Notes
on Bible Places from your weekly Bible study
compiled by Mark Mohlenbrock
An overview
of the geographical places mentioned in the Bible from your weekly
Bible study. Main entries are from [E] M.G. Easton
M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897 [S] Smith's
Bible Dictionary which has been used by students of the Bible
since it's introduction in the 1860's and [H] Holman Bible Dictionary published by Broadman & Holman, 1991. Other references and links
are noted.
Beautiful Gate:
[E] the name of one of the gates of the temple (Acts 3:2). It is supposed
to have been the door which led from the court of the Gentiles
to the court of the women. It was of massive structure, and covered
with plates of Corinthian brass.
[ISBE] The Temple of Herod had nine gates. The "Gate of Nicanor",
or "Corinthian Gate", is undoubtedly "the Beautiful
Gate" of Ac 3:2,10. This principal gate received its names
from being the gift of a wealthy Alexandrian Jew, Nicanor, and
from its being made of Corinthian brass. It was of great size--50
cubits high and 40 cubits wide--and was richly adorned, its brass
glittering like gold.
[Bible-History.com] Going beyond the Court of the Gentiles stood the magnificent 60
foot wide "Gate Beautiful" mentioned in Acts 3:2,10.
It was also referred to as the "Gate Susan" because
it contained a beautifully sculptured relief of the city of Susa.
During the time of the morning and evening sacrifices this great
entrance was the place of public worship.
Additional
references:
Tyre:
[E] a
rock, now es-Sur; an ancient Phoenician city, about 23 miles,
in a direct line, north of Acre, and 20 south of Sidon. Sidon
was the oldest Phoenician city, but Tyre had a longer and more
illustrious history. The commerce of the whole world was gathered
into the warehouses of Tyre. "Tyrian merchants were the first
who ventured to navigate the Mediterranean waters; and they founded
their colonies on the coasts and neighbouring islands of the AEgean
Sea, in Greece, on the northern coast of Africa, at Carthage and
other places, in Sicily and Corsica, in Spain at Tartessus, and
even beyond the pillars of Hercules at Gadeira (Cadiz)" (Driver's
Isaiah). In the time of David a friendly alliance was entered
into between the Hebrews and the Tyrians, who were long ruled
over by their native kings (2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Kings 5:1;
2Chr 2:3).
Tyre consisted of two distinct parts, a rocky fortress on the
mainland, called "Old Tyre," and the city, built on
a small, rocky island about half-a-mile distant from the shore.
It was a place of great strength. It was besieged by Shalmaneser,
who was assisted by the Phoenicians of the mainland, for five
years, and by Nebuchadnezzar (B.C. 586-573) for thirteen years,
apparently without success. It afterwards fell under the power
of Alexander the Great, after a siege of seven months, but continued
to maintain much of its commercial importance till the Christian
era. It is referred to in Matthew 11:21 and Acts 12:20. In A.D.
1291 it was taken by the Saracens, and has remained a desolate
ruin ever since.
"The purple dye of Tyre had a worldwide celebrity on account
of the durability of its beautiful tints, and its manufacture
proved a source of abundant wealth to the inhabitants of that
city."
Both Tyre and Sidon "were crowded with glass-shops, dyeing
and weaving establishments; and among their cunning workmen not
the least important class were those who were celebrated for the
engraving of precious stones." (2 Chronicles 2:7,14).
The wickedness and idolatry of this city are frequently denounced
by the prophets, and its final destruction predicted (Isaiah 23:1;
Jeremiah 25:22; Ezek. 26; 28:1-19; Amos 1:9,10; Zechariah 9:2-4).
Here a church was founded soon after the death of Stephen, and
Paul, on his return from his third missionary journey spent a
week in intercourse with the disciples there (Acts 21:4). Here
the scene at Miletus was repeated on his leaving them. They all,
with their wives and children, accompanied him to the sea-shore.
The sea-voyage of the apostle terminated at Ptolemais, about 38
miles from Tyre. Thence he proceeded to Caesarea (Acts 21:5-8).
