Q: Matthew 15:21 says that Jesus departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. However, in Ezekiel 26:14, 26:21, 27:36, and 28:19, Ezekiel says that the city will be like the top of a rock, a place for spreading nets, never to be rebuilt. Tyre will become a horror and be no more, never to be found again. So how could Jesus go there?
A: Although some apologists have proposed that Ezekiels prophecies about Tyre were sensationally fulfilled in the course of time -- by the attacks of Nebuchadnezzar, and later by the seige engineered by Alexander the Great -- I think that Ezekiels word against Tyre was given in the same sort of dynamic continuum that Jonahs word against Nineveh was given -- by which I mean that its fulfillment depended on the reaction of the people against whom it was directed. In other words, its not a Youre going to be squished if you repent, and youre going to be squished if you dont repent deal. The word was not a prediction as much as it was a threat (even though, after several centuries, the city of Tyre was rendered like the top of a rock, where fishermen spread their nets). For textual support of the idea that when God told Ezekiel to tell people (or city-states) You gonna die, their punishment could be avoided if they repented, see Ezekiel 3:18-19 and 18:21-32.
Btw, the text here in Matthew doesnt say that Jesus entered into Tyre. The KJV says He departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and coasts simply means region.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: Although some apologists have proposed that Ezekiels prophecies about Tyre were sensationally fulfilled in the course of time -- by the attacks of Nebuchadnezzar, and later by the seige engineered by Alexander the Great -- I think that Ezekiels word against Tyre was given in the same sort of dynamic continuum that Jonahs word against Nineveh was given -- by which I mean that its fulfillment depended on the reaction of the people against whom it was directed. In other words, its not a Youre going to be squished if you repent, and youre going to be squished if you dont repent deal. The word was not a prediction as much as it was a threat (even though, after several centuries, the city of Tyre was rendered like the top of a rock, where fishermen spread their nets). For textual support of the idea that when God told Ezekiel to tell people (or city-states) You gonna die, their punishment could be avoided if they repented, see Ezekiel 3:18-19 and 18:21-32.
Btw, the text here in Matthew doesnt say that Jesus entered into Tyre. The KJV says He departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and coasts simply means region.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
