And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
A fresh word from God opens the last of three messages against Tyre, turning from the trading city to the man at its head. It raises two questions: who was this "prince of Tyre," and why does the language about him reach far past any human ruler?
This is the third message in a series, and it narrows the focus from a city to a person.
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.
A real ruler sat on that throne when the prophet spoke, and he stood for the pride of the whole city.
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.
The prince's claim about himself goes back to the Garden of Eden.
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.
Ezekiel 28 carries two separate messages, and the difference between them is the key to the chapter.
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.
The chapter does not stop with a human king.
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.
God answers the claim by making the man feel what he really is.
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.
- Word — A fresh message from God opens the last of three prophecies against Tyre. It turns from the city's trade to the pride of the man who ruled it.
- Wealth — Riches and power lifted his heart "to a place more than human." The New Testament calls greed idolatry.
- Eden — His claim is the old temptation grown up: "You will be like God" — a place seized, not given.
- Two figures — The word to the prince describes what he became in his pride; the word to the king, what he was before iniquity was found in him. The king pictures Satan.
- Man — Living close to Israel raised his responsibility. The verdict strips his claim: the one who set himself up as God will feel what it is to be a man in weakness.
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit [in] the seat of God, in the heart of the seas, (and thou art a man, and not God,) and thou settest thy heart as the heart of God
God sends Ezekiel with a message for the ruler of Tyre, the richest trading city of the ancient world. The charge is a heart so lifted up that the man calls himself a god — which raises the question, where does pride like that come from?
The man addressed here was a real king of a real place. Commentators name him from ancient records. They also see him as more than one man.
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.
His boast about sitting "in the heart of the seas" was not poetry. It described where he lived and what he had built.
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).
This claim to be a god did not come from nowhere. It grew out of piled-up wealth — and it repeats the offer made in Eden.
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.
God does not answer with words only. In verses 6–10 the judgment makes him feel in his own body that he is only a man.
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.
Ezekiel 28 speaks to two figures: a prince and a king. Writers keep the two apart.
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.
One writer explains why the prince and the king are kept apart:
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.
The language of this verse does not stay in the past. Kelly notes that many of its phrases are borrowed for later predictions about the Antichrist, the man of sin still to come. Another writer describes that man:
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.
The verse names a sin that is not rare. One writer traces it back to angels as well as men.
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).
- Lifted heart. The charge begins in the heart, not the mouth. Wealth lifted his heart "to a place higher than human," and the boast only voiced what was already there.
- Seized seat. The claim repeats Eden's offer, "you will be like God" — a place seized, not given by God, and it grows bolder from there.
- Plain man. God's reply strips the pretence. He aimed to be God; he would "feel what it is to be man in weakness" in the hand of the man who kills him.
- Deeper shadow. God judges the prince as a man. From verse 11 the king dimly shows Satan's own fall — what he was before iniquity was found in him.
- Same spirit. Scripture borrows these words later for the man of sin. That same claim to independence from God marks our own day.
behold, thou art wiser than Daniel! nothing secret is obscure for thee;
God speaks here to the ruler of Tyre, a real king in Ezekiel's day whose riches had made him enormously proud. God grants him his reputation before demolishing it. He also names Daniel, a man then alive, as the standard of wisdom this prince was said to beat.
Chapter 28 speaks first to a prince and then to a king. The opening verses describe a man, and they name the source of his greatness:
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 two halves of the chapter look at two different moments:
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.
Daniel was not a distant figure to Ezekiel's first readers. He was alive in Babylon, and famous for knowing what no one else could know.
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.
That last line is the heart of the verse. Daniel had explained a king's dream and read the writing on a palace wall. One man received his insight; the other claimed it as his own.
How did the prince prove he was wise? By what he had piled up. He was not the only man to reason that way:
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 same writer sees this ruler as a pattern for a later figure:
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.
So what kind of man was Daniel? His most famous moment was not a clever calculation. He kept praying in the open when prayer put his life at risk:
"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.
The verse also does something its speaker never intended. Some deny that Daniel wrote the book that carries his name; this verse stands against them:
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).
