Tyre was situated on the coast about halfway between Carmel in Israel and Beirut in Lebanon.
But it was a peculiar geographic feature of Tyre that gave it its most remarkable prophetic destiny. Merrill F. Unger noted that Tyre “once consisted of two parts—a rocky coast defense of great strength on the mainland, and a city upon a small but well-protected island, about half a mile from the shore” (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, s.v. “Tyre,” p. 1121).
Ezekiel predicted that Nebuchadnezzar would lay siege to Tyre (see Ezekiel 26:7–11), but a skeptic like Korihor might say that this prediction was not remarkable since Nebuchadnezzar was conquering nearly every major city in the area, and Tyre was a particularly ripe plum because of its wealth. But “before a generation had passed away, according to Josephus, Philostratus, and Seder Olam, Nebuchadnezzar came up, as had been predicted [Ezekiel 26:7–15], making a fort, casting a mount, and lifting up the buckler. At the end of thirteen years [about 605 B.C.] he took the city, at least that on the mainland, and Tyre was forgotten seventy years, as had been foretold by Isaiah [23:15].” (Samuel Fallows, ed., The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia and Scriptural Dictionary, s.v. “Tyre,” p. 1682.)
Some of Ezekiel’s peculiar promises seemed to be unfulfilled, including the following:
“I will also scrape her dust from her” (Ezekiel 26:4).
Tyre will become “like the top of a rock” (Ezekiel 26:4).
“It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea” (Ezekiel 26:5).
“They shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water” (Ezekiel 26:12).
“Thou shalt be built no more” (Ezekiel 26:14).
For nearly three hundred years these prophecies appeared to be inaccurate. Nebuchadnezzar conquered the mainland city but was unable to subdue all of Tyre because of its strategic position on the island. After a few decades Tyre regained her wealth and splendor, though the ruined city on the shore was not rebuilt, and the island fortification became the central city.
Then in 332 B.C., Alexander the Great swept out of the northern Mediterranean world. He moved south with his forces and camped on the ruins of ancient Tyre, isolating the inhabitants on the island offshore. Tyre had supposedly made a peaceful alliance with the Greeks, but when Alexander requested permission to bring his troops into Tyre to worship their gods and was refused, he laid siege to Tyre—a difficult task since the city lay on an island a half mile off the shore.
James Hastings described what followed: “The memorable siege began. Alexander built a mole [causeway] 200 ft. wide out towards the island. It was repeatedly destroyed. The defense was desperate and successful, till Alexander invested the city with a fleet of 224 ships. Tyre was stormed, 8000 of her inhabitants massacred, 2000 crucified on the shore, and 30,000 sold into slavery. Tyre ceased to be an island, and henceforth was permanently joined to the mainland. Only a blunt headland to-day suggests the existence of the former island fortress. The mole is now ½ mile broad.” (A Dictionary of the Bible, s.v. “Tyre.”)
Fallows noted how Ezekiel’s prophecy that Tyre would be scraped clean and made like the top of a rock was fulfilled: “So utterly were the ruins of old Tyre thrown into the sea, that its exact site is confessedly undeterminable, although the ruins of nearly fifty cities near Rome, which perished almost 2,500 years ago, testify that the extinction of every trace of a city is a sort of miracle.” (Bible Encyclopedia, s.v. “Tyre,” p. 1682.)
Today there is no island opposite Tyre, but a close examination of the coastline in that vicinity will show a small peninsula jutting into the sea. Because of its configuration and the prevailing breezes, local fishermen come to the barren, rocky outcrop to spread their nets to dry.
Posts by Qcmbr
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18Failed Bible Predictions - What say you?
by TheListener ini ran across a website that has the following on it.
it seems really interesting to me.
any comments?
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Qcmbr
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18
Failed Bible Predictions - What say you?
by TheListener ini ran across a website that has the following on it.
it seems really interesting to me.
any comments?
