3. Pride and Fall of Babylon...
Pride and Fall of Babylon, Pride and Fall of Lucifer The Literary Form In Use:
DOUBLE REFERENCE
Initially, the Eze 28:1-26 passage zooms in on one person, and then it fades out until [obviously] a second person is being talked about. That is called a double reference and it occurs all the time in the Scriptures, particularly in the Psalms. For Example: Psa 16:1-11, A Psalm of David In Psa 16:1-11, David says that God is going to protect him: You will preserve me and You will protect me. However, in verse 10, David says: For You will not abandon my soul to the grave;
I ask you something: Did David go to the grave? Yes.
Neither will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. Your Holy One means he was set apart by God. At Pentecost, Peter quoted this Psalm when he says David said I will not go to the grave and I will not decay. But then, pointing to David’s tomb, Peter says something interesting:
Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Acts 2:29 What was Peter’s point in telling everyone that he was confident that David was in the grave? In the beginning of Psa 16:1-11, the psalmist zooms in as he talks about his own experience [with God]: You will preserve me from my enemies. Yes, great! You will protect me. Again, yes. You will not send me to the grave. What? All of a sudden it does not fit anymore; the passage is now talking about Somebody else - about Messiah, Jesus. For Example: Psa 22:1-31: A Psalm of David In Psa 22:1-31, David is betrayed by his friends, by the people around him, and [he even feels abandoned] by God. So David begins this Psalm by describing the situation in his own life and how he is being betrayed by others. Then in verse 16, David says of his enemies:
They pierced my hands and my feet.
I think we would have known if that had happened to King David.
Again, in verse 18, he says:
They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.
David is describing himself, and then it does not fit anymore; the passage gradually fades out and all of a sudden it is talking about Somebody else - about Messiah, Jesus. For Example: Dan 11:1-45
Dan 11:21 begins a passage of prophecy about Antiochus Epiphanes (vicious ruler Syria) and an incident that would occur when he would come down to Israel and take a pig into the Holy of Holies where it was killed. However, beginning at Dan 11:36 this person does not fit anymore; obviously, the passage has telescoped out and all of a sudden it gives details of Antichrist’s future.
Back To:Eze 28:1-26
It is very probable that a double reference is exactly what is in Eze 28:1-26. The Lord God [through Ezekiel] begins by talking about the prince of Tyre, and the description is [obviously] about a human being. But then it does not fit anymore. How do we know that? The prince of Tyre:
Was not in the Garden of Eden
Did not have the seal of perfection
Was not perfect in beauty
Did not have all of those precious stones on him
Was not on the holy mountain of God
Obviously, a shift has taken place and Ezekiel is no longer talking about the human ruler of Tyre; he is talking about somebody else. It seems to me he is talking about Lucifer, the created spirit being who had the highest rank, was the most powerful, was the greatest in wisdom, and was the most beautiful of all God’s created beings.
[Eze 28:11-19 continued]
I believe that Lucifer, a created angel, was God’s high priest wearing all of those jewels, and that explains the following:
14 You were the anointed cherub who covers, The human king of Tyre would not be called the covering cherub; once again showing this is not a picture of the human leader of Tyre. The anointed cherub who covers tells us that Lucifer was one of the highest ranking angels called cherubs, and apparently, he was over all of the angels. And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
I believe this is not just a picture of Lucifer, but it is also a picture of the condition that existed before the physical universe was created. Of all the spirit beings that God created, Lucifer was the ultimate creation, but I tend to think that did not last long [or how ever you want to conceive of that condition before time]; it might have been that way for a long, long while. So what happened?
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.
Once again: In the beginning of Eze 28:1-26, the Lord God is speaking of the human leader of Tyre, and now He is not.
He says that this being was created perfect and now, unfortunately, unrighteousness was found in him.
16 By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned;
Remember that when the prince of Tyre sinned, judgment fell upon him; and that is what is going to happen here. therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub… As in the case of the prince of Tyre, his lofty position led to pride in his heart.
17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor; As we saw with the prince of Tyre, that is pride and God judges pride.
I cast you to the ground, I put you before kings, that they may see you.
19 All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have become terrible, and you will be no more. This Ezekiel passage begins by describing a human being - the leader of Tyre - and then it does not quite fit anymore. Therefore, we know it telescopes out to somebody else, and it seems to be Lucifer.
We find this very same pattern in Isa 14:1-32.