The wisdom praised in verse 3 becomes the target of judgment a few verses later. God sends foreign invaders, and their swords fall on the splendour this prince boasted in:
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.
- Wisdom's source. True wisdom is a gift from God; the enemy's aim in raising a rival to Daniel was to persuade people otherwise.
- Wisdom counterfeited. The prince outshone Daniel only "in the world's estimation". His fame was real; its source was not God.
- Wisdom banked. He measured his wisdom by his treasury. Anyone who piles up wealth credits himself with wisdom, but this prince was not rich toward God.
- Wisdom contrasted. Daniel's wisdom showed in his refusal to hide his prayers when it cost him. He valued God's honour above his life.
- Wisdom judged. The man who aspired to be God would learn what it is to be man in weakness. The stranger's sword would defile his brightness, and the sea would become his grave.
by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures;
Tyre's ruler had claimed the seat of God. This verse gives the proof he pointed to: a fortune he built by his own wisdom.
Does skill at making money prove anything about a man before God? The verse names wisdom and understanding, then tracks where they led: gold and silver stored up. One commentator shows how common that self-praise is, and what it cost the prince:
There is no pride baser, more blinding, or more corrupting. 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.
Wisdom can gather a great deal without making the man himself any greater:
Here was a man who had learned to use his wisdom for his own benefit, to give himself a place among men. But that greatness was only acquired. It was not inborn and it was not moral. So it was no real greatness in the sight of God. He gathered riches into his treasury and kept increasing them. But in doing so he debased himself morally, in a way he could not even measure.
The comparison in verse 3 is not random. Daniel was the chief of the wise men in Babylon. He told a king his dream and read the writing on a palace wall. One writer sees a deliberate counterfeit here:
Satan inspired the prince of Tyre. In the world's eyes he matched Daniel in wisdom, and went past him. 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 outdo Daniel, so that he might persuade men that true wisdom was not the gift of God.
Why does trade carry such weight in prophecy? The same writer traces it back to the sentence God passed on the ground in Eden:
By means of commerce Satan tries to make the curse ineffective. The earth was to bring forth thorns and thistles, and man was to eat bread by the sweat of his brow. Satan would get around that sentence. He would bring together the different products of the earth and fill the eye and mind with them. He would try to hide the thorns by spreading a carpet of goods from Tyre over them.
Commentators read this chapter as reaching past the ruler of Ezekiel's day. In history he was a real king; Josephus calls him Ithobalus. But the picture reaches further:
Satan was the power behind the throne of the king of Tyre. Satan is still the god of this age, and he controls the kingdoms of the world. Tyre is a picture of the commercial glory of the world, of its wealth and pride. It foreshadows the final great world-city or world-system, Babylon. So the ruler of Tyre, called prince here, foreshadows the Antichrist. And as king, Satan himself stands behind him as the dominating power.
His claim to be God met its answer in a foreign sword:
If he claimed to be God, he would feel what it is to be a man in weakness. The sword of the terrible stranger would stain his brightness. He would die the deaths of those slain in the heart of the seas. The sea would prove no unbreakable shelter then, but his most shameful grave.
- Wisdom. The prince had real skill and insight. He used them for himself, and self, not God, filled all his thoughts.
- Wealth. That wisdom filled a treasury. The greatness it bought was only acquired — not inborn, not moral, and no greatness at all before God.
- Worship. This kind of pride puts money in God's place. The New Testament brands covetousness as idolatry and calls the love of money a root of all evil.
- World. Tyre's goods are a carpet spread over the thorns. Satan uses trade to hide the curse God put on the ground.
- Wreckage. God taught the man who claimed to be God what it is to be man in weakness. The sea he trusted became his grave.
by thy great wisdom thou hast by thy traffic increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches.
In one sentence, God tells Tyre's ruler how he became great: business skill piled up wealth, and the wealth went to his head. That chain ends in judgment — so who was this ruler, and why does wealth swell the heart?
The prophecy speaks to a real ruler in a real port city. One writer names him, and points past him:
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.
