Ezekiel 28

Ezekiel 28 PRINCE OF TYREThe three chapters 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. Here 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). DEATH OF THE PRINCE Ezekiel 28:1-10 Introduction (Ezekiel 28:1-2 a): The word of the LORD came unto me saying, (2) Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Pride of the Prince (Ezekiel 28:2-5): Delusions of deity (Ezekiel 28:2 b):Thus sajs 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. Obnoxious haughtiness and national arrogance were the besetting sins of Tyre. The prince of Tyre exalted himself to the position of God. The prince regarded his island fortress in the midst of the sea 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.

Yet in reality, this pompous ruler was only a man, subject to all the frailties and limitations of the flesh. Intellectual superiority (Ezekiel 28:3): Behold, you are wiser than Daniel.547 No secret can be hidden from you! 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. 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. Financial genius (Ezekiel 28:4-5 a): By your wisdom and understanding you have acquired for yourself wealth. You have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries. (Ezekiel 28:5) By your great wisdom in your trading ventures, you have increased your wealth. The prince’s wisdom in commercial transactions had resulted in the amassing of wealth into the treasuries of Tyre. Arrogant pride (Ezekiel 28:5 b): Your heart is lifted up because of your wealth. As is so often the case with those who know material success, the prince’ s heart was lifted up because of those riches.Punishment of the Prince(Ezekiel 28:6-10) Defilement by strangers (Ezekiel 28:6-7): Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Because you considered yourself as wise as God, (Ezekiel 28:7) therefore, behold, I am about to bring strangers upon you, the most ruthless of the nations. They will bring their swords against the beauty of your wisdom. They will defile your splendor. 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— will come against Tyre. All that the prince of Tyre had acquired through his wisdom will fall to the invading forces. The splendor of the king, considered by himself to be God-like, will be profaned by the sword (Ezekiel 28:7). Death by sword (Ezekiel 28:8-9): They will thrust you down to the pit. You will 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? The prince himself will die in the attack. His island fortress will afford no protection. He will 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 will be perfectly obvious in that day (v 9). Derision by mockers(Ezekiel 28:10): You will die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers; for I have spoken (oracle of the Lord GOD). In death all men realize their humanity. The once proud prince will be treated with the contempt reserved for uncircumcised men. He will be dishonored and unlamented with no outward sign of reverence. What a way for a “ god” to go! LAMENT OVER THE PRINCE Ezekiel 28:11-19 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 a calamity that will 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. 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. The language is poetic, and highly figurative.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 28:15-19, his sin and sentence.Person and Position of the King (Ezekiel 28:11-14) His perfection (Ezekiel 28:11-12): 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 ofperfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 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), intellectual capabilities (wisdom) and beauty (v 12). At least this was his own self­estimate. His habitation (Ezekiel 28:13): 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. The gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day you were created they were prepared. The king of Tyre occupied a paradise in Eden known as the garden of God (or a garden of gods). Ancient temples normally encompassed a large enclosure with a garden. The term Eden may be used metaphorically to describe the splendor of the temple complex of Tyre’s main god Melqart, with whom the king was seeking identity. This garden dweller was not naked, as was Adam in the biblical Garden of Eden. He walks in his garden wearing a luxurious robe or breastplate on which were nine precious stones displayed in the most exquisite settings of gold. 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). His occupation (Ezekiel 28:14): You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you on the holy mountain of God. You walked about in the midst of the stones of fire. The figure changes a bit in v 14. The king of Tyre is now likened to a cherub. In the ancient Near East, a cherub was depicted as a sphinxlike creature with an animal body, wings, and a human head. These statutory creatures normally guarded the entrances to pagan temples. Cherubim in the Old Testament are always depicted as guarding something. Cherubim guarded the entrance to the original garden (Genesis 3:24). For this reason the king of Tyre is depicted guarding his paradise, the garden of his god Melqart. He spread his wings over Tyre 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 (Ezekiel 28:14). The phrase is probably synonymous with the garden of God. This will 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 reference is to the lightning that issues forth from above the towering mountain of God (cf. Exodus 19:16; Psalms 18:8; Psalms 18:12).Sin and Sentence of the King (Ezekiel 28:15-19): Ruined by violence (Ezekiel 28:15-16): Accusation (Ezekiel 28:15-16 a): 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. 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 eventually (Ezekiel 28:15). 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. Announcement (28:16b): Therefore, I have cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God. I have destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. He who was 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 will be removed from the midst of the stones of fire, the flashing thunders and lightings of divine majesty that had protected him. He will cease to be the protector of Tyre, the guardian cherub (Ezekiel 28:16). Ruined by pride (Ezekiel 28:17) Accusation (Ezekiel 28:17 a): Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor. 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.” Announcement (Ezekiel 28:17 b): I have cast you to the ground before kings that they may gaze upon you. The prince of Tyre will be humbled, cast down to the ground. There on the ground the fallen prince will be the object of wonderment, sadness and perhaps even some gloating by the kings of the earth. Ruined by dishonesty(Ezekiel 28:18-19) Accusation (28:18a): By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trading ventures you have profaned your sanctuaries. The multitude of iniquities committed through unrighteous business dealings had profaned the sanctuary, the garden of God, the mountain of God, in which this king ruled. Announcement (Ezekiel 28:18-19): Therefore, I have brought out a fire from your midst. It has consumed you. I have made you to become ashes upon the ground in the eyes of all who see you. (Ezekiel 28:19) All who know you among the people will be appalled at you. You have become a terror. You will be no more. The evil in the midst of Tyre will be like a fire that will reduce the place to a pile of ashes (Ezekiel 28:18). The fall of the once proud city and its pompous prince will send shock waves throughout her commercial empire. Never again will Phoenician Tyre be rebuilt (Ezekiel 28:19).RIVAL OF TYRE 28:20-24 The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (Ezekiel 28:21) Son of man, set your face against Sidon, and prophesy against her… Not only will Tyre experience the wrath of the living God, her rival to the north will 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).

