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l*****a
发帖数: 38403 | 1 Ezekiel’s prophecy of Tyre is very interesting to look at. In fact, it’s
one that is often used as evidence by both sides of the inerrancy debate.
Ezekiel 26-28 details a prophecy against the island city of Tyre. It was a
great trade center that features fairly prominently throughout the Bible.
Once the nation of Judah was led into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
, Ezekiel prophesied destruction for Tyre, since they were glad at the
destruction that had been wrought on Jerusalem. And the benefit of this
prophecy is that it is very specific. Ezekiel 26 says that many nations
would come against Tyre, and in verse 4, Ezekiel says that their walls and
towers would be torn down, and it would be made a bare rock.
Then, in verses 7-14, Ezekiel is even more specific by saying that
Nebuchadnezzar would come against the city. He will kill Tyre’s “daughters
on the mainland” (vs 8 ) and direct a siege wall against them to destroy
their walls. He would enter the city with his army and kill, plunder, and
cast the debris into the sea. They would be a bare rock and never be rebuilt.
In fact, Nebuchadnezzar did bring his army against Tyre. And he did destroy
the mainland suburbs of Tyre, just as was predicted in verse 8. He also
besieged the city, as was predicted. But the similarities end there. He
besieged Tyre for 13 years without success. Tyre finally signed a treaty
with Nebuchadnezzar, but their city remained unharmed. Ezekiel even admits
as much in 29:17-18 when he says that Nebuchadnezzar got nothing in his
efforts against Tyre.
About 250 years later, Tyre did finally fall to Alexander the Great. And
many Christians view this as the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. But
then why didn’t Ezekiel prophesy that Alexander would do it? God could have
easily revealed that to him. Also, verses 7-14 show no apparent break in
speaking about Nebuchadnezzar’s attack. Where is the indication that the
actual destruction wouldn’t come for another 250 years?
And furthermore, Tyre was rebuilt shortly after Alexander defeated it. It
was still a prominent trade center during the times of Jesus and Paul. In
fact, Tyre is the 4th largest city in Lebanon today. But that is a huge
problem since Ezekiel says it would be utterly destroyed (26:14) to the
point that no one would be able to find it again (26:21), and it would be “
no more forever” (27:36).
Prophesying that Tyre would be gone forever is an immensely bold claim, and
it’s also extremely important. It is one of the few biblical prophecies
that we can actually verify today. So how do people answer it?
Taking the prophecy at face value isn’t going to work. That’s a shame,
because if Tyre was still a “bare rock” as Ezekiel says, then it would be
great proof of prophecy fulfillment. So instead, we have to think of other
ways to explain it. One is to say that Ezekiel was only talking about the
mainland portion of Tyre. This one is used quite often – some apologists
even claim that Tyre was only on the mainland at this time and moved out to
the island once Nebuchadnezzar besieged them. But this seems unlikely
because Ezekiel often refers to Tyre as being “in the midst of the sea,”
or “on the sea,” or “borders are in the heart of the seas,” etc (26:5,
17, 18; 27:4, 25, 26, 32; 28:2, 8). In fact, chapter 27 compares Tyre to a
ship that will sink because of the destruction that God is bringing upon it.
It also goes against the historical and archaeological evidence [src]. So
trying to say this is the mainland is somewhat ridiculous.
Sometimes, people try to explain the prophecy by noting that the city that
exists today in that spot is actually called Sur. Therefore, it’s not the
same city, and Ezekiel was right. However, “Sur” is the way Tyre is
spelled in Arabic, and in Hebrew it’s “Tzur.” In fact, the Old Testament
essentially spells it as “Tzur” – just check an interlinear Bible for the
Hebrew translation of this passage. So the city still has the same name
that it had back then.
Another explanation is that this is a prophecy against the people of the
city, so when it says Tyre would never be rebuilt it’s just saying that it
will never be those same people. But when you really start to think about it
, this is also silly. Ezekiel himself says that Nebuchadnezzar was unable to
take the city (Ezek 29:18-20), so God would give him Egypt instead (this is
also something that doesn’t appear to have happened, by the way). But
anyway, Nebuchadnezzar was unable to take Tyre. So those inhabitants were
not defeated, and we have to wait for Alexander the Great to take the city.
