Ezekiel 28:1–10

This third message in the series closes the prophecy against Tyre, and adds a short word of judgment against Zidon, its mother city... Each one had its own distinctive points. The first brought out the short-lived pleasure the great trading city took at Jerusalem's fall. The second showed its trade, which drew in everything, suddenly come to nothing while men everywhere looked on in dismay. Here "the prince of Tyre" stands out, and the downfall of his pride that nothing can undo.

It seems that Ithobalus, as Josephus calls him, or Ithbal the second, according to the Phoenician records, ruled in the time of the prophet... He is the typical prince of the world in that day, and later prophecies about the Antichrist, or man of sin still to come, borrow many of the same expressions. The prince was the head, the centre, and the very picture of the pride and wealth found in Tyre as a whole. No kind of pride is lower, more blinding, or more corrupting. It lives on selfishness, appeals to selfishness, and selfishness lifts it up in its crudest form. No wonder the New Testament brands greed as idolatry, and calls the love of money a root of all evil.

Here we have a message addressed to the prince of Tyre. In it we see the effect on him of all the wealth he has gathered, and of the power that comes with it: it lifts his heart to a place more than human... Monstrous as this is, it is still only the natural growth of what happened in the Garden of Eden, when the evil one tempted with the words, "You will be like God." No doubt the likeness offered there was a moral one — "knowing good and evil." Still, it was a place seized, not given by God, and it leads on to seizing more and more openly.

The word to the prince of Tyre is about what he has become in his pride after he is prince. The word to the king is about what he was before he is king — before iniquity was found in him. The prince's wisdom went beyond Daniel's; no secret could be hidden from him. Who was Daniel? The chief of the wise men in Babylon. "No secret" clearly points to his telling Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and reading the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's feast. The prince of Tyre, inspired by Satan, matched and passed Daniel in wisdom, in the world's eyes.

Ezekiel 28 shows the prince and the king of Tyre, both judged for their pride. The prince of this world's glory appears here as a man... There is little doubt that in what follows, in Ezekiel 28:11 to 19, the king of Tyre stands as a picture of Satan — the prince and god of this world. He was a creature of God, and his heart was lifted up. He spoiled his own brightness, fell away from God, and became the enemy of God and man. His advantages were the very thing that led to his fall.

Had the prince of Tyre twisted everything he had learned from living close to Israel? God would teach him that his responsibility matched what should have been his gain, not his pride. So his doom would be harder, surer, and swifter... If he set himself up to be God, he would feel what it is to be a man in weakness, when the sword of the dreaded stranger stained his brightness... The sea would prove no safe fortress for him, but his most shameful grave.

It seems that Ithobalus, as Josephus calls him — Ithbal the second in the Phoenician annals — ruled in the prophet's time. He may well have prompted this stirring and severe, yet magnificent, sketch. He stands as the representative prince of the world of that day... The prince was the head and centre and personification of that pride and wealth found in Tyre as a whole. No form of pride is lower, more blinding, or more corrupting.

The city of Tyre (the name means rock) stood partly on an island off the mainland in the Mediterranean Sea... It had a wonderful commerce... The prophet Isaiah describes this wealthy and influential city as "the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth" (Isa. 23:8).

Here is a message to the prince of Tyre. In it we see what his heaped-up wealth, and the power that came with it, did to him: it lifted his heart to a place higher than human... Shocking as this is, it is still the natural outgrowth of what happened in the Garden of Eden. There the evil one's temptation was exactly this: "you will be like God."... It was a place seized, not given by God, and it leads on to seizing that grows still more open and extreme.

If he aspired to be God in pretence, he would feel what it is to be man in weakness. The sword of the dreaded foreigner would stain his brightness, and he would die the deaths of those killed in the heart of the seas. The sea would prove then to be no unbreakable shelter, but his most shameful grave.

In Ezekiel 28 it is the prince and the king of Tyre that are judged for their pride. Verses 1–10 set before us the prince of this world's glory as a man. He exalts himself and tries to present himself as a god, having gained riches and glory by his wisdom. Verses 11–19 still speak of Tyre, but I think they go much farther. They disclose, though only dimly, the fall and the ways of Satan.

