Chapter 26 is a proclamation against Tyre, and the first thing that hit me was the continuation of the theme of chapter 25, where each nation was judged on the basis that they were against Israel or Judah or both. The second verse of chapter 26 says the same thing. However God deals with Tyre over three chapters (rather than the little sections of one chapter He spends on the other nations).
What struck me was the intricacy of this prophecy, and the detail. God did not just leave it at ‘You will be destroyed…’, He went into detail about the method and what would happen after. He indicated that many nations would be against them, and that after they were first ‘destroyed’, the small remnant (or ‘dust’) would be cleaned up. This happened (according to my study Bible), as Nebuchadnezzar first besieged them, laying waste to their city. However a few escaped to a fortress until the days of Alexander the Great, who drew up a huge army to destroy them.
God says that He will make them like a place for drawing nets, and that is what it became. Eventually it became a small fishing town. What was once one of the major trading ports of the Mediterranean became nothing than a small fishing village.
Even more detailed, verse 12 says:
‘They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; they will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water.’ (Ezekiel 26:12)
In fact, to reach the island they had taken refuge on, Alexander put the ruins of their former city into the water, creating a huge causeway from which to attack them. Thus the prophecy came alive in great detail.
This makes me marvel, and yet surely this is nothing for a God who spoke the universe into existence!
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