Ezekiel’s Prophecy Against Tyre

The middle section of the Book of Ezekiel focuses on God’s judgment against Judah’s neighboring nations because they took advantage of Jerusalem’s weakness during its destruction. Some of these prophecies are remarkably detailed. God spoke against Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia in just one chapter, but He dedicated three chapters to Tyre.

“Tyre,” meaning “rock,” was an important Phoenician commercial port, located half a mile offshore on an island. However, the city of Tyre was initially an inland fishing village. Ezekiel prophesied that one day, this mainland city would be leveled, and its original location would become a place where fishermen spread their nets to dry.

Later, this strange prophecy truly came to pass. From 585 to 572 BC, when Babylon attacked, the people of Tyre retreated to their island stronghold about a kilometer offshore in the Mediterranean. Nebuchadnezzar besieged the island for 13 years but could not conquer it. Nebuchadnezzar did, however, destroy the mainland portion of Tyre.

When Alexander the Great led his army toward Egypt, the people of Tyre boarded fishing boats and fled to the island half a mile offshore, knowing that Alexander had an army but no navy. When Alexander saw that all the city’s inhabitants had fled to the island, believing themselves safe, he ordered a siege of Tyre. His forces threw all the bricks, rubble, and timber from the mainland city into the sea, building a causeway to the island over seven months, and thus conquered Tyre. After this, Tyre never again rose to become a major trading power.

After its conquest, Tyre first became part of the Persian Empire, then was ruled by the Macedonians, and later by the Romans.

Today, the causeway originally built by Alexander the Great has silted up, so the coastline there is no longer straight, and the island is no longer offshore but connected to the mainland. If you visit the original mainland site of Tyre, you will now find bare rocks everywhere, with fishermen’s nets spread out to dry on them. This fulfills the prophecy: “They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise. They will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea” (Ezekiel 26:12).

The city of Tyre was originally an island, which Alexander the Great later connected to the mainland with a causeway. Over time, rubble and marine deposits were washed ashore by waves, expanding the causeway. This 1873 map shows the causeway from 322 BC, which later became a peninsula extending into the Mediterranean Sea. Evidence of Tyre’s ancient harbors can still be seen in the northern and southern parts of the peninsula.

When Alexander built the “causeway across the sea” to attack the island city of Tyre, he thoroughly plundered the ancient city of Tyre. After subsequent erosion by rainwater, only bare rocks remained on the ground. For the past 2,300 years, the old city of Tyre has not been rebuilt, just as God’s judgment declared. The Bible truly is God’s inspired word.