"It is noticed on monuments as early as B.C. 1500, and claiming,
according to Herodotus, to have been founded about B.C. 2700.
It had two ports still existing, and was of commercial importance
in all ages, with colonies at Carthage (about B.C. 850) and all
over the Mediterranean. It was often attacked by Egypt and Assyria,
and taken by Alexander the Great after a terrible siege in B.C.
332. It is now a town of 3,000 inhabitants, with ancient tombs
and a ruined cathedral. A short Phoenician text of the fourth
century B.C. is the only monument yet recovered."
[S] (a rock ), a celebrated commercial city of Phoenicia, on the coast
of the Mediterranean. Its Hebrew name, Tzor , signifies a rock;
which well agrees with the site of Sur , the modern town, on a
rocky peninsula, formerly an island. There is no doubt that, previous
to the siege of the city by Alexander the Great, Tyre was situated
on an island; but, according to the tradition of the inhabitants,
there was a city on the mainland before there was a city on the
island; and the tradition receives some color from the name of
Palaetyrus, or Old Tyre, which was borne in Greek times by a city
on the continent, thirty stadia to the south. Notices in the Bible
. --In the Bible Tyre is named for the first time in the of Joshua,
ch. (Joshua 19:29) where it is adverted to as a fortified city
(in the Authorized Version "the strong city") in reference
to the boundaries of the tribe of Asher, But the first passages
in the Hebrew historical writings, or in ancient history generally,
which actual glimpses of the actual condition of Tyre are in the
book of Samuel, (2 Samuel 6:11) in connection with Hiram
king of Tyre sending cedar wood and workmen to David, for building
him a palace; and subsequently in the book of Kings, in connection
with the building of Solomon’s temple. It is evident that
under Solomon there was a close alliance between the Hebrews and
the Tyrians. Hiram supplied Solomon with cedar wood, precious
metals and workmen, and gave him sailors for the voyage to Ophir
and India, while on the other hand Solomon gave Hiram supplies
of corn and oil, ceded to him some cities, and permitted him to
make use of some havens on the Red Sea. (1 Kings 9:11-14;
26-28; 10:22) These friendly relations survived for a time the
disastrous secession of the ten tribes, and a century later Ahab
married a daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, (1 Kings
16:31) who, according to Menander, was daughter of Ithobal king
of Tyre. When mercantile cupidity induced the Tyrians and the
neighboring Phoenicians to buy Hebrew captives from their enemies,
and to sell them as slaves to the Greeks and Edomites, there commenced
denunciations, and at first threats of retaliation. (Joel 3:4-8;
Amos 1:9,10) When Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, had taken the
city of Samaria, had conquered the kingdom of Israel, and carried
its inhabitants into captivity, he laid siege to Tyre, which,
however, successfully resisted his arms. It is in reference to
this siege that the prophecy against Tyre in Isaiah, (Isaiah 23:1)
... was uttered. After the siege of Tyre by Shalmaneser (which
must have taken place not long after 721 B.C.). Tyre remained
a powerful state, with its own kings, (Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; Ezekiel
28:2-12) remarkable for its wealth, with territory on the mainland,
and protected by strong fortifications. (Ezekiel 26:4,6,8,10,12;
27:11; 28:5; Zechariah 9:3) Our knowledge of its condition thenceforward
until the siege by Nebuchadnezzar depends entirely on various
notices of it by the Hebrew prophets; but some of these notices
are singularly full, and especially the twenty-seventh chapter
of Ezekiel furnishes us, on some points, with details such as
have scarcely come down to us respecting any one city of antiquity
excepting Rome and Athens. Siege by Nebuchadnezzar . --In the
midst of great prosperity and wealth, which was the natural result
of extensive trade, (Ezekiel 28:4) Nebuchadnezzar, at the head
of an army of the Chaldees, invaded Judea and captured Jerusalem.
