Ezekiel 26
-In the eleventh year, which would have been 586 B.C. the same
year that Jerusalem fell to Babylon, on the first of the month the word of the
LORD came again upon Ezekiel concerning the fall of Tyre. Tyre was the capital
of the Phoenician people’s empire just north of Israel along the Mediterranean
Sea coast. Part of this city was on the mainland and part of it was on a
beautiful island off of the coast a little ways. As the text states, Tyre
audaciously thought that her nation would benefit from the collapse of Judah,
who held the inland trade routes to Egypt (Ezekiel 26:2). Tyre was the dominator
of the water trade routes with Egypt and now saw a potential for more money as
the primary trading proprietor of this region once Judah was in chaos as a
defeated foe with the European and Western Asian land trade routes interrupted
from the eastern power of Babylon.
-God revealed, however, that Nebuchadnezzar was coming to
take control of Tyre as well and that she would be utterly destroyed forever
more. Tyre too would KNOW that Jehovah was LORD as He would be against them in
the form of many nation’s invasions and crippling blows, which would eventually
leave her desolate forever (Ezekiel 26:6, 19). She would not gloat over Judah’s
misfortune, but be a spoil for the nations and devastated by the violence of
the sword with a wounded groan of lamentation. God Almighty was bringing
terrors on Tyre to the point that she would be no more and never found again
(Ezekiel 26:3-21). Tyre proved to be a difficult capture for the Babylonian
army over the period of 15 years from the time that Ezekiel gave this prophesy
in Babylon. Because of her trade and fresh supplies from the sea routes, siege
was a long and drawn out endeavor. However, by 571 B.C. Tyre was captured and
overthrown in part. The completion of the prophesy was not realized until 332
B.C. when Alexander the Great marched in and threw the rubble from the mainland
of Tyre into the sea until it made a bridge to the island portion. Once the land
bridge was created, his armies marched across and completely destroyed the
island, and today this original island is still a pile of rubble, a testimony
to God’s enduring judgment on a city that gloated over Judah’s demise (Ezekiel
26:12, 14).
-*Application* The old saying is true, “Don’t count your
chickens before they hatch.” Tyre was prosperous and affluent with what was
considered an impenetrable fortress, but God always has the last say in these
matters. Stay humble before Him if you really want to thrive long term.
Verse to Memorize:
Ezekiel 26:2
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