Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 28:12

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.

12. king of Tyrus ] The prophet appears to use the terms king and prince (nagd, or nas) indifferently. LXX. of Ezek. reserves the term “king” for the rulers of Babylon and Egypt, except in general expressions like “kings of the earth,” or, of the nations (Eze 27:33; Eze 27:35, Eze 32:10).

sealest up the sum ] The term “sum” only again ch. Eze 43:10 of the construction or idea of the temple, there rendered “pattern.” The verb is used of the work of God in ordering creation by weight and measure, Job 28:25; Isa 40:12-13. The phrase “thou sealest” is pointed as part. art the sealer of, but some MSS. and the ancient Versions read art the sealring of. To “seal” has always the natural sense, or means to close up, fasten up; it seems nowhere to mean to round off, complete or consummate. LXX. omits “full of wisdom,” and the first words are in parallelism to “the perfection of beauty.” This would suggest that the first words describe what the prince is or was, not what he did. The term rendered “sum” may mean symmetry (perfection), and the whole: thou wast the sealring of symmetry (perfection), and the perfection of beauty. In this case the prince is compared to a sealring of exquisite workmanship. On the other hand if part. be read, “thou wast the sealer of symmetry,” the conception of something impressing symmetry (upon all things) seems expressed. There might then be an allusion to the Wisdom; cf. the comparison of light to a seal Job 38:14.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12 19. Lament over the fall of the prince of Tyre

The passage is of extreme difficulty partly from the obscurity of several expressions in it, which do not occur again, and partly from allusions not now intelligible. The general drift of the passage is plain. (1) Eze 28:12-15. The prince of Tyre is represented as a glorious being placed in Eden the garden of God. He was the perfection of beauty, was set on the mountain of God, and was perfect in his ways from the day he was created till iniquity was found in him. (2) Eze 28:16-19. He fell from his high place through pride because of the multitude of his riches, and was therefore expelled from the garden of God. Towards the end of the passage the allegory of a being in paradise is departed from and the actual circumstances of the prince and his city are more literally referred to. The text of LXX. diverges in important particulars from the Heb.

Particular difficulties, however, are numerous. 1. The expression “sealest up the sum,” Eze 28:12 is very obscure. For the participle “sealest” the ancient versions read signet or ring. That there is reference to a ring seems plain from Eze 28:13. 2. Again the cherub is referred to. There can be no doubt that the prophet has in his mind the story of Paradise (Genesis 2, 3). The cherub naturally belongs to the Paradise of God. In the Heb. text, as at present pointed (though the pointing is very anomalous) the prince is compared to the cherub, or said to be or have been the cherub. The text, however, permits the reading with or beside the cherub ( v, 14, so LXX.). The prince sinned and was expelled from the garden of God where he was placed. The idea of the prophet is that pride and self-deification was the sin of the prince and caused his expulsion. This, however, in Ezek. is the sin of all the foreign princes or nations, Egypt no less than Tyre, and cannot be held part of a tradition of the Fall, or of paradise. That the prophet does refer to a fall and expulsion from paradise or destruction of the transgressor seems plain ( Eze 28:16-17). But any fall of the cherub is not hinted at anywhere in the Old Test.; on the contrary the cherubs are represented as watchers and protectors of the garden of God against men (Gen 3:24). There are references in the Old Test. to the sin of higher beings (e.g. Gen 6:1; Isa 24:21), but the prophet’s allusions to the cherubs in other places make it very improbable that he should think of them as sinning. 3. It is probable, therefore, that it is the history of the first man that floats before his mind. The term “created” applied to the prince would hardly be used of the cherub. It is not unlikely, however, that Ezek. is in possession of traditions regarding Paradise more ample than those in Gen. or different from them. At the same time the divergences may be due to his own tendency to idealize. The prince of Tyre is represented as wiser than all men, even than Daniel; and in Job 15:7-8 the first man born is spoken of as possessing supernatural wisdom. The prophet might have before his mind that Wisdom which was the first of God’s works of old (Proverbs 8), and his architect in creation, and who realized herself in the symmetry of the universe.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 12. Thou sealest up] This has been translated, “Thou drawest thy own likeness.” “Thou formest a portrait of thyself; and hast represented thyself the perfection of wisdom and beauty.” I believe this to be the meaning of the place.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

A lamentation: see Eze 27:2.

The king; called prince, Eze 28:2.

