Do we have any answer, catch-all or case-by-case, to answer claims that certain Biblical prophecies have failed to come true - like
these? (Warning: Whomever wrote this article was rather much a smart-aleck about it.)
Tyre is one I’ve got covered. Any answers to the others?
Re: the Tyre prophesy, if you read all of chapter 26 the destruction of the entire city wasn’t predicted but only the destruction of the mainland – see especially verses 6 and 8. This happened. Here are some links that others have found helpful in demonstrating that this is historically accurate:
Re: the Egypt prophesy, the desolation and conquering of Egypt did happen in accordance with the prophesy, but the atheist misinterprets some of that and that misinterpretation results in confusion. First, part of the atheist’s confusion is that he thinks that Nebuchadnezzar was prophesied to do all the things in the prophesy. That’s not true. Civil war, emigration, and changing social conditions all played their part. The text doesn’t deny any of that. Second, the portion of Egypt that it decrees desolation upon is the portion “from the tower of Syene unto the border of Ethiopia” – Eze. 29:10. I don’t know why the atheist failed to research this, but Christian commentators have done their research and shown from history and archeology that that isn’t the whole of Egypt. Look up verse 10 at
this commentary, which says:
according to Herodotus (i), Syene was a city of Thebais, where he was told were two mountains, which gave rise to the Nile. Pliny (k) says it was six hundred twenty five miles from Alexandria; and it is by him, as well as Strabo (l), placed under the tropic of Cancer; who both say, in the summer solstice, at noon, no shadow is cast there; to which the poet Lucan (m) refers, It is now called Essuaen; which city, as Mr. Norden
says, who lately travelled in those parts, is situated on the eastern shore of the Nile; and he relates that there remain still some marks of the place where the ancient city stood; as to the rest, it is so covered with earth, that there is nothing but rubbish, from which, in some places, one would judge that there were formerly magnificent buildings here. The utter destruction of which, with the rest of Egypt prophesied of, appears to have been fulfilled. … Josephus (s) says the south border of Egypt is Syene, which separates it from Ethiopia; and that between Pelusium (the entrance of Egypt) and Syene are two hundred and fifty miles. It lay between Egypt and Ethiopia, so that it might seem doubtful to which it belonged. Nebuchadnezzar had the victory there, thus bringing the sword, and destroying the town in that area, which is why it is in ruins.
Second, the population of Egypt emigrated partly, not entirely, and this was due to several factors, including civil war. We are aware that Ezekiel 29:11 makes it sound like a complete depopulation; this isn’t the only place in the Bible where poetic exaggeration is used as an excuse for saying that the Bible is full of errors; that’s something apologists have dealt with for hundreds of years, and if you want to see some resources that explain why exaggeration occurs and how that isn’t the same thing as errors, I can refer you to that; but once you admit the principle that poetic exaggeration is not the same as error, the objection that Egypt was never wholly uninhabited falls apart. Apart from that, you’ll notice that the atheist doesn’t mention that the depopulation was supposed to last 40 years according to Eze. 29:11-14, after which it would go into captivity, and that was fulfilled: Cyrus king of Persia conquered Babylon 43 years after that prophesy and fulfilled it. So not only do the prophesies regarding Tyre and Egypt line up with history, they are both very good examples of Biblical prophesy coming true.
Cont’d next post.
