
Table
Year 7 of Nebuchadnezzar, Month 12, Day 2
15 March 597
Nebuchadnezzar invades Jerusalem, takes political prisoners from the nobility, including King Jehoiachin.
No.
Section
Internal Date
External Date
1
1.1b–7.27
Year 5, Month 4, Day 5 of Jehoiachin’s imprisonment
31 July 593
Ezekiel’s commission. Judgment of Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem.
2
8.1–19.14
Year 6, Month 6, Day 5
17 September 592
God’s spirit leaves Jerusalem’s temple. Judgment of Judah, Jerusalem.
3
20.1–23.49
Year 7, Month 5, Day 10
14 August 591
Judgment of Judah, Jerusalem.
4
24.1–25.17
Year 9, Month 10, Day 10
15 January 588
Judgment of Judah, Jerusalem. Judgment of Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia.
5
29.1–16
Year 10, Month 10, Day 12
7 January 587
Judgment of Egypt
6
26.1–28.26
Year 11, Day 1
587
Judgment of Tyre, Sidon.
7
30.20–26
Year 11, Month 1, Day 7
29 April 587
Judgment of Egypt.
8
31.1–18
Year 11, Month 3, Day 1
21 June 587
Judgment of Egypt.
9
32.17–33.20
Year 12, [Month 1],
28 April 586
Judgment of Egypt. Judgment of Israel.
10
33.21–39.29
Year 12, Month 10, Day 5
19 January 585
News of Jerusalem destroyed. Judgment of Edom. Restoration of Israel. Judgment of Gog of Magog.
11
32.1–16
Year 12, Month 12, Day 1
3 March 585
Judgment of Egypt.
12
40.1–48.35
Year 25, Month 1, Day 1 / Year 14 of Jerusalem’s destruction
28 April 573
Restoration of Jerusalem and all Israel.
13
29.17–30.19
Year 27, Month 1, Day 1
26 April 571
Judgment of Egypt.
14
1.1a
Year 30
568
Compilation of the prophecies.
Visualization

Top = canonical order, bottom = chronological order.
Not to enter into a discussion about theology or anything, but do you think Ezekiel actually made real prophecies and got them right? A common “prophecy” that Christians like to point to, and that you used in your list, to “prove” that he actually predicted something is the prophecy of Tyre. It really did get destroyed in somewhat in the manner that the Bible describes, so it this evidence that the prophecy was true? I know there’s debate about who wrote the book of Ezekiel and when, so it’s possible that the “prophecy” was actually written down later but what are your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteEzekiel 26.7–14 says that Nebuchadnezzar would conquer Tyre, enter the city through its gates, and destroy it so utterly (after looting it) that no one would reside in it ever again, let alone ever rebuild it. The city's permanent end by Nebuchadnezzar is reiterated (26.17–21), and the effects of its total ruin on trade is the focus of the entire next chapter. (Followed by 28.1–19, which focuses on the death of Tyre's king.)
DeleteBecause Nebuchadnezzar didn't succeed in conquering Tyre, we can come to no other conclusion except that Ezekiel's prophecy failed to be fulfilled. Tyre was conquered centuries later, but it was never completely destroyed or depopulated, so this could not be considered fulfillment of what Ezekiel said would happen. In fact, Ezekiel himself apparently recognized that his earlier prophecy failed, since 29.17–30.19 (a prophecy delivered years later) begins with Ezekiel justifying that Nebuchadnezzar did not conquer Tyre by saying he would conquer Egypt instead (which also didn't happen).
Any interpretation of Ezekiel 26–28 which insists Tyre met its prophesied fate—which requires glossing over details, such as delaying fulfillment until a time long after Nebuchadnezzar, or claiming the prediction of the city's total destruction and depopulation are non-literal despite their repeated insistence by the prophet—strikes me as driven by an ideological need to protect the text from historical fact. I can empathize with a theological perspective which accepts the prophecy's failure. But I cannot see a theological perspective which insists on the prophecy's fulfillment as anything but the invention of a hermeneutic specifically to arrive at a predetermined conclusion.
This is how I consider biblical prophecy in general. The prophets were essentially political commentators, making predictions as to the outcome of a contemporary dilemma. While their efforts were sincere, I think any accurate ‘fulfillment’ of their predictions is only where history coincided with their careful reading of the political landscape, rather than divinely-revealed foreknowledge. When their prophecies fail—such as Ezekiel's prophecy of Tyre—it is in cases where the prophet did not have as strong a grasp of the situation as they thought.