Thou sealest up the sum; in the search into the frame of thy government, the management of it, the prosperity thereof, and its glory, power, riches, and confederacies, thou dost think thyself but just to thy kingdom to account it the perfect idea of a good government, that in the Tyrian state nothing is wanting that might be required in a good government, in the best government, and so sealest to the premises; thus vainly puffed up, thou wilt have it that fulness of wisdom and perfection of beauty are in thee, but neither thy wisdom shall prevent or defeat the attempts of thine enemies, nor thy beauty charm their rage; thou shalt fall by them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

12. sealest up the sumliterally,”Thou art the one sealing the sum of perfection.” A thingis sealed when completed (Da9:24). “The sum” implies the full measure of beauty,from a Hebrew root, “to measure.” The normal manoneformed after accurate rule.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus,…. Who is before called the prince of Tyre; and who he was [See comments on Eze 28:2], the bishop of Rome was first only a “nagid”, a prince, ruler, governor, and leader in the church; afterwards he became a king, a head, even over other kings, princes, and states; perhaps this may also point to his twofold power, secular and ecclesiastical, and so he is represented by two beasts, Re 13:1, here a lamentation or funeral ditty is ordered to be taken up and said for him, to denote his certain destruction and ruin; though some have thought the fall of the angels, and others the fall of Adam, is referred to; several passages are interpreted of Adam in the Talmud l:

and say unto him, thus saith the Lord God, thou sealest up the sum; or “pattern” m; of everything that is excellent; thou art in all things, consummately so, as that nothing could be added; that is, in his own esteem and account. Junius thinks it refers to the sealing of goods exported, for which a duty was to be paid, without doing which merchandise was not allowed. Antichrist would not suffer any to buy or sell but such as receive his mark or seal on their right hand, or in their forehead, Re 13:16. Cocceius renders it, “the sealer of the measure” n; and takes it to be an allusion to the custom of sealing measures, used in buying and selling; and that it respects the man of sin, who takes upon him the power of making rules and canons for faith and practice:

full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty; a most accomplished man for parts and person in his own conceit: antichrist assumes to himself a perfect knowledge of the Scriptures, and sets up himself as an infallible judge of controversies; and glories in the splendour and order of his church, and the government of it.

l T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 75. 1. m “exemplar, [sive] specimen”, Tigurine version: Castalio. n “Signator mensurae”, Cocceius, Starckius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(12) Thou sealest up the sum.Thou markest it as complete or perfect. (Comp. Dan. 9:24; Job. 9:7.) The word for sum occurs only here and in Eze. 43:10, where it refers to the well measured and arranged building of the Temple.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

12. Thou sealest up the sum This is a very difficult phrase. It may be rendered, “Thou wast the seal ring of symmetry and the perfection of beauty;” or,” Thou wast the sealer of symmetry” (Davidson), i.e., impressed symmetry upon all things; or, “Thou settest the seal to thy completeness [perfection]” (Plumptre), i.e., the prince thinks himself to have attained the consummation of all beauty and wisdom. His signet ring represents the measure and power of the world. (Compare Orelli.)

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“You seal up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty,

You were in Eden, the garden of the gods (or ‘of God’)

Every precious stone was your covering,

The sardius, the topaz and the diamond,

The beryl, the onyx and the jasper,

The sapphire, the carbuncle and the emerald,

Gold were the workings of your tabrets and pipes in you.

In the day that you were created they were prepared.

You (along with) an anointed covering cherub, and I established you,

And you were on the holy mountain of God,

You walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.”

Having nothing to go on except this description we must beware of becoming too fanciful. It is describing the king’s view of himself (and Tyre’s), but found here as interwoven by Ezekiel in terms of Eden. The connection between this and the original Eden is found in the name, in the fact of the garden, in the presence of a cherub, in the fact of the king’s being ‘created’, and in his final fall and expulsion. The Israelites would recognise immediately that this whole scenario diminished him to being simply a created and fallen man.

The garden and cherub (or similar creatures) and holy mountain could be found frequently in pagan temples. We are probably therefore to see this in terms of the king walking in bejewelled splendour in the hallowed temple gardens, arranged on an artificial mountain as found in such temples, where there was an image of a cherub, and musing proudly on his deity in terms of the original Paradise of the gods. But as reinterpreted by Ezekiel for the sake of the house of Israel.

‘You seal up the sum (or ‘plan’ or ‘blueprint’ or ‘example’, compare Eze 43:10), full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.’ RSV has ‘you were the signet of perfection’. This would depict his claim as being that of someone of total perfection, full of wisdom and beautiful in his perfection.