Declaration: Hostility (Ezekiel 28:22): and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Sidon. I will be glorified in the midst of you. They will know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her, and manifest my holiness in her; As far as the Hebrew prophets were concerned, Tyre and Sidon were “ seaside partners in sin.” 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. Those sins required a similar punishment. God declared that he was an adversary of Sidon as well as of Tyre.

By dispensing a just judgment on this city, God will be vindicated. He will manifest his holiness in this judgment. He will receive glory. He will be sanctified (reverenced) as a result of such activity. Demonstration: Power (Ezekiel 28:23): for I will send into her pestilence and blood in her streets. The slain will fall in the midst of her, by the sword upon her on every side. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Sidon will experience the pestilence that usually accompanied ancient sieges. When the enemies breached the walls, the blood will flow in her streets. The slain will fall in heaps.

Deliverance: For Israel (Ezekiel 28:24): And there will 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. They will know that I am the Lord GOD. When all of predictions regarding Sidon are fulfilled, men will acknowledge that the doom of Sidon had not occurred by chance, but was an act of God (v 24). Such judgments will serve the purpose of removing all source of danger, opposition, and ridicule (a pricking brier, a piercing thorn) 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 will be forever removed.

The bloody history of Sidon after the time of Ezekiel can be summarized as follows:Sidon was devastated during Nebuchadnezzar’ s thirteen-year siege of Tyre (587-572 B.C.). 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. Sidon meekly surrendered to Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. Under the Seleucid rulers, Sidon again attained a rather independent status. In 64 B.C. Pompey imposed Roman rule throughout Phoenicia. Sidon still flourished, but its importance gradually vanished. In the days of the crusades, Sidon was taken and retaken several times by opposing forces. 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. The modern Arab city of Saeda (population, 50,000) that occupies the site of ancient Sidon, did not escape the bloody religious warfare that erupted in Lebanon in 1976.

FUTURE OF ISRAELEze_28:25-26 Gathering of Israel (Ezekiel 28:25 a): 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… In contrast to the bloody future of Sidon, God’s people will experience a glorious future. God will gather his people from the foreign lands where they had been scattered. Restoration of Israel (Ezekiel 28:25-26): then they will dwell upon their land that I gave to my servant Jacob. (26) They will dwell safely upon it. They will build houses and plant vineyards; God’ s servant Jacob (a name for the nation Israel) will again dwell on the land God had given him. The nation will be devoted to peaceful pursuits.

