stating that UN officials and Iraqi leaders are still planning to restore Babylon and want to make it a gem of the new Iraq as a cultural center, with shopping malls, hotels and possibly even a theme park. The article went on to say, "One day millions of people will visit Babylon."
Saddam Hussein has now exited the stage of history and his plans have come to an end. According to the word of God I do not believe that the UN or the leaders of Iraq are going to succeed in their restoration project either. There is just not enough time or money in the world to go against what God has declared.
Until now, I have only picked out three cities to make my point. If God really is the author of the future, then he should be able to tell us something about complete nations as well, so I would like to turn our attention to the oldest country in the world.
Here we will see a nation of industrious, ingenious and religious people who are concerned about the quality of their lives and are impressed with a belief in the hereafter. In the past they were so concerned that they went to extremes to insure that their planned arrival in Paradise went without a hitch. They had themselves mummified and enclosed in coffins and tombs that should have prevented their mortal remains from being disturbed for eternity. You can see those monuments as you travel through the land of beginnings, the land of Egypt.
Ancient Egypt is the birthplace of the world’s earliest recorded civilization; spread out in the Nile River Valley in northeastern Africa. It is a culture that came into existence about 5,000 years ago, prospered and thrived for over 2,000 years and remains one of the longest lasting civilizations in history.
There is no one who can challenge the power of Egypt’s dynasty. No one can honestly say that its contributions to the world of literature, art, astronomy, mathematics and government were of little or no effect. They built great cities and in these cities architects, engineers, sculptors, doctors and painters worked. Libraries were numerous in Egypt; the most famous one being in Alexandria. It had over 400,000 papyrus scrolls, dealing with geography, astronomy, mathematics and many other subjects. The Egyptians mined metals and gems from the Earth; they manufactured cloth, distilled perfumes, sailed the seas and were absolutely the wealthiest and most sophisticated nation in existence.
So, what happened? Egypt today is still as thriving, industrious and richly diverse as the Egypt of the past, but why the difference in prestige and power? The Egyptians of the past could look to the horizon of the future and could not see even the slightest cloud to threaten their power over the other nations of the world. As far as the Egyptians were concerned, their dynasty would continue to rule the world forever.
At a time when everyone would have predicted Egypt to continue on in unending prosperity, the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel both prophesied things about her that would reach down the span of time more than two thousand years after they died.
Take the time to read Isaiah chapter 19 and Ezekiel chapters 29 and 30 and you will find a wealth of verifiable information regarding the fate of Egypt. I am only going to quote a few of the most outstanding verses here:
“I am against the Nile and all her rivers. The cities of Egypt will lie in ruins for forty years; I will scatter your people among the nations; at the end of forty years, I will bring the Egyptians back from the nations among whom they were scattered. I will bring them back to their cities and restore the fortunes of Egypt, but she will never rise to her former glory. She will be a weaker kingdom among the nations; she will never be strong enough to exalt herself above the other countries nor rule over their people…I will dry up the streams of the Nile and sell the land to evil men; by the hand of foreigners I will lay waste the land and everything in it.”
Although the prophecy took a long time to reach its fulfillment, it has reached its certain end. Egypt’s decline was slow and gradual, but it was permanent.
“Deprived twenty three hundred years ago of her natural proprietors, she has seen her fertile fields successively a prey to the Persians, the Macedonians, the Romans, the Greeks, the Arabs and the Georgians, and at length, the race of Tartars distinguished by the name of Ottoman Turks. The Mamelukes, purchased as slaves and introduced as soldiers, soon usurped the power and elected a leader. If their first establishment was a singular event, their continuance is no less extraordinary. They are replaced by slaves brought from their original country. Their system of oppression is methodical. Everything the traveler sees or hears reminds him he is in the country of slavery and tyranny.” - Constantine Volney, Travels-Volume I.
Many things have changed since the days when Volney wrote those words. The lifestyle and culture of those in Egypt has improved for the better. However, the fact of Egypt’s fall from dominance as the controlling major world power has always remained.
Prophecies concerning other nations like Edom and Chaldea said that they would become extinct and they have. However, the fate of Egypt was to be one of slow, steady decline. It would continue to be a nation, but it would no longer rule. In fact, it was to be ruled by evil men, or cruel strangers, as some translations put it.
For twenty-five hundred years Egypt was ruled by strangers – Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantine Greeks, Saracens, Turks, French and British – strangers, just as the prophecy predicted.
When you can plainly see the fulfillment of prophecy, it is a natural reaction to dismiss it as something that “just happened,” but my hope is that you would take a closer look at the evidence and at least begin to see a pattern of knowledge here. I would also wish and hope that you would be willing to follow the evidence no matter where it might lead you, even if it goes against something you might have previously believed.
Take some time and think about this for a while because we are now going to be looking into one of the most amazing series of prophecies that have ever been written in the Bible. What we will be reading is going to outline the history of all the nations of Earth, beginning twenty-five hundred years ago and continuing on to the present day. Again, I will only be presenting the facts and letting you be the judge.
I am going to take you to what I believe to be probably one of the best and most controversial writers of the entire Bible. We will begin with his narrative of the time when the kingdom of Babylon ruled the then known world.
Even though this writer died some time during the time when the Medes and the Persians co-ruled the world, the words he spoke, as the words of God, continue to be fulfilled right up to this very moment. We are going into the book of Daniel…and you are going to be amazed.