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Qcmbr
In 606-605 BC the Egyptians captured the strong-point of Kimukhu and defeated the Babylonians at Kuramati, both places situated on the Euphrates south of Carchemish. There, according to the Babylonian Chronicle, Nebuchadrezzar, the son of Nabopolassar,
crossed the river to go against the Egyptian army which lay in Carchemish...fought with each other and the Egyptian army withdrew before him. He accomplished their defeat and beat them into non-existence.As for the rest of the Egyptian army which had escaped from the defeat and no weapon had reached them, the Babylonian troops overtook and defeated them in the district of Hamath, so that not a single man escaped to his country. At that time Nebuchadrezzar conquered the whole area of Khatti-land.
or, as 2 Kings xxiv. 7 says,
the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
The great battle of Carchemish took place in 605 BC and Nabopolassar died a month or two later. After Nebuchadrezzar's speedy return to Babylon to assume the kingship he returned to Syria to carry on his campaign against that country. In 604 BC the Babylonians attacked and sacked Ashkelon, an event which may have given rise to an appeal to the Pharaoh for help by a coastal city. We have the authority of the above Old Testament statement for believing that the appeal remained unanswered. Nebuchadrezzar seems never to have given up hope of securing the Egyptian border. In 601 BC, according to the same Babylonian Chronicle, he deliberately marched against Egypt, but was driven back with heavy loss and retired to Babylon. This ended direct hostilities between the two countries for several years to come. The defeat of the Babylonians was probably the cause of Jehoiakim's defection and alliance with Egypt despite the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah. When Neko II died in 595 BC he was succeeded by his son Psammetichus II, whose relatively short reign of six years has frequently been underestimated. In point of fact, the number of monuments naming himself or his officials is considerably greater than that of his two predecessors. Also a much-discussed expedition to Nubia lends it a special interest. Knowledge of this expedition is mainly derived from the longest of a group of Greek inscriptions carved upon one of the colossi of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel. -
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would dubs ever go into field service if there was no record-keeping?
by zagor indo you think that any dub would ever go into field service if they didnt have to record hours of service?
i dont believe it at all.
in fact, you could see that everything they do is because there is some sort of record keeping behind it, i.e.
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Qcmbr
Satanus - plenty of LDS missionaries drop out and we loose about 1/3rd of returned missionaries who don't get married fairly quickly. If a missionary gives up while on his / her mission they go through a tough time back at church because even though the 'official' church will politely step around it the 'social' church (ie the actual members) will hold a range of thought s about it - most not nice! Being a missionary is a bit of a right of passage and if someone 'fails' it says something about the individual (rightly or wrongly). There is plenty of praise for anyone who makes it though. That said I know of one missionary who flunked and credit due survived the stigma and is now getting married and will potentially be in a responsibility laden church position.
When I was a missionary the Manchester area had 400 missionaries (over 2 years) and we sent home about 5 who broke down under the mental pressure, 3 for dalliances with the opposite sex but ,ost of us saw it through. Each mission has its own character and its funny but ours was the toughest in the UK ( I could tell you some shocking stories!!:), the highest baptising and from what I can tell has the lowest number of returned missionaries leaving the church - maybe there is something in people's psychology that makes them actually perform better when more is required and extra discipline imposed..??? -
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jeeeez they gave me a part 4 talk
by tsunami_rid3r inand its over "why moral restraint...not removed when 10 commandments passed away".
so i think this is talking about why the people in the greek scriptures couldnt do their neighbors wife, or you couldnt kill your neighbor even though the 10 commandments wasnt there.
how many bible scriptures should i use?
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Qcmbr
..you could also be controversial and say that Jesus came to fulfill the law not to destroy it. The ten commandments are still in force but are now harder than before. They have been enhanced.
Thou shalt not kill (but if someone killed there is a blood price) - Now turn the other cheek - ie no revenge allowed
Thou shalt not commit adultery - He that looketh on a woman..
Thou shalt not steal - Lend your cloak with no thought of return
Honour Lord Thy God - No man cometh unto the Father but by me(Jesus)
Thou shalt not covet - He that selleth all that he hath..
Thou shalt not lie - Let your communication be Yea yea or nay nay and more is sin..
and so on.. -
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would dubs ever go into field service if there was no record-keeping?
by zagor indo you think that any dub would ever go into field service if they didnt have to record hours of service?
i dont believe it at all.
in fact, you could see that everything they do is because there is some sort of record keeping behind it, i.e.
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Qcmbr
If you didn't like the field service be glad your not LDS. Let me run you through what I had to do as a missionary and you might just think that the JWs are so laissez-faire in comparison:
2 years missionary work at age 19. Paid for it myself(Ok had help from friends!!!:) (costs about £5000 per missionary).