One writer measures this pride, and the wisdom the prince claimed for himself:
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 boast reaches for one name in particular:
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.
A lifted heart did not stop at self-congratulation; it reached for God's own place. One writer sees the whole thing as an old seed grown tall:
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.
The verse names trade as the source of the wealth. The danger is not the work itself but what it quietly feeds:
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 same writer brings it to our own day:
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.
The verses that follow answer the boast:
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.
- Trade. Business skill is not the sin; it is the soil. Covetousness grows there quietly, unnoticed, while open sin shows itself at once.
- Riches. Gathered wealth gets credited to self. The man rich in gold never asks whether he is rich toward God.
- Wisdom. Claiming to outstrip Daniel served a lie: that real wisdom is a human achievement, not a gift from God.
- Pride. A heart lifted by riches does not stop at self-praise. It climbs toward God's seat, and repeats Eden's offer: you will be like God.
- Ruin. The climb ends with a reminder: he was only ever a man. Cities built on Tyre's pattern are heading for Tyre's doom.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God,
God tells Ezekiel to speak to the ruler of Tyre, a rich sea-trading city whose prince claimed a seat that belongs to God alone. Verse 6 names the inward claim behind that boast, and the questions are why it draws such a doom, and how far beyond Tyre the words reach.
Verse 6 repeats a charge already made, but now it leads straight into the punishment. One writer draws out the irony:
Had the prince of Tyre only twisted all he knew from being so close to Israel? God would teach him that his responsibility matched what should have been his profit, not his pride. His doom would be all the more severe, certain and swift… If he set himself up as God by his claims, he would feel what it is to be man in weakness. The sword of the ruthless foreigner would defile his brightness. He would die the deaths of those slain in the heart of the seas. The sea would prove no unbreakable shelter, but his most shameful grave.
The claim to be a god grew out of trade, treasure and the standing they bought him:
The prince was the head, the centre and the embodiment of the pride and wealth found in Tyre as a whole. No character of pride is baser, 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 covetousness as idolatry, and calls the love of money a root of all evil.
Such a boast sounds extreme. One writer traces it back to the first temptation in the garden of Eden:
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 put by the evil one was plain: "You will be like God." No doubt that was meant to be a moral likeness — "knowing good and evil." Yet it was a place seized, not given by God, and it led on to still more open and extreme seizure.
The same writer turns this on every reader rather than leaving it with one ancient king: "Who lifts himself up against God without becoming God to himself, in fact, robbing God of the glory He will not give to another?"
God had already set a man on His own throne once, but on very different terms:
Here we also seem to see reminders of Tyre's dealings with Israel in Solomon's time, when God allowed her to contribute to the temple in Jerusalem. Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD in Israel (1 Chronicles 29:23), as God's representative in that place. God Himself gave him that representative place. The prince of Tyre takes it in a fleshly way, and in independence of God.
Commentators read this chapter in two halves. The opening section deals with a man; the later verses reach further:
In Ezekiel 28 God judges both the prince and the king of Tyre 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 they go, I think, much further. They disclose, though in a veiled way, the fall and the ways of Satan.
Another writer sets verse 6 beside other prophecies about the enemy still to come:
Before the day of the Lord visits the earth, the wicked one will appear in the full form of Satan's creature… He will exalt himself above every god (Daniel 11:36). He will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14), and set his heart as the heart of God (Ezekiel 28:6). He will sit in the temple of God, as the apostle describes him, showing himself that he is God.
The next verse names the ones who carry out the sentence: "foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations." Why such ordinary means?
He cannot receive God's judgment of things as they really are. So God would have to teach him by men like himself, with a lesson of the sword. It would mar all his beauty and bring his brightness to an end. God needed to use no obvious divine power against him; the power of men was enough.
- Heart — The sin starts inside, before any boast: a heart set to match God's heart. God names it as the ground of all that follows.
- Wealth — Trade and treasure fed the heart. It is the pride of covetousness, which the New Testament calls idolatry.
- Eden — The boast is the old offer, "You shall be as God," grown to full size. He seized the place; God never gave it.
