of retaliation. (Joel 3:4-8; Amos 1:9,10) When Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, had taken the city of
Samaria, had conquered the kingdom of Israel, and carried its inhabitants into captivity, he laid
siege to Tyre, which, however, successfully resisted his arms. It is in reference to this siege that
the prophecy against Tyre in Isaiah, (Isaiah 23:1) ... was uttered. After the siege of Tyre by
Shalmaneser (which must have taken place not long after 721 B.C.). Tyre remained a powerful
state, with its own kings, (Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; Ezekiel 28:2-12) remarkable for its wealth, with
territory on the mainland, and protected by strong fortifications. (Ezekiel 26:4,6,8,10,12; 27:11;
28:5; Zechariah 9:3) Our knowledge of its condition thenceforward until the siege by
Nebuchadnezzar depends entirely on various notices of it by the Hebrew prophets; but some of
these notices are singularly full, and especially the twenty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel furnishes us,
on some points, with details such as have scarcely come down to us respecting any one city of
antiquity excepting Rome and Athens. Siege by Nebuchadnezzar .—In the midst of great prosperity
and wealth, which was the natural result of extensive trade, (Ezekiel 28:4) Nebuchadnezzar, at the
head of an army of the Chaldees, invaded Judea and captured Jerusalem. As Tyre was so near to
Jerusalem, and as the conquerors were a fierce and formidable race, (Habakkuk 1:6) It would
naturally he supposed that this event would have excited alarm and terror amongst the Tyrians.
Instead of this, we may infer from Ezekiel’s statement, (Ezekiel 26:2) that their predominant feeling
was one of exultation. At first sight this appears strange and almost inconceivable; but it is rendered
intelligible by some previous events in Jewish history. Only 34 years before the destruction of
Jerusalem commenced the celebrated reformation of Josiah, B.C. 622. This momentous religious
revolution, (2 Kings 22:1; 2 Kings 23:1) ... fully explains the exultation and malevolence of the
Tyrians. In that reformation Josiah had heaped insults on the gods who were the objects of Tyrian
veneration and love. Indeed, he seemed to have endeavored to exterminate their religion. (2 Kings
23:20) These acts must have been regarded by the Tyrians as a series of sacrilegious and abominable
outrages; and we can scarcely doubt that the death in battle of Josiah at Megiddo and the subsequent
destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, were hailed by them with triumph and retribution
in human affairs. This joy, as instances of divine retribution in human affairs. This joy, however,
must soon have given way to other feelings, when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Phoenicia and laid
siege to Tyre. That siege lasted thirteen years, and it is still a disputed point whether Tyre was
actually taken by Nebuchadnezzar on this occasion. However this may be, it is probable that, on
some terms or other, Tyre submitted to the Chaldees. The rule of Nebuchadnezzar over Tyre, though
real, may have been light, and in the nature of an alliance. Attack by the Persians; Capture by
Alexander .—During the Persian domination the Tyrians were subject in name to the Persian king
and may have given him tribute. With the rest of Phoenicia they had submitted to the Persians
without striking a blow. Toward the close of the following century, B.C. 332, Tyre was assailed
for the third time by a great conqueror. At that time Tyre was situated on an island nearly half a
mile from the mainland; it was completely surrounded by prodigious walls, the loftiest portion of
which on the side fronting the mainland reached a height of not less than 150 feet; and
notwithstanding the persevering efforts of Alexander, he could not have succeeded in his attempt
if the harbor of Tyre to the north had not been blockaded by the Cyprians and that to the south by
the Phoenicians, thus affording an opportunity to Alexander for uniting the Island to the mainland
by an; enormous artificial mole. (The materials for this he obtained from the remains of old Tyre
scraping the very dust from her rocks into the sea, as prophesied by Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 26:3,4,12,21)
more than 250 years before.) The immediate results of the capture by Alexander were most disastrous
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(Frankie)
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