On the mission you get up at 6:30 and between then and 9:30 you have to study for two hours (one hour as companion study and 1 hour personal) Out the flat at 9:30 strict, work with 1 hour break for lunch and 1 hour for dinner until 9:30 at night. Dress standards as seen all the time with the exception of PDay (I'll explain that later.) This routine is carried on every day including Sunday (except of course mealtime changes and church attendance.) Every evening you call in to your zone leader and report your figures for the day (discussions, books of Mormon placed, people committed to be baptised etc..) 1 day a week is Pday(preparation day) when up to 6pm you get to do shopping, flat cleaning, sport, letter writing etc.. There are monthly interviews where you discuss your personal worthiness, any problems you have and plan how to be a better missionary.
While a missionary the rules are legion but here's some :
No calling home except at christmas and mother's day.
No dating, flirting or one on one time with the opposite sex.
Can't be out of eyeshot of companion except when in flat , chaperoned or for toilet breaks.
No contact sports (often ignored!) - definitely no swimming.
No travel outside of district (for example a church 'parish' boundary) without express permission.
In bed by 10:30 sharp and up at 6:30.
This is like being in boot camp - it really is intense and disobedience to even the small rules is frowned upon. Some missionaries always break rules but most keep them.
Funny enough I loved it - best and worst time of my life. I would do it again if I could (and no I can't) it was absolutely brilliant. In fact coming home kinda fazed me and I almost drifted away from the church because nothing was intense and 'important' anymore - still I've survived. -
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Apocalypse delayed again
by Hellrider ini have not been in contact with jws since around 1988. i initially got out at the age of 15 in 1987, then there was some back-and-forth-crap, i went to some meetings, but then i was thru, in 1988. the only contact after that was one time, in 1989, when my grandmother died (she was a jw), and the service was held at kh.
anyway, the point here is: it was new to me that the wts is in the process of moving away from the 1914-doctrine.
and moving towards a more "liberal" kind of "well,never mind what we said about 1914, we are the last generation and the signs are there"-doctrine, without even trying to define whatever that means.
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Qcmbr
I'm at a loss to understand why date setting is such a fundamental part of the JW mindset although I can understand the shudder power.
The late (lds)Hugh Nibley wrote a paper and identified a specific 'no later than this' date and I remember going to sleep that night and wondering what was going to happen and feeling a certain amount of involuntary trepidation. Of course nothing ever did. I felt similar on the eve of Y2K becasue of the pc systems and I'm sure I'll have the butterflies in 2012 for no other reason than it might happen.
I do however think we are in the last days but whether that will be in my lifetime or not I'm not certain. -
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formal declaration of shenanagins on my dear deluded mother
by colorado5591 in(crying as i write) .
so, our(ip_sec and my) mother getting married on wednesday in her best friends backyard, asked her if i could come, and she says to me........ .
"i don't know, i'll have to ask jo" (her bff) because i am not reinstated.
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Qcmbr
In the UK isn't it law that no one can be barred from a wedding and that's why they must be in a public place? It would be interesting to see if the local cong tried to bar access to a uk wedding because that's illegal.
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What did you do as a child (or adult) to survive boredom during meetings?
by Wasanelder Once inwhat did you do as a child (or adult) to survive boredom during meetings?.
as a child i remember sitting behind a sister with a pink angora sweater.
i would pull of a bit of the lint from it and tilt my head back and place it above my lips a bit.
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Qcmbr
I used to play top trumps
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62
Bad examples of intelligent design?
by gringojj in.
i am trying to think about examples of animals that would be bad for the intelligent design theory.
i like to use the ostrich because it has wings but doesnt fly.
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Qcmbr
Making humans able to think of God
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27
Why is chalk white?
by Qcmbr ini was reading some pro flood info and i came across an intriguing point regarding chalk - the fact that it is composed almost entirely of shells.
now i have no desire to start a pro flood blah blah debate.
this is a sincere non religious question for our marine biologists / geologists - why is chalk white and not layered with silt and sand?
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Qcmbr
The best answer I'm finding is that chalk can be deposited far enough out at sea that sediment from costal areas is not mixed in with it. There are areas where there is relatively little oceanic disturbance and so the rain of shells becomes the main deposition hence its not brown chalk deposits in parts of the world.