Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 28:11
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
The dirge of the prince of Tyre, answering to the dirge of the state. The passage is ironical; its main purpose is to depict all the glory, real or assumed, of the prince of Tyrus, in order to show how deplorable should be his ruin.
Eze 28:12
To seal the sum is to make up the whole measure of perfection. Compare the Septuagint
Eze 28:13
Thou hast been in Eden – Thou wast etc. The prince of Tyrus is ironically described as the first of creation; but at the same time the parallel is to be maintained in his fall from glory. Like Adam in the enjoyment of paradise, he shall be like Adam in his fall.
Every precious stone – All the stones here named are found in the High priests breastplate Exo 28:17-20, but their order is different, and three stones named in Exodus (the third row) are wanting. The prophet may purposely have varied the description because the number twelve (that of the tribes of Israel) had nothing to do with the prince of Tyrus, and he wished to portray, not a high priest, but a king, having in view a figure which was to a Jew, especially to a priest, the very type of magnificence.
Tabrets – (or, drums) and pipes were a common expression for festivity and triumph.
Eze 28:14
Thou art – Better, Thou wert. the anointed cherub that covereth In the temple the cherubim and all holy things were consecrated and anointed with oil (Exo 30:26 ff). The prince of Tyre was also anointed as a sovereign priest – covering or protecting the minor states, like the cherubim with outstretched wings covering the mercy-Seat.
Thou wast upon the holy mountain – As the cherub was in the temple on the holy mountain, so the prince of Tyre was presiding over the island-city, rising like a mountain from the deep.
Stones of fire – i. e., bright and shining. Decked with bright jewels, the prince walked among jewels in gorgeous splendor.
Eze 28:15
The perfection was false, unsuspected until the iniquity which lay beneath was found out.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me,…. After the prophecy concerning the ruin of the prince of Tyre, the word of the Lord came to the prophet, ordering him to take up a lamentation on the king of Tyre:
saying; as follows:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Lamentation over the King of Tyre
Eze 28:11. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 28:12. Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Thou seal of a well-measured building, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Eze 28:13. In Eden, the garden of God, was thou; all kinds of precious stones were thy covering, cornelian, topaz, and diamond, chrysolite, beryl, and jasper, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald, and gold: the service of thy timbrels and of thy women was with thee; on the day that thou wast created, they were prepared. Eze 28:14. Thou wast a cherub of anointing, which covered, and I made thee for it; thou wast on a holy mountain of God; thou didst walk in the midst of fiery stones. Eze 28:15. Thou wast innocent in thy ways from the day on which thou wast created, until iniquity was found in thee. Eze 28:16. On account of the multitude of thy commerce, thine inside was filled with wrong, and thou didst sin: I will therefore profane thee away from the mountain of God; and destroy thee, O covering cherub, away from the fiery stones! Eze 28:17. Thy heart has lifted itself up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom together with thy splendour: I cast thee to the ground, I give thee up for a spectacle before kings. Eze 28:18. Through the multitude of thy sins in thine unrighteous trade thou hast profaned thy holy places; I therefore cause fire to proceed from the midst of thee, which shall devour thee, and make thee into ashes upon the earth before the eyes of all who see thee. Eze 28:19. All who know thee among the peoples are amazed at thee: thou hast become a terror, and art gone for ever. – The lamentation over the fall of the king of Tyre commences with a picture of the super-terrestrial glory of his position, so as to correspond to his self-deification as depicted in the foregoing word of God. In Eze 28:12 he is addressed as . This does not mean, “artistically wrought signet-ring;” for does not stand for , but is a participle of , to seal. There is all the more reason for adhering firmly to this meaning, that the following predicate, , is altogether inapplicable to a signet-ring, though Hitzig once more scents a corruption of the text in consequence. , from , to weigh, or measure off, does not mean perfection (Ewald), beauty (Ges.), faon (Hitzig), or symmetry (Hvernick); but just as in Eze 43:10, the only other passage in which it occurs, it denotes the measured and well-arranged building of the temple, so here it signifies a well-measured and artistically arranged building, namely, the Tyrian state in its artistic combination of well-measured institutions (Kliefoth). This building is sealed by the prince, inasmuch as he imparts to the state firmness, stability, and long duration, when he possesses the qualities requisite for a ruler. These are mentioned afterwards, namely, “full of wisdom, perfect in beauty.” If the prince answers to his position, the wisdom and beauty manifest in the institutions of the state are simply the impress received from the wisdom and beauty of his own mind. The prince of Tyre possessed such a mind, and therefore regarded himself as a God (Eze 28:2). His place of abode, which is described in Eze 28:13 and Eze 28:14, corresponded to his position. Ezekiel here compares the situation of the prince of Tyre with that of the first man in Paradise; and then, in Eze 28:15 and Eze 28:16, draws a comparison between his fall and the fall of Adam. As the first man was placed in the garden of God, in Eden, so also was the prince of Tyre placed in the midst of paradisaical glory. is shown, by the apposition , to be used as the proper name of Paradise; and this view is not to be upset by the captious objection of Hitzig, that Eden was not the Garden of God, but that this was situated in Eden (Gen 2:8). The fact that Ezekiel calls Paradise in Eze 36:35, proves nothing more than that the terms Eden and Garden of God do not cover precisely the same ground, inasmuch as the garden of God only occupied one portion of Eden. But notwithstanding this difference, Ezekiel could use the two expressions as synonymous, just as well as Isaiah (Isa 51:3). And even if any one should persist in pressing the difference, it would not follow that was corrupt in this passage, as Hitzig fancies, but simply that defined the idea of more precisely – in other words, restricted it to the garden of Paradise.
There is, however, another point to be observed in connection with this expression, namely, that the epithet is used here and in Eze 31:8-9; whereas, in other places, Paradise is called (vid., Isa 51:3; Gen 13:10). Ezekiel has chosen Elohim instead of Jehovah, because Paradise is brought into comparison, not on account of the historical significance which it bears to the human race in relation to the plan of salvation, but simply as the most glorious land in all the earthly creation. the prince of Tyre, placed in the pleasant land, was also adorned with the greatest earthly glory. Costly jewels were his coverings, that is to say, they formed the ornaments of his attire. This feature in the pictorial description is taken from the splendour with which Oriental rulers are accustomed to appear, namely, in robes covered with precious stones, pearls, and gold. , as a noun . . ., signifies a covering. In the enumeration of the precious stones, there is no reference to the breastplate of the high priest. For, in the first place, the order of the stones is a different one here; secondly, there are only nine stones named instead of twelve; and lastly, there would be no intelligible sense in such a reference, so far as we can perceive. Both precious stones and gold are included in the glories of Eden (vid., Gen 2:11-12). For the names of the several stones, see the commentary on Exo 28:17-20. The words ‘ ‘ s – which even the early translators have entirely misunderstood, and which the commentators down to Hitzig and Ewald have made marvellous attempts to explain – present no peculiar difficulty, apart from the plural , which is only met with here. As the meaning timbrels, tambourins ( aduffa ), is well established for , and in 1Sa 10:5 and Isa 5:12 flutes are mentioned along with the timbrels, it has been supposed by some that must signify flutes here. But there is nothing to support such a rendering either in the Hebrew or in the other Semitic dialects. On the other hand, the meaning pala gemmarum (Vulgate), or ring-casket, has been quite arbitrarily forced upon the word by Jerome, Rosenmller, Gesenius, and many others. We agree with Hvernick in regarding as a plural of ( foeminae ), formed, like a masculine, after the analogy of , , etc., and account for the choice of this expression from the allusion to the history of the creation (Gen 1:27). The service ( , performance, as in Gen 39:11, etc.) of the women is the leading of the circular dances by the odalisks who beat the timbrels: “the harem-pomp of Oriental kings.” This was made ready for the king on the day of his creation, i.e., not his birthday, but the day on which he became king, or commenced his reign, when the harem of his predecessor came into his possession with all its accompaniments. Ezekiel calls this the day of his creation, with special reference to the fact that it was God who appointed him king, and with an allusion to the parallel, underlying the whole description, between the position of the prince of Tyre and that of Adam in Paradise.
(Note: In explanation of the fact alluded to, Hvernick has very appropriately called attention to a passage of Athen. (xii. 8, p. 531), in which the following statement occurs with reference to Strato, the Sidonian king: “Strato, with flute-girls, and female harpers and players on the cithara, made preparations for the festivities, and sent for a large number of hetaerae from the Peloponnesus, and many signing-girls from Ionia, and young hetaerae from the whole of Greece, both singers and dancers.” See also other passages in Brissonius, de regio Pers. princ. pp. 142-3.)