- Ahead — The same language returns in the man who will sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Commentators see the later verses reaching to Satan's own fall.
- Man — The answer to "I am a god" is "you are but a man." Ordinary swords in ordinary hands were enough to prove it.
therefore behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall tarnish thy brightness.
The prince of Tyre had claimed to be God, safe in the heart of the seas. This verse is God's reply: it names who will come against him, and it shows why the blow lands on his "wisdom" and his "splendor."
The punishment answers the boast. The man who claimed to be God would learn what human weakness feels like, and the sea he trusted would become his 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 swords are aimed at "the beauty of your wisdom." One writer shows what that wisdom had made the prince, and what he did with it.
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.
after
The same phrase returns later in Ezekiel, in the judgment of Egypt. One writer explains there how God uses such men without approving of them.
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.
Being used by God is no protection for the nation He uses.
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.
Ezekiel 28 speaks first to a prince and then to a king. Commentators read the two as distinct:
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.
Another writer sees the prince as a picture of something far larger.
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.
The verse ends with a threat to Tyre's splendour. Travellers who later visited the ruins described what was left.
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!
- Boast. The prince claimed to be God. This verse is the reply, and it teaches him "what it is to be man in weakness."
- Target. God aims the swords at "the beauty of your wisdom." Its one aim was riches for himself, and no pride is baser or more blinding than that.
- Instrument. The strangers are the Chaldeans, the most ruthless of the nations. God has no sympathy with them; they are simply "the fitting executioner."
- Power behind. The prince is the visible man. Behind him commentators see Satan as the king. The prince foreshadows the Antichrist, and Tyre the world's final commercial system.
- Outcome. God's word against Tyre's splendour came true. Travellers found broken walls and vaults where its palaces once stood.
They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of those that are slain in the heart of the seas.
Tyre's ruler had claimed the seat of God. God's reply is that he is only a man. Verse 8 gives the sentence itself. Strangers throw him into the pit, and the sea he called his throne becomes the place where he dies like any other war casualty.
The punishment matches the pride that earned it. What the prince was proudest of becomes the means of his ruin.
He claimed to be God; now he would learn what it is to be a man in weakness. The sword of the terrible stranger would stain his brightness. He would die the deaths of those killed in the heart of the seas. The sea would prove to be no unbreakable shelter, but his most shameful grave. He would die the deaths of the uncircumcised, of men farthest from God.
This boast was not one strange ruler's idea. One writer traces it back to the first temptation.
Shocking 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 plain: "You shall be as God." No doubt the likeness meant was a moral one — "knowing good and evil." Yet it was a place seized, not given by God, and it led on to still more open and extreme seizing of what was not his.
Tyre grew rich by trade, and its prince stood at the centre of that wealth. One writer names the kind of pride this breeds.
The prince was the head and centre and personification of that pride and wealth found in Tyre as a whole. Nor is there any character of pride baser, more blinding, more corrupting. It lives in selfishness, appeals to selfishness, and is exalted by it in its grossest form. No wonder that the New Testament brands covetousness as idolatry, and describes the love of money as a root of all evil.
Both terms come back later in Ezekiel, where the same judgment falls on other proud nations. The company lying there shows what this sentence means.
Here, after long patience, the judgment sweeps the boastful off the earth and sends them down to the pit. There lie the finest of them, without a single token of relationship to God, "with the uncircumcised." There, in complete weakness and humiliation, lie Assyria, Elam, Meshech and Tubal, Edom, Sidon and other nations north of Palestine. They are ashamed of the might they were once so proud of. They bear their disgrace with all who go down to the pit.
The threat did not stay on paper. One invader came, then a fresh prophecy, then a second invader.
Zechariah, the great prophet after the exile, had already announced the fate of Tyre once more. This was before Alexander came on his mission from God to make an end of the proud and wicked city. "Tyre built herself a stronghold," said the Lord through Zechariah, "and heaped up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets." This came after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the Tyre on the mainland, and she had become the great island city. Zechariah went on: "See, the Lord will cast her out. He will strike down her power in the sea, and fire will devour her." Alexander did this. He laid proud Tyre in ashes. What evidence that all these words are divine!