Protection of Israel (Ezekiel 28:26): yea, they will dwell safely when I have executed judgments on all those who treated them with contempt round about them. Israel can live in peace and security because hostile neighbors have been removed. Recognition of the Lord (Ezekiel 28:26): Then they will know that I am the LORD their God. 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. The wonderful thoughts embraced in the last verses of ch 28 are developed at length in chs 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). He probably, according to the best text of Mar 7:24, trod the streets of Sidon. Some of the great multitude that heard him teach in Mark 3:8 came from these two Phoenician cities. Jesus remarked that it will 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.

Ezekiel Chapter Twenty-EightVerse 1 AGAINST TYRE ; AGAINST TYRE’S RULER; AGAINST TYRE’S KING; AGAINST SIDON; AGAINST THE PRINCE OF TYRE (Ezekiel 28:1-10) Ezekiel 28:1-5“The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art man and not God, though thou didst set thy heart as the heart of God; - behold thou art wiser than Daniel, there is no secret that is hidden from thee; by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches; and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures; by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches.““Say unto the prince of Tyre …” (Ezekiel 28:2). This paragraph contrasts with the paragraph beginning in 5:11, which is addressed to “the king of Tyre.” Cooke noted that the words “prince of Tyre” refer to the actual “ruler of Tyre,” namely, Ithbaal I; and from this the conclusion is mandatory that the “king of Tyre” is a different person from Ithbaal. Those scholars are therefore in error who treat this whole chapter as a prophecy against “the king of Tyre.” Two different persons are most surely addressed in this chapter. “Eichrodt noted that these first ten verses directed against Ithbaal do not reveal any personal details either about his character or his political activity that betray any exceptional wickedness. The things mentioned are in such general terms that any Tyrian king might have qualified as the target. Therefore, it is the kingship per se that is being prosecuted and sentenced here in the person of Ithbaal its representative."[1]This horribly wicked self-deification of Tyre was directly related to the satanically induced rebellion of mankind in the matter of the construction of the Tower of Babel, where such humanistic self-deification began; and Tyre, being an outstanding representative of the same thing, in all likelihood prompted the special attention God gave to the disaster that happened to Satan in Ezekiel 28:11-19. The great deduction being required from this is that, “If Satan himself failed to get away with it, who are mortal men that they should follow his shameful example into certain disaster.” “I am a god …” (Ezekiel 28:2), This arrogant and conceited boast was repeated in Ezekiel 28:6; Ezekiel 28:9. It was the type of atheism which God was certain to punish. Herod Agrippa I had himself installed as a god down at Caesarea; but an angel of God executed him within the same hour (Acts 12). God’s reply to the conceited boast of godhead on the part of Tyre’s ruler was simple enough. “Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am god? but thou art man, and not God; I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.” (Ezekiel 28:9-10). As Thompson stated it, “God always has the last word!"[2]“Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel …” (Ezekiel 28:3). “This Daniel is not the Biblical Daniel, but may have been the Daniel mentioned in the pagan literature of Ugarit, who lived about 1400 B.C."[3] A comment like this is totally untrue, there being no evidence whatever to sustain it. It resulted only from the evil prejudice of radical scholars against the Book of Daniel, which was so vigorously endorsed and approved by the Son of God Himself. The current crop of commentators who parrot this old shibboleth of the radical critics are simply not doing any thinking at all for themselves. As Thompson noted, “It is quite impossible to say dogmatically that the Daniel here is the same as the Daniel in the Ugaritic Daniel."[4]In the year 588 when Ezekiel wrote this, Daniel had already been hailed by no less an authority than the king of Babylon as “the wisest man on earth.” Nebuchadnezzar actually fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel, and stated before the whole world that, “I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and that no secret troubleth thee” (Daniel 2:46; Daniel 4:9). Daniel was, in fact the deputy king of Babylon; he sat in the king’s gate; he was the second ruler in the kingdom; and all of this had already been known throughout the whole world of that period for fourteen years at the time Ezekiel wrote.[5]Notice that Ezekiel here used almost the same words of these passages in Daniel, such as, “no secret is hidden from thee,” almost identical with the words of Nebuchadnezzar, “no secret troubleth thee.” In the light of these stubborn facts, what thoughtful person can possibly imagine that the name “Daniel” could possibly have called to mind any person who ever lived upon the earth, other than the mighty Daniel at the fight hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

