Tag Archives: Siege of Tyre

Military Actions as an Economic Decision in the Ancient World

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Battle between Cimmerian cavalry, their war dogs, and Greek hoplites, depicted on a Pontic plate

Military Actions as an Economic Decision in the Ancient World

War is expensive. It has always been costly to raise and equip an army, supply them during their movements and sieges. War also has a high price on the productivity of the land involved. Fields may be burned or lay dormant. Farmers are removed from the fields to serve in the army. Timber and earth are removed to build siege engines and siege works. Soldiers also require pay for their time and services. Unfortunately, war often exacts a high price from those who are innocent bystanders. Property is destroyed, families are shattered, women may become victims of rape, and in ancient times one of the primary places where slaves are taken is as a prize of conquest.

In the ancient world war was both expensive to persecute and a profitable enterprise. The primary basis of wealth in the ancient world was land, and when an empire could expand the land that it occupied it could increase the wealth it acquired from that land. One option that territories could take when an army approached was to become a vassal territory, paying tribute to the empire or king to give itself the guarantee of peace. If a territory resisted then the sack of a city would bring out both the wealth of the city in gold, silver, and other precious items (often stored in temples or noble dwelling places) but also the stored agricultural products. As mentioned above the slave trade was also a part of the economic system in the ancient world, and cities like Tyre were places where slaves were sold. Certain cities, like Jerusalem or Tyre and Sidon, would give access to frequently used land or maritime trade routes which were also sources of wealth.

Although pride and egos certainly played a part in conflict in the ancient world, so did economics. The Babylonians in their siege of Tyre, which is reported to have lasted thirteen years, would have expended an excessive amount of capital and yet failed to capture the city. It is plausible that the city agreed to become a vassal of Babylon, giving access to its ports as well as tribute but it is also plausible that this was ultimately a loss of resources for Babylon. It would be in Tyre’s interest to end the siege, even if the city was in no imminent danger of falling, to have access to both overland trading routes and renewed access to their ‘daughter cities’ which provided the food and water for the city. Tyre could import food and water, perhaps from Egypt, but this would be at a much higher cost.

For most of history war was looked on as an economic decision. An empire, like Assyria or Babylon, constantly searched for more resources and revenue but also had to balance that with maintaining control over their territory they already controlled. There were always forces both external and internal who looked for weakness and attempted to weaken the hold of these large empires on their vassals. The actions of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Samaria, Tyre, or even Jerusalem in this time often have economic considerations.

Ezekiel 26 Against Tyre

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Prophesied Destruction of Tyre By John Martin – -gF2vHlFlZ8p2A at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21880083

Ezekiel 26

1In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2Mortal, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem,
“Aha, broken is the gateway of the peoples;
it has swung open to me;
I shall be replenished,
now that it is wasted,”
3therefore, thus says the Lord GOD:
See, I am against you, O Tyre!
I will hurl many nations against you,
as the sea hurls its waves.
4They shall destroy the walls of Tyre
and break down its towers.
I will scrape its soil from it
and make it a bare rock.
5It shall become, in the midst of the sea,
a place for spreading nets.
I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.
It shall become plunder for the nations,
6and its daughter-towns in the country
shall be killed by the sword.
Then they shall know that I am the LORD.
7For thus says the Lord GOD: I will bring against Tyre from the north King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, king of kings, together with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a great and powerful army.
8Your daughter-towns in the country
he shall put to the sword.
He shall set up a siege wall against you,
cast up a ramp against you,
and raise a roof of shields against you.
9He shall direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls
and break down your towers with his axes.
10His horses shall be so many
that their dust shall cover you.
At the noise of cavalry, wheels, and chariots
your very walls shall shake,
when he enters your gates
like those entering a breached city.
11With the hoofs of his horses
he shall trample all your streets.
He shall put your people to the sword,
and your strong pillars shall fall to the ground.
12They will plunder your riches
and loot your merchandise;
they shall break down your walls
and destroy your fine houses.
Your stones and timber and soil
they shall cast into the water.
13I will silence the music of your songs;
the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.
14I will make you a bare rock;
you shall be a place for spreading nets.
You shall never again be rebuilt,
for I the LORD have spoken,
says the Lord GOD.
15Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter goes on within you? 16Then all the princes of the sea shall step down from their thrones; they shall remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They shall clothe themselves with trembling, and shall sit on the ground; they shall tremble every moment, and be appalled at you. 17And they shall raise a lamentation over you, and say to you:
How you have vanished from the seas,
O city renowned,
once mighty on the sea,
you and your inhabitants,
who imposed your terror
on all the mainland!
18Now the coastlands tremble
on the day of your fall;
the coastlands by the sea
are dismayed at your passing.
19For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a city laid waste, like cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of long ago, and I will make you live in the world below, among primeval ruins, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you will not be inhabited or have a place in the land of the living. 21I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more; though sought for, you will never be found again, says the Lord GOD.

In contrast to the relatively brief oracles against Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia, Tyre receives a sprawling collection of oracles only eclipsed by Ezekiel’s words against Egypt. Tyre and their partner Sidon had been present in the discussion of envoys in Jeremiah 27: 1-7 and continued to resist Babylon even after the fall of Jerusalem. Egypt and Tyre become the only two powers left to resist the Babylonians, and Tyre’s position as a major trading site made it an attractive but difficult target for the Babylonians.

