(585—515 B. C.)
ITHOBALUS THE SECOND—TO SISINNES.
THE FIRST SIEGE OF TYRUS, &c.—FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY BY JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL,—AND OF THE FIRST AND SECOND PROPHECY BY ISAIAH.
During the war upon Egypt by the King of Babylon, (and which occurred only seven years after the Voyage around Africa,) it is probable that the King of Tyrus would assist Pharaoh-Necho against the invasion of the Nile by Nebuchadnezzar. The attack by Pharaoh, at the solicitation of Judæa [Ezekiel xvii. 15], (which nation was still paying the annual tribute to Egypt,) had compelled the Babylonian to raise the siege of Jerusalem:—in this movement, also, the Tyrians may have aided by countenance or wealth. In these apparent probabilities, we find the political cause why Nebuchadnezzar turned his fury upon Tyrus, after his conquest of Egypt, and his second and successful invasion of Judæa, and the captivity of the Jews,—which latter event took place 588 B. C.
The fall of Judæa gave the monopolizing and pride-stricken Tyrians great cause for rejoicing,—not from malice against the afflicted People,—but because their own Trading propensities would be increased,—as it would (in their minds) by the downfall of any aspiring Nation. A few years before they had witnessed the conquest of Egypt,—and now of Judæa,—both of which were causes of peculiar joy to the Tyrians; for those Nations had latent sparks within them, from which the fire of Science might be created, and so illumine their own path towards the attainment of Navigation, and thence rest upon their own exertions for Commercial prosperity. Jerusalem had evinced this spirit as early as the time of Solomon,—and also Egypt, only seven years before her present downfall. This was the point causing the National rejoicing of Tyrus;—it was a Commercial gladness,—thence (with them) a political one:—less rejoicing, or its entire absence, would have been "love of neighbour,"—and which, when it affected their interest, the Tyrians never had;—extended joy,—as if Jerusalem had fallen for the express purpose of their own prosperity, and so sanctioned by their Gods,—became blasphemy! They evinced this impiety to its full extent;—therefore, the King of Babylon, in resenting his own wrongs, was but an instrument of retribution in the hand of God, to punish those, who in savage triumph rejoiced at the chastening, and captivity of a neighbour-Nation.
Ezekiel thus describes the Religious cause why Tyrus (in her want of charity to a fallen neighbour) should become desolate. [xxvi.] He prophesied, 588 B. C.,
"The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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!'"—
The Prince of Tyrus, also, uttered this blasphemy in his triumph:—
"I am a God! I sit in the seat of God!" [xxviii.]
"Therefore," continues Ezekiel, "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. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the Sea; [how truly fulfilled!] for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the Nations. And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain with the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord. For thus saith the Lord God:—Behold I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a King of Kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people," &c.
The remaining part of the Prophecy is not required,—the cause is shewn,—the punishment and the avenger. The Prophecy was uttered by Ezekiel in the year in which Jerusalem was destroyed (the Temple of which the Tyrians of a former age had erected and adorned), and consequently three years before the commencement of the Siege of Tyrus by the Babylonian. The doom of Tyrus was also foretold by Isaiah and Jeremiah; and by the former, that the Nation should cease for seventy years. He prophesied one hundred and twenty-seven years, and Jeremiah twenty-one years before the Siege by the King of Babylon. It was strictly fulfilled. The investment commenced in the reign of Ithobalus [i. e. Eth-baal] the Second, and lasted thirteen years—the longest Siege on record. Troy was only ten; the Roman Siege of Veii, by Camillus, occupied the same period.
It has already been shewn, upon the authority of Isaiah and Ezekiel, that the Island of Tyrus must have been partly inhabited, for they distinctly allude to the "Isle." The metropolis proper, with its Temples and splendour, was on the mainland,—and this was the City besieged by the Conqueror of Egypt and Judæa. The Island he could not reach from the want of Galleys; his force consisting of Chariots, Cavalry, and Infantry. It was impossible, therefore, to take Tyrus (one side being on the Sea) as he had captured Jerusalem, through the terrific means of Famine,—the horrors of which are so powerfully depicted in the Lamentations of Jeremiah; and in reference to Judæa, foretold by the first Lawgiver nearly nine centuries before!
