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Old 02-21-2006, 11:51 PM   #531
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Hi people.

I have a few questions of some peoples interpretation of Isaiah's prophecy of Tyre.

Now i know there is one of Ezekiel, but i consider that firmly false that it could be true since:
1.Tyre is still around.
2.Credible sources on the internet detail that Nebu never destroyed Tyre (like Brittanica etc).

However there are some interpretations of Isaiah's prophecy that Alexander did destroy Tyre which they claim fulfilled the prophecy.
Going through the internet, i found it hard to read a credible site that explains Alexander's seige of Tyre and whether he destroyed Tyre and whether it was rebuilt in 70 years or not.

There are numerous sites, some just saying Alexander did destroy Tyre and fulfilled the prophecy, some said ALexander destroyed only half the mainland city and it was soon rebuilt.

So can anyone help me with reliable sources? im also willing to grab a book if its a text that is generally available in the library.

Cheers.
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Old 02-22-2006, 06:21 AM   #532
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blui
There are numerous sites, some just saying Alexander did destroy Tyre and fulfilled the prophecy, some said ALexander destroyed only half the mainland city and it was soon rebuilt.

So can anyone help me with reliable sources? im also willing to grab a book if its a text that is generally available in the library.
The point that the 'nitpickers' all seem to miss is that the 'L/G of Hosts' swore to destroy the 'baby burners' and did. By the time Alexander destroyed the 'main nest' at Tyre, they had built a 'fall back' position called "New Trye" or "Carthage", and it took the Romans till 146 BCE to totally forfull the prophecy. The point being that the arm of the Lord/God of Hosts is long and strong.

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Old 02-22-2006, 07:31 AM   #533
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Originally Posted by aguy2
But what are you going to do about it?
I am going to infer that the men who wrote the Bible were imagining things.
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Old 02-22-2006, 08:15 AM   #534
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Blui: The "Tyre prophecy" was made by Ezekiel, not Isaiah. Here are a few references from previous discussions of Tyre.

The Farrell Till / Matthew Hogan exchange is a good place to start:

Farrell Till: Prophecies: Imaginary and Unfulfilled

Matthew Hogan: Till's Errors Concerning Tyre

Farrell Till: Hogan's Errors Concerning Pronouns

Matthew Hogan: A Straw House Amid 10-Foot Waves

Farrell Till: The Romans, Greeks, and So Forth

Matthew Hogan's capitulation

A few others assembled by IIDB member "noah" here (mostly to demonstrate Tyre's continued existence):
Quote:
Originally Posted by noah
1) The mainland part of Tyre was a suburb. The island was the city of Tyre proper. That's why they made it a fortress.
This guy maintains a page devoted to the siege of Tyre (and Gaza): http://joseph_berrigan.tripod.com/id34.html
Here's someone else's page devoted to Tyre:http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/le...#brief_history
Here's an Encyclopedia Brittanica picture of the ruins of ancient Tyre:http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9074016
This architect plans to build on Tyre:http://www.pierreelkhoury.com/newprojects.html
The Lebanese Ministry of Tourism thinks it's still there:http://www.middleeastuk.com/destinat...banon/tyre.htm
The Municpality of Tyre has ite own website:http://www.lebweb.com/dir/s.asp?l=36341
Pictures of modern day Tyre:http://photos.eisenbach.at/voyages/lebanon/3.htm
Here's an online encylopedia: http://www.answers.com/topic/tyre
Another picture of Tyre with Roman ruins foreground, modern Tyre background:
http://www.peterlanger.com/Countries...s/LBTYR001.htm
If this doesn't do it for ya Lee...: http://souwar.yaacoub.com/index.php?template=tyre
and:http://www.2la.org/lebanonphotos_fil...non_tyre_1.jpg
This one you can see the main part in the middle with suburbs in front and behind:http://www.2la.org/lebanonphotos_fil...non_tyre_2.jpg
The causeway Alexander built is much wider now than it was initially, so it looks less obvious than it first did.
I don't know Lee. The pasages are pretty specific. Ezekiel admits Nebachednezazar's siege failed. He did not take the fortress where the Tyranian grandeur was seated. That's why he got nothing from the siege. He only took the suburb. The city was in two parts.
If you read the article you linked to me it says in its description of the siege:
Early in the sixth century B.C. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, laid siege to the walled city for thirteen years. Tyre stood firm, but it is probable that at this time the residents of the mainland city abandoned it for the safety of the island.
See? The residents fled the mainland city,not the main city, for the island, which as we know was the heart of the city.
There is also Phoenician Cities, and Wikipedia on Tyre.

