Ezekiel 26:7-14

B. The Agents of Destruction 26:7-14

TRANSLATION

(7) For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the north, king of kings, with horses and chariots, horsemen, a company, even much people. (8) He shall slay with the sword your daughters in the field; and be shall make movable towers against you, and cast up a mound against you, and raise up shields against you. (9) And he shall set his battering rams against your walls, and your towers he shall break down by his axes. (10) Because of the multitude of his horses, their dust shall cover you; at the noise of his horsemen, wheels, and chariots your walls shall shake, when he enters into your gates as men would enter a city through a breach. (11) With the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all your streets; he shall slay your people with the sword, and the pillars of your strength shall go down to the ground. (12) And they shall make spoil of your wealth, and confiscate your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls, and tear down your delightful houses; and they shall put your stones, your timber and your dust in the midst of the water. (13) And I will cause the noise of your songs to cease, and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more. (14) And I will make you a bare rock; you shall become a place for the spreading of nets, you shall be built no more; for I the LORD have spoken (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

The generalized predictions regarding the fate of Tyre are amplified in Ezekiel 26:7-14. Particular attention is devoted to the role of Nebuchadnezzar. This constitutes the sixth distinct prediction in the Tyre prophecy.

6. Prediction Six Nebuchadnezzar[383] will destroy the mainland city of Tyre.

[383] The name is spelled two ways in the Bible (1) Nebuchadnezzar and (2) Nebuchadrezzar. The latter spelling, which is closer to the actual Babylonian spelling, is used here in the Hebrew text

The Chaldean king is here called king of kings because he had dominion over dozens of vassal kingdoms (cf. Daniel 2:37; Ezra 7:12). Nebuchadnezzar would approach Tyre from the north around the hump of the Fertile Crescent. Armed to the teeth, Nebuchadnezzar's cavalry, chariotry and innumerable infantry would approach Tyre (Ezekiel 26:7), First, the mainland towns and villages Tyre's daughters would fall. The attack on the island fortress was to follow the standard siege tactics of that day. Forts or siege towers would be erected to allow the attacking soldiers to be elevated to the level of the wall where they could more easily engage the defenders. Mounds of earth and rubble were heaped up about the city to accomplish the same purpose. Large shields linked together provided protection for the besiegers (Ezekiel 26:8). Battering rams were used to attempt to penetrate the stone walls at which time axe-like swords would be used to destroy other fortifications (Ezekiel 26:9).

In hyperbolic language typical of such battle scenes, Ezekiel paints the picture of the coming conqueror. Clouds of dust generated by the approach of innumerable horses would billow up over the walls. The walls of the city would seem to shake from the pounding hoofs and speeding chariot wheels. The hostile conqueror would enter into the gates of the trembling city as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach, i.e., without resistance (Ezekiel 26:10).

Within the captured city a merciless slaughter would take place. Cavalry units would be dispatched down every street to slay all who might be found there. The sacred and symbolic pillars which had been erected in honor of the national god Melquart[384] would come crashing to the ground (Ezekiel 26:11).

[384] Herodotus makes mention of two such pillars in the city of Tyre.

The destruction of Tyre was not to be accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar alone. Verse three already has alluded to the many nations which would be involved. This suggests that the destruction of Tyre would be spread over the centuries. Nebuchadnezzar did besiege Tyre, and his siege lasted thirteen years (587-574 B.C.).[385] However, while he appears to have conquered the mainland suburbs of Tyre, he was never able to conquer the island fortress. Ezekiel was very much aware that Nebuchadnezzar would not be able to capture the entire city (Ezekiel 29:17-20), and for this reason God would give to him the land of Egypt. Nonetheless, the long struggle exhausted the power and resources of Tyre, and its capitulation in 574 B.C. meant the end of Phoenician national life.[386] During the Persian period Tyre lost its dominating position on the coast to Sidon. She also lost her most important trading colonies. However, Tyre continued to survive as a trading and shipping center throughout the Persian period.

[385] Josephus, Antiquities X. 11,I; Against Apion 1.21. No contemporary record of this siege remains.

[386] Kapelrud, IDB, R-Z, p. 723.

An important shift in pronouns from he to they occurs in Ezekiel 26:12. This is a point not to be overlooked. At this point the prophet begins to describe a second stage of Tyre's destruction. The first half of Ezekiel 26:12 amplifies a bit prediction four mentioned above; the latter half of the verse expands on prediction two. Ezekiel 26:14 a combines and repeats predictions two and three. The wealth of Tyre would fall into the hands of the enemy. The walls and luxurious houses would be torn down. The stone, timber and even the dust of the place would be pushed into the water of the Mediterranean Sea (Ezekiel 26:12). The joyous sounds of that once vibrant city would be silenced (Ezekiel 26:13). The island fortress would be nothing but a barren rock upon which fishermen would spread their nets.

The allusion in Ezekiel 26:12-14 a is likely to the armies of Alexander the Great. The Macedonia conqueror attacked the city in 332 B.C. He rather easily conquered the mainland city as Nebuchadnezzar had done 250 years before. Alexander utterly demolished the place. Then by means of an imaginative strategy and an amazing engineering feat Alexander accomplished what Nebuchadnezzar had failed to accomplish; he conquered the island fortress. Using the debris from the mainland city he constructed a causeway half a mile long and two hundred feet wide across the straits. For a time the Tyrians resisted heroically, employing fire ships to damage the construction work and flinging pots of burning naphtha, sulphur and red-hot sand by means of catapults. Alexander was forced to quickly assemble a fleet of over three hundred ships to protect the construction crews and blockade the city. After about seven months the young general grew impatient with the entire operation. He finally ordered floating batteries to be constructed upon which rams were mounted. His naval vessels were able thereby to force their way into the two island harbors. His troops quickly scaled the walls and captured the city. Eight thousand citizens of Tyre were slaughtered, thirty thousand were sold into slavery, and later on another occasion two thousand were hanged.[387] The mole which the armies of Alexander built partly from houses and monuments torn down on the mainland, still remains connecting what formerly was an island to the mainland.

[387] Fuller, EB, XXII, 653.

7. Prediction Seven Tyre would never be rebuilt (Ezekiel 26:14 b), Freshwater springs at the site of mainland Tyre would make the spot an ideal site for a modern city. But since the destruction by Alexander the mainland Tyre has never been rebuilt. Several successive cities were built on the site of what formerly was the island fortress of Tyre. Since the days of Alexander this island has become a man-made peninsula. After the Phoenician city of Tyre was conquered by the Moslems it was never rebuilt. The Phoenicians disappeared from history. The insignificant villages built by the Moslems on the site can in no wise be equated with Phoenician Tyre any more than a modern American city could be considered the resurrection of some ancient Indian village which might have once occupied the site. A further consideration is that a city in Bible days was not considered to be built (or rebuilt) until it had walls. A wall-less fishing village could not be considered a resurrection of ancient Tyre.[388]

[388] Hall (WBC, p. 437) feels the prophecy means only that subsequent cities built on the site would lack the greatness of Phoenician Tyre.