Let our thoughts now turn for a moment toward another ancient city – Tyre. It was a maritime city, and its prosperity, riches, pride, and costliness have been abundantly described by the prophet Ezekiel; and Zechariah has also spoken of the awful doom that then awaited it from the hand of God. Hiram, king of Tyre, was well known in David’s and Solomon’s days, for from him they obtained much of the material for their buildings at Jerusalem. From all accounts, Tyre was a large and magnificent city, with a profusion of wealth, and all its usual accompaniments of vice and ungodliness; and it is said to have had all the chief merchandise of India and other countries. So elegant was the city in her own esteem, that the inspired penman describes’ her as saying, “I am of perfect beauty,” and adds. “All thy men of war that are in thee; and all thy company, which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the (lay of thy ruin... what city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?.... The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.... By thy great wisdom, and by thy traffic, hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because thou halt set thine heart as the heart of God; behold, therefore, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.... They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.’ (Ezek. 27:3,27,32,36; 28:5,8). Another prophet describes this city, saying, “Tyrus did build herself a stronghold, 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” (Zech. 9:3-4). Referring to her fall and terrible doom, Ezekiel further said. “Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus the sound of thy fall .... 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. 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 was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it! .... Thus saith the Lord God, When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited.. I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more„ though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again.” And in the beginning of the same chapter we read, “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 also 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; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God” (Ezek. 26).
From modern travelers we learn how truly literal has been the accomplishments of these most solemn prophetic utterances. They have described the town as “environed by rocks, on the ledges of which are scattered the fragments of ancient columns.” They have expressed their conviction, that the waves of the sea now roll where once stood the vast and magnificent palaces of Tyrian wealth and luxury; and that the monuments of commercial enterprise and prosperity have been overwhelmed by the storm of divine indignation, and are as if they had never been. Another traveler says, he found it “a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, etc., there being not so much as one entire house left! Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches harboring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly by fishing; who seem to be preserved in the place by divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled His Word concerning Tyre, namely, that it should be “like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to spread nets. upon.” To this hour all has been accomplished according to the Word of the Lord God, and as to the future, He has declared, thou shalt be built no more” (Ezek. 26:14). We cannot forbear quoting also a few sentences of a Mr. Hardy on this solemn matter. He says, speaking of the scenes of joyousness and of wealth that have been exhibited on these shores, “They have passed away, like the feverish dream of a disturbed sleep. Ships may be seen at a distance; no merchant of the earth ever enters the name of Tyre upon his books; and where thousands once assembled in pomp and pride; I could discover only a few children and a party of Turks. It was impossible,” says the writer, “not to think of another people, still more favored in their privileges, and whose commercial transactions are as extended as the world. Cities of my country! Shall it ever be said of you, that ye are no more? The patriot may sing exultingly over the achievements of his country, but the Christian will fear and tremble, and offer up prayer to God that what we deserve in justice may be withheld from us in mercy.”
Babylon was another ancient city, and unsurpassed for its beauty and magnificence. It has been described as “a square of about fifteen miles on each side.” The reader will remember that ambassadors were sent from it to Hezekiah to honor him on his recovery from sickness. The wall surrounding the city is said to have been three hundred and fifty feet high, and eighty-seven feet thick. The city was surrounded, too, with a very capacious ditch, which was kept full by the river Euphrates; so that it seemed with all this, and its many towers and gates of brass, to be quite impregnable; and so it was in man’s account; but when God speaks all things are possible to Him, and this many men do not think of. Its palaces, hanging gardens, and wealth showed a profusion of luxury and of human achievement far beyond anything that has been known since. But pride, and idolatry, and vice, after long patience, with its gross immoralities and idol worship, notwithstanding the testimony of Daniel and his associates, called for God’s judicial interference. The testimony of an inspired prophet was, “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there; but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces.... For I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith. Jehovah. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts. Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” (Isa. 13:19-22; 14:22,24). Where is now this magnificent city, the glory of kingdoms? Have its infidel maxims stood, or has God’s Word been fulfilled? Alas! alas! travelers tell us it is a mass of dust and barrenness, with heaps of bricks and broken pillars, instead of, as it once was, the fruitful valley of Shinar. So full is it of venomous creatures that no one is safe to approach it within a mile and a half, except for about two months in the year, when these animals never leave their holes.
What appalling facts are these we have thus far noticed in the history of some of the greatest cities that ever existed in the world, and how truly has the Word of Jehovah been fulfilled! Well is it for those who so believe God’s testimony as to tremble at His Word!
(Continued from page 117).
(To be continued).