The next verse (Eze 28:14) is a more difficult one. is an abbreviation of , , as in Num 11:15; Deu 5:24 (see Ewald, 184 a). The hap. leg. has been explained in very different ways, but mostly according to the Vulgate rendering, tu Cherub extentus et protegens , as signifying spreading out or extension, in the sense of “with outspread wings” (Gesenius and many others.). But does not mean either to spread out or to extend. The general meaning of the word is simply to anoint; and judging from and , portio , Lev 7:35 and Num 18:8, also to measure off, from which the idea of extension cannot possibly be derived. Consequently the meaning “anointing” is the only one that can be established with certainty in the case of the word . So far as the form is concerned, might be in the construct state; but the connection with , anointing, or anointed one, of the covering one, does not yield any admissible sense.
A comparison with Eze 28:16, where occurs again, will show that the , which stands between these two words in the verse before us, must contain a more precise definition of , and therefore is to be connected with in the construct state: cherub of anointing, i.e., anointed cherub. This is the rendering adopted by Kliefoth, the only commentator who has given the true explanation of the verse. is the older form, which has only been retained in a few words, such as in Isa 10:6, together with the tone-lengthened a (vid., Ewald, 160 a). The prince of Tyre is called an anointed cherub, as Ephraem Syrus has observed, because he was a king even though he had not been anointed. is not an abstract noun, either here or in Nah 2:6, but a participle; and this predicate points back to Exo 25:20, “the cherubim covered ( ) the capporeth with their wings,” and is to be explained accordingly. Consequently the king of Tyre is called a cherub, because, as an anointed king, he covered or overshadowed a sanctuary, like the cherubim upon the ark of the covenant. What this sanctuary was is evident from the remarks already made at Eze 28:2 concerning the divine seat of the king. If the “seat of God,” upon which the king of Tyre sat, is to be understood as signifying the state of Tyre, then the sanctuary which he covered or overshadowed as a cherub will also be the Tyrian state, with its holy places and sacred things. In the next clause, is to be taken by itself according to the accents, “and I have made thee (so),” and not to be connected with . We are precluded from adopting the combination which some propose – viz. “I set thee upon a holy mountain; thou wast a God” – by the incongruity of first of all describing the prince of Tyre as a cherub, and then immediately afterwards as a God, inasmuch as, according to the Biblical view, the cherub, as an angelic being, is simply a creature and not a God; and the fanciful delusion of the prince of Tyre, that he was an El (Eze 28:2), could not furnish the least ground for his being addressed as Elohim by Ezekiel. And still more are we precluded from taking the words in this manner by the declaration contained in Eze 28:16, that Jehovah will cast him out “from the mountain of Elohim,” from which we may see that in the present verse also Elohim belongs to har , and that in Eze 28:16, where the mountain of God is mentioned again, the predicate is simply omitted for the sake of brevity, just as is afterwards omitted on the repetition of . The missing but actual object to can easily be supplied from the preceding clause, – namely, this, i.e., an overshadowing cherub, had God made him, by placing him as king in paradisaical glory. The words, “thou wast upon a holy mountain of God,” are not to be interpreted in the sense suggested by Isa 14:13, namely, that Ezekiel was thinking of the mountain of the gods (Alborj) met with in Asiatic mythology, because it was there that the cherub had its home, as Hitzig and others suppose; for the Biblical idea of the cherub is entirely different from the heathen notion of the griffin keeping guard over gold. It is true that God placed the cherub as guardian of Paradise, but Paradise was not a mountain of God, nor even a mountainous land. The idea of a holy mountain of God, as being the seat of the king of Tyre, was founded partly upon the natural situation of Tyre itself, built as it was upon one or two rocky islands of the Mediterranean, and partly upon the heathen notion of the sacredness of this island as the seat of the Deity, to which the Tyrians attributed the grandeur of their state. To this we may probably add a reference to Mount Zion, upon which was the sanctuary, where the cherub covered the seat of the presence of God. For although the comparison of the prince of Tyre to a cherub was primarily suggested by the description of his abode as Paradise, the epithet shows that the place of the cherub in the sanctuary was also present to the prophet’s mind. At the same time, we must not understand by Mount Zion itself. The last clause, “thou didst walk in the midst of (among) fiery stones,” is very difficult to explain. It is admitted by nearly all the more recent commentators, that “stones of fire” cannot be taken as equivalent to “every precious stone” (Eze 28:13), both because the precious stones could hardly be called stones of fire on account of their brilliant splendour, and also being covered with precious stones is not walking in the midst of them. Nor can we explain the words, as Hvernick has done, from the account given by Herodotus (II 44) of the two emerald pillars in the temple of Hercules at Tyre, which shone resplendently by night; for pillars shining by night are not stones of fire, and the king of Tyre did not walk in the temple between these pillars. The explanation given by Hofmann and Kliefoth appears to be the correct one, namely, that the stones of fire are to be regarded as a wall of fire (Zec 2:9), which rendered the cherubic king of Tyre unapproachable upon his holy mountain.
In Eze 28:15, the comparison of the prince of Tyre to Adam in Paradise is brought out still more prominently. As Adam was created sinless, so was the prince of Tyre innocent in his conduct in the day of his creation, but only until perverseness was found in him. As Adam forfeited and lost the happiness conferred upon him through his fall, so did the king of Tyre forfeit his glorious position through unrighteousness and sin, and cause God to cast him from his eminence down to the ground. He fell into perverseness in consequence of the abundance of his trade ( Eze 28:16). Because his trade lifted him up to wealth and power, his heart was filled with iniquity. for , like for in Eze 41:8, and for in Eze 39:26. is not the subject, but the object to ; and the plural , with an indefinite subject, “they filled,” is chosen in the place of the passive construction, because in the Hebrew, as in the Aramaean, active combinations are preferred to passive whenever it is possible to adopt them (vid., Ewald, 294 b and 128 b). is used by Ezekiel in the transitive sense “to fill” (Eze 8:17 and Eze 30:11). , the midst, is used for the interior in a physical sense, and not in a spiritual one; and the expression is chosen with an evident allusion to the history of the fall. As Adam sinned by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree, so did the king of Tyre sin by filling himself with wickedness in connection with trade (Hvernick and Kliefoth). God would therefore put him away from the mountain of God, and destroy him. with is a pregnant expression: to desecrate away from, i.e., to divest of his glory and thrust away from. is a contracted form for (vid., Ewald, 232 h and 72 c). – Eze 28:17 and Eze 28:18 contain a comprehensive description of the guilt of the prince of Tyre, and the approaching judgment is still further depicted. cannot mean, “on account of thy splendour,” for this yields no appropriate thought, inasmuch as it was not the splendour itself which occasioned his overthrow, but the pride which corrupted the wisdom requisite to exalt the might of Tyre, – in other words, tempted the prince to commit iniquity in order to preserve and increase his glory. We therefore follow the lxx, Syr., Ros., and others, in taking in the sense of una cum , together with. is an infinitive form, like for , though Ewald (238 e) regards it as so extraordinary that he proposes to alter the text. with is used for looking upon a person with malicious pleasure. shows in what the guilt ( ) consisted ( is the construct state of ). The sanctuaries ( miqdashim ) which the king of Tyre desecrated by the unrighteousness of his commerce, are not the city or the state of Tyre, but the temples which made Tyre a holy island. These the king desecrated by bringing about their destruction through his own sin. Several of the codices and editions read in the singular, and this is the reading adopted by the Chaldee, Syriac, and Vulgate versions. If this were the true reading, the sanctuary referred to would be the holy mountain of God (Eze 28:14 and Eze 28:16). But the reading itself apparently owes its origin simply to this interpretation of the words. In the clause, “I cause fire to issue from the midst of thee,” is to be understood in the same sense as in Eze 28:16. The iniquity which the king has taken into himself becomes a fire issuing from him, by which he is consumed and burned to ashes. All who know him among the peoples will be astonished at his terrible fall (Eze 28:19, compare Eze 27:36).
