Ezekiel 28

REVIEW QUESTIONS

List five specific predictions made against Tyre. How was each fulfilled?

Who does Ezekiel name specifically as an agent of Tyre’s destruction?

What damage did Alexander the Great inflict upon Tyre?

Has the prediction about Tyre never being rebuilt been fulfilled literally?

What effect would the fall of Tyre have on her trading allies?

To what does Ezekiel liken Tyre in his allegorical dirge song?

What comparison is made between Daniel and the king of Tyre?

Why did the king of Tyre consider himself deity?

What comparison is made between the king of Tyre and Adam?

Why do some scholars think that the fall of Satan is being described in Ezekiel 28:11-19?

In what sense did the king of Tyre dwell in the garden of God? In what way could he be compared to a cherub?

What was the mountain of the gods in pagan mythology?

What was the bloody fate of Sidon?

In contrast to the destiny of Tyre and Sidon, what did Ezekiel foresee for the people of God?

How did Tyre and Sidon figure in the ministry of Jesus?

Ezekiel 28:1-10

III. THE PRINCE OF TYRE 28:1-19

The three Chapter s dealing with Tyre conclude with a vigorous attack against the prince of Tyre for his claims to deity. This attack is not to be interpreted personally of any one Tyrian king.[420] Rather the king of Tyre becomes an embodiment of the entire nation. The attitude of the prince was that of the city and vice versa. This section divides naturally into two parts: (1) the death of the prince (Ezekiel 28:1-10); and (2) the dirge over the prince (Ezekiel 28:11-19).

[420] It is conjectured that Ithobal II was ruler of Tyre in the days of Ezekiel.

A. The Death of the Prince 28:1-10

TRANSLATION

(1) And the word of the LORD came unto me saying, (2) Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord GOD: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am God, I sit in the seat of God in the heart of the seas; yet you are a man and not God, even though you consider yourself as wise as God.[421] (3) Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret can be hidden from you! (4) By your wisdom and understanding you have acquired for yourself wealth, and you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries. (5) By your great wisdom in your trading ventures you have increased your wealth, and your heart is lifted up because of your wealth. (6) Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Because you considered yourself as wise as God, (7) therefore, behold, I am about to bring strangers upon you, the most ruthless of the nations, and they shall bring their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and defile your splendor. (8) They shall thrust you down to the pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas. (9) Will You still say before the one who slays you, I am God, although you are a man and not God in the hand of those who wound you? (10) You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers; for I have spoken (oracle of the Lord GOD.

[421] Literally, you set your heart as the heart of God.

COMMENTS

Obnoxious haughtiness and national arrogance were the besetting sins of Tyre. The prince of Tyre is pictured as exalting himself to the position of God. His island fortress in the midst of the sea he regarded as a divine abode. The splendor of the place combined with its richness and isolation caused the proud monarch to regard his realm as not of this world the seat of God. In his heart (intellect) he considered himself as smart as God Himself. Yet in reality this pompous ruler was only a man, subject to all the frailties and limitations of the flesh (Ezekiel 28:2).

The prince’s claim to wisdom is not denied by the prophet. Daniel was famous for his piety (Ezekiel 14:14) and for his wisdom.[422] In the latter quality the prince of Tyre exceeded Daniel. Ezekiel is probably speaking sarcastically here. Like Daniel who could understand the dark mysteries of dream revelations, no secret could elude the prince of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:3). His wisdom in commercial transactions had resulted in the amassing of wealth into the treasuries of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:4). However, as is so often the case with those who know material success, the prince’s heart was lifted up because of those riches (Ezekiel 28:5).

[422] One can sense in Ezekiel’s references to Daniel a humble respect. Daniel for Ezekiel was the epitome of righteousness and wisdom.

Because the prince of Tyre regarded his intelligence as equal to that of God (Ezekiel 28:6), he was destined to face the wrath of the God of Israel. Foreigners the most ruthless of the nations would come against Tyre. All which the prince of Tyre had acquired through his wisdom would fall to the invading forces. The splendor of the king, considered by himself to be God-like, would be profaned by the sword (Ezekiel 28:7). The prince himself would die in the attack. His island fortress would afford no protection. He would go down to the pit (grave) with all those slain in battle (Ezekiel 28:8). Will the vainglorious, self-deified prince still proclaim his deity in the face of execution by the blade of the enemy? Obviously not! Gods do not bleed! The humanity of the prince would be perfectly obvious in that day (Ezekiel 28:9). In death all men realize their humanity. The once proud prince would be treated with the contempt reserved for uncircumcised men.[423] He would be dishonored and unlamented with no outward sign of reverence (Ezekiel 28:10). What a way for a god to go!