The word to the prince of Tyre is what he has become in his pride after he is prince; to the king, what he was before he is king — before iniquity was found in him.

Satan's beauty shall be upon him, his power in him, his seat given to him, and his captives shall serve him... he will exalt himself above every god (Dan. 11:36), be like the Most High (Isa. 14:14), set his heart as the heart of God (Ezek. 28:6), and sit in the temple of God, as the apostle describes him, showing himself that he is God... And there is nothing that marks out this present day of ours more than this spirit in man which claims independence of God.

It was pride, the really "original sin," that hideous parent-sin of all succeeding sins, whether among angels, or among men (1 Tim. 3:6; Ezek. 28:2, 17).

In Ezekiel 28 it is the prince and the king of Tyre that are judged for their pride. Verses 1-10 set before us the glory of the prince of this world as a man. He exalts himself and seeks to present himself as a god, having gained riches and glory by his wisdom.

The word to the prince of Tyre is what he has become in his pride after he is prince. The word to the king is what he was before he is king — before iniquity was found in him.

The prince's wisdom exceeded Daniel's; there was no secret hid from him. Who was Daniel? Chief of the wise men in Babylon. "No secret" is clearly a reference to his revealing Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's feast. The prince of Tyre, inspired by Satan, matched and surpassed Daniel in wisdom — in the world's estimation. Here is another mark of the power of the prince of this world. He would not only have Tyre rival Jerusalem in wealth. He would also raise up a man to outrival Daniel, so that he might persuade men that true wisdom was not the gift of God.

It is common to all who amass wealth to give themselves credit for wisdom. So did the prince: wiser than Daniel, he discerned what was hidden from others. Alas! what folly and poverty. Was he rich toward God? No — he had amassed riches, and gold and silver had crowded into his treasury. This was the aim of his wisdom, this its triumph, for it was his own doing. Self, not God, was in all his thoughts.

This is the typical prince of the world in that day. Many of the expressions used of him are borrowed for the later predictions about the Antichrist, or man of sin, who is still to come.

"Wiser than Daniel" (Ezek. 28:3) does not suggest to us, when we look at his conduct here, either worldly prudence or that so-called "moderation" which less committed friends so often recommend to the faithful believer. "Pray in secret," they would have advised. "God will hear you there just as well. Why put God to the test and risk your valuable life, when you could so easily avoid a public display of your piety?" But Daniel did not soothe his conscience that way. He would not compromise his profession by being absent from his usual prayers. He valued the honour of his God above his life.

Even the critics do not deny that "Daniel was a real person, that he lived in the days of the exile, and that his life was distinguished by the splendour of its faithfulness." The fact is that no prophet has such a testimony to him in the Old Testament as Ezekiel gives twice (Ezekiel 14:14, 20 and Ezekiel 28:3).

If he aspired to be God in pretension, he would feel what it is to be man in weakness. The sword of the terrible stranger would defile his brightness. He would die the deaths of those who are slain in the heart of the seas. The sea would prove no safe shelter for him then, but his most shameful grave.

The prince of Tyre, who is also called the king, was Ithobalus, according to the Jewish historian Josephus. The Phoenician records call him Ithobaal II. He was the high point of Tyre's pride and wealth; all the terrible pride of the city came to a head in him. His heart was so lifted up that he claimed to be a god and that he occupied the very seat of God. He boasted of greater wisdom than the wisdom of Daniel. He is a picture of the final Antichrist, the man of sin. Behind the wicked prince and king stands another power: Satan.

No kind of pride is baser, more blinding, or more corrupting. It lives in selfishness, appeals to selfishness, and is lifted up by it in its grossest form. No wonder the New Testament brands covetousness as idolatry, and calls the love of money a root of all evil… It is common to all who amass wealth to give themselves credit for wisdom. So did the prince: wiser than Daniel, he discerned what was hidden from others. Alas! what folly and poverty. Was he rich toward God? No — he had amassed riches, and gold and silver had crowded into his treasury. This was the aim of his wisdom, this its triumph, for it was his own doing. Self, not God, was in all his thoughts.