If we proceed, in conclusion, to inquire into the fulfilment of these prophecies concerning Tyre and its king, we find the opinions of modern commentators divided. Some, for example Hengstenberg, Hvernick, Drechsler (on Isa 23), and others, assuming that, after a thirteen years’ siege, Nebuchadnezzar conquered the strong Island Tyre, and destroyed it; while others – viz. Gesenius, Winer, Hitzig, etc. – deny the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, or at any rate call it in question; and many of the earlier commentators suppose the prophecy to refer to Old Tyre, which stood upon the mainland. For the history of this dispute, see Hengstenberg, De rebus Tyriorum comment. (Berol. 1832); Hvernick, On Ezekiel, pp. 420ff.; and Movers, Phoenizier, II 1, pp. 427ff. – The denial of the conquest of Insular Tyre by the king of Babylon rests partly on the silence which ancient historians, who mention the siege itself, have maintained as to its result; and partly on the statement contained in Eze 29:17-20. – All that Josephus ( Antt. x. 11. 1) is able to quote from the ancient historians on this point is the following: – In the first place, he states, on the authority of the third book of the Chaldean history of Berosus, that when the father of Nebuchadnezzar, on account of his own age and consequent infirmity, had transferred to his son the conduct of the war against the rebellious satrap in Egypt, Coelesyria, and Phoenicia, Nebuchadnezzar defeated him, and brought the whole country once more under his sway. But as the tidings reached him of the death of his father just at the same time, after arranging affairs in Egypt, and giving orders to some of his friends to lead into Babylon the captives taken from among the Judaeans, the Phoenicians, the Syrians, and the Egyptians, together with the heavy armed portion of the army, he himself hastened through the desert to Babylon, with a small number of attendants, to assume that government of the empire. Secondly, he states, on the authority of the Indian and Phoenician histories of Philostratus, that when Ithobal was on the throne, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for thirteen years. The accounts taken from Berosus are repeated by Josephus in his c. Apion (i. 19), where he also adds (20), in confirmation of their credibility, that there were writings found in the archives of the Phoenicians which tallied with the statement made by Berosus concerning the king of Chaldea (Nebuchadnezzar), viz., “that he conquered all Syria and Phoenicia;” and that Philostratus also agrees with this, since he mentions the siege of Tyre in his histories ( ). In addition to this, for synchronistic purposes, Josephus ( c. Ap. i. 21) also communicates a fragment from the Phoenician history, containing not only the account of the thirteen years’ siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar in the reign of Ithobal, but also a list of the kings of Tyre who followed Ithobal, down to the time of Cyrus of Persia.
(Note: The passage reads as follows: “In the reign of Ithobal the king, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for thirteen years. After him judges were appointed. Ecnibalus, the son of Baslachus, judged for two months; Chelbes, the son of Abdaeus, for ten months; Abbarus, the high priest, for three months; Myttonus and Gerastartus, the sons of Abdelemus, for six years; after whom Balatorus reigned for one year. When he died, they sent for and fetched Merbalus from Babylon, and he reigned four years. At his death they sent for his brother Eiramus, who reigned twenty years. During his reign, Cyrus ruled over the Persians.”)
The siege of Tyre is therefore mentioned three times by Josephus, on the authority of Phoenician histories; but he never says anything of the conquest and destruction of that city by Nebuchadnezzar. From this circumstance the conclusion has been drawn, that this was all he found there. For if, it is said, the siege had terminated with the conquest of the city, this glorious result of the thirteen years’ exertions could hardly have been passed over in silence, inasmuch as in Antt. x. 11. 1 the testimony of foreign historians is quoted to the effect that Nebuchadnezzar was “an active man, and more fortunate than the kings that were before him.” But the argument is more plausible than conclusive. If we bear in mind that Berosus simply relates the account of a subjugation and devastation of the whole of Phoenicia, without even mentioning the siege of Tyre, and that it is only in Phoenician writings therefore that the latter is referred to, we cannot by any means conclude, from their silence as to the result or termination of the siege, that it ended gloriously for the Tyrians and with humiliation to Nebuchadnezzar, or that he was obliged to relinquish the attempt without success after the strenuous exertions of thirteen years. On the contrary, considering how all the historians of antiquity show the same anxiety, if not to pass over in silence, such events as were unfavourable to their country, at all events to put them in as favourable to their country, at all events to put them in as favourable a light as possible, the fact that the Tyrian historians observe the deepest silence as to the result of the thirteen years’ siege of Tyre would rather force us to the conclusion that it was very humiliating to Tyre. And this could only be the case if Nebuchadnezzar really conquered Tyre at the end of thirteen years. If he had been obliged to relinquish the siege because he found himself unable to conquer so strong a city, the Tyrian historians would most assuredly have related this termination of the thirteen years’ strenuous exertions of the great and mighty king of Babylon.
The silence of the Tyrian historians concerning the conquest of Tyre is no proof, therefore, that it did not really take place. But Eze 29:17-20 has also been quoted as containing positive evidence of the failure of the thirteen years’ siege; in other words, of the fact that the city was not taken. We read in this passage, that Nebuchadnezzar caused his army to perform hard service against Tyre, and that neither he nor his army received any recompense for it. Jehovah would therefore give him Egypt to spoil and plunder as wages for this work of theirs in the service of Jehovah. Gesenius and Hitzig (on Isa 23) infer from this, that Nebuchadnezzar obtained no recompense for the severe labour of the siege, because he did not succeed in entering the city. But Movers ( l.c. p. 448) has already urged in reply to this, that “the passage before us does not imply that the city was not conquered any more than it does the opposite, but simply lays stress upon the fact that it was not plundered. For nothing can be clearer in this connection than that what we are to understand by the wages, which Nebuchadnezzar did not receive, notwithstanding the exertions connected with his many years’ siege, is simply the treasures of Tyre;” though Movers is of opinion that the passage contains an intimation that the siege was brought to an end with a certain compromise which satisfied the Tyrians, and infers, from the fact of stress being laid exclusively upon the neglected plundering, that the termination was of such a kind that plundering might easily have taken place, and therefore that Tyre was either actually conquered, but treated mildly from wise considerations, or else submitted to the Chaldeans upon certain terms. But neither of these alternatives can make the least pretension to probability. In Eze 29:20 it is expressly stated that “as wages, for which he (Nebuchadnezzar) has worked, I give him the land of Egypt, because they (Nebuchadnezzar and his army) have done it for me;” in other words, have done the work for me. When, therefore, Jehovah promises to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as a reward or wages for the hard work which has been done for Him at Tyre, the words presuppose that Nebuchadnezzar had really accomplished against Tyre the task entrusted to him by God. But God had committed to him not merely the siege, but also the conquest and destruction of Tyre. Nebuchadnezzar must therefore have executed the commission, though without receiving the expected reward for the labour which he had bestowed; and on that account God would compensate him for his trouble with the treasures of Egypt. This precludes not only the supposition that the siege was terminated, or the city surrendered, on the condition that it should not be plundered, but also the idea that for wise reasons Nebuchadnezzar treated the city leniently after he had taken possession. In either case Nebuchadnezzar would not have executed the will of Jehovah upon Tyre in such a manner as to be able to put in any claim for compensation for the hard work performed. The only thing that could warrant such a claim would be the circumstance, that after conquering Tyre he found no treasures to plunder. And this is the explanation which Jerome has given of the passage ad litteram . “Nebuchadnezzar,” he says, “being unable, when besieging Tyre, to bring up his battering-rams, besieging towers, and vineae close to the walls, on account of the city being surrounded by the sea, employed a very large number of men from his army in collecting rocks and piling up mounds of earth, so as to fill up the intervening sea, and make a continuous road to the island at the narrowest part of the strait. And when the Tyrians saw that the task was actually accomplished, and the foundations of the walls were being disturbed by the shocks from the battering-rams, they placed in ships whatever articles of value the nobility possessed in gold, silver, clothing, and household furniture, and transported them to the islands; so that when the city was taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing to compensate him for all his labour. And because he had done the will of God in all this, some years after the conquest of Tyre, Egypt was given to him by God.”
(Note: Cyrill. Alex. gives the same explanation in his commentary on Isa 23.)