[423] It is unclear whether the treatment of the uncircumcised would he accorded the dead body of the prince in this world, or in Sheol, the realm of the dead. The Phoenicians practiced circumcision until their contact with the Greeks in the fourth century. The death of the uncircumcised is a threat of violent death, marked by the absence of God’s care and concern. See Hall, WBC, p. 441

Ezekiel 28:11-19

B. The Lament over the Prince 28:11-19

TRANSLATION

(11) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (12) Son of man, lift up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him: Thus says the Lord GOD: You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. (13) You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: ruby, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day you were created they were prepared. (14) You were an anointed guardian cherub; and I placed you on the holy mountain of God; you walked about in the midst of the stones of fire. (15) You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, until iniquity was found in you. (16) By your many trading ventures you were filled with violence and you sinned; therefore, I have cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I have destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. (17) Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor. I have cast you to the ground before kings that they may gaze upon you, (18) By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trading ventures you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore, I have brought out a fire from your midst; it has consumed you, and I have made you to become ashes upon the ground in the eyes of all who see you. (19) All who know you among the people shall be appalled at you; you have become a terror, and you will be no more.

COMMENTS

Ezekiel 28:11-19 is one of the most obscure passages in the Old Testament. The text is notoriously difficult. God ordered Ezekiel to lament the death of the king of Tyre. Such prophetic laments are anticipatory of the calamity which would occur in the near future. In carrying out this command Ezekiel was partially fulfilling his ministerial commission (cf. Ezekiel 2:10).

The overall thrust of this passage is clear; the details are not. Ezekiel is comparing the fall of the king of Tyre to the fall of Adam.[424] Both fell from a position of prominence and privilege to death and disaster. The passage refers only to the king of Tyre, not to Satan.[425] The language is poetic and highly metaphorical and figurative.

[424] It is not impossible that Ezekiel here is alluding to a pagan version of the paradise story. This would account for both the similarities and differences between this passage and Genesis 2-3. However, no such Canaanite paradise account has been found. [425] Several of the early Church Fathers suggested that Satan is in view here. Among the modern scholars who have set forth this position are Barnhouse, Chafer and Scofield.

The lament has two distinct divisions of thought. In Ezekiel 28:12-15 a the prophet describes the person and position of the king of Tyre; and in Ezekiel 28:15 b - Ezekiel 28:19, his sin and sentence.

1. The person and position of the king (Ezekiel 28:12-15* a).* The king of Tyre is likened to the first inhabitant of Paradise. He is depicted as perfect in physical form (you had the seal of perfection[426]), intellectual capabilities (wisdom) and beauty (Ezekiel 28:12). At least this was his own self-estimate. He occupied a paradise in Eden known as the garden of God (or a garden of gods). This garden dweller was not naked as was Adam in the Biblical Garden of Eden. Rather he walks in his garden wearing a luxurious robe or breastplate on which were nine[427] precious stones displayed in the most exquisite settings of gold.[428] It seemed that his magnificent garb had been prepared especially for the garden dweller from the day of his creation, (i.e., his enthronement) (Ezekiel 28:13).

[426] The translation of the NASB has been followed. Literally the Hebrew reads, the one sealing (the) measure. The RSV gives another possible rendering, the signet of perfection, i.e., a seal that everyone recognizes as the pattern for others.

[427] The nine stones enumerated are identical with those which were set in three of the four rows of the breastplate of the High Priest. (Exodus 28:17-20). The Septuagint adds three stones which are omitted in the Hebrew text to complete the set of twelve. However, the stones In the Hebrew text are not listed in the same order as they appeared on the High Priest’s breastplate. and there is no reason to think that Ezekiel had that breastplate in mind.

[428] The KJV renders, the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes, a reference to his musical instruments. This translation is not impossible. Keil (BCOT, I,409) renders the service of your timbrels and of your women which he takes to be a reference to the festivities when the king took over the harem of his predecessor.