Of all the foolish canards the radicals ever came up with, we shall nominate this one as one of the worst. (See my commentary on Daniel, Vol. IV of our Major Prophets Series, regarding the integrity and authenticity of the Book of Daniel.) “Thy heart is lifted up …” (Ezekiel 28:5). This was no light offense. “Man had here gone beyond the limits set by God Himself for man’s self-glorification."[6]Verse 6 “Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God, therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit; and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain, in the heart of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am god? but thou art man, and not God, in the hand of him that woundeth thee. Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.“THE Here we have the verdict awaiting Ithbaal the ruler of Tyre and his wicked city. He would die a shameful and disgraceful death, “the death of the uncircumcised.” “God here mocked his claim of being a god,'"[7]pointing out that he certainly would not claim any such thing in the hands of those who would slay him. "The strangers" referred to were the hosts of the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. "Thou shalt die the death ..." (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/28/8" class="green-link">Ezekiel 28:8</a>). The words here are literally "die the deaths," as reflected in some of the older versions. "The plural was for emphasis, meaning "a death so painful as to be the equivalent of dying many times."[8]Verse 11 "Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared. Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee. By the abundance of thy traffic they filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore have I cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I have cast thee to the ground; I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold thee."THE EXAMPLE OF SATAN; HERE CALLED "KING OF TYRE" (<a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/28/11" class="green-link">Ezekiel 28:11-19</a>) There is not a line of this that can be applied to any other being who ever lived, except Satan! The ridiculous allegation of some that, "Ezekiel here refers to a legend,"[9] or to "A Phoenician version of the account in Genesis,"[10] or to some alleged myth’ concerning a divine garden, an abode of bliss. As Cooke pointed out, however, “Such a myth has not been discovered!"[11] Thus there is no evidence whatever, except in the imaginations of wicked men, of any such mythological tale as the radical critics love to find here. We do not believe there is any such myth, or that there ever has been. Besides that, we shall show, shortly, that every line of the prophecy here has its application in the Genesis account of the existence of Satan in the Garden of Eden, not as a resident there, but as an intruder. As Canon Cook noted: “Idolatrous kings in the eyes of God’s prophets were antagonists of God. In them was embodied the principle of evil opposing the divine government of the world. Therefore some of the Fathers saw not merely a hostile monarch upon the throne, but the prince of this world, even Satan."[12]The very sin which resulted in the casting of Satan out of heaven and down to the earth was that of “pride”; and therefore the pride of the Tyrian kings afforded a marvelous opportunity for the prophet to call up from the Word of God the example of what happened to Satan, as a sufficient warning to all the proud kings who every lived. “Thou wast in Eden …” (Ezekiel 28:13). No student of God’s Word can be ignorant of the meaning of “Eden.” It was that garden where Adam and Eve had been placed by the Lord, and into which Satan appeared as an intruder to seduce Eve and precipitate the fall of the human race. After this clause, the rest of the description must be applied to Satan before his appearance in Eden. “Every precious stone was thy covering …” (Ezekiel 28:13). This description applies to Satan before he appeared in Eden, before he was “cast down to earth” (Ezekiel 28:17). because he appeared to Eve, not in such a covering as that mentioned here, but as a serpent. “Thou wast the anointed cherub …” (Ezekiel 28:14). The clear meaning of this is that the character spoken of was an angel of God, the word “cherub” cannot mean anything else. The theory of the “myth” disappears in this verse. God tell us who the “King of Tyre” here was. He was a perfect angel in whom unrighteousness was found, after which God threw him out of heaven and down to earth. The critics have done their best to get rid of this verse, rendering it, “Thou wast with the cherubs;"[13] but as McFadyen admitted that does not get rid of the meaning, which would then be, “Among the cherubs was thy dwelling,"[14] certainly indicating his place among the angels of God, and as one of them. “Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God …” (Ezekiel 28:14). Most of the scholars we have consulted misread this as another name for the Garden of Eden. This is not correct. Going all the way back to Ezekiel 28:13, the description must be applied to Satan before his appearance in Eden. The mountain of God therefore applies to the status of Satan while he was “with the cherubs.” It is our opinion that “the mountain of God” here is the equivalent of “The Majesty on High,” (Hebrews 1:3), certainly not the garden of Eden. Satan’s being in Eden came later, after God removed him from “the Majesty on High” by casting him to the ground (earth). “Perfect from the day that thou wast created …” (Ezekiel 28:15). Such a statement as this was never made concerning any human being who ever lived on earth. Only of an angel of God, or some other super-human being could this have been spoken. As Howie said, “Obviously, this is no description of any ordinary flesh-and-blood human being."