It is true that we have no historical testimony from any other quarter to support this interpretation. But we could not expect it in any of the writings which have come down to us, inasmuch as the Phoenician accounts extracted by Josephus simply contain the fact of the thirteen years’ siege, and nothing at all concerning its progress and result. At the same time, there is the greatest probability that this was the case. If Nebuchadnezzar really besieged the city, which was situated upon an island inf the sea, he could not have contented himself with cutting off the supply of drinking water from the city simply on the land side, as Shalmanezer, the king of Assyria, is said to have done (vid., Josephus, Antt. ix. 14. 2), but must have taken steps to fill up the strait between the city and the mainland with a mound, that he might construct a road for besieging and assaulting the walls, as Alexander of Macedonia afterwards did. And the words of Eze 29:18, according to which every head was bald, and the skin rubbed off every shoulder with the severity of the toil, point indisputably to the undertaking of some such works as these. And if the Chaldeans really carried out their operations upon the city in this way, as the siege-works advanced, the Tyrians would not neglect any precaution to defend themselves as far as possible, in the event of the capture of the city. They would certainly send the possessions and treasures of the city by ship into the colonies, and thereby place them in security; just as, according to Curtius, iv. 3, they sent off their families to Carthage, when the city was besieged by Alexander.
This view of the termination of the Chaldean siege of Tyre receives a confirmation of no little weight from the fragment of Menander already given, relating to the succession of rulers in Tyre after the thirteen years’ siege by Nebuchadnezzar. It is there stated that after Ithobal, Baal reigned for ten years, that judges ( suffetes) were then appointed, nearly all of whom held office for a few months only; that among the last judges there was also a king Balatorus, who reigned for a year; that after this, however, the Tyrians sent to Babylon, and brought thence Merbal, and on his death Hiram, as kings, whose genuine Tyrian names undoubtedly show that they were descendants of the old native royal family. This circumstance proves not only that Tyre became a Chaldean dependency in consequence of the thirteen years’ siege by Nebuchadnezzar, but also that the Chaldeans had led away the royal family to Babylonia, which would hardly have been the case if Tyre had submitted to the Chaldeans by a treaty of peace.
If, however, after what has been said, no well-founded doubt can remain as to the conquest of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, our prophecy was not so completely fulfilled thereby, that Tyre became a bare rock on which fishermen spread their nets, as is threatened in Eze 26:4-5, Eze 26:14. Even if Nebuchadnezzar destroyed its walls, and laid the city itself in ruins to a considerable extent, he did not totally destroy it, so that it was not restored. On the contrary, two hundred and fifty years afterwards, we find Tyre once more a splendid and powerful royal city, so strongly fortified, that Alexander the Great was not able to take it till after a siege of seven months, carried on with extraordinary exertions on the part of both the fleet and army, the latter attacking from the mainland by means of a mound of earth, which had been thrown up with considerable difficulty (Diod. Sic. xvii. 40ff.; Arrian, Alex. ii. 17ff.; Curtius, iv. 2-4). Even after this catastrophe it rose once more into a distinguished commercial city under the rule of the Seleucidae and afterwards of the Romans, who made it the capital of Phoenicia. It is mentioned as such a city in the New Testament (Mat 15:21; Act 21:3, Act 21:7); and Strabo (xvi. 2. 23) describes it as a busy city with two harbours and very lofty houses. But Tyre never recovered its ancient grandeur. In the first centuries of the Christian era, it is frequently mentioned as an archbishop’s see. From a.d. 636 to a.d. 1125 it was under the rule of the Saracens, and was so strongly fortified, that it was not till after a siege of several months’ duration that they succeeded in taking it. Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Tyre in the year 1060, describes it as a city of distinguished beauty, with a strongly fortified harbour, and surrounded by walls, and with the best glass and earthenware in the East. “Saladin, the conqueror of Palestine, broke his head against Tyre in the year 1189. But after Acre had been taken by storm in the year 1291 by the Sultan El-Ashraf, on the day following this conquest the city passed without resistance into the hands of the same Egyptian king; the inhabitants having forsaken Tyre by night, and fled by sea, that they might not fall into the power of such bloodthirsty soldiers” (Van de Velde). When it came into the hands of the Saracens once more, its fortifications were demolished; and from that time forward Tyre has never risen from its ruins again. Moreover, it had long ceased to be an insular city. The mound which Alexander piled up, grew into a broader and firmer tongue of land in consequence of the sand washed up by the sea, so that the island was joined to the mainland, and turned into a peninsula. The present Sr is situated upon it, a market town of three or four thousand inhabitants, which does not deserve the name of a city or town. The houses are for the most part nothing but huts; and the streets are narrow, crooked, and dirty lanes. The ruins of the old Phoenician capital cover the surrounding country to the distance of more than half an hour’s journey from the present town gate. The harbour is so thoroughly choked up with sand, and filled with the ruins of innumerable pillars and building stones, that only small boats can enter. The sea has swallowed up a considerable part of the greatness of Tyre; and quite as large a portion of its splendid temples and fortifications lie buried in the earth. To a depth of many feet the soil trodden at the present day is one solid mass of building stones, shafts of pillars, and rubbish composed of marble, porphyry, and granite. Fragments of pillars of the costly verde antiquo (green marble) also lie strewn about in large quantities. The crust, which forms the soil that is trodden today, is merely the surface of this general heap of ruins. Thus has Tyre actually become “a bare rock, and a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea;” and “the dwelling-places, which are now erected upon a portion of its former site, are not at variance with the terrible decree, ‘thou shalt be built no more’“ (compare Robinson’s Palestine, and Van de Velde’s Travels). – Thus has the prophecy of Ezekiel been completely fulfilled, though not directly by Nebuchadnezzar; for the prophecy is not a bare prediction of historical details, but is pervaded by the idea of the judgment of God. To the prophet, Nebuchadnezzar is the instrument of the punitive righteousness of God, and Tyre the representative of the ungodly commerce of the world. Hence, as Hvernick has already observed, Nebuchadnezzar’s action is more than an isolated deed in the prophet’s esteem. “In his conquest of the city he sees the whole of the ruin concentrated, which history places before us as a closely connected chain. The breaking of the power of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar stands out before his view as inseparably connected with its utter destruction. This was required by the internal theocratic signification of the fact in its relation to the destruction of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem will rise again to new glory out of its destruction through the covenant faithfulness of God (Eze 28:25-26). But Tyre, the city of the world’s commerce, which is rejoicing over the fall of Jerusalem, will pass away for ever (Eze 26:14; Eze 27:36).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Fall of the Prince of Tyre. | B. C. 588. |
11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, 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 prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
As after the prediction of the ruin of Tyre (ch. xxvi.) followed a pathetic lamentation for it (ch. xxvii.), so after the ruin of the king of Tyre is foretold it is bewailed.
I. This is commonly understood of the prince who then reigned over Tyre, spoken to, v. 2. His name was Ethbaal, or Ithobalus, as Diodorus Siculus calls him that was king of Tyre when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it. He was, it seems, upon all external accounts an accomplished man, very great and famous; but his iniquity was his ruin. Many expositors have suggested that besides the literal sense of this lamentation there is an allegory in it, and that it is an allusion to the fall of the angels that sinned, who undid themselves by their pride. And (as is usual in texts that have a mystical meaning) some passages here refer primarily to the king of Tyre, as that of his merchandises, others to the angels, as that of being in the holy mountain of God. But, if there be any thing mystical in it (as perhaps there may), I shall rather refer it to the fall of Adam, which seems to be glanced at, v. 13. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God, and that in the day thou wast created.
