Had this prophecy been literally fulfilled, it would not have evinced supernatural prescience on the part of the prophet. It is the fate of cities to flourish for a time and then decay. The world contains the ruins, not of Babylon alone, but of a thousand cities.
The enemies of Babylon wished for and hoped for its destruction. The prophet voiced that wish and hope. Perhaps at that very moment the victorious armies of the Persian were leveling its walls.
But this prophecy has not been literally fulfilled. Babylon was not as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; it has been inhabited; it has been dwelt in from generation to generation; the Arabian has pitched his tent there; shepherds have made their fold there; satyrs have not danced there; dragons have not occupied her palaces; her days were prolonged. The ancient glory of Babylon has faded, but a thriving city still exists there, a standing refutation of the claim that Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled.
2.
“For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar [Nebuchadnezzar], king of Babylon.... With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrison shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise.... 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” (Ezekiel xxvi, 7, 11, 12, 14).
Here is a specific prediction. But it was not fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar did not destroy, nor even conquer, Tyre. “He reduced the whole sea coast except Tyre, which stood a thirteen years’ siege by water and by land, ending, not in subjection, but ... leaving the native sovereigns on their thrones and their wealth and power untouched” (Chambers’s Encyclopedia).
A thousand years after Ezekiel uttered his prophecy, Jerome, the foremost Christian of his age, declared it to be “the most noble and beautiful city in Phœnicia.” Twenty-four hundred years have passed, and Tyre still survives.