[15]“They filled the midst of thee with violence … and thou hast sinned …” (Ezekiel 28:16). These words return to Ithbaal, the literal ruler of Tyre, but only for the purpose of making the application from the life of Satan. “Therefore have I cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed thee, O covering cherub …” (Ezekiel 28:16). The application is clear enough. Just as Satan lost his place in the mountain of God, the king of Tyre, and all other proud kings, shall lose their place in the destruction God prepares for them. “Amidst the stones of fire …” (Ezekiel 28:14; Ezekiel 28:16). This further confirms our view that the very presence of God is meant by “the mountain of God,” and by the place where Satan was at first. In the earlier symbols of the presence of God found in Ezekiel, the appearance of the Lord’s feet as though heated to a glorying brightness in a furnace, the lightnings, etc. fit this mention of the “stones of fire.” Before leaving this narrative, we present the opinions of Tertullian and Origen as altogether reasonable and intelligent explanations of our text. “This description, it is manifest, properly belongs to the transgression of the angel, and not to the prince’s; for none among human beings was either born in the Paradise of God, not even Adam himself, who was rather translated thither; nor placed with a cherub on God’s holy mountain, that is to say, the Heights of Heaven,' from which the Lord testifies that Satan fell. It is none else than the very author of sin!"[16]"This paragraph cannot at all be understood of a man, but of some superior power which had fallen away from a higher position and which had been reduced to a lower and worse condition. Seeing then that such are the words of the prophet, who is there who can so enfeeble these words as to suppose that the reference is to some man or saint? We are of the opinion, therefore, that these words are spoken of a certain angel."[17]However, the advocates of the position which we believe to be correct on this chapter are not confined to ancient times. We are happy indeed to report that C. L. Feinberg, a current scholar of the greatest ability, writing as recently as 1884 has the following: "We cannot follow those views which inject into this chapter without support a foreign and false mythology, a legendary atmosphere, or a hypothetical ideal personality. The importation into this chapter of mythology or some pagan legend must be resisted. The grand lesson of the chapter is that, If Satan, who was far greater than Ithbaal of Tyre received just punishment for the arrogation unto himself of divine prerogatives, then the proud ruler of Tyre cannot expect to escape the consequences of his own declaration that, “I am a god.”’” In our own view, any other interpretation of this narrative is founded upon the unchristian assumption that Ezekiel here used some pagan tale and that God is not the author of these verses. The text flatly declares that God is the author of this chapter, and we believe it. Verse 18 “By the multitude of thine iniquities, in the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of thee; it hath devoured thee, and I have turned thee into ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All them that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and shall never more have any being.““A fire from the midst of thee …” (Ezekiel 28:18). Significantly, it was fire from within the king of Tyre himself that devoured him. This is the way it is with the vast majority of sinful men; it is the fires of ambition, pride, and lust from within themselves which eventually issues forth in their destruction. Thus, we find that the narrative here is not merely founded upon the Genesis account of Satan’s having been in Eden, but it anticipates portions of Revelation 12 in the fact of a cherub having cast Satan out of heaven. In Revelation, the name of that cherub was revealed as that of the archangel himself, namely, Michael! Thus, as F. F. Bruce noted, “This passage in Ezekiel has contributed some details to the picture of the fall of Satan."[18]Verse 20 “And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, Set thy face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it, and say, I am against thee, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any that are round about them, that did despite unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell securely therein; yea, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and shall dwell securely, when I have executed judgments upon all that do them despite round about them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah their God.” AGAINST SIDON"Prophesy against it (Sidon) …” (Ezekiel 28:21). There were many things in Sidon that called for the judgment of God against them, not the least of which was Jezebel’s outrageous establishment of the entire apparatus of Baal worship in the very heart of Israel itself. “Thus the Sidonian `brier’ had indeed pricked Israel”;[19] but God here promises judgments against Sidon that will remove such a nuisance from the harassing position they had enjoyed so long in their dealings with God’s people. Also, the last two verses here indicate the return of Israel to Palestine and God’s gathering of them from all the nations into which they had been scattered. “All of these Phoenician cities had been a constant source of temptation and annoyance to God’s people for ages; and the promise here is that as soon as God shall have restored the captives to Palestine and has executed judgments upon the pagan nations which had gloated over their captivity, the Israelites should again enjoy all of their ancient privileges; and the nations would be compelled to ascribe to Jehovah, as the covenant God of Israel, all of the honor and glory that were due him."[20]The fact that very little of this ever actually came to pass as prophesied here was due to the widespread failure of the Jews to live up to the solemn terms and conditions upon which such glorious promises rested. Jeremiah 17:7-10 should be read in connection with every wonderful promise that God made to Israel or to any other nation. By the times of Jesus Christ, racial Israel had totally departed from the God of their fathers; and, as spelled out by the apostle Paul in the first two chapters of Romans, the hardening of the apostate people had become final; and from the racial stock of the old Israel Jesus Christ was able to rescue only a small remnant from which nucleus the New Israel, that is, the Church of Jesus Christ was launched with the life-giving gospel of the New Dispensation. Because of this near-universal sinfulness of the Old Israel, many of the glorious things God promised and had intended to do for them never occurred at all.