Alexander destroyed "half" of the city, and executed or enslaved as many people as he could: however, many escaped to Sidon by sea and returned later. I'll try to find references. Tyre was repaired, and the only lasting legacy of Alexander's conquest was the causeway he built connecting the island to the mainland, since enlarged by silting-up.
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Old 02-22-2006, 09:40 AM   #535
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bfniii, I'd like to revisit this:
Quote:
your previous attempt to provide an actual example turned out to be apologetic twaddle.

another example of you not even attempting to study and discuss the issue, an issue that is indeed known to people who have studied biblical hebrew. i was hoping you would discover on your own the reason why some OT prophecies were written in the sense of "action completed", but i guess that was a pipe dream. i don't usually do this but, the reason why is because the prophectic message was considered so certain, it was as good as already completed.

feel free to continue denying this, but if you were really interested in an honest discussion, you would have already discovered this.
bfniii, here you almost actually made a correct point, but the truth slipped through your fingers.

As I pointed out before, Hebrew doesn't have the same tense structure as English. Actually, it doesn't have a clearly-recognizable FUTURE tense. ALL Hebrew future-references were actually written in (what looks like) the past tense. But this has NOTHING to do with any daft notion such as "the reason why is because the prophectic message was considered so certain, it was as good as already completed". It was an inherent feature of the Hebrew language. The tense needs to be determined from the CONTEXT.

Isaiah 53 is NOT a messianic propechy, this is already clear from the context. And Ezekiel 29 was written AFTER the siege of Tyre: this, too, is clear from the context (it describes the aftermath). What's interesting is that this feature of the Hebrew language destroys YOUR claim that Ezekiel's "prophecy" was written BEFORE Nebby's attack: because the Bible doesn't say so, in the original Hebrew. "I will cause many nations to come up against you" would be written as, and would be indistinguishable from, "I have caused many nations to come up against you"... and so on.

So, not only was the book not COMPLETED until after Nebby's siege: there is no evidence from the text that the "prophecy" was originally MADE before the siege (except its failure). Were it not for Nebby's failure to actually breach the walls of Tyre and destroy the city, the entire "prophecy" could be read as a past-tense account of something that had ALREADY happened!
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Old 02-22-2006, 01:48 PM   #536
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack the Bodiless
Blui: The "Tyre prophecy" was made by Ezekiel, not Isaiah. Here are a few references from previous discussions of Tyre.
I always thought there were 2 prophecies of Tyre, one mentioned by Ezekiel and Isaiah.
'Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild animals. They erected their siege towers, they tore down her palaces, they made her a ruin. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your fortress is destroyed. From that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song about the prostitute: Take a harp, go about the city, you forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered. At the end of seventy years, Yahweh will visit Tyre, and she will return to her trade, and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to Yahweh; her profits will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of Yahweh'
http://www.infidels.org/library/maga...5/995isai.html

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack the Bodiless
Alexander destroyed "half" of the city, and executed or enslaved as many people as he could: however, many escaped to Sidon by sea and returned later. I'll try to find references. Tyre was repaired, and the only lasting legacy of Alexander's conquest was the causeway he built connecting the island to the mainland, since enlarged by silting-up.
Thats what i thought, thanks for looking for references, and thanks for the other references you gave cheers
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Old 02-22-2006, 11:25 PM   #537
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The problem with this whole topic is down to one point and that is the number of people that post don't understand how to read the Bible.

The passage in question is a two part prophecy, one dealing with Nebucahrezzar and the other dealing with the nations in the future that would come against Tyre.
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Old 02-23-2006, 12:30 AM   #538
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tellgryn
The problem with this whole topic is down to one point and that is the number of people that post don't understand how to read the Bible.

The passage in question is a two part prophecy, one dealing with Nebucahrezzar and the other dealing with the nations in the future that would come against Tyre.
No. The problems with this thread are:
1) that people come here making wild assertions how to read the bible without providing a shred of evidence.
2) these people fail to see that even creative interpretation does not rescue the prophecy from failure.
3) these people fail to read the thread itself which clearly states even more problems: an accurate dating of the prophecy is problematic; it's problematic to determine if it even was regarded as a prophecy at its time, a "navi" was something different than a "pophet", etc., etc. etc.

But thanks anyway fro playing.
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Old 02-23-2006, 09:35 AM   #539
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Blui:

Thanks for that Isaiah reference. So Isiah made his own "Tyre prophecy" which contradicts Ezekiel's! Heheh.

On the 15,000 who escaped: reference here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Curtius
4.15: The Sidonians secretly transported some of the Tyrians to Sidon to safety.
4.16: 15,000 were so rescued. 6,000 men were slaughtered.
I presume that "Curtius" is a reference to the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus, author of a biography of Alexander.
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Old 02-23-2006, 04:17 PM   #540
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
Please tell us how an amoral God would act any differently than the God of the Bible.
an amoral God wouldn't care about creating beings for the sake of a relationship with them.

an amoral God wouldn't care to provide atonement or propitiation for said beings

an amoral God wouldn't care to be merciful to said beings

an amoral God wouldn't care to reveal Himself to said beings

an amoral God wouldn't care to provide an existence that has the end goal of betterment of it's inhabitants



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
Why not?
because then no one would go to heaven. what would be the point of existence?



