Ezekiel 26-28 (Tyre)

The prophecy against Tyre in Ezekiel 26-28 is one of the most detailed and vivid oracles of judgment in the Old Testament. Its striking predictions of the city's destruction have made it a focal point for debates about the nature of biblical prophecy and its historical fulfillment.

The Prophecy

Delivered shortly before the Babylonian siege of Tyre, Ezekiel's prophecy foretells a multi-stage destruction of the city. The key predictions in Ezekiel 26 include:

"Many Nations": God would "bring many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves" (Ezekiel 26:3).
Nebuchadnezzar's Role: The first wave of attack would be led by "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon," who would besiege the mainland settlements ("your daughter villages"), build siege works, and break down the city's towers (Ezekiel 26:7-9).
Destruction in the Water: The city's rubble would be thrown into the sea: "They will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water" (Ezekiel 26:12).
Permanent Desolation: The site would become a "bare rock" and "a place for the spreading of nets" (Ezekiel 26:4-5).
Never Be Rebuilt: The prophecy concludes with the declaration, "you will never be rebuilt" (Ezekiel 26:14).

Historical Record

Tyre was a dual city, with an older settlement on the mainland (Ushu or "Old Tyre") and a heavily fortified city on a nearby island. This geography is central to understanding the two major sieges it endured.

Siege by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (586–573 BCE): For 13 years, Nebuchadnezzar's army besieged Tyre. Historical records suggest he successfully destroyed the mainland city. However, he was unable to conquer the island fortress. The siege ended with a negotiated compromise, not a military victory. Ezekiel himself later acknowledges that Nebuchadnezzar "had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it" (Ezekiel 29:18).
Siege by Alexander the Great (332 BCE): Over two centuries later, Alexander the Great set out to conquer the island fortress. To do this, he constructed a massive causeway from the mainland to the island. Historical sources, such as Arrian, record that Alexander's army used the rubble, timber, and soil from the ruins of Old Tyre to build the causeway. After a seven-month siege, the island fell, and the city was brutally sacked.

Biblical View

The prophet Isaiah also delivered an oracle against Tyre, recorded in Isaiah 23. Isaiah's prophecy is less detailed than Ezekiel's but shares the theme of Tyre's downfall and commercial ruin. Isaiah mentions a "70-year" period of being forgotten, which scholars interpret in various ways, but the two prophecies together form a complementary picture of divine judgment against the city's pride and commercial power.

Critics' View

This view, held by many critical scholars, argues that the prophecy failed because its specific predictions did not come to pass as written.

Specificity of Nebuchadnezzar: The prophecy explicitly names Nebuchadnezzar as the agent who would not only attack the mainland but also plunder the city's riches and cast its rubble into the sea (Ezekiel 26:7-12). History shows he did not do this; Alexander did. Attributing this fulfillment to Alexander is seen as ignoring the plain reading of the text.
The Continued Existence of Tyre: The most significant challenge is that a city named Tyre exists today in Lebanon and has been continuously inhabited for millennia. This appears to be a direct contradiction of the statement, "you will never be rebuilt."
Ezekiel's Own Correction: The later passage in Ezekiel 29:18, which acknowledges the failed siege, is seen as the Bible's own admission that the earlier prophecy did not come true as expected.

Christian View

This is a prominent view, especially in Christian and Jewish apologetics, which argues that the prophecy was fulfilled with remarkable precision in a two-stage process.

Nebuchadnezzar and "Many Nations": Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled the first part of the prophecy by destroying mainland Tyre, as predicted in Ezekiel 26:8. The phrase "many nations" (26:3) is seen as a key element, indicating that other powers would follow.
Alexander the Great: Alexander's army fulfilled the most specific and dramatic parts of the prophecy. By using the debris of Old Tyre to build his causeway, he literally fulfilled the prediction to "lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water" (26:12) and make the mainland site a "bare rock" (a key argument for literal fulfillment).
"Never be Rebuilt": This is interpreted not as the permanent cessation of any city named Tyre, but the end of the ancient Phoenician city-state in its original form and power. The mainland city was never rebuilt, and the island city, though eventually resettled, never regained its former glory as a world power.

Manuscript Analysis

The interpretation of "never be rebuilt" is also affected by translation nuances. The Hebrew verb form in Ezekiel 26:14 is ambiguous and can be translated as either "she shall not be rebuilt" (referring to the city) or "you shall not be rebuilt" (referring to the king of Tyre). The Septuagint (LXX), the ancient Greek translation, uses the second-person "you," leading some to argue the prophecy was about the end of the Tyrian royal dynasty, not the physical city itself (a point discussed in biblical scholarship). This ambiguity in the original language is a critical factor in the debate over fulfillment.

Conclusion

The prophecy of Ezekiel 26 remains one of the most compelling and controversial in the Hebrew Bible. The Christian View emphasizes the alignment between the Historical Record and the prophecy's unique details, such as the scraping of the city's rubble into the sea, arguing for a literal, multi-stage fulfillment by "many nations." Conversely, the Critics' View points to the explicit naming of Nebuchadnezzar as the agent of destruction, the city's continued existence, and the Bible's own correction in Ezekiel 29 as clear evidence of a failed prophecy. The debate hinges on whether the prophecy's specific agents and outcomes must be fulfilled by a single conqueror, or if a composite fulfillment by multiple nations over centuries is a valid interpretation.