Ezekiel 28:1-2

Ezekiel 28:1-2. The prince of Tyrus refers to the king of the city (see verse 12) who was very boastful. His successful dealings with nations and cities over land and sea had filled him with pride. I am a god, is a strong wording for the actual feelings of the king, meaning he regarded himself as a sort of superman. The prophet was directed to declare unto this proud king of Tyrus that he was only a human being.

Ezekiel 28:3

Ezekiel 28:3. This verse is what is known in literature and oral speech as Irony, a form of expression in which the author says the very opposite of what he means. It is a very pointed kind of rebuke, and generally is employed where the person addressed is re-garded as being unworthy of more serious consideration. Job used such a form of speech in his reply to the three friends. (See Job 12:2.)

Ezekiel 28:4

Ezekiel 28:4. The king of Tyrus was not as wise as he thought, yet he was not unintelligent, for he had succeeded in attracting the commerce of other cities. He had dealt with them in such a manner as to make a considerable profit.

Ezekiel 28:5

Ezekiel 28:5. The fact of gaining riches would not have caused the king to be condemned, but it was liis pride of heart over it that condemned him. This principle is taught in the New Testament (Mark 10:24; 1 Timothy 6:10; 1 Timothy 6:17),

Ezekiel 28:6

Ezekiel 28:6, Set thine heart … as God. He had let his heart at least pretend to think he was equal with God, because of bis success in the accumulation of riches.

Ezekiel 28:7

Ezekiel 28:7. Strangers means persons of another country, and the terrible kind of people of such a country as that would be the kind used in the matter. The wisdom of the king of Tyrus will not he any defense against the sword of the enemy.

Ezekiel 28:8

Ezekiel 28:8. Pit is from a word that means obscurity or forgetfulness. Many of the men of Tyrus were destined to die a literal death, but also the city was to die figuratively in that it would lose its greatness never to he fully regained. (See the comments on the last verse of the preceding chapter.)

Ezekiel 28:9

Ezekiel 28:9. The king of Tyrus was very boastful and tried to beiteve that no being was as good as he. The Lord represents him as being so vain that be would even maintain his superiority while in tbe presence of the force that had him in subjection.

Ezekiel 28:10

Ezekiel 28:10. Physical circumcision would mean nothing to a citizen of Phoenicia, hence there would be no point in threatening him with some treatment by an uncircumcised per-son. History shows that when God uses an uncircumcised man to execute His wrath upon an individual It is considered a deep disgrace (1 Samuel 31:4). Hence the word is directly connected with strangers in this threatening prediction against the king of Tyrus. Another thing, it would be logical to expect God to impose his severest punishments upon the un cireumcised person because that means an uficonsecrated one.

Ezekiel 28:11-12

Ezekiel 28:11-12. Take up a lamentation is explained at Ezekiel 27:2. Sealest up the sum is a strained rendering of tlie original. The first is from CHATHAM which Strong defines, “to close up,” and the last is from which the same authority defines, “admeasurement,” and that is from still another Hebrew word that means “ a fixed quantity.” The phrase has to do with the conduct of the king of Tyrus, and of his changed state of mind after he became evil affected by his many successes. The key to it is in the words till iniquity was found in thee in verse 15. He had manifested a degree of wisdom and God had favored him with many good things because his conduct was pleasing to Him. But when great power and riches came to him he became Tain and discarded his good judgment and wisdom; he “ sealed it up” or ended it.