The figure changes a bit in Ezekiel 28:14. The king of Tyre is now likened to a cherub.[429] Cherubim in the Old Testament are always depicted as guarding something. Cherubim guarded the entrance to the original garden (Genesis 3:24), so the king guarded his paradise, Tyre, spreading his wings over the place like the cherubim who guarded the ark of God in the Tabernacle and Temple. The king is said to have been on the holy mountain of God[430] (Ezekiel 28:14). The phrase is probably synonymous with the garden of God and would be a further description of Tyre situated on its rocky isle. The garden dweller walked in the midst of the stones of fire (Ezekiel 28:14). The most popular view is that the expression stones of fire refers to the lightning which issues forth from above the towering mountain of God[431] (cf. Exodus 19:16; Psalms 18:8; Psalms 18:12).

[429] Most commentators follow the Septuagint in reading, you were with the anointed cherub.

[430] The mountain of the gods was important in ancient Near Eastern mythology. This was the mountain where pagans believed their gods assembled to determine the decrees of fate (cf. Isaiah 14:13).

[431] Cook (ICC, 11, 318) contends that the stones of fire are gems which give splendor and brilliance to the garden

2. The sin and sentence of the king (Ezekiel 28:15* b-19).* Before his vast wealth filled his heart with pride, the king of Tyre was perfect, i.e., no fault could be found with his conduct as a ruler. However, unrighteousness was found in the character of this king (Ezekiel 28:15) eventually. Increasing commerce led to increasing corruption. The midst of Tyre was filled with goods taken by violence, i.e., force of arms or fraudulent business tactics. He who was anointed guardian cherub over this city must bear the blame for what transpired there. Thus because of his sin of profaning the garden spot in which God had placed him, the prince of Tyre, like Adam of old, must be thrust forth from paradise. Holiness and purity are essential to those who might aspire to dwell in the mountain of God. The fallen prince must be stripped of his royal rank and insignia. He would be removed from the midst of the stones of fire, the flashing thunders and lightings of divine majesty which had protected him. He would cease to be the protector of Tyre, the guardian cherub (Ezekiel 28:16).

At the root of the fall of the king of Tyre was pride. The king’s heart was lifted up because of his beauty and brightness, his splendor and magnificence. The wisdom with which the prince of Tyre had been endowed was corrupted by arrogance. True wisdom cannot be exercised where there is a spirit of arrogance.[432] Therefore, the prince of Tyre would be humbled, cast down to the ground. There on the ground the fallen prince would be the object of wonderment, sadness and perhaps even some gloating by the kings of the earth (Ezekiel 28:17).

[432] Fisch, SBB, p. 192.

The multitude of iniquities committed through unrighteous business dealings had profaned the sanctuary,[433] the garden of God, the mountain of God, in which this king ruled. The evil in the midst of Tyre would be like a fire that would reduce the place to a pile of ashes (Ezekiel 28:18). The fall of the once proud city and its pompous prince would send shock waves throughout her commercial empire. Never again would Phoenician Tyre be rebuilt (Ezekiel 28:19).

[433] The Hebrew text reads plural, your sanctuaries, but several manuscripts, the Syriac and Targum read singular. If the plural is original it is probably a plural of amplification, meaning something like sanctuary par excellence.

Ezekiel 28:20-24

IV. THE RIVAL OF TYRE 28:20-24

TRANSLATION

(20) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (21) Son of man, set your face against Sidon, and prophesy against her, (22) and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold I am against you, O Sidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of You; and they shall know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her, and manifest My holiness in her; (23) for I shall send into her pestilence and blood in her streets; and the slain shall fall in the midst of her, by the sword upon her on every side. Then they shall know that I am the LORD. (24) And there shall be no more for the house of Israel a pricking brier nor a piercing thorn of any that are round about them, who treated them with contempt; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

COMMENTS

Not only would Tyre experience the wrath of the living God, her rival to the north would fall as well. In early times Sidon was larger and more prestigious than Tyre. But from the eleventh to the fourth century B.C. Tyre controlled, almost without dispute on the part of Sidon, the affairs of Phoenicia. In Biblical prophecy the two cities are closely connected (cf. Isaiah 23). As far as the Hebrew prophets were concerned, Tyre and Sidon were seaside partners in sin.[434] However, Sidon was sufficiently independent from Tyre to justify a separate oracle, sufficiently identified with Tyre not to call for any longer oracle. No indication of Sidon’s offenses is given in this oracle; but it is assumed that her sins were the same as those of Tyre and required a similar punishment.

[434] Grider. BBC, p. 582.