II. Some think that by the king of Tyre is meant the whole royal family, this including also the foregoing kings, and looking as far back as Hiram, king of Tyre. The then governor is called prince (v. 2); but he that is here lamented is called king. The court of Tyre with its kings had for many ages been famous; but sin ruins it. Now we may observe two things here:–
1. What was the renown of the king of Tyre. He is here spoken of as having lived in great splendour, v. 12-15. He as a man, but it is here owned that he was a very considerable man and one that made a mighty figure in his day. (1.) He far exceeded other men. Hiram and other kings of Tyre had done so in their time; and the reigning king perhaps had not come short of any of them: Thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. But the powers of human nature and the prosperity of human life seemed in him to be at the highest pitch. He was looked upon to be as wise as the reason of men could make him, and as happy as the wealth of this world and the enjoyment of it could make him; in him you might see the utmost that both could do; and therefore seal up the sum, for nothing can be added; he is a complete man, perfect in suo genere–in his kind. (2.) He seemed to be as wise and happy as Adam in innocency (v. 13): “Thou hast been in Eden, even in the garden of God; thou hast lived as it were in paradise all thy days, hast had a full enjoyment of every thing that is good for food or pleasant to the eyes, and an uncontroverted dominion over all about thee, as Adam had.” One instance of the magnificence of the king of Tyre is, that he outdid all others princes in jewels, which those have the greatest plenty of that trade most abroad, as he did: Every precious stone was his covering. There is a great variety of precious stones; but he had of every sort and in such plenty that besides what were treasured up in his cabinet, and were the ornaments of his crown, he had his clothes trimmed with them; they were his covering. Nay (v. 14), he walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire, that is, these precious stones, which glittered and sparkled like fire. His rooms were in a manner set round with jewels, so that he walked in the midst of them, and then fancied himself as glorious as if, like God, he had been surrounded by so many angels, who are compared to a flame of fire. And, if he be such an admirer of precious stones as to think them as bright as angels, no wonder that he is such an admirer of himself as to think himself as great as God. Nine several sorts of previous stones are here named, which were all in the high priest’s ephod. Perhaps they are particularly named because he, in his pride, used to speak particularly of them, and tell those about him, with a great deal of foolish pleasure, “This is such a precious stone, of such a value, and so and so are its virtues.” Thus is he upbraided with his vanity. Gold is mentioned last, as far inferior in value to those precious stones; and he used to speak of it accordingly. Another thing that made him think his palace a paradise was the curious music he had, the tabrets and pipes, hand-instruments and wind-instruments. The workmanship of these was extraordinary, and they were prepared for him on purpose; prepared in thee, the pronoun is feminine–in thee, O Tyre! or it denotes that the king was effeminate in doting on such things. They were prepared in the day he was created, that is, either born, or created king; they were made on purpose to celebrate the joys either of his birth-day or of his coronation-day. These he prided himself much in, and would have all that came to see his palace take notice of them. (3.) He looked like an incarnate angel (v. 14): Thou art the anointed cherub that covers or protects; that is, he looked upon himself as a guardian angel to his people, so bright, so strong, so faithful, appointed to this office and qualified for it. Anointed kings should be to their subjects as anointed cherubim, that cover them with the wings of their power; and, when they are such, God will own them. Their advancement was from him: I have set thee so. Some think, because mention was made of Eden, that it refers to the cherub set on the east of Eden to cover it, Gen. iii. 24. He thought himself as able to guard his city from all invaders as that angel was for his charge. Or it may refer to the cherubim in the most holy place, whose wings covered the ark; he thought himself as bright as one of them. (4.) He appeared in as much splendour as the high priest when he was clothed with his garments for glory and beauty: “Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God, as president of the temple built on that holy mountain; thou didst look as great, and with as much majesty and authority, as ever the high priest did when he walked in the temple, which was garnished with precious stones (2 Chron. iii. 6), and had his habit on, which had precious stones both in the breast and on the shoulders; in that he seemed to walk in the midst of the stones of fire.” Thus glorious is the king of Tyre; at least he thinks himself so.
2. Let us now see what was the ruin of the king of Tyre, what it was that stained his glory and laid all this honour in the dust (v. 15): “Thou wast perfect in thy ways; thou didst prosper in all thy affairs and every thing went well with thee; thou hadst not only a clear, but a bright reputation, from the day thou wast created, the day of thy accession to the throne, till iniquity was found in thee; and that spoiled all.” This may perhaps allude to the deplorable case of the angels that fell, and of our first parents, both of whom were perfect in their ways till iniquity was found in them. And when iniquity was once found in him it increased; he grew worse and worse, as appears (v. 18): “Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries; thou hast lost the benefit of all that which thou thoughtest sacred, and in which, as in a sanctuary, thou thoughtest to take refuge; these thou hast defiled, and so exposed thyself by the multitude of thy iniquities.” Now observe,
(1.) What the iniquity was that was the ruin of the king of Tyre. [1.] The iniquity of his traffic (so it is called, v. 18), both his and his people’s, for their sin is charged upon him, because he connived at it and set them a bad example (v. 16): By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thus thou hast sinned. The king had so much to do with his merchandise, and was so wholly intent upon the gains of that, that he took no care to do justice, to give redress to those that suffered wrong and to protect them from violence; nay, in the multiplicity of business, wrong was done to many by oversight; and in his dealings he made use of his power to invade the rights of those he dealt with. Note, Those that have much to do in the world are in great danger of doing much amiss; and it is hard to deal with many without violence to some. Trades are called mysteries; but too many make them mysteries of iniquity. [2.] His pride and vain-glory (v. 17): “Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou wast in love with thyself, and thy own shadow. And thus thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of the brightness, the pomp and splendour, wherein thou livedst.” He gazed so much upon this that it dazzled his eyes and prevented him from seeing his way. He appeared so puffed up with his greatness that it bereaved him both of his wisdom and of the reputation of it. He really became a fool in glorying. Those make a bad bargain for themselves that part with their wisdom for the gratifying of their gaiety, and, to please a vain humour, lose a real excellency.
(2.) What the ruin was that this iniquity brought him to. [1.] He was thrown out of his dignity and dislodged from his palace, which he took to be his paradise and temple (v. 16): I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God. His kingly power was high as a mountain, setting him above others; it was a mountain of God, for the powers that be are ordained of God, and have something in them that is sacred; but, having abused his power, he is reckoned profane, and is therefore deposed and expelled. He disgraces the crown he wears, and so has forfeited it, and shall be destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire, the precious stones with which his palace was garnished, as the temple was; and they shall be no protection to him. [2.] He was exposed to contempt and disgrace, and trampled upon by his neighbours: “I will cast thee to the ground (v. 17), will cast thee among the pavement-stones, from the midst of the precious stones, and will lay thee a rueful spectacle before kings, that they may behold thee and take warning by thee not to be proud and oppressive.” [3.] He was quite consumed, his city and he in it: I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee. The conquerors, when they have plundered the city, will kindle a fire in the heart of it, which shall lay it, and the palace particularly, in ashes. Or it may be taken more generally for the fire of God’s judgments, which shall devour both prince and people, and bring all the glory of both to ashes upon the earth; and this fire shall be brought forth from the midst of thee. All God’s judgments upon sinners take rise from themselves; they are devoured by a fire of their own kindling. [4.] He was hereby made a terrible example of divine vengeance. Thus he is reduced in the sight of all those that behold him (v. 18): Those that know him shall be astonished at him, and shall wonder how one that stood so high could be brought so low. The king of Tyre’s palace, like the temple at Jerusalem, when it is destroyed shall be an astonishment and a hissing,2Ch 7:20; 2Ch 7:21. So fell the king of Tyre.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
B. The Lament over the Prince 28:1119
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
Eze. 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. Eze. 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 Eze. 28:12-15 a the prophet describes the person and position of the king of Tyre; and in Eze. 28:15 b – Eze. 28:19, his sin and sentence.
1. The person and position of the king (Eze. 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 (Eze. 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) (Eze. 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. (Exo. 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 Priests 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 Eze. 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 (Gen. 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] (Eze. 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 (Eze. 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. Exo. 19:16; Psa. 18:8; Psa. 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. Isa. 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 (Eze. 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 (Eze. 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 (Eze. 28:16).
At the root of the fall of the king of Tyre was pride. The kings 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 (Eze. 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 (Eze. 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 (Eze. 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.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
‘Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the King of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord Yahweh.”
‘Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me –.’ The introduction demonstrates that this is a new oracle, in the form of a lamentation. ‘King of Tyre’ was probably the title the king took for himself as king of a city state, and the first part of the poem then emphasises his extravagant claims.
‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh.’ However the king may see himself he must recognise, as must Israel, that he is subject to the word of the Lord Yahweh to Whom he is subject.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lamentation for the King of Tyre ( Eze 28:11-19 ).
This oracle is in the form of a lamentation for the King of Tyre, with his great, exaggerated claims and his certain destruction. There are no good grounds for applying it to Satan except in the sense that extreme evil and arrogance stems from him. It rests on a ‘glorified’ view of Eden based on man’s own estimate of what is desirable, riches and wealth, and must probably be seen as illustrating the extravagant claims of the King of Tyre in connection with the primeval ‘garden’, as interwoven with the story of Eden to bring out that he was but human and had shared in the fall.
The King of Tyre probably spoke in terms of Dilmun (the Sumerian Eden), or some other form of ‘original Paradise’, where gods and men intermingled, describing his own glorious origin. The point is probably that he claimed for himself a pre-existence and semi-divine status in that mythical world of prehistory, possibly though an ancestral line whom he saw as ‘godlike’ from the beginning of time and reproduced in each succeeding king. This view could well have been supported by his musings in the temple as he walked in the holy temple garden, founded on an artificial mountain of the gods, and containing statues of the cherubim. Such exaltation in men can always produce dangerous ideas.