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
Tyre was not a metaphor.
correct. the rock was the metaphor that referred to tyre.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
It was an actual city, and Ezekiel predicted that that actual city would become a bare rock. However, there is not any indication that such was the case.
incorrect. ezekiel/God weren't ultimately concerned with a physical city. they were concerned with the inhabitants of the place. i have provided several verses to jack that illustrate that point.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
Regarding “this is not uncommon in biblical prophecies,� please quote your scripture references.
the book of revelation is one. the book of daniel contains some others. that's just a couple that came to mind immediately.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
I don’t understand what you mean. Surely nets were spread to dry before Nebuchadnezzar attacked the mainland settlement,
you're missing the point. tyre was a great, important city before nebuchadnezzar got there. afterward, it's influence was greatly reduced. the reduction was compounded by alexander's attack. left to it's own devices, tyre had become a shell of it's former self.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
AND after he went home after failing to destroy the mainland settlement.
i think you are confused. nebuchadnezzar apparently implemented great destruction on the mainland. the island is where he stopped.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
There is no credible evidence that Nebuchadnezzar tread down ALL of the streets of the mainland settlement with his chariots. In fact, the best evidence indicates that he did not.
would you present that evidence so we can discuss it?



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, laid siege to the walled city for thirteen years. Tyre stood firm, but it was probable that at this time the residents of the mainland city abandoned it for the safety of the island.
this source supports the fact that nebuchadnezzar controlled the mainland which means he probably did have horses riding down every street.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
I assume that the vast majority of non-Jews in the Middle East did not pay any attention Ezekiel's prophecies. Do you have any evidence to the contrary? Why would God favor the Jews to the exclusion of the rest of the people in the world?
at one point, the jews/hebrews were everyone. people who were non-hebrews were people who chose not to live as the hebrews did. therefore, it isn't a case of God choosing certain people. it is a case of certain people choosing God and God honored that choice.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
What evidence do you have that God made a land promise to Abraham?
how do we know anything from antiquity is true?



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
It wouldn’t have to be that way if Jesus showed up and clearly revealed his supernatural powers to everyone.
i have answered this before. the logical progression of what you are saying here means that Jesus must show up for everyone, for all time. that's ridiculous. furthermore, how often does He show up, every day? every minute?



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
When I told you that some time ago, you said that I would have no means of identifying Jesus. I asked you how you would be able to identify Jesus, but as far as I recall, you never answered my question. What is your answer?
actually, i did in post #444 of the biblical errors thread. it was you who did not respond.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
Even if I couldn’t identify Jesus, if a powerful being showed up who claimed to be Jesus, and demonstrated that he had abilities that were far beyond the abilities of humans, at least we would have a lot more evidence than we have now that the Bible is true.
ridiculous.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
Johnny: Even after all of that supposed evidence, and even though the Holy Spirit had supposedly come to the church, for some strange reason, even more evidence was provided. In the NIV, Acts 14:3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
and christians feel like they have evidence of God working in their lives today. it's just a different kind than existed then because we are now in the dispensation of grace because of the new covenent.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
The preceding evidence is the kind of evidence that I am talking about. If the evidence was needed then, we need it much more today.
based on what? as i said in the other thread, there is nothing in life that you can use as a standard to justify such a statement. again, there is no "amount" of suffering because it is relative to the individual. there is no more suffering now than there ever has been because it just exists, period.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
We don’t have any eyewitnesses around to verify that Jesus rose from the dead.
even if there were, it could be said that they were mistaken just as it was said at that time. therefore, eyewitnesses living on forever is not relevant to belief. they merely needed to witness said events.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
Why were any eyewitnesses needed?
to create the eyewitness belief in people. no eyewitnesses to those particular events would have significantly abated the ability to associate with the sacrificial acts.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
Wouldn’t 100,000 eyewitnesses have been much better than 500?
no.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
There is every indication that good things and bad things are distributed according to the laws of physics, or by an amoral God.
no, there is not. read my responses in the other thread.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
I challenge you to state a request for a tangible blessing that you could ask God for that you would receive, and reasonably prove that you wouldn’t have gotten your blessing anyway. I predict that you will refuse to accept my challenge because you don’t want to embarrass yourself.
it has nothing to do with embarassment and everything to do with your irrelevant, repetitious, already responded-to questions.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic
It would be easy to prove that I am right. A poll could be taken that would ask the following question: If a being showed up on earth, claimed to be Jesus, created a large building in front of millions of people and the world media, would you become a Christian? Many people would surely answer yes, but even if only one person answered yes, if Jesus exists, he should show up and demonstrate his supernatural powers to that person.
you can say "if" all you want but you would never be able to prove it no matter how many polls you conducted.
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