20160219 Friday, February 19 2016
Zechariah 09: The Siege Of Tyre

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and He will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire"

Tyre (alternately rendered as "Tyre" or "Tyrus" in the King James Version) was an ancient port city of the Phoenicians on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in what is today southern Lebanon, just north of the border with Israel. Some of the most well-known cities of Phenicia, or Phoenicia (from the Greek phoinix, which meant both a palm tree) were Tyre and Sidon (see the map below). Another notable city was Byblos, a major manufacturer and exporter of papyrus, a tall reed-like plant that grows in swamps and along rivers, that was used to make some of the earliest writing material - and hence, books. The English-language word "Bible" is derived from Byblos, meaning "the papyrus," or "the book."

The city of Tyre was originally established on both an island and the adjacent mainland, which provided for it to be a major port of commerce in the region. According to one ancient account, "Tyrian merchants were the first who ventured to navigate the Mediterranean waters; and they founded their colonies on the coasts and neighboring islands of the Aegean Sea, in Greece, on the northern coast of Africa, at Carthage and other places, in Sicily and Corsica, in Spain at Tartessus, and even beyond the pillars of Hercules at Gadeira."

When King David captured and transformed Jerusalem into an Israelite city (see How Long Was Jerusalem The Capital Of Israel?), King Hiram of Tyre (see King Hiram of Tyre) sent cedar lumber, carpenters, and stonemasons to help David build his palace.

"5:9 So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. 5:10 And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him. 5:11 And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house." (2 Samuel 5:9-11 KJV)

In the years that followed, when King Solomon succeeded his father David as king, King Hiram continued his alliance with Israel. All of the fine cedar for the first Temple in Jerusalem came from Tyre (see The Temple That Solomon Built).

"5:8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir. 5:9 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household. 5:10 So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire." (1 Kings 5:8-10 KJV)

As shown on the city map above, Tyre existed in two sections - a fortress on the mainland, and the main city which was constructed on a small island about 1,000 yards/meters from the shore (see Tyre's Island In The Sea). The natural defensive capability enabled it to withstand a siege by King Shalmaneser of Assyria for 5 years during the time of the fall of the Kingdom of Israel in 721 BC (see Israel In History and Prophecy: The Lost Ten Tribes). As prophesied and recorded by Ezekiel, Tyre also experienced the Babylonian onslaught by King Nebuchadnezzar at the time the fall of the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BC (see Tyre's World Trade Center).

"26:1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

26:2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: 26:3 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. 26:4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. 26:5 It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations. 26:6 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

26:7 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. 26:8 He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. 26:9 And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. 26:10 By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. 26:11 With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. 26:12 And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. 26:13 And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. 26:14 And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

26:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? 26:16 Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee. 26:17 And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee,

How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it! 26:18 Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.

26:19 For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee; 26:20 When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living; 26:21 I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD." (Ezekiel 26:1-21 KJV)

The sieges of Tyre by the Assyrians and the Babylonians were already history to Zechariah in his time - Zechariah lived when Persia was taking its turn as the "superpower" of the world. But just as the LORD specifically prophesied the earlier sieges, the city would then be taken by the Greeks under Alexander the Great (the Greek Empire superseded the Persian Empire; see A History Of Jerusalem: Greeks, Ptolemies, Seleucids and the Fact Finder question below).

Notice also however that, as with the other prophets, Zechariah looked beyond to the reason that the "world is not big enough" for the kingdoms of man and the Kingdom of God. The mandate of the Messiah's coming to rule began with His Sacrifice: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." (verse 9 below).

"9:1 The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.

9:2 And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise. 9:3 And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. 9:4 Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.

9:5 Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

9:6 And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 9:7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

9:8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.

9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

9:10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

9:11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. 9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; 9:13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

9:14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.

9:15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. 9:16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. 9:17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids." (Zechariah 9:1=17 KJV)

Fact Finder: What was the succession of empires that ruled the Middle East throughout the history of Israel?
See The Empires Of Bible History And Prophecy