Page 647 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

TYRUS

“More than 240 years rolled on, and there was no “We shall therefore limit the present inquiry to those
answer. For two and a half centuries those words of prophecies, regarding whose pre-existence to the
Scripture seemed a vain menace. Then the fame of events of which they speak, there can, in no mind, be
Alexander’s swift and all-conquering career sent a thrill any doubt whatever. I enter into no argument as to the
of alarm through the East. The Tyrian ambassadors, age of the O.T. Scriptures. I ask no admission to be
who hastened to meet him, were favourably received. made in regard to the antiquity of any one of the
It seemed as if this storm cloud were about to pass prophetical books.
harmlessly over them, but suddenly the conqueror “We shall come down to a time later than any that has
expressed a desire to worship within their city. They been named for their origin, and our argument shall
knew only too well what that request meant. stand or fall by the prophecies which have been
Alexander would not enter alone; and, once there, fulfilled since then. Everyone is satisfied that all the
those who came as worshipers would remain as Books of the O.T. were in existence before the time of
masters. The Tyrians resolved to abide the issue of war, our Lord. It is also known, that since that time, the O.T.
rather than tamely hand over their city to the has been in a twofold custody.
Macedonian king. Alexander’s army marched to the “It has been in the hands of both the Jews and
seashore, and there, with half a mile of blue waters Christians, between whom there could be no collusion.
between them and it, stood the city they had come to There is therefore absolute certainty that the
attack. How could it be taken? Alexander’s plan was prophecies are as old as the coming of Christ, and that,
speedily formed. He determined to construct a solid as they existed then, we possess them now. If then we
causeway through the sea, over which his forces might take only such predictions as have been fulfilled at, or
advance to the assault. And now this word, which had since, the beginning of the Christian era, every doubt
waited so long, was at last LITERALLY FULFILLED. will be removed and every cavil prevented in regard to
“The walls, and the towers, and the ruined houses, and the interval between the prophecy and the event; and
palaces, and temples, of the ancient city were pulled within these limits we shall confine our present
down, and the stones and the timber of Tyre were laid argument.
“in the midst of the water.” Her mounds of ruins were “We have spoken of Tyre. There is one part of the
cleared away; and so great was the demand for prophecy which falls within the limits we have now set
material in this vast undertaking, that the very dust ourselves. We read Eze. 26:13-14: “I will cause the
seems to have scraped from the site and laid in the sea. noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps
Though centuries had passed after the word was shall be no more heard . . . Thou shalt be BUILT NO
spoken, and had seen no fulfillment, it was not MORE.”
forgotten; and the event declared that it was His word
whose judgments, though they may linger long, come “This sentence of the divine judgment stands as a
surely, and fall at last with resistless might. challenge to all time. It has been unanswered, save by
the silence of generations. It is unanswered still. Palae-
“I have dwelt upon this instance simply as an example Tyrus, the continental Tyre, which was captured by
of the kind of evidence we are able to bring forward. Nebuchadnezzar, and the ruins of which were cleared
Indubitable though the prophecy is, I press for no away by Alexander, has NEVER BEEN REBUILT. The
conclusion from its fulfillment. It is of the utmost site remains today without even a mound to mark it,
importance, in this inquiry, to place it beyond the and has to be determined solely by the notices in
possibility of doubt that we are dealing with veritable ancient writers which give its distance from the island
prophecies, and that the prediction is separated from Tyre” (John Urquhart, The Wonders of Prophecy).
the event by such an interval as must exclude the
possibility of human foresight. It could be proved The statistician Peter Stoner, using the principle of
satisfactorily to most minds that the book of Ezekiel probability, assigns this prophecy a one-in-seventy-five
was in existence long before the time of Alexander; but million chance of fulfillment.
still doubt might creep in. The suggestion might be The modern city of Sur is located near the ancient
made that this particular prediction was added, or city of Tyre, but Tyre itself has indeed never been
amended, by a later hand. rebuilt. [See Bible, Inspiration, Prophecy, Zidon.]

Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity 647