ArchivedEzekiel prophecyPS: I didn't start this thread, someone else has open this thread in my name.
However let's see what History and Christian Scholars have said about Ezekiel prophecy:
Dear Brian -
I have often heard the claim that the Bible contains many hundreds of accurate prophecies, all of which have been fulfilled. However, this far-fetched claim conveniently forgets about Ezekiel's prophecy against the island-city1 of Tyre!
Ezekiel's Original Prophecy against Tyre
As you will know, the prophet Ezekiel prophesied (in 586BC2) that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon would destroy Tyre completely, and that it would never be rebuilt. Yet, the city of Tyre still exists today!!
Ezekiel was very explicit in his prophecy. He said that Nebuchadnezzar would lay siege to Tyre,3 Tyre's walls would be broken,4 and the island-city's people killed and riches plundered.5
In fact, Ezekiel clearly reports God as saying that, "Tyre shall never again be rebuilt, for I Yahweh have spoken."6
However, as history shows, the prophecy never came true. The historian Josephus, quoting Philostratus tells us that "Nebuchadnezzar unsuccessfully besieged Tyre for 13 years." Nebuchadnezzar never broke the walls of Tyre, and never plundered the city, as (incorrectly) foretold in Ezekiel's prophecy.
Ezekiel's response: Issue a Revised Prophecy!
So what was Ezekiel's response to this? He simply issued a revised prophecy! The revised prophecy was dated two years after the 13-year siege ceased (in 571BC7), when it was apparent that Ezekiel's original prophecy had failed to come true. The revised prophecy reads as follows:
"Yahweh said, 'King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare; yet NEITHER HE NOR HIS ARMY GOT ANYTHING FROM TYRE to pay for the labour that he had expended against it. Therefore,' thus says Yahweh God, 'I will give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he laboured, because they worked for me,' says Yahweh God."
There you have it! Ezekiel rather frankly acknowledges Nebuchadnezzar's failure to take Tyre, even though the great Babylonian king laboured for 13 years to do so. So Ezekiel, seemingly without any embarrassment at the failure of his original prophecy, simply changed it after the fact to fit the historical situation as it had actually unfolded!!!
In fact, if you read scholarly Christian commentaries on the Book of Ezekiel, you will find something that is probably not taught at a fundamentalist church: these commentaries all agree that Ezekiel's original prophecy failed to come true. Here's a small sampling of what the main scholarly commentaries have to say:
Zimmerli: "In the oracles against Tyre, the fall and devastation of Tyre and, quite explicitly in 26:7, her surrender to the great king from the north were expressed. The end of the siege of Tyre appeared quite differently. Whatever the details of the end may have been, Tyre WAS IN ANY CASE NOT DESTROYED AND PLUNDERED."
Vawter/Hoppe: "The date of this oracle [29:17-21] is 26 April 571. Of the dated oracles in Ezekiel this is the latest. What this text ATTEMPTS TO DO IS TO RESTORE THE PROPHET'S CREDIBILITY AFTER THE PROPHECIES THAT HE UTTERED AGAINST TYRE DID NOT COME TRUE… The biblical tradition had to deal with THE FAILURE OF THE PROPHETIC TEXT."
Eichrodt: "Nebuchadnezzar's campaign against Tyre, after having lasted thirteen years, had come to an end two or three years previously, WITHOUT HAVING HAD THE RESULT EXPECTED BY THE PROPHET IN HIS ANNOUNCEMENT OF JUDGEMENT AGAINST TYRE. Tyre was not destroyed or even plundered."
But it was Still Wrong!!
To make matters worse, Ezekiel's revised prophecy about Egypt didn't come true either!
Harpers (Robert R Wilson): "This oracle [29:17-21], the latest dated oracle in the book, is set in April of 571BC, shortly after the end of Nebuchadnezzar's unsuccessful siege of Tyre. The prophet or his disciples were apparently worried that the earlier prophecies against Tyre had not been fulfilled. To explain this situation, God tells Ezekiel that Egypt is to be given to Nebuchadnezzar as compensation for the effort he expended trying to capture Tyre... As later events developed, EZEKIEL'S SUBSTITUTE PROPHECY AGAINST EGYPT WAS NOT FULFILLED EITHER. Nebuchadnezzar apparently did campaign in Egypt and may have even exacted tribute from the pharaoh, but the country was NOT DESTROYED IN THE WAY THAT THE PROPHET PREDICTED."
What do you say about that, Brian? Did a Biblical prophecy fail to come true?
Kind Regards,
Professor Herman Eichelbaumm
Notes: (1) Tyre "in the midst of the sea": Ezekiel 26:5; 27:32; "on the sea… imposing terror on the mainland": Ezekiel 26:17; "borders in the heart of the seas" Ezekiel 27:4; 28:2; cf Esarhaddon: "I conquered Tyre which lies in the middle of the sea (sa qabal tamtim)". (2) The eleventh year of exile of King Jehoiachin: Ezekiel 26:1. (3) Ezekiel 26:8. (4) Ezekiel 26:4, 9-10. (5) Ezekiel 26:5, 11-12; 28:7. (6) Ezekiel 26:14, cf 26:21; 27:36. (7) in the 27th year of exile: Ezekiel 29:17. (8) Ezekiel 29:18-20.
http://www.densitychurch.org/tyre.html
Let's see now how Pastor Brian answered all these Historical true facts:
Here is my answer from the Bible:
1. You say that Tyre was never destroyed, as prophesied. But here you are only relying on "history", and the existence of the city of Tyre in the Middle East today. Who are we to believe "history" and "geography" instead of the Word of God?? Aha! I prefer to believe the Word of God, which has been demonstrated to be perfect.
Really? well good for you. This is a typical Christian reply when they're backed to the corner.
2. God can do anything. And therefore, he can even break his own prophecy! It wasn't that the Tyre prophecy failed to come true. Oh no - what a very Worldly way of thinking! It was that God decided to change his own prophecy. And he can do that, because he is God!
As you see, there is an answer to any problem you have with the Bible - as long as you are first willing to have faith that the Bible is the perfect and infallible word of God.
If you have faith, you can believe the impossible!
The right phrase would be:
If you have blind faith, you can believe the impossible.
Alexei
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