Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-05-26
SUNDAY-sCHOOL LESSON.
SUNDAY. June I. Ezekiel % TIA.

kIug I
Of kings from the NORTH with horses and with char
lots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much
people.
s. He shall STAY with the sword thy daughter in the
field; and he shall make fort against thee, and cast
mount against thee and lift up the buckler against
thee.
O. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls
and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
10. By of the abundance of his horses their
dust shall cover thee; thy walls shall shake at the
noise of the horsemen and of the Wheels and of the
chariots. when he shall enter into city wherein is
made breach.
H. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down
all thy streets; he shall sly thy people by the sword
and thy strong garrsons shall go down to the ground
H. And they shall make spoil of thy riches, and
make prey Of thy merchandise and they shall break
down thy walls and destroy thy pleasant houses: and
they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust
Is. And 1 will cause the noise of thy songs to
cease and the sound of thy harps shall be no more
heard.
IL And will make thee like the top of a rock:
thou shalt be place to spread nets upon; thou shalt
be built for thee Lord have spoken it, saith
the Lord God
Ezekiel was one of the four greater
prophets. He was priest, the son of
Buzz, and entered upon his calling as a
prophet sin the thirtieth year, in the
fourth month";" which is understood to
mean the thirtieth year from the new
era of Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchad-
nezzar, who began to reign B. G. 625.
He was carried to Babylon in the cap
tivity of Jehoiachim, about eleven years
before the destruction of Jerusalem.
There he lived in house by the banks
of the Chebar. river of Babylonia. He
was married, but lost his wife, the
"desire of his eyes," by sudden death.
He was held in high esteem by his CON-
panions in exile, and was consulted by
their elders on all occasions. AS the
last date he mentions is the twenty
oovouth year or MS captivity, it is sup
posed he did not long survive that period,
so that his prophetic mission probably
continued for about twenty-five years.
This ancient city, whose fate was so
graphically pictured by Ezekiel, was
situated in Phoenicia, on the eastern
coast, of the Mediterranean Sea. 1t was
one of the chief commercial cities of
antiquity. The date of its foundation
is unknown. Herodotus, on the author
ity of the Tyrian priests, says it was
founded 1850 B. c., or before the Flood {!
Josephus makes the date 23O years be-
fore the building of Solomon's temple.
There were two towns-Palae-Tyrus,
or old Tyre, on the main land, and
another part on an island less than a
mile in length. and separated from the
shore by strait about half a mile in
breadth. 1t is not improbable, notwith-
standing the prefix "old," that the town
on the mainland was the less ancient
of the two. A temple on the island is
declared to have been the most ancient
of all temples within the memory of
mankind. To save space the houses on
the island, unlike the ordinary Oriental
house, were built of many stories. There
were two harbors on the northern and
southern sides, called the Sidonian and
Egyptian, partly natural partly artificial.
They could be closed by boom, and were
connected by canal running through the
city. Thus Tyre was we'll fitted both for
commerce and self-defence.
The first Scriptural mention of Tyre
is in Joshua xix. 20, where it is spoken
of as "the strong city," in connection
with the boundaries of Asher. The
Phoenicians were not, however, disturbed
in their possessions. although idolaters,
and were for long period closely allied
with the Israelires, as shown in the re-
lations existing between Hiram and
David and Solomon.
After Shalmaneser, king of Assyria,
had carried Israel into captivity, he laid
siege to Tyre, but after an obstinate
contest of five years, the Assyrians seem
to have withdrawn. Later on, it was
assaulted by Nebuchadnezzar, who be-
sieged it for thirteen years. The result
of this prolonged siege is not definitely
known; but the city was evidently so
weakened by it that. with the rest of
Phoenicia, it easily yielded to the power
of Persia, and became subject, in name
at least, to the Persian king. Again it
was besieged by Alexander the Great,
after the conquest of Persia. Tyre at
that time was confined to her rocky site
sin the midst of the SEAS" and was
surrounded by prodigious walls, which,
toward the land, lowered to the height
of one hundred and fifty feet. Car.
thage and Persia lent their aid to the
Tyrians, and as Alexander had no fleet
at first, he was for time completely
batfied. But at last after many failures
a mole was constructed across the strait,
feet was gathered which blockaded
the harbors, and by combined attack
of the land and naval forces, the city
was taken and given to the flames, B. c.
1872. Eight thousand of the population
were put to death, thirty thousand sold
into slavery, and two thousand were
cruciied in revenge for the murder Of
certain Macedonians during the siege.
After Alexander's death, Tyre passed
under the power of the Seleucidae then
went to the Romans became strong.
hold of the Moslems, was besieged and
taken by the Crusaders in ll24 A. D.