294 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH
Ten thousand of its brave defenders were either massacred or crucified, the rest were sold into slavery, and none escaped save those who were concealed by the Sidonians in the ships. O. Curtius adds distinctly that Alexander having slain all save those who fled to the temples, ordered the houses to be set on fire. l
" The city of Tyre was afterwards repeopled by fresh settlers, and recovered some of its prosperity. During the reigns of the Seleucidian monarchs it rose again to consider able importance. But the prophecy of Zechariah had been fulfilled to the letter. The city lost its insular position ; for the mole of Alexander was never removed, and covered over and strengthened by the deposits of sand and other matter, it remains even to this day a monument of the execution of the Divine wrath upon the proud, luxurious, and idolatrous city." 2
But the burden of judgment travels south. The over throw of the Phoenician stronghold and the approach of the powerful enemy greatly terrifies Philistia : " Ashkelon shall see it (or let Ashkelon see it } and fear ; Gaza also shall be sore pained (or greatly tremble ) ; and Ekron, for her expectation (or her hope ) shall be ashamed ; and a king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited (or shall not abide }. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines."
Only four of the five capital cities of the Philistines are mentioned, Gath being usually omitted in the later prophets, perhaps because it belonged, for a time at any rate, to the kingdom of Judah, and was, according to some, ultimately incorporated with it.
The order in which these Philistine cities are named is the same as in Jer. xxv., which prophecy was certainly not unknown to Zechariah.
1 There is a full and graphic account of the siege and capture of Tyre by Alexander in Professor George Rawlinson s Phoenicia ("The Story of the Nations " Series), pp. 216-236.
3 At present Tyre, now called Sur, is an unimportant place with 6000 inhabit ants, about half of whom are Moslems and the rest Latin Christians and " United Catholics."