Others would translate as ‘you were the one sealing the plan.’ Here the idea would seem to be of the one who finalised and established the grand plan on which Tyre’s prosperity was built. ‘Full of wisdom’ would tie in well with this (see Eze 28:4) and ‘perfect in beauty’ is used of the glorious ship of trade (see Eze 27:3) which originally carried out the plan. Possibly both ideas, that of absolute perfection, and that of the glorious planner, were thought of as included.

‘You were in Eden, the garden of the gods (or ‘of God’).’ Possibly the king boasted of having walked in the primeval garden (through his ancestors?), but we must probably also connect this claim with the holy temple garden which he saw as its present manifestation and in which he walked continually. Ezekiel tacks on ‘Eden’ to relate this primeval garden to the Garden of Eden.

It may however be that Lebanon was known as ‘the garden of the gods’ (compare on Eze 31:8-9; Eze 31:18) because of the splendour of its trees, especially the cedars of Lebanon.

‘Every precious stone was your covering –.’ He was clothed in splendour, surrounded by precious stones. This was man’s view of glory and perfection as it would be experienced in the mythical garden. And it left him without excuse, for with these blessings what excuse could there be for sin? But in the real garden what mattered was innocence, riches and clothes were irrelevant. That is the contrast. Thus the connection in Ezekiel’s mind may well have been that instead of nakedness and then the fig leaf, he had bejewelled garments, but they served him no better. He did not avoid sin and his nakedness was not covered.

The stones listed are nine (three sets of three indicate completeness and perfection), and were reminiscent of the high priest’s breastplate except that there there were twelve stones (Exo 28:17-20). In fact LXX has twelve here, but that was probably an expansion with the high priest’s breastplate in mind.

‘Gold were the workings of your tabrets and pipes in you.’ The idea of splendour continues. The meaning of the word for ‘pipes’ (nekeb) is unknown. Its only other use is in Jos 19:33 (in the name Adami-nekeb) where a ‘pass’ or ‘hollow’ has been suggested, but tabrets or timbrels were musical instruments, thus the suggestion of a musical instrument as a translation for nekeb (something hollowed out?) Golden musical instruments may well have been in use in a pagan temple, and have been connected with a primeval Paradise.

‘In the day that you were created they were prepared.’ The reference to his being originally ‘created’ is a further reminder of his earthliness. These things only became available when he was created. They were not his permanent right. It may be that the king saw himself as the reproduction of a long line of divine kings (as with the Pharaoh), stretching back to the primeval garden from where he ‘came’ , thus the reference may be back to the first king. But Ezekiel stresses that it is a reminder that his source was earthly, for the primeval garden, the Garden of Eden was prepared for a created man, not a demi-god.

‘You (‘were’ or ‘were with’ understood) an anointed covering cherub, and I established you, and you were on the holy mountain of God. You walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.’ Mountains were seen as the abode of the gods, and many a temple had within it an artificial mountain representing the home of the gods. Does this mean that the king had depicted himself as a guardian cherub, a demi-god committed to the protection of the gods, especially Baal Melkart the Tyrian god? Or is the idea that he claimed to be a god, even a personification of Melkart, protected by a guardian Cherub and that he is being reminded that he was set in the garden on the holy mountain by Yahweh, for all that is done, is done by Yahweh? Either way it represents his proud assumption of some kind of divinity as he walked in the temple garden on the mountain of the gods, so that Yahweh here has to remind him that anything he has, has come from Yahweh, for Yahweh is the Creator, and in all Yahweh is in control.

His claim to be a divinity protected by a guardian cherub, or that he was himself a guardian cherub, no doubt also encouraged the Tyrians with the thought that it made their fortress even more impregnable.

‘The stones of fire.’ This is probably a reference to the covering of jewels previously mentioned. There may also be the thought that precious stones fell around him from the skies. But some have suggested connection with Phoenician cult practises where an effigy of the god was burned so as to bring about his resuscitation. This ritual of burning a god has been suggested from depictions on a bowl from Sidon and is said to be evidenced in the cult of Melkart at Tyre.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eze 28:12. Thou sealest up, &c. Thou seal of likeness, full, &c. Houbigant. The prophet compares the king of Tyre to a valuable seal-ring worn on the finger.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Eze 28:12 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.

Ver. 12. Take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre. ] Who shall have little leisure to lament for himself, his destruction shall be so sudden. See on Eze 27:2 .

Thou sealest up the sum, ] i.e., Thou art a pattern of perfection, in thine own conceit at least; for a seal hath in it the perfect form of him that is thereby represented, and then is a letter perfected when the last act of setting to a seal is done to it. a Tu es omnibus numeris absolutum exemplar; so Vatablus and the Tigurines.

a Literae consignatae et clausae et absolutae sunt. – Oecolamp.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)