Excavations at Gebal (Byblos) have revealed a carved representation of cherubim supporting the throne of the king, and similar winged creatures are found abundantly around the ancient world.
The king’s view of himself is then taken by Ezekiel and his God, and interwoven with the story of Eden, the real primeval Paradise, to depict his true status, this being for the consumption of the house of Israel as they contemplated the glory that was Tyre and the extreme claims of its king, which they may have half believed.
We must remember that sacred gardens were often connected with temples, as were ‘mountains’ of the gods. Thus ‘the garden of the gods’ and ‘the mountain of the gods’ may simply in the end have been a sacred temple garden on an artificial mountain in which the king walked as the representative of deity, thought of by him, as he exalted himself in his thoughts and before his people, in terms of an original Paradise.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lamentation over the King of Tyre
v. 11. Moreover, the word of the Lord, v. 12. Son of man, take up a lamentation, v. 13. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God, v. 14. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, v. 15. Thou wast perfect in thy ways, v. 16. By the multitude of thy merchandise, v. 17. Thine heart was lifted up, v. 18. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries, v. 19. All they that know thee among the people,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
From this passage I should be inclined to think that Tyrus is a figure of human nature in general, rather than referring to any one nation in particular; for of what one kingdom upon earth can it be said, that they were perfect in their ways from the day of creation, but of our nature generally speaking. To make application of it to any nation would be to contradict scripture. Those who would refer it to Papal Rome should seriously consider, that never, at any one period, could such things be said of her. To say, that she hath thrown down her altars, and defiled her sanctuaries, would be to give her what she never had – altars and sanctuaries. Christ is the only New Testament altar, and the true sanctuary of his people.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 28:11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ver. 11. Moreover the word. ] See on Eze 18:1 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 28:11-19
11Again the word of the LORD came to me saying, 12Son of man, take 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.
13You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
The beryl, the onyx and the jasper;
The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;
And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,
Was in you.
On the day that you were created
They were prepared.
14You were the anointed cherub who covers,
And I placed you there.
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
15You were blameless in your ways
From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.
16By the abundance of your trade
You were internally filled with violence,
And you sinned;
Therefore I have cast you as profane
From the mountain of God.
And I have destroyed you,
O covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.
17Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
I put you before kings,
That they may see you.
18By the multitude of your iniquities,
In the unrighteousness of your trade
You profaned your sanctuaries.
Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you;
It has consumed you,
And I have turned you to ashes on the earth
In the eyes of all who see you.
19All who know you among the peoples
Are appalled at you;
You have become terrified
And you will cease to be forever.’
Eze 28:11 This is a new oracle, marked by the repeated literary marker the word of the LORD came to me saying.
Eze 28:12 lamentation This is a funeral dirge, noted by a unique poetic beat. It is common in Ezekiel (cf. Eze 2:10; Eze 19:1; Eze 19:14; Eze 26:17; Eze 27:2; Eze 27:32; Eze 28:12; Eze 32:2; Eze 32:16). See note at Eze 2:10.
the king of Tyre This (BDB 572) is parallel to Eze 28:2, leader (lit. prince, BDB 617 only here in Ezekiel; only once in Isa 55:4 and Jer 20:1).
Eze 28:13-15 There seems to be a series of statements that go beyond the possibility of a mere human king.
1. the seal of perfection, Eze 28:12
2. full of wisdom and beauty, Eze 28:12
3. in the Garden of Eden, Eze 28:13
4. clothed with colored/gems, Eze 28:13
5. an anointed cherub who covers, Eze 28:14; Eze 28:16
6. in God’s presence on God’s mountain, Eze 28:14
7. blameless, Eze 28:15
Could this be the first true mention of Satan and his origin (see Origen, Tertullian, and Jerome)? All believers want more information about the origin and purpose of evil, see Special Topic: Personal Evil . However, this would be a strange context (i.e., God’s judgment on surrounding nations) to be the only revelation on this subject. Pride and arrogance are characteristics of this fallen reality. YHWH judges pride! Ezekiel uses hyperbolic language from the Garden of Eden, not only here related to the king of Tyre, but also in chapter 31, related to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. See Contextual Insights, D.
Eze 28:13 Every precious stone was your covering This seems to be an allusion to the ephod (i.e., breastplate) of the High Priest (cf. Exo 28:17; Exo 28:20; Exo 39:10-14). Although the Masoretic Text lists only nine jewels, the Septuagint lists all twelve (sometimes the LXX reflects the more ancient text). The king of Trye is symbolized as
1. priestly
2. kingly
3. wealthy
settings and sockets The MT has tambourines (BDB 1074, KB 1772, both say this is a textual corruption).
Sockets (BDB 666, refers to a jeweler’s work of boring a hole, see KJ, NKJV, ASB, JB. The NOUN is used only two times. The VERB means piercing or boring’).
On the day that you were created It is assumed that the angelic realm is created (cf. Eze 28:15; Psa 104:4). Biblical faith is not an eternal dualism like Zoroastrianism, but the Bible is silent on when, how, and why. The Bible focuses on humans on this planet.
The two phrases on the day that you were created (cf. Eze 28:15) and I placed you there (cf. Eze 28:14) denote the authority and sovereignty of YHWH. Satan has no independent existence. He acts at YHWH’s permission (cf. 1Ki 22:19-28; Job 1-2; Zechariah 3).
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE DEMONIC (UNCLEAN SPIRITS)
Eze 28:14 the anointed cherub The term anointed (BDB 603, KB 596) is found only here in the OT. Its meaning is uncertain. Here are some theories.
1. cherub of expansion (BDB)
2. cherub that covereth
3. cherub with far-reaching wings
4. cherub of sparkling (i.e., to illuminate, KB)
The LXX has with the Cherubim, not one of them.
Cherubim are involved in several aspects of OT history.
1. they guard the Garden of Eden after mankind’s fall, Gen 3:24
2. they face inward on the Mercy Seat, the place of propitiation, Exo 25:8; Psa 80:1; Psalms 99; Isa 37:16
3. they form YHWH’s throne chariot, 2Sa 22:13; Psa 18:10; Ezekiel 1, 10
The descriptions in Eze 1:5-28; Eze 10:15-20 are similar to Rev 4:6-9. However, Revelation does seem to blend the Cherubim with the Seraphim of Isaiah 6. See Special Topic: CHERUBIM .
You were on the holy mountain of God This is a different metaphor from the Garden of Eden (Eze 28:13). This refers either to Mount Sinai (cf. Exodus 19-20; Eze 20:40) or to the mountain in the north where God dwells (cf. Eze 28:16; Psa 48:2; Isa 14:13-14, similar to Ugaritic Ba’al poetry). Note that Psa 50:2 uses similar descriptions of Mt. Zion (i.e., perfect in beauty, cf. Eze 28:12).
It was common in Ancient Near Eastern religious thought to view the gods as living on mountain tops (cf. Gilgamesh Epic). This is especially true for the Ugaritic Ba’al myth poems from Ras Shamra. The gods met and lived on a northern mountain called Saphon or Zaphon. Ba’al had a throne there built by Anath. The male god of Phoenician fertility worship was called Baal Saphon. This name has been found in Phoenician colonies around the Mediterranean. This northern mountain tradition, totally unrelated to Israel’s holy Mt. Moriah (cf. Eze 20:40), seems to be the source of the imagery of both Isa 14:13-15 and Eze 28:14; Eze 28:16. See Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel, vol. 2, pp. 279-281.
the stones of fire This (BDB 6 construct BDB 77) can be translated glittering gems. Some commentators try to link these with the jewels of Eze 28:13, but that is a different metaphorical setting. This fire may be associated with God’s personal presence (cf. Exo 3:2; Exo 13:21-22; Exo 14:24; Exo 19:18; Exo 24:17; Deu 1:33; Deu 4:11-12; Deu 4:15; Deu 4:24; Deu 4:33; Deu 4:36; Deu 9:3).
Eze 28:15 blameless This is a sacrificial term (BDB 1071) for unblemished (e.g., Eze 43:22). Here the term denotes an original innocence. Humans were not created sinful, but good (cf. Gen 1:31). Evil was an invader of original creation (cf. Genesis 3). This phrase relates to Eze 28:12-13. We learn from
1. Eze 28:17 that pride corrupted original innocence and wisdom (see note at Eze 28:3)
2. Eze 28:18 that unfair and violent trade practices (cf. Eze 28:16) brought God’s judgment
Hyperbole and history are mixed together for powerful poetry.