The Tyrians, through the means of their shipping, continually supplied the Capital with provisions,—thence the duration of the Siege, and Nebuchadnezzar had not the genius of the subsequent and final Conqueror of Tyrus—the heroic Macedonian.
The Babylonian had therefore to erect his forts and mounds, and with his engines of war make a breach into the mainland City. During the several years, thousands were slain on either side; those of the Tyrians were replaced by her "wise-men" of the Ocean,—her pilots and mariners; and as they left their vessels for the Metropolis, the Galleys were sunk at Sea to prevent their falling into the enemy's hands, and thereby enable them to turn upon the Island, the only place of Tyrian retreat. After a Siege of thirteen years, and more than three-quarters of the male population destroyed, breaches were made in the walls,—for men were no longer there to defend them,—the Metropolis was entered by the foe, and every part destroyed; Temples, Palaces, and houses laid in ashes, or razed to the ground, and the inhabitants slain, excepting those that had fled to the Island. These consisted principally of Women and Children; and to the rescue of the great proportion of the former, and thus preventing Rapine and Slaughter by the besiegers, may reasonably be attributed the cause of the rapid increase of the Tyrian population upon the Island, and which has always confounded writers upon this Siege, and led some to doubt the fulfilment of the Prophecy.
The Babylonian could not reach these fugitives for the reason stated,—viz., the want of navigable means. And besides, the Metropolis was destroyed, and that was his intent; and that accomplished, he would be willing to receive a tributary capitulation from the Islanders. In the course of the Siege, the King of Tyrus died, and also the Prince. [These deaths were prophesied by Ezekiel.] The Tyrian Monarch was succeeded by Baal, a branch of the Royal House. Nebuchadnezzar finding that the Island could not be subdued [572 B. C.], offered terms to Baal,—they were accepted, and Baal was appointed his tributary Viceroy, and remained the vassal king of Tyrus for ten years, and died 562 B. C. The shadowy dignity of Viceroy was then abolished, and Magistrates were appointed to administer Justice, and preside over the affairs of State. This Magisterial Government continued only for six years, when it was abolished, and the Sovereignty restored in the person of Balator, but still depending on the Assyrian Monarch for all power and authority. [556 B. C.] This vassalage of the Tyrians was continued to the time of Sisinnes, regal governor of Phœnicia, who, by the command of Darius, King of Babylon, assisted by the Tyrians, materially aided in building the Second Temple of Jerusalem, upon the restoration of the House of Judah; and in the same spirit as Hiram the Great aided Solomon king of Israel.
515 B. C.] The Second Temple was finished and dedicated in the year 515 before Christ. Now taking the Prophecy of Isaiah, to commence at the beginning of the Siege of Tyrus (for Tyrus had then ceased to be free, i. e. as a Nation), which was in 585 B. C., the "seventy years" will be exactly accomplished at the dedication of the Second Temple.
Thus were the first and second Prophecies by Isaiah fulfilled,—viz., the fall and subsequent freedom,—for the destruction did take place, and at the termination of "seventy years" the Lord of Mercy did "visit Tyrus," and made her again a Nation;—for her scorn and boast upon the destruction of Jerusalem had been forgotten and forgiven, in her stretching forth her hand again to aid the building of the Sacred Temple to The One and Only God!
As an instance of Divine Justice, it may be observed, that the freedom of Tyrus did not take place before the restoration of Judæa,—and that the former nation had to endure the remorse of knowing that the latter from her new throne of liberty, could behold the manacles of thraldom upon that country, which (in prosperity) had shouted in impious triumph upon her desolation!