The chapter does not stop with a dead king. One writer sees two further figures standing behind this prince.
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 foreshadowing of the final Antichrist, the man of sin. Behind the wicked prince and king stands another power: Satan.
- Boast — He claimed the seat of God. God's answer is that he is a man, not God.
- Root — The claim is the old Eden offer grown up: a place seized, not given, and seizing it always reaches for more.
- Grave — The sea he called his throne becomes the water he dies in. His fortress turns into his grave.
- Pit — He goes down with "the uncircumcised," the dead who carry no token of relationship to God. They are ashamed of the might they once paraded.
- Reach — Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander proved the words true. Commentators also see in him the coming man of sin, with Satan behind them both.
Wilt thou then say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and not God, in the hand of him that pierceth thee.
A king of Tyre had claimed the seat of God. Verse 9 is God's reply — a question he must answer with a sword at his throat, and one that reaches beyond a single Phoenician ruler.
The first ten verses deal with a real ruler of a real trading city.
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.
Wealth fed the claim, and its root goes back to Eden.
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."
God does not argue with the boast. He answers it by telling the man how he will die.
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.
So who carries out the sentence, and how will the boast sound then?
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?
Writers set this beside Babylon's king, who praised his own greatness out loud.
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.
Commentators read the chapter in two layers, and the second layer begins at verse 11.
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.
The same boast reappears at the end of history, on a world scale, and draws the same verdict.
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 tried to climb to God's place. The Son of God took the opposite road.
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.
- Wealth: Trade riches lifted this ruler's heart "to a place more than human." Wealth, not want, produced the boast.
- Bait: His claim was Eden's temptation grown up — "you will be like God," worked out in a throne and a treasury.
- Weakness: The man who claimed God's seat will "feel what it is to be man in weakness." Ordinary human swords were enough to prove it.
- Behind: From verse 11 the picture reaches past the man to Satan, whose own advantages became "the occasion of his fall."
- Opposite: A man-god was Satan's bait; the God-man, who emptied Himself and obeyed to the cross, is the answer to it.
Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised, by the hand of strangers for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord Jehovah.
The prince of Tyre had told the world he was a god, seated in the seat of God in the heart of the seas. Verse 10 is God's reply. He will die like the most godless of men, killed by foreigners. Nothing seals the sentence but God's own word.
The punishment fits the crime. The prince claimed the place of God, so God sends him a death that shows what he really is. And "the death of the uncircumcised" names the company he dies in.
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.
Two things in the sentence need explaining: who carries it out, and why he is called uncircumcised. One writer answers both.
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.
The prince's claim was not new. One writer traces it back to the first temptation in Eden.
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.
The first ten verses of the chapter keep the prince on a human scale. That is the point of the judgment: foreigners kill him, and he dies.
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.
Verse 10 leaves him exactly there: a dead man.
Verse 10 closes the account of the prince; the next section turns to the king. Writers connect the two, and they read the second figure as the real power at work in the first.
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.
That makes this dead prince a preview. What he claimed, another man will claim on a far larger scale.
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.
God names no army and gives no date. The whole weight of the threat rests on who is speaking — and the ruins of Tyre became the evidence.
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!
- Claim. The prince said he sat in the seat of God. His own words are the charge, and the sentence answers them word for word.
- Root. The claim was not new — it grew out of the Eden promise that the creature could be as God, a place "seized, not given by God."
- Exposure. He wanted to be God. Instead he feels "what it is to be a man in weakness," dying the death of "men farthest from God."
- Shadow. Verses 1-10 judge "the prince of this world's glory as a man." What follows points past him to Satan, and this prince foreshadows the Antichrist still to come.
- Certainty. The threat rests on three words — "I have spoken" — and the ruins of Tyre show "how truly the word of Jehovah has been fulfilled."
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
A new word from the LORD opens a second message about Tyre. This one is addressed not to the "prince" but to the "king," and its language is so large that readers have long asked whether a man is still in view, or a power standing behind him.