CONTEXT OFIsa 14:1-32 The context of Isa 14:1-32 is similar to that of Eze 28:1-26. Once again, there are nations that have been cruel to Israel and that have been viciously attacking Israel. God says [through Isaiah] to those nations I am going to punish you now for what you did. The Ezekiel passage talks about Tyre, and we saw what God did and how things worked together. Tyre had been cruel to Israel, so God said [to Tyre] I am going to send somebody worse than you, and then He sent Babylon to attack Tyre. Now God says All right, Babylon you have to answer to Me too, so in Isa 14:4-11 the Lord God addresses the king of Babylon The King of Babylon
Isaiah 14:4-11 4-6You will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, "How has the oppressor ceased…The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers…who ruled the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
God is telling the leader of Babylon I am going to break your staff, I am going to take your power away, and I am going to kill you. When that happens, look at what the result is going to be on earth:
7-8 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into singing. Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ’Since you are laid down, no feller (anybody who fells trees) comes up against us.’
God is saying Even the trees are going to be glad when the king of Babylon is destroyed. Not only people, not only trees, but also those in hell are going to welcome you…
9-11 Sheol is excited to meet you when you come; it arouses for you…all the leaders of the earth…
All the leaders of the earth who are down in hell… they shall speak and say unto you, ’Even you have been made weak as we? You have become like us?’ The king of Babylon is getting red carpet treatment in hell. And now there is even more good news for the king of Babylon in hell… Your pomp and music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol, maggots are spread under you, The image is of a bed: Maggots are going to be the king of Babylon’s bed. and the worms cover you. And worms are the king’s blanket. [Hmm, sounds nice on a chilly morning -sic!] Because the king of Babylon was wicked and cruel to Israel, God judged him, destroyed him, and sent him to hell. The Star of the Morning
Isa 14:12-17 Let us see if the following verse fits the leader of Babylon:
12 How you have fallen from heaven Did the leader of Babylon fall from heaven? No. This description does not fit the leader of Babylon anymore, so it appears that the passage is telescoping out to somebody else.
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
Isa 14:1-32 has been talking about the leader of Babylon, and everything said prior to verse 12 fits that human being. However, there is a shift here, is there not?
You have been cut down to earth, you who have weakened the nations! This verse is definitely talking about another person:
Somebody who is above the king of Babylon, and
Somebody who has pride in his heart.
13-14 For you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
Meaning he will be like God in the sense that he is taking over. And I will sit upon the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the most High.’ As in the Ezekiel passage, this is not just talking about a human being anymore; this is talking about Lucifer whose heart was full of pride, and God punishes pride…
15 Yet you will be thrust down to hell, to the recesses of the pit.
16 Those who see you will gaze at you, they will ponder over you, saying, ’Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world like a wilderness, and destroyed its cities; who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’"
Both passages (Eze 28:1-19 and Isa 14:4-17) begin by talking about a specific human being (Prince of Tyre and King of Babylon), and then it does not fit anymore. Obviously, the passages telescope out to another person (King of Tyre and Star of the Morning).
Note: Since there is not universal agreement among biblical scholars, I do not want to be 100 percent dogmatic about this. However, it seems to me [with almost certainty] that Lucifer - the highest of all of God’s creation who sinned, who fell, and who became Satan - is the person out to whom this Scripture is being telescoped.
Lucifer, the Anointed Cherub Who Covers In eternity [past] and before time, God created an innumerable number of angels, including Lucifer:
You were created. Eze 28:15
Lucifer was not self-existent or self-sustaining as God is, because Lucifer was created; however, he was created perfect:
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created. Eze 28:15 Lucifer was created the highest of all of the angels:
You were the anointed cherub who covers. Eze 28:14 A cherub is an angel who is always associated with the very presence of God, so Lucifer was in the very presence of God. Who covers tells us that Lucifer was the ruler [in control] of these millions and millions of angels in God’s service, and it seems to me, the prime minister [in the top position] of the entire created spiritual realm.
Lucifer was the greatest in wisdom and the greatest in beauty of any of God’s creation:
You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Eze 28:12 Do you see that Lucifer did not have horns, he did not have hooves, and he did not have a long spiked tail, he did not carry a pitchfork, and he was not ugly? He was the most beautiful angel created by God! In fact, Lucifer’s name means shining one.
Most conceptions of Lucifer, as some grotesque creature with horns, were formed in the Middle Ages from such works as:
Dante’s The Divine Comedy
Milton’s Paradise Lost
Actually, Lucifer was not that way at all - he was beautiful, and most likely, he still is though Lucifer fell and became Satan. Lucifer was the created ruler, he was beautiful, and he had a beautiful kingdom, palace or whatever kind of form it took. The kingdom was in a strategic situation, and [to extend the analogy] angels must have built it. Lucifer must have engaged in some kind of interaction with angels all around the kingdom, and when Lucifer - God’s highest creation - gave orders, every one of the angels would have followed. I think we would be amazed at the strategic position he held.