“Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me: now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,”
– Ezekiel 26:2
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you think that life on planet Earth was like about 4,750 years ago? Archeologists believe that around 5,500 years ago, roads began connecting population centers that were developing from the Mesopotamian region to the Mediterranean region. If a guy or gal 4,750 years ago made the trek from a city in the country of Babylonia to a city in the country of Egypt, the guy would quite possibly for several days walk on a road that would be close to the Mediterranean Sea’s east shore. A place where a guy or gal – who was 4,750 years ago making the long trek from the city of Babylon – a city in the country of Babylonia, to the city of Memphis – a city in the country of Egypt, or from the city of Memphis to the city of Babylon, would probably have stopped for several days would have been the city of Tyre. The building of the city of Tyre on a rocky atoll off what is now the coast of the country of Lebanon was somewhere around 4,750 years ago. Walls – 150 foot high, were built around the city of Tyre. The only way that a guy or gal could get to the city of Tyre was by boat. When the city of Tyre became a deepwater seaport on the Mediterranean Sea and because the city of Tyre was located where key trade routes merged, the city of Tyre soon became a commercial trade center for the emergent nations. When the Israelite people group guys and gals – who are God’s specially chosen guys and gals, crossed through about 3,400 years ago the dried up River Jordon into the land of Canaan – which was the land area that was just south of the rocky knoll where the city of Tyre was built on, to completely eradicate the people groups of guys and gals who were living in the land of Canaan so that they could claim the land of Canaan as being their very own land to always to have to live in if . . ., the city of Tyre had already existed for well over 1,000 years. After the Israelite people group guys overran and claimed the land of Canaan for themselves, Joshua allotted the city of Tyre – which was the capitol of the country of Phoenicia, to Asher tribal clan. There is no proof that Asher tribal clan ever occupied the city of Tyre.
About 800 years later – in 586 B.C., after Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army had pillaged and razed the land of Judah – which included the city of Jerusalem, because God’s specially chosen guys and gals had decided to find out if God really meant ‘if’, God – as God the Father, had one of His prophet spokesmen – Ezekiel, pass on to the guys and gals who were living the city of Tyre a message regarding their unsympathetic reaction to the downfall of the Israelite people groups guys and gals. Ezekiel recorded in his Ezekiel Book – in Ezekiel 26, the reproving message that was given him from God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, to pass on to the guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre. Ezekiel recounts in verse 2 why God became so upset with the guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre, ““Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me: now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’” God’s grim response to the guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre about their heartless attitude towards the plight that His chosen guys and gals had experienced was to make a pledge through Ezekiel to the guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre to level their city completely. God promised through Ezekiel that He would have the guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre face atrocious onslaughts from many nations. God through Ezekiel told the guys and gals who were living the city of Tyre that He was sending Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army to assault their city by having them first set up a siege against the mainland section of their city, then by having them build ramps against their city’s walls and then by having them fight man to man. Nebuchadnezzar spent 13 years trying to conquer the island section of the city of Tyre without succeeding. After a devastating siege in 332 B.C. by Alexander and his army, the city of Tyre was finally totally leveled. A causeway that was made from the mainland to the island where the city of Tyre was located was crucial to bringing down once and for all the city of Tyre. What God said through Ezekiel would happen to the city of Tyre did happen. Wealth was plundered, merchandise looted, stones, timber and rubble from houses were thrown into the Mediterranean Sea and harp music and songs were no longer heard in the city of Tyre. The rocky island on which the city of Tyre was built on became bare rocks.
Because silt widened the causeway built to the city of Tyre, the rocky outcrop on which the city of Tyre was founded about 4,750 years ago is now a part of the country of Lebanon’s mainland. It took a momentarily lack of compassion about 2,600 years ago against God’s specially chosen guys and gals from the guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre – which had been a very prosperous, independent city – to find itself facing God’s wrath. The city of Tyre became a desolate, uninhabited, ruined city. Your grandpaa uses what happened to the city of Tyre as a euphemism to what will happen to prideful, egotistical guys and gals who are like the guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre. God’s anger was not against the city of Tyre; His anger was against the guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre. What happened to the guys and gal who were living in the city of Tyre is to be seen as a life lesson. During most of the 800 or so years when God’s specially chosen guys and gals were living in the land area of Canaan as neighbors to guys and gals who were living in the city of Tyre, there was very little animosity between them. What do you think that God is going to do to Hamas and Hezbollah guys and gals who are constantly bullying His specially chosen guys and gals – who are the Jews, because of their innate hatred of Jew guys and gals?
Ezekiel 26 (1036)