Commentators read the chapter in two halves, and this new word marks the join. One writer sets them side by side:
In Ezekiel 28 it is the prince and the king of Tyre who are judged for their pride. 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. Verses 11–19 still speak of Tyre, but they go, I think, much farther. They uncover, though not clearly, the fall and the ways of Satan, who through our sin has become the prince and god of this world.
From here the address narrows. The city, the prince and the king are not one subject:
Tyre, the prince of Tyre, and the king of Tyre are distinct in Ezekiel's prophecy. The city is judged along with the other cities. But the prince and the king each have a lament of their own, apart from the city… 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 same writer traces where the prince's wisdom comes from:
The king has fullness of wisdom; the prince has wisdom handed down to him. The lament for the king describes Satan before he fell. He turns the power and wisdom he kept after his fall against God and His truth. With that aim they work in the prince of Tyre to pile up riches, so that this earth may not look like a place under a curse.
Not everyone splits the two figures into two beings. One reading keeps the man in place and lets a second reference run beneath the words:
Verses 11–19 are harder. Is this the same person or a different one? I am inclined to think it is the same person in history, but with a deeper reference to Satan's fall built into it. This may be one reason why the Spirit of God changes "prince" into "king." The picture is far more detailed than the earlier sketch, yet links still connect the two.
Commentators differ over how far to press this. One writer holds both together: the nearer fulfilment is real, and it is a pledge of a larger one:
Many have seen in this account a greater prince than the king of Tyre, and we cannot refuse such a use of prophecies whose most obvious fulfilment is close at hand. But the nearer fulfilment is only the pledge and foretaste of the final one, which is always the great thing with God. Man easily loses sight of it, because what is nearer looms larger in his eyes… so we see here the fall, caused by self-absorption and the pride it breeds. This is how one who was created upright and glorious became an apostate and a devil.
The section this verse opens traces a collapse that began inside a creature who had everything:
There had been a great moral fall in one who held one of the highest places in the universe. His heart was lifted up because of his own beauty, and he was cast to the ground. To make your own self the object of your heart, to fall in love with your own beauty, is what always comes just before apostasy.
One commentator ties this to the rule that an overseer must not be a new convert:
So this passage gives a remarkable insight into the cause of the devil's fall. He was puffed up with pride, tempted either by the position he held or by his own beauty and excellence (see Ezekiel 28:11–17), and for this reason judgment fell on him. The same danger could face a new convert who is given office in the assembly. He might be lifted up with pride, and fall as the devil had fallen.
- New word. This new word begins a second message. Verses 1–10 dealt with the prince; verses 11–19 go much farther.
- New title. The prince and the king each get a lament of their own, apart from the city. The change of title may be why the picture that follows is so much larger.
- Before and after. The word to the prince describes what he became in his pride. The word to the king describes what he was before iniquity was found in him.
- Near and final. A real king is still in view. His fall stands as the pledge of a greater one, though commentators differ over how far to identify him with Satan.
- The warning. Being taken up with yourself turned an upright, glorious creature into an apostate. The same pride can still bring down anyone raised to a place of honour.
Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Thou, who sealest up the measure of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty,
A new message comes to Ezekiel, and with it a new title: the "king" of Tyre, not the "prince" of the earlier verses. The praise that follows is far too large for any human ruler, which raises two questions: who is God speaking to, and why a funeral song?
The chapter opens with a ruler judged for saying he sits in the seat of God. From verse 12 the wording shifts. One writer marks the difference by time: the first address is about what the figure became, the second about what he was.
Tyre, the prince of Tyre, and the king of Tyre, in Ezekiel's prophecy are distinct. The city is judged in common with other cities. But the prince and the king have each a lamentation apart from the city... 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.
Not everyone separates the two figures. Another writer keeps the same man of history in view, and finds a deeper subject woven into the words:
Is it the same person or a different one? I think it is the same person in history, but with a deeper reference to Satan's fall built into it. This may be one reason why the Spirit of God changes "prince" into "king."
"Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty" — the praise is total. That is the problem if the words describe only a man.
