TYRE WAS the great maritime trading empire of the ancient world and the city that sent out the colonists who founded Carthage in North Africa, a city infamous for child sacrifice.

This week, we lay more historical foundation for why we connect “the iniquity of the Amorites” to end times prophecy. The Phoenicians of Tyre were just Amorites who established a powerful city-state on the coast of Lebanon. “Phoenicia” is based on a Greek word for “purple,” because of the rare purple dye that became the symbol of royalty and made Tyre very rich.

Ezekiel connected Tyre to the region of Bashan and Mount Hermon, which was the prophet’s way of calling out the spiritual wickedness of the city. Three centuries before Ezekiel, Tyre had been the birthplace of Ahab’s notorious wife Jezebel, who is still remembered for her wickedness more than 2,800 years after her death.

The connection between Tyre, the Amorites, and the Book of Revelation will be made clear next week when we drill down into the comparisons between the lament over Tyre in Ezekiel 27 and John’s lament for Babylon in Revelation 18.