Ezekiel 28:13

Ezekiel 28:13. A few verses will describe the high standing the king had while his heart was right. The reference to Eden and mention of precious stones and metal is largely figurative and said to explain the subject by comparison.

Ezekiel 28:14

Ezekiel 28:14. This verse, like the preceding one, is figurative, portraying the favor of God that was bestowed on the king of Tyrus while he was worthy of it. We have evidence elsewhere in the Bible that God takes an interest in the affairs of earthly governments and their rulers. (See Daniel 4: 17; 5; 18, 21, 26.) The terms of this verse are also comparative and the mountain of God means the government of Tyrus was given to this king by the God who “rules in the kingdoms of men” as stated in the passages cited in the preceding verse.

Ezekiel 28:15

Ezekiel 28:15. This verse is explained in the comments on verse 12.

Ezekiel 28:16

Ezekiel 28:16. Merchandise . . . violence. The connection between these words is in the fact that the prosperity of Tyrus filled her with pride and that in turn caused her to become wicked and violent. Cast out of the mountain. See verse 14 for comments on mountain and the relation of Tyrus to it. The favorable condition was to be reversed on account of the evil turn in the conduct of the city.

Ezekiel 28:17

Ezekiel 28:17. Briefly speaking, the pride of Tyrus over the successes caused the city to destroy her good character. Lay thee before kings is a prediction of the subjugation to be suffered by Tyrus at the hands of foreign kings, such as Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander and possibly some others of less note.

Ezekiel 28:18

Ezekiel 28:18. Defiled thy sanctuaries. By her corrupt conduct and state of mind, the once fair name and standing of Tyrus was defiled. It was brought about by the prosperous results of the vast traffic on the sea. Fire from, the midst of thee denotes that Tyrus would he “burned” by the fire of her own iniquity.

Ezekiel 28:19

Ezekiel 28:19. Shalt be a terror is explained at Ezekiel 27:35, and never shall be any more is commented upon in the last verse of that chapter.

Ezekiel 28:20-21

Ezekiel 28:20-21. Zidon was another city of Phoenicia about 20 miles north of Tyrus, It is otherwise spelled Sidon and is often referred to in other parts of the Bible including the New Testament. It was inferior to Tyrus yet was an important city in ancient times. The Lord bad the prophet to deliver some warnings against that place because it had oppressed His people.

Ezekiel 28:22

Ezekiel 28:22. The primary object of all demonstrations against the city was that they shall know that 1 am fhe Lord. We can realize the need for such a display of power because of the almost universal tendencies toward idolatry in those days.

Ezekiel 28:23

Ezekiel 28:23. Pestilence (disease) and the sword (warfare) were to be brought upon the city of Zidon, This was to be accomplished through the services of some other strange people whom God would use as his agency in the matter.

Ezekiel 28:24

Ezekiel 28:24. Pricking brier refers to the bitter opposition that the Zido- nians had waged against God’s people. Some of the early accounts of the persecutions brought by these people against the children of Israel are re-corded in Judges 3:3. It is true God sponsored that oppression of His people to chastise them, but the Lord never would tolerate the personal motive the heathens entertained against them though they were carrying out the divine plan when they oppressed His people.

Ezekiel 28:25

Ezekiel 28:25. We have two verses that predict the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. For about four chapters the prophet has been making accusations and predictions against the heathen nations that had mistreated His people, and soon he will resume his writing along that line. But God has always been jealous for the nation that was called by His name, and has been careful to let the other nations know Of the divine care that is always over the Israelites. Many of the heathen people knew of the exile in Babylon of those people, and some of them even rejoiced over It, But the Lord determined to take their rejoicing over the unfortunate people away from them. Hence while this- prediction was written in the book that could be read by the people of Israel, the immediate use of it was for the information of the heathen against whom He had been and still will be addressing the warnings. That explains why the challenging words in the sifiht of the heathen are inserted amid the prediction.

Ezekiel 28:26

Ezekiel 28:26. Shall dwell safely does not guarantee that Israel would never have any difficulty with other nations for she did. But she had no trouble in taking possession of the native land after the rulers in power came to understand the situation. (See the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.) The temporary difficulties that were intimated a few lines above were removed and the people of God went forward with their work of reconstruction and reformation. They even obtained material help and legal support from the heathen in their grand program of restoration. That is the meaning of the last half of the present verse, and once more the divine purpose was to be accomplished which was to make the people know that I ami the Lord.