If you visit Tyre in modern day Lebanon it is a peninsula, but at this point Tyre was an island roughly six hundred yards from the coastline. It has two ports, one facing north towards Sidon (twenty-five miles away) and one facing south towards Egypt and Africa. Tyre as a city has ancient origins but began its “golden age” under Hiram I (969-936 BCE). This coincided with the golden age of the Davidic monarchy under David and Solomon, and both partnered with Hiram I. Hiram provided material and masons to build David’s house (2 Samuel 5:11) and would later provide material and masons for Solomon’s ambitious building projects. (1 Kings 5) Solomon gained great wealth copying the practices of Tyre, but this also brought about Solomon’s demise as his adoption of the economic practices brought him into alliances by marriage and the adoption of the worship of his wives. Tyre would later form alliances with Samaria, most famously with King Ahab who marries the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians (whose throne was in Tyre).[1] Tyre often receives condemnation in the Bible for its commercial wealth, but they were often allied with Judah and Israel for trade.

The dating of this oracle against Tyre is incomplete and there is no straightforward way to resolve its intended date. In the date there is no month, and the fall of Jerusalem comes in the eleventh year of King Zedekiah in the fourth month on the ninth day.[2] Presumably this is a time close to the fall of Jerusalem, which fits with what we know about the beginning of Nebuchadrezzar’s siege of Tyre. If Daniel Block’s hypothesis that it is the first day eleventh month of the eleventh year (February 3, 585 BCE), then you can fix an exact date. (Block, 1998, p. 35) Yet, a date within a year of the fall of Jerusalem makes sense and is close enough for any reasonable attempt at dating, especially since the siege of Tyre lasts for thirteen years according to ancient sources.

Tyre’s offense is seeing an opportunity for profit in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s demise. Jerusalem is a central location for overland trade between Egypt and Africa in the south and Babylon, Cyprus, and Greece to the north and east. Although Jerusalem and Tyre had a mutually beneficial trading relationship in the past, Tyre may see the unrest on the overland routes in the countries along the Eastern Mediterranean as a boon to their maritime trading. Yet, for Ezekiel this schadenfreude exhibited by the residents of Tyre is the reason for the LORD’s condemnation of them.

Initially the opponent against Tyre is the LORD the God of Israel directly. God hurls the nations at Tyre like the sea breaking against the rock of the island. God personally scrapes the soil from the island making it a bare rock while the nations break down the walls and towers that protect the city. Tyre will become the plunder for the nations, and the ‘daughter-towns’ which are the land cities which provide the water and food the city requires are killed by the sword. The first oracle ends with the declaration that amid this destruction the people of Tyre will know that the one who has brought about their destruction in the LORD. The sovereignty of God is an important point for Ezekiel but throughout the book the nations are never streaming to the LORD in adoration, only in subjugation.

The second oracle begins with announcing the tool that the LORD will use in this judgment: Nebuchadrezzar. This is the first time the King of Babylon is mentioned by name. He brings his military might against the city. The description of siege warfare is detailed and reflective of practices of the day for assaulting a city on land. Yet, the issue is that Tyre is an island, and it is nearly impossible to set up a ramp against an island fortress or bring the battering ram to bear. In contrast to the expectations of Ezekiel, the siege of Tyre lasted for thirteen years but the city is never captured or destroyed. Nebuchadrezzar at the end of the siege deported the king of Tyre and exacted tribute, but the city would not be destroyed until Alexander the Great created a land bridge and captured the city in 332 BCE. The land bridge continued to gather deposits from the sea and now forms the peninsula that connects Tyre to the coast of Lebanon. Ezekiel acknowledges the failed siege of Tyre and promises Egypt as a payment to Nebuchadrezzar in Ezekiel 29: 17-20.

A lament for the city of Tyre begins in verse fifteen. The princes of the sea may be kings and rulers who traded with Tyre, or they may be merchants who made their living off the trade through their ports. The imagined removal of Tyre as a trading partner and a military power in the region causes the surrounding region to tremble and mourn. A similar tone is struck in Revelation 18 at the lament over Babylon (which is significantly longer than this short lament).

The final declaration of God in this chapter brings mythological language into the destruction of Tyre. God brings up the deep (Hebrew tehom) over them. Tehom is often used in scripture as the cosmic waters or chaos that can resist God or can be that which creation is pulled from, but here it becomes a tool like Nebuchadrezzar utilized for God’s judgment. After the deep comes over the city the residents go down to the Pit, the place of the dead. As a place of the dead, it is not necessarily a place of torment, like the much later notion of hell, but it is a place that separates the living from the dead. Here it is a ruin separated from the dwelling places of the living. The chapter closes with the first instance of “I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more; though sought for, you will never be found again” which structurally helps provide a marker for these three chapters of words against Tyre. Tyre, like Ammon and Moab, is to be no more in this prophecy.

Like the previous chapter with its oracles against the nations surrounding Judah, this is the cry of a conquered people attempting to make sense of their place with God and the nations. Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed and yet the nations who taunt them seem to prosper. The only person they can turn to for vengeance in their humiliation is their God. These chapters are difficult as a modern reader. Troubling for some readers is the reality that the events described by Ezekiel do not occur as the prophet foresaw.  Other readers may be troubled by the portrayal of a vengeful God. Yet, our struggles with this text are miniscule compared to the struggle to reinterpret the faith of the people of Judah in the aftermath of the destruction of their society.

 

[1] Tyre and Sidon are often mentioned together and often the term Sidonians refers to both.

[2] 2 Kings 25:3, Jeremiah 39:3.