Eze 28:16 by the abundance of your trade Obviously this is a reference to the historical king of Tyre (cf. Eze 28:18).
Therefore I cast you as profane
From the mountain of God Notice YHWH’s sovereign judgment. The term profane (BDB 320, KB 319) means polluted and defeated. This is a priestly word that Ezekiel uses often (32 times).
Note that this is not the same metaphor (i.e., Garden of Eden) as Eze 28:13. This refers to a northern holy mountain.
NASB, NKJV,
REBcovering cherub
NRSV, NIVthe guardian cherub
TEVthe angel who guarded
NJBguardian winged creature
JPSOAshielding cherub
LXXthe cherub brought thee out
The FEMININE NOUN is found only here. The MASCULINE form means covering or screen (i.e., used of the screens of the tabernacle, cf. Exo 22:16; Exo 35:17; Exo 38:18; Exo 39:40; Exo 40:8; Exo 40:33; Num 3:26), so it could denote one close to the forgiving God (i.e., the Ark).
The term (BDB 697 I) also denotes YHWH covering with His wings as a metaphor for protection. The cherub protected the Garden of Eden in Gen 3:24 or more probably the angel protects the tree of life from Adam and Eve, lest they eat from it in the spiritual condition in which they find themselves (i.e., estrangement from God). So in this sense the cherub protects mankind from itself!
I must admit I am attracted to the Septuagint’s understanding that the referent in this poetry is to Adam, who was escorted out of the Garden by a cherub (cf. James Moffatt translation and Edgar J. Goodspeed’s translation of Eze 28:14, I placed you with the guardian Cherubim on the holy hill of God).
Eze 28:17 I cast you to the ground;
I put you before kings This again stresses the sovereignty of God (cf. Eze 28:18). The mention of kings may
1. be an allusion to Eze 26:16 (Tyre’s trading partners, cf. Eze 28:19)
2. be an allusion to the multi-national mercenary army of Babylon
Number 1 fits the context best.
Also note that the first phrase could be translated I cast you to the earth, implying a fall from heaven (i.e., God’s mountain), but probably it is a metaphor of rejection.
Eze 28:18 You profaned your sanctuaries The TEV has You did such evil in buying and selling that your places of worship were corrupted. This is the only Bible text that uses profane in connection with a pagan sanctuary. One cannot separate life and worship!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Eze 28:11-17
Eze 28:11-17
“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”
(Eze 28:11-19)
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, or to “A Phoenician version of the account in Genesis,” 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!” 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.
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 ever lived.
“Thou wast in Eden …” (Eze 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 …” (Eze 28:13). This description applies to Satan before he appeared in Eden, before he was “cast down to earth” (Eze 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 …” (Eze 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;” but as McFadyen admitted that does not get rid of the meaning, which would then be, “Among the cherubs was thy dwelling, certainly indicating his place among the angels of God, and as one of them.
“Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God …” (Eze 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 Eze 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,” (Heb 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 …” (Eze 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.
“They filled the midst of thee with violence … and thou hast sinned …” (Eze 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 …” (Eze 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 …” (Eze 28:14; Eze 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!
“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.
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.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Reciprocal: Jer 49:16 – though
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
God’s Description of Satan
Eze 28:11-26
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We read in the Epistle of Peter that Satan goeth about seeking whom he may devour. He is, indeed, the great enemy who hounded Christ every step of His way, and who, since the day of the birth of the church, has followed hard upon the heels of every spiritual church attempt.
He also is the adversary of each individual believer. This being the case it behooves us to consider, as far as we can, his strategies against the Church as a whole, and against us individually; and to learn as much as we can of his origin and his power.
The chapter before us will teach us many things we need to know.
1. The beauty and the glory of Satan in his original creation. Eze 28:12 of our Scripture says: “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.” The prince of Tyrus, as discussed in Eze 28:2-10 refers to the earthly ruler. The king of Tyrus in our verse, presents Satan as the one who was the real power back of the throne.
(1) Satan was full of wisdom. Of all the creatures which God had made, he, no doubt, held a place supreme in wisdom. We need to know this when we meet him and his emissaries. Truly, those of us who lack wisdom will not dare to meet him unless we are clothed with the power and wisdom of God. Satan’s wisdom is easily discerned as we watch his attacks and strategies against the children of God. He knows just how to man his forces and to prepare the strategy of his attacks.
(2) Satan was full of beauty. Satan was far from the hideous monster that he is usually pictured to the young. Were he half as hideous as he is painted, everybody would run from him. It is his beauty which appeals, and adds subtlety to every attempt he makes against the children of men.
2. Satan as an angel of light. Even to this hour the devil transforms himself into an angel of light, and his ministers transform themselves into the ministers of righteousness. It is Satan who goes about over the world making all kinds of promises of betterment, and of advance. He seeks to inculcate, on the one hand, every consummate denial of God and of Christ; while, on the other hand, he acclaims the very highest and the best idealisms in the realm of commercial life, political Utopias, and moral and ethical climaxes.
Satan even enters the realms of moral uplift and of social advancement. He preaches the contagion of good, and that man has within himself every possibility of upward achievement.
3. Satan surpasses himself in presenting a substitute faith, patterned after the lines of the true faith. Does the Bible teach righteousness? So also does Satan. However, God’s ministers teach a righteousness which is by faith in the Blood, and Satan’s ministers teach a righteousness which is by self, developed from the inner man.
God’s ministers teach moral victory, sobriety, and holy living through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Satan’s ministers teach the same ideals of right living, but through human effort and development.
God’s ministers proclaim Heaven as the goal of the believer. Satan and his ministers proclaim an earthly heaven, an eternal happy hunting ground as a goal, self attained, and possible through one’s own achievement.
I. SATAN IN THE GARDEN OF GOD (Eze 28:13)
The expression “Thou hast been in Eden the Garden of God” may not refer to our earthly Eden, because the Scripture goes on to say, “Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.”
Satan was certainly decked out in glory, and he dwelt in an Eden similar to the Eden in which man was placed.
The truth is, however, that Satan came to the earthly Eden. He met Adam and Eve there. First, he tempted the woman, and then, through the woman, tempted the man. He came clothing himself in the serpent, which was the wisest of God’s creation, so far as beasts were concerned. He came promising that if they would eat of the forbidden fruit of the tree, that they would be as gods, understanding good and evil.
Thus did Satan instill into man the ambition for self-glorification. He played upon their desire to attain supreme illumination. It was this which had caused his own fall from Heaven. He had said, in his own heart, that he would be as God.
Man quickly yielded to his voice and intrigue, and fell from his place of obedience and submission to the Almighty.
Satan is still using this same method against man. He knows that every high look God will bring down. He knows that self-exaltation means God-dethronement. Herein is the key that unlocks the present-day attitude of the modernistic world. The present age is an age of self-deification and of Christ humanization. On the one hand, men, led by the devil, are exalting themselves, boasting of their own learning and prowess; while, on the other hand, they are denying everything vital to the Deity of Christ, and to His glory as God manifest in flesh.
II. SATAN’S DOWNFALL (Eze 28:14-15)
1. Satan’s former glory. Eze 28:14 says, “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” We may not understand all that these words suggest. We do understand that Satan held a very high and prominent place among the holy ones of God.
2. “Thou wast perfect in thy ways.” It must have been a long, long time in which this mighty son of the morning ruled under the hand of God. He ruled perfect in every way from the day that he was created. In him there was no fault to be found in those days of his former glory.
3. “Till iniquity was found in thee.” There came a time when Satan turned from his God-invested glory, seeking higher altitudes of glory. Having power, he sought more power. He was not satisfied to be God’s great one, clothed with authority. He sought to be equal with God. All of this spirit of Satan will be found manifested in the antichrist when he shall go into the Temple of God, proclaiming himself as God. The antichrist will do more than that. He will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. This was the spirit which dominated the devil and which caused his downfall.
Let every one of us beware lest some of the overflow of that spirit strike into our own souls. God has warned that he that exalteth himself shall be abased. Every high look must be brought down. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled; and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down. The day of the Lord shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and every one that is lifted up.