God declares that He is an adversary of Sidon as well as of Tyre. By dispensing a just judgment on this city, God would be vindicated. He would receive glory and He would be sanctified (reverenced) as a result of such activity (Ezekiel 28:22).

Sidon would experience the pestilence which usually accompanied ancient sieges. When the enemies breached the walls the blood would flow in her streets. The slain would fall in heaps[435] (Ezekiel 28:23). When all of this occurred men would acknowledge that the doom of Sidon had not occurred by chance, but was an act of God (Ezekiel 28:24). Such judgments would serve the purpose of removing all source of danger, opposition, and ridicule (a pricking brier, a piercing thorn)[436] to the people of God. In time past Israel had been wounded by those thorns and briers, i.e., had been tainted by the wicked worship and lascivious life of these Canaanite neighbors. But in the future restoration the corrupting Canaanite influence would be forever removed.

[435] A rare form of the verb fall is used in this verse which probably denotes intensity.

[436] The same words are used in Numbers 33:55 of the Canaanite peoples. Ezekiel applies the terms to the Phoenician cities which were the last vestige of the old Canaanite culture.

The bloody history of Sidon after the time of Ezekiel[437] can be summarized as follows:

[437] The city was destroyed by the Assyrian king Esarhaddon in 677 B.C. long before the time of Ezekiel. However, Sidon grew up again. For a time (609-593 B.C.) the city was dominated by the Egyptians. Nebuchadnezzar conquered the place in 593 B.C.

1. Sidon was devastated during Nebuchadnezzar’s thirteen-year siege of Tyre (587-572 B.C.).
2. With the fall of Babylon, Sidon regained some of its old importance. For a time the city served faithfully the new Persian world rulers. However, in 351 B.C. the Sidonians revolted against Artaxerxes II Ochus. In the face of the siege of the Persian monarch the king of Sidon fled, leaving the city to its fate. The city fathers ordered all ships in the harbor to be destroyed to prevent any flight by the citizens. More than forty thousand are said to have lost their lives when the city was sacked and burned.
3. Sidon meekly surrendered to Alexander the Great in 333 B.C.
4. Under the Seleucid rulers, Sidon again attained a rather independent status.
5. In 64 B.C. Pompey imposed Roman rule throughout Phoenicia. Sidon still flourished, but its importance gradually vanished.
6. In the days of the crusades Sidon was taken and retaken several times by opposing forces.
7. Under Turkish rule the site of Sidon continued to suffer tribulation. In 1840 Sidon was bombarded by the combined fleets of England, France and Turkey.
8. The modern Arab city of Saeda (population, 50,000) which occupies the site of ancient Sidon, has not escaped the bloody religious warfare which erupted in Lebanon in 1976.

Ezekiel 28:25-26

V. THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL 28:25-26

TRANSLATION

(25) Thus says the Lord GOD: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and I manifest My holiness in them in the eyes of the nations, then they shall dwell upon their land which I gave to My servant Jacob. (26) And they shall dwell safely upon it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell safely when I have executed judgments on all those who treated them with contempt round about them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God.

COMMENTS

In contrast to the bloody future of Sidon is the glorious future of God’s people Israel. God will gather His people from the foreign lands to which they have been scattered. God’s servant Jacob (a name for the nation Israel) would again dwell on the land God had given him (Ezekiel 28:25). With hostile neighbors removed, Israel would dwell in safety and give herself over to peaceful pursuits (Ezekiel 28:26). All that God does for Israel is done with one grand purpose in view, viz, that all the world might acknowledge Him as the one true and living God that He might be sanctified (reverenced, revered) in the eyes of the nations (Ezekiel 28:25-26). The wonderful thoughts embraced in the last verses of chapter 28 are developed at length in Chapter s 33-48.

As a footnote to the Tyre and Sidon oracles it may be pointed out that Jesus once passed through the region (Matthew 15:21), and probably, according to the best text of Mar 7:24, actually trod the streets of Sidon. Some of the great multitude which heard Him teach in Mark 3:8 came from these two Phoenician cities. Jesus remarked that it would be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for the faithless cities of Galilee (Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13). In this statement Jesus seems to be affirming that the day of judgment had not yet fully come to the two cities even though they had suffered much before His time. Jesus may be referring to the Roman campaigns in the region of Palestine in the latter part of the seventh decade A. D. Jerusalem was destroyed in that judgment; Tyre and Sidon survived.