But this happened two or three hundred years later. So how could Ezekiel
have been talking about the people of the city in his prophecy? All those
people were dead and gone by the time the city fell to Alexander. Besides
that, why bother even making the prophecy that the city would never be
rebuilt if you’re only talking about the inhabitants? Who would possibly
think those people would re-inhabit a city once they were dead?
Instead, about the only possibility we’re left with is that Ezekiel was
merely being figurative. He didn’t really mean that the city would be
rebuilt. He simply meant that they would be punished in some way (this is
where Alexander the Great fits in) and never come back to their former glory
. I guess we can see why Ezekiel didn’t phrase it this way because it does
seem to lose some of its grandeur. Of course, even then it’s hard to put
your finger on exactly when this was fulfilled, because Tyre still enjoyed
some prominence for a long time after Alexander took it.
But the benefit of saying that the prophecy is just figurative is that you
can’t disprove it. Ezekiel could have said almost anything and it wouldn’t
matter – whatever reality actually occurred would be the prophecy
fulfillment. Everything is vague and non-specific so that we have no problem
reading the fulfillment into whatever happens. It’s much like the fortune
from a fortune cookie. Your fortune gives a vague pronouncement that’s
supposed to happen over an unspecified time so that if you really try, you
can find the fulfillment to it. The problem with this view is that there was
no point in Ezekiel’s prophecy at all. The specific things he mentioned
don’t really happen in the way he described. And even though he seems
emphatic in at least 3 different places that Tyre would never be rebuilt,
people just say that he didn’t mean that. What else could he have said if
his true intention was that the city would never be rebuilt in any fashion
at all? People who use this excuse in order to maintain the inerrancy of the
Bible aren’t viewing this prophecy as any kind of proof (which is at least
part of the reason it would have been given). Instead, they’ve made up
their mind that it must be true, regardless of the facts. So there was
really no point in even recording it.
This is one of the most blatant and obvious examples of a failed prophecy in
the Bible. It is clear and specific, yet it did not come to pass. The
conclusion is obvious: at the very least, Ezekiel was not a true prophet. At
most, the entire Bible is uninspired. If you’re a firm Bible-believer (as
I was), are you honest and brave enough to accept it for what it is? I hope
you’ll think about it.
http://www.atheistconnect.org/2011/06/21/the-failed-prophecy-of | l*****a
发帖数: 38403 | 2 另外要是生活在千年之前也罢了，以西結这厮是生活在尼布甲尼撒二世的时期，推罗围
城的时代，这也算是预言。。。 | a***g
发帖数: 2402 | | l********i
发帖数: 831 | 4
哈哈哈！“据说”？根据呢？
【在 a***g 的大作中提到】
: 据说现在的推罗不是圣经里写的那个推罗...
| a***g
发帖数: 2402 | 5 我对这个没有研究过，只不过提一个流行的说法。其实这个没法证明的。有些基督徒对
圣经的解读已经到了颠倒黑白，指鹿为马的境界，你觉得和他们较真有意思吗？
【在 l********i 的大作中提到】
:
: 哈哈哈！“据说”？根据呢？
| E*****m
发帖数: 25615 | 6 你誤會老七了，他根本不理解別人說話的語氣，他以為你是基，準備捏你。
【在 a***g 的大作中提到】
: 我对这个没有研究过，只不过提一个流行的说法。其实这个没法证明的。有些基督徒对
: 圣经的解读已经到了颠倒黑白，指鹿为马的境界，你觉得和他们较真有意思吗？
| q********g
发帖数: 10694 | 7 嗯。老E就是这里的魔界总协调，保证撒旦们不会自相攻打分争，否则就站立不住、必要
灭亡。
【在 E*****m 的大作中提到】
: 你誤會老七了，他根本不理解別人說話的語氣，他以為你是基，準備捏你。
| E*****m
发帖数: 25615 | 8
必要
還真的有點羨慕你，整個人就生活在奇幻神鬼世界裡，
大概奇幻電影都不必看了，夠刺激了。
【在 q********g 的大作中提到】
: 嗯。老E就是这里的魔界总协调，保证撒旦们不会自相攻打分争，否则就站立不住、必要
: 灭亡。
| l*****a
发帖数: 38403 | 9 我是从基督徒那儿听过这种说法，不过找不到相应的记录阿
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyre,_Lebanon
【在 a***g 的大作中提到】
: 据说现在的推罗不是圣经里写的那个推罗...
| l*****a
发帖数: 38403 | |
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