III. THE REASON FOR SATAN’S FALL (Eze 28:17)
“Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” Recently a man here in India came to me in all seriousness and asked: “Why was it that God made man so he could sin?” I reached over and plucked a flower, and I asked him if he could understand it. He quickly answered, “No.” I said, “Neither do I understand why God did many things, nor do I know how He did it.” I told him I was not in the explaining business. Then I said: “But I am glad He did make man, because if He had not made man so he could sin, He had not been able to recreate him in His own image, and thus to make him so he couldn’t sin.” Then I said: “Neither would He have been able to have made it possible for us to ascribe all honor, and glory, and might, and power, unto Christ who gave Himself for us and who saved us from our sins.”
I told the Indian inquirer that he should not judge a picture before it is finished. It is not fair to the painter so to do. A daub here and a daub there seems altogether incongruous and inexplicable. When, however, the picture stands before us in its completion, it presents a perfect rhythmic beauty, and every touch of the brush only proves its necessity to the completed whole.
So, dear readers, where we cannot understand, let us trust, and let us believe that all things are working out for good to them who love God, and who are the called according to His purpose.
IV. FROM THE HEIGHTS TO THE DEPTHS (Eze 28:17, l.c.)
1. “I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.” These are the words which God spake unto Satan in the day that his heart was lifted up in pride. In Isa 14:1-32 we have some further light upon this matter. We read in Isa 14:12 : “How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground!” Then God adds in Isa 14:15, “Thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”
We can almost see the angel with a great chain coming down to bind Satan, and to cast him into the pit of the abyss, known in Revelation as the bottomless pit.
We can almost see the Lord as He destroys Satan’s antichrist and false prophet, and casts them into the Lake of Fire.
We can almost see Satan at the end of the tribulation period, cast into the Lake of Fire where the beast and the false prophet are.
As we see the overthrow of these, we can also see in our mind’s eye the setting up of the Great White Throne, and the wicked standing before God to be judged.
We can see those who joined with Satan, and later on with the antichrist, and who lifted up themselves against the Most High, being cast into the same Lake of Fire, which is the second death. This shall be the end of all men who have sinned against Jehovah, and have refused the sacrifice which is in Christ Jesus.
2. How great will be the fall of those who lift themselves up against the Lord! Think you that it pays to seek self-glory, self-pride? Consider the ones in the Book of Jude who denied the Lord God, and our only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Bible says: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
It is to these that God has reserved the blackness of darkness forever. May God grant that we may never fall as fell the angels who kept not their first estate, and as fell Satan from the heights of his glory.
V. THE GREAT DISPLAY (Eze 28:17, l.c. and 19)
The last clause of this remarkable verse says: “I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.” What a display this will be! In order to get the full grasp of this, we need to read Eze 28:19, and then to study with it some other Scriptures in Isa 14:1-32.
1. The overthrow of Satan will be complete and final.
“They that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” When Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire, that hour will be his last, so far as any power or authority among the nations is concerned. Thank God that the days of his wreckage will be over.
He will be put into the pit of the abyss, during the thousand years. From thence, however, he will be loosed for a little season. After that he will be cast into the Lake of Fire, never to be a menace in the affairs of the new Heaven and of the new earth.
2. The overthrow of Satan will be in the sight of those whom he had led in the train of his downfall. Isa 14:16 reads: “They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof?”
It will be a remarkable day in hell when Satan is cast down and the kings of the earth shall behold him, and cry out: “Art thou become like unto us?” How they will marvel as they think that the one who sought to exalt himself above God, is brought down to hell! They will see the one who made the earth to tremble, himself trembling; they shall see the one who shook kingdoms, shaken under the power of the almighty God.
VI. THE DESTRUCTION OF TYRE (Eze 28:18)
Our Scripture now turns away from Satan as we understand it, and speaks once more to Tyrus. God is showing what happens when a people are under the dominion and power of the devil.
Here are the words of Eze 28:18 : “Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee.”
This prophecy has been literally fulfilled. The ancient city has been utterly destroyed. It stands today as a mark of the wrath of God against unrighteousness and sin when it is ripened in iniquity.
We turn from Tyre to the world as a whole. “What sorrow, what heartaches, what anguish, has Satan brought to men. Time and again the judgments of God have fallen. First the whole earth was swept from its moorings by the Flood. Then the tower of Babel was thrown down. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Tyre was overthrown. The cities of Capernaum and Bethsaida were likewise destroyed. What has been true of God’s judgments against cities and the populace, is true of God’s judgment against individual sinners.
How strange it is that men are willing to follow Satan when they know his tyranny, when they know that the judgments of God are not only upon him, but upon those who follow after him! “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
The Book of Revelation gives the most tragic view of the destructions which await the nations. They have turned from the Lord and have followed after Satan. The antichrist will soon be appearing and the world will wonder after him. We read in chapter Rev 13:4, “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”
Thus it is that the men who move around us today, and who will, no doubt, live until the Rapture of the Church, will even worship the devil himself, and worship his antichrist.
It does not lessen their worshipful adoration because the antichrist blasphemes against God and His Name and His Tabernacle, and they that dwell in the Heavens. In the midst of this Satanic power, an angel will be heard, saying with a loud voice, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
Let those who, like the king of Tyrus and his people, follow after Satan, remember that they must receive from God the same chastisement that shall be given to Satan himself. If Eze 28:1-26 tells us about Satan’s being cast down, it also naturally follows that it would tell us how the people who followed him would be cast down.
Remember that God has said: “The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come down from Heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance upon all those who know not God. With the Sword of His mouth He will smite the nations and rule them with a rod of iron. He will come to tread out the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Even now we can hear the loud voice as it tells all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven to come and eat the bodies of the slain at Armageddon.
The beasts and the kings of the earth and their armies will all be overwhelmed.
Let us remember that Eze 28:1-26 and Isa 14:1-32 will have their counterpart in the days that will mark the closing of the Great Tribulation.
AN ILLUSTRATION
How the Lord must await the time when we shall be taken from Satan’s power. He is ever ready to deliver us.
“Some one has related the experience of a husband-lover whose wife became deranged. Periodic seizures gave her mania most distressing aspects. At times she could not be controlled. So terrible was her screaming agony that frequent complaints of neighbors drove him from one residence to another, both to shield her and to encourage the faint hope of her ultimate recovery. Finally a physician friend advised him to return with her to the scenes of her childhood and of their love-making. So all one summer he lived over with her the scenes of those other and saner years. They walked and rode and worked. With her he waded brooks, climbed hills, exhausted every resource of ingenuity. One day at evening, he brought her home in a condition of utter exhaustion. He had been told that if sanity should ever return, it would be after such a sleep as her present exhaustion produced. All the night he sat beside her, holding her hands, watching the changes upon her countenance, giving his heart to an agony of prayer. Then, as day dawned, and the deep darkness of the night began to be shot through with the gray of the coming light, she stirred, opened her eyes, and with the tired bewilderment of a child asked, “Where am I?”
To which the husband replied, “Here in your own home, beloved, safe sheltered by love.” “But where have I been?” she asked. “Far, far away, upon a bewildering journey.” “And where were you?” “With you all the way, my own, with you all the way, and waiting for you to come back to me.”
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Eze 28:11-12. Take up a lamentation is explained at Eze 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 TOKNIYTH 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.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
4. A funeral dirge for the king of Tyre 28:11-19
"This is one of the more difficult passages in the Book of Ezekiel-if not in the whole Bible! The reason for the difficulty lies mainly in the lack of sufficient data to reach precise conclusions. There are many terms and phrases that are only used in these verses in the OT. . . .
"Ancient mythology should be kept in mind, for it shows the Phoenicians’ religious thinking and provides cultural aid in interpreting the passage. However, to interpret the passage as a myth is unwarranted." [Note: Alexander, "Ezekiel," p. 882.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Ezekiel received instruction from the Lord to lament the king (Heb. melek) of Tyre. Evidently the same person addressed in the previous speech (Eze 28:1-10) is in view in this lament. The writer’s use of a different title from the one in Eze 28:1 has led some scholars to conclude that a different person is in view, possibly the patron god of the city, Melkart. Others believe the Antichrist is in view in Eze 28:1-10 and Satan in Eze 28:11-19. [Note: See L. S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, 2:40; and The New Scofield . . ., p. 869.] But "king" elsewhere in Ezekiel describes a human ruler. He had been the model of perfection in the sense that he was full of wisdom and beauty (cf. Eze 28:2-5; Eze 27:3). "The seal of perfection" is literally "the one sealing a plan." He had been the leader responsible for affixing his seal to the plans that resulted in Tyre’s maritime glory.