The words spoken to the king of Tyre do not fit a mere man, however much power he might hold. Some of the qualities listed here could fit Adam. But there is a glory here that cannot all apply to Adam before he fell... This is not eastern poetic exaggeration. The Holy Spirit is using human things and words to picture past glories and magnificence. They belong to the one who now seeks to use his wisdom and power to lead the world against Him who created it.
Older translations read "you seal up the sum" where the ESV has "signet of perfection." The picture is of a closed account: every created glory added up in one creature.
The king seals up the sum: all angelic, all created glory was in him. He is called the covering cherub, the anointed cherub, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty, and God set (created) him so... Fulness of wisdom in the king, delegated wisdom in the prince... Satan is the real king, and the source of the wisdom and riches of Tyre. The prince is the human agent through whom the king shows his power.
One writer links each part of this description to something of God that the creature displayed. Then he shows how those same gifts became the trap.
He wears the moral beauty that reflects, in many ways, the character of God as light... He walked where God displayed His moral perfections in their glory, a glory before which evil could not stand — "the stones of fire." His ways had been perfect. But all these advantages were the occasion of his fall, and marked its character. For the privileges we enjoy always mark the character of our fall.
God does not order a taunt but a funeral song. Read of the man himself, the verse still describes a height no one could pass.
Still, for such a one there is a lamentation. If God must carry out judgment, He does not strike without recognising the sorrow of it. Judgment is always His "strange" work, even when it is needed. Here was the man enriched with everything his hand could gain — with all the beauty God had filled the earth with... He had "sealed up the sum" of perfection, and it seemed impossible for a mere man to go beyond him.
The same writer turns the verse on the reader, reading verse 12 together with verse 17.
God testified of one creature, "You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty." To that same one He had to say, "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your brightness" (Ezek. 28:12, 17). The Lord does not lead His own people into any such dangerous path. He cannot trust us with such perilous self-contemplation. He has made Christ to be our sanctification as much as our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30), and the way of it is occupation with Christ, and with Christ alone.
- Title — "Prince" becomes "king" because the subject changes. One address is about what he became in his pride, the other about what he was before iniquity was found in him.
- Sum — To "seal up the sum" is to close the account. All created glory met in him, and God set him there.
- Reach — The praise is too large for any man. Commentators differ over how far the human king is still in view. All point past him to Satan, who now leads the world against its Creator.
- Turn — Every advantage listed became the occasion of his fall. The privileges we hold always shape the character of our ruin.
- Rescue — God laments even as He judges. The cure for the self-contemplation that wrecked this creature is occupation with Christ, our sanctification as well as our righteousness.
thou wast in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the chrysolite, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the carbuncle, and the emerald, and gold. The workmanship of thy tambours and of thy pipes was in thee in the day that thou wast created were they prepared.
Ezekiel 28 opens with a message against the prince of Tyre, but from verse 11 the address changes to the king. The language now outgrows any human ruler, and commentators have long asked who this figure in Eden is and what his nine jewels mean.
One writer grants that a few phrases might fit Adam, but says the whole picture is too big for any man:
The words spoken to the king of Tyre cannot apply to a mere man, no matter how much power he held. Some of the qualities listed here could describe Adam, but there is a glory here that cannot all apply to Adam in his innocence. The king was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. The gems that adorned the high priest's breastplate, the gems men prize, stand as a figure for his covering. This is not eastern exaggeration. It is the Holy Spirit using human things and words to describe the past glory and splendour of the one who now seeks to use his wisdom and power to lead the world against Him who created it.
William Kelly ties the change of title to a deeper subject folded inside the historical one:
There is more difficulty about verses 11-19. Is it the same person or a different one? I am inclined to think it is the same person historically, but with a deeper reference to Satan's fall built into it. This may be one reason why the Spirit of God changes "prince" into "king."
The stones mean more than wealth. Kelly links the Eden picture to Satan, and reads the jewelled covering as light that is not the creature's own:
Ezekiel 31 shows how kings are spoken of as trees in Eden, the garden of God. That allusion naturally links with it the ways of Satan before and in the literal Eden. In him was found the perