"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the LORD has not spoken" God Deut 18:22

"But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die." God Deut 18:20

It is said that the Israelites would be held captive for 70 years under Nebuchadrez’zar As in Jer 29:10. Seventy years is important. 2 Chron 36:21 gives the reason for this, it is to allow for the Sabbath years that have been missed. 'About' 70 years is not good enough to fulfill this prophecy. 70 is mentioned too many times, and a particular reason is given for it to be 70 years in length.

Now, lets look at the dates. Jerusalem fell in 586 BC. Cyrus, the oft-mentioned saviour of the Israelites came to power in 539 BC. In the first year of his rule, he let the Israelites go (obviously, God didn't feel the need to prove his power this time, like he did when he killed all the firstborn Egyptians and massacred the Pharoahs army). 586 - 539 = 47. The Isarelites were in captivity for 47 years. This isn't even nearly 70 years, that is only 67% of 70 years, and so this is a prophecy that didn't come true, and never can.

A good one this. I have heard many people say this has prophecy has come true. What is the prophecy? Why do people claim it has come true? What evidence exists to show that it hasn't?

The prophecy is in Ezekiel 26. In brief it says that many nations will attack Tyre (26:3), destroy it and throw the remains in the sea. It says The Greatest King of all, Nebuchadrez'zar will attack from the north (26:7), and will destroy the towns under Tryian rule on the mainland(26:6). They will attack Tyre, destroy the walls (26:9). The enemy will help themselves to the spoils (26:12). They will take all the rubble and 'dump them in the sea' (26:12). Nothing wil be left, only a bare rock. The city will never be rebuilt (26:14).

What actually happened. Nebuchadrez’zar Attacked Tyre and after a 13 year long seige finally gave up. It even details this in Ezekiel 29:17-19. So Nebuchadrez’zar never took Tyre. He was to be given Egypt instead for his troubles (see below)

So why is it claimed to have come true? Because Alexander the Great conquered Tyre in 332 BC by building a causeway across to the island and ransacking the city. Thus, the rubble was thrown into the sea to make the causeway, hence fulfilling the prophecy. They say that Nebuchadrez’zar took the mainland part of Tyre, so completing his half of the bargain, but it never says that Nebuchadrez’zar would take the island city.

Why do some think the prophecy wasn't fulfilled? Nowhere in the prophecy is Alexander even alluded to. The only King talked about is Nebuchadrez’zar The prophecy does say 'many nations' will attack Tyre, but as the prophecy is concentrating on Nebuchadrez’zar then the 'many nations' are his armies, which were immense for that time and made up of people from lots of different countries (see Judith 1 from the Apocrypha) and the following description of Nebuchadrez’zar’s army from Mathew Henry’s Commentary in 1 Volume, Pg 1063:

"An army made up of many nations or one nation that shall be as strong as nations"

In 2 Kings it is also clear that the army of Nebuchadrez’zar can be consiudered ‘many nations’:

24:1 In his days King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up; Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

2 Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, bands of the Arameans, bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites; he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he spoke by his servants the prophets.

The prophecy also only describes destruction, in no place does it mention any construction – to say anything about construction is again using human interpretation, so Alexanders causeway is never mentioned in the prophecy. The prophecy talks about the 'towns' on the mainland being attacked by Nebuchadrez’zar (Ezek 26:8). These will be the ones in the vicinity of Tyre that Jesus visited (Mat 15:21). The prophecy then says that Nebuchadrez’zars army will attack 'the CITY' (Ezek 26:9-10) This obviously means the city of Tyre, and it is talking about Nebuchadrez’zars army without a doubt at this point. It says that this army will plunder the riches (Ezek 26:12), which, as is seen later (Ezek 29:18) DID NOT HAPPEN. Let us assume though, for the sake of argument that the prophecy is about a leader 300 years in the future, who takes Tyre using rubble from the old city. The final reason why this prophecy has never come true is the fact that as it says in Ezek 26:14 '...The city will never be rebuilt. I, the Soveriegn Lord have spoken.'. Tyre is alive and well. In fact about 360 years after Alexander 'fulfilled' the prophecy, Paul traveled to Tyre, and the ship he was on had cargo unshipped at the port (Acts 21:3). In modern times, Michael Wood recently made a series of programmes 'In Alexanders Footsteps' where he discusses the fall of Tyre and shows how the causeway that Alexander built has changed Tyre from an island into a peninsula, the bustling city of Tyre continues, unaware it should never have been rebuilt 2,300 years ago.

Ezekiel 29

18: "Son of man, Nebuchadrez'zar king 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 labor that he had performed against it. 19: Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrez'zar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20: I have given him the land of Egypt as his recompense for which he labored, because they worked for me, says the Lord GOD.

The Lord PROMISED Nebuchadrez'zar that because he didn’t take Tyre (which The Lord had prophecied he would take!) he would let him take Egypt instead. In fact, Nebuchadrez'zar’s attack was to leave Egypt desolate for 40 years (Ezek 29:12) and the way over the next few chapters the prophecy entwines Nebuchadrez'zar and the desolation it is clear that it was Nebuchad-rez'zar himself who would do this. Nebuchadrez'zar NEVER took Egypt. God did not fulfill his promise. I could be proved wrong, of course. Somewhere there must be evidence that the following occurred: "No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years".