In the days of the British empire London was a trade centre of the world. Goods from all over the Empire were bought and sold from the London docks. This made England very wealthy.

In the days of Ezekiel (6th Century BC) there was a similar city – Tyre. All the riches from the Far East travelled over land to Tyre for sale. The merchants traded them, then exported them to the world. This made Tyre very rich.
Ezekiel must have been very surprised when God told him that Tyre would be totally destroyed, But the strangest thing was the number of details about the downfall. The details become confirmation, not only in the prophetic ministry of Ezekiel but also of the Bibles authenticity in being able to stand the test of time.

Please read Ezekiel 26:3- 14
Notice the details that have been prophesied here:

v3 – many nations will be involved in destroying Tyre
v4 – they will destroy the walls and towers
v4-5 – they will remove all the stones and even scrape off the dust
v5 – it will end up as bare rock where fishermen spread their nets
v7 – Nebuchdnezzar will come, with cavalry and chariots
v8 – he will kill the women in the field and besiege the city
v9 – he will break down the walls and towers with battering rams
v10 – his army will enter the city
Note: it doesn’t say Nebuchadnezzar will kill the men or army
v12b – Someone (we’ll find it isn’t Nebuchadnezzar) will destroy the houses
v12 – he will throw the stones, timbers and even dust in the sea
v14 – till it is a bare rock, smooth enough for fishermen to spread their nets
v14 – no-one will rebuild the city The detail about being a rock for fishermen’s net was repeated in v5 & 14 as if it were significant.

So how was all this fulfilled?

Nebuchadnezzar came and besieged the city in 585BC. He was expanding His empire. When he came to Tyre, the gates were locked so he killed all the field workers who were mainly women (as Ezekiel prophesied) He then set about building siege engines and battering rams
What Ezekiel didn’t say was that the siege would last 13 years. Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t besiege Tyre properly because it was a port, and he didn’t have a navy. He didn’t have a navy so he couldn’t stop them getting food by boats, which meant they could hold out forever, unless he could break down her walls – and eventually he did. His army poured into the city and destroyed it.

However, Nebuchadnezzar’s army entered a deserted city. The population had fled to the island .8km offshore. Without a navy, he could only rave at them. He destroyed the walls and towers so that the city was useless and in the knowledge that the city was no longer a threat, he moved on. TBC.