As Tyre was so near to Jerusalem, and as the conquerors were a
fierce and formidable race, (Habakkuk 1:6) It would naturally
he supposed that this event would have excited alarm and terror
amongst the Tyrians. Instead of this, we may infer from Ezekiel’s
statement, (Ezekiel 26:2) that their predominant feeling was one
of exultation. At first sight this appears strange and almost
inconceivable; but it is rendered intelligible by some previous
events in Jewish history. Only 34 years before the destruction
of Jerusalem commenced the celebrated reformation of Josiah, B.C.
622. This momentous religious revolution, (2 Kings 22:1;
2 Kings 23:1) ... fully explains the exultation and malevolence
of the Tyrians. In that reformation Josiah had heaped insults
on the gods who were the objects of Tyrian veneration and love.
Indeed, he seemed to have endeavored to exterminate their religion.
(2 Kings 23:20) These acts must have been regarded by the
Tyrians as a series of sacrilegious and abominable outrages; and
we can scarcely doubt that the death in battle of Josiah at Megiddo
and the subsequent destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem,
were hailed by them with triumph and retribution in human affairs.
This joy, as instances of divine retribution in human affairs.
This joy, however, must soon have given way to other feelings,
when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Phoenicia and laid siege to Tyre.
That siege lasted thirteen years, and it is still a disputed point
whether Tyre was actually taken by Nebuchadnezzar on this occasion.
However this may be, it is probable that, on some terms or other,
Tyre submitted to the Chaldees. The rule of Nebuchadnezzar over
Tyre, though real, may have been light, and in the nature of an
alliance. Attack by the Persians; Capture by Alexander . --During
the Persian domination the Tyrians were subject in name to the
Persian king and may have given him tribute. With the rest of
Phoenicia they had submitted to the Persians without striking
a blow. Toward the close of the following century, B.C. 332, Tyre
was assailed for the third time by a great conqueror. At that
time Tyre was situated on an island nearly half a mile from the
mainland; it was completely surrounded by prodigious walls, the
loftiest portion of which on the side fronting the mainland reached
a height of not less than 150 feet; and notwithstanding the persevering
efforts of Alexander, he could not have succeeded in his attempt
if the harbor of Tyre to the north had not been blockaded by the
Cyprians and that to the south by the Phoenicians, thus affording
an opportunity to Alexander for uniting the Island to the mainland
by an; enormous artificial mole. (The materials for this he obtained
from the remains of old Tyre scraping the very dust from her rocks
into the sea, as prophesied by Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 26:3,4,12,21)
more than 250 years before.) The immediate results of the capture
by Alexander were most disastrous to Tyre, as its brave defenders
were put to death; and in accordance with the barbarous policy
of ancient times, 30,000 of its inhabitants, including slaves,
free females and free children, were sold as slaves. It gradually,
how ever, recovered its prosperity through the immigration of
fresh settlers, though its trade is said to have suffered by the
vicinity and rivalry of Alexandria. Under the Macedonian successors
of Alexander it shared the fortunes of the Seleucidae. Under the
Romans, at first it enjoyed a kind of freedom. Subsequently, however,
on the arrival of Augustus in the East, he is said to have deprived
both Tyre and Sidon of their liberties for seditious conduct.
Still the prosperity of Tyre in the time of Augustus was undeniably
great. Strabo gives an account of it at that period, speaks of
the great wealth which it derived from the dyes of the celebrated
Tyrian purple which, as is well known were extracted from shell-fish
found on the coast, belonging to a species of the genus Murex
. Tyre in the time of Christ and since. --When visited by Christ,
(Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:24) Tyre was perhaps more populous than
Jerusalem, and if so, it was undoubtedly the largest city which the saviour is known to have visited. At the time of the crusades
it was still a flourishing; city, when if surrendered to the Christians
on the 27th of June 1144. It continued more than a century and
a half in the hands of Christians, but was deserted by its inhabitants
in A.D. 1291 upon the conquest of Acre (Ptolemais) by the sultan
of Egypt and Damascus. This was the turning-point in the history
of Tyre, which has never recovered from the blow. Its present
condition is a fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy (Ezekiel
28:5) It contains, according to Volney, 50 or 60 poor families,
who live in part by fishing; and is, as Bruce describes it, "rock
whereon fishers dry their nets."
Additional
references:
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