The prince's wisdom went beyond Daniel's; no secret was hidden from him. Who was Daniel? Chief of the wise men in Babylon. The prince of Tyre, inspired by Satan, equalled and surpassed (in the world's estimation) Daniel in wisdom. Here is another mark of the power of the prince of this world. He would not only have Tyre rival Jerusalem in wealth; he would also raise up a man to outrival Daniel, so that he might persuade men that true wisdom was not the gift of God.

We have now an address to the prince of Tyre. In it we see what the piled-up wealth, and the power that came with it, did to him: it lifted his heart to a place higher than human… Monstrous as all this may be, it is still, after all, the natural growth of what happened in the Garden of Eden itself. There the temptation the evil one offered was plainly, "You will be like God." No doubt that was meant as a moral likeness — "knowing good and evil." Still, it was a place he seized, not one God gave him, and it naturally led to even more open and extreme seizing.

Commerce may not be wrong in itself. Still, it opens a wide door to unrighteous ways, and it needs more grace to resist than the open sins of the world… Power and religion may actively stir up ambition and hatred. But trade feeds the covetousness of the heart — secret, and sometimes not even suspected.

The commerce so famous in that city has spread its wing over the cities of our day. They follow in the steps of Tyre, and with the same unrighteousness they await the same doom… The spirit of Mammon rules the age. Under its influence the truth is twisted, and becomes the profession of covetous men who suppose that gain is godliness. From such we turn away.

He put himself forward as God. Now he would feel what it is to be a man in weakness. The sword of the dreaded invader would stain his splendour, and he would die the deaths of those killed in the heart of the seas. It would prove no unbreakable shelter then, but his most shameful grave.

God would teach him that his responsibility matched what should have been his profit, not his pride. His doom would only be the more stern and sure and swift… If he aspired to be God in his pretensions, he would feel what it is to be man in weakness. The sword of the dreaded stranger would defile his brightness. He would die the deaths of those slain in the heart of the seas. The sea would prove then no unbreakable shelter, but his most shameful grave.

The prince was the head and centre and personification of the pride and wealth found in Tyre as a whole. No kind of pride is baser, more blinding, or more corrupting. It lives on selfishness, appeals to selfishness, and selfishness lifts it up in its grossest form. No wonder the New Testament brands covetousness as idolatry, and describes the love of money as a root of all evil… It is common to all who amass wealth to give themselves credit for wisdom. So did the prince. Was he rich toward God? No — he had amassed riches, and gold and silver had crowded into his treasury. This was the aim of his wisdom, this its triumph, for it was his own doing. Self, not God, was in all his thoughts.

Here the prophecy names the instrument of divine vengeance plainly. It is not that God had the smallest sympathy with the terrible of the nations and their drawn swords, nor with the strangers who laid the country waste. But the hour to judge its proud wickedness was at hand, and the worst was the fitting executioner to do the dread work.

Woe to the nation so used if she becomes lifted up with pride at it. For as surely as God rules with justice, so surely shall she be humbled in her turn.

The word to the prince of Tyre is what he has become in his pride after he is prince; to the king, what he was before he is king — before iniquity was found in him… Although a prince, he was only a man; and the "terrible of the nations" — the Chaldeans — would carry out God's wrath.

Tyre is a picture of the commercial glory of the world, its wealth and pride. It foreshadows the final great world-city or world-system, Babylon. So the ruler of Tyre, spoken of as prince, foreshadows the Antichrist; while as king, Satan himself stands behind him as the dominating power.

Travellers are convinced that the waves of the sea now roll where the vast and magnificent palaces of Tyrian wealth and luxury once stood. The storm of God's anger has swept away the monuments of commercial enterprise and prosperity, and they are as if they had never been. Another traveller says he found nothing but a confused heap of broken walls, pillars, vaults and the like, with not so much as one whole house left!

The prince of Tyre — also called the king — was, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, Ithobalus. The Phoenician records call him Ithobaal II. He was the consummation of the pride and wealth of Tyre; the terrible pride of the city headed up in him. His heart was so lifted up that he claimed to be a god and that he occupied the very seat of God. He boasted of greater wisdom than the wisdom of Daniel. He is a picture of the final Antichrist, the man of sin. Behind the wicked prince and king, another power is seen: Satan.

Here is an address to the prince of Tyre. In it we see the effect on him of his heaped-up wealth and the power that came with it: it lifted his heart to a place more than human… Monstrous as all this is, it is still only the natural growth of what happened in the Garden of Eden itself, when the evil one's temptation was plainly, "you will be like God."

He claimed to be God; now he would feel what it is to be man in weakness. The sword of the terrible stranger would stain his brightness, and he would die the deaths of those killed in the heart of the seas. The sea would prove no safe refuge then, but his most shameful grave. He should die the deaths of the uncircumcised, of men farthest from God.

God did not need to put out any open display of divine power against him. The power of men was enough. Would he keep up an argument for his own divinity while facing the weapons of the men who were about to put him to death?

Nebuchadnezzar walked in his palace, admired his own splendour, and said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built?" But the Lord was watching that evil. While the proud, self-important word was still in his mouth, the man who exalted himself was brought low.

Ezekiel 28 depicts the prince and the King of Tyre, both judged for their pride. The one who is the prince of this world's glory (see John 14:30, John 16:11) appears here as a man… There is little doubt that in what follows, in Ezekiel 28:11 to 19, the King of Tyre stands for Satan — the prince and god of this world. He was a creature of God, yet his heart was lifted up. He ruined his own brightness, turned away from God, and became the enemy of God and man. His advantages had been the occasion of his fall.

God had been hidden, so to speak, during the time of the other beasts, but His providence still acted… The open revolt had not yet taken place. The fourth beast had not yet said, as Isaiah 47:8 puts it, "I am, and there is no one besides me." Compare what God says to the prince of Tyre: "Will you still say, 'I am a god,' in the presence of those who kill you?" (Ezek. 28:9). God's judgment on this fourth beast will fall on man in open rebellion against Him.

Man sought independence by sin, and gained a conscience that was already bad, which made him look down, while his pride still claimed everything… The Son of God emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and humbled Himself by becoming obedient even to death on a cross… A man-god was Satan's bait and man's ruin. The God-man dying in obedience and for redemption is the triumph of truth and grace.

If he aimed to pass himself off as God, he would feel what it is to be a man in weakness, when the sword of the dreaded foreigner stained his splendour... He would die the deaths of the uncircumcised, of men farthest from God.

God needed to use no obvious divine power against him; the power of men was enough... He was uncircumcised and had never learned the lesson of self-judgment, so he would die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners, and the Lord seals this as the doom He has pronounced on him.

Shocking as all this is, it is still, in the end, the natural growth of what happened in the Garden of Eden itself. There the evil one's temptation was plainly, "You will be like God." No doubt that was meant as a moral likeness — "knowing good and evil." Still, it was a place seized, not given by God, and it led naturally to seizing still more, and more openly.

Verses 1-10 show us the prince of this world's glory as a man. He lifts himself up and tries to present himself as a god, having gained riches and glory by his wisdom.

This is worth noting, because it shows the link between the Prince of Tyre and the King of Tyre (Satan). The Prince of Tyre was plainly a man. God's judgment on him was that he would die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners.

He was the high point of the pride and wealth of Tyre; the fearful pride of the city came to a head in him. His heart was so lifted up that he claimed to be a god and to hold the very seat of God... He is a foreshadowing of the final Antichrist, the man of sin. Behind the wicked prince and king stands another power: Satan.

What appalling facts we have noticed so far in the history of some of the greatest cities the world ever had! How truly the word of Jehovah has been fulfilled! It is well for those who believe God's testimony enough to tremble at His word!