Tyre
City · Tyre → Tyre, Lebanon
A wealthy Phoenician port. Its trade and pride drew the prophets’ words of judgment.
People
- Hiram
- David
- Solomon
- Ezekiel
- Jesus
- Paul
At a glance
- Realm
- Phoenicia
- Role
- Great Phoenician sea-trade port
- Peoples
- Phoenicians (Canaanites)
- First mention
- Joshua 19 (the strong city Tyre)
The story
Tyre was the queen of the Phoenician ports, part on the mainland and part on a fortified island just offshore, and her merchant ships carried her purple dye and her cedar across the whole Mediterranean. Her wealth made her proud, and the prophets pictured her as a splendid trading vessel loaded with the riches of the nations.
Her king Hiram was a friend to David and to Solomon and sent cedar, gold, and skilled craftsmen to build the temple. Yet Ezekiel foretold that her stones and timber would be scraped into the sea, a word men saw come true when Alexander built a causeway out to storm the island, and to the borders of Tyre Jesus once withdrew and healed a Gentile woman’s daughter.
Through the eras
- The United Kingdom · at its height. Hiram of Tyre sent cedars and craftsmen to David and Solomon for the house of the LORD.
- Divided Kingdoms · at its height. Queen of the sea trade; her ships planted colonies across the Great Sea.
- The Exile · standing. Nebuchadnezzar pressed the island city thirteen years, yet it stood.
- The Return · standing. Tyre and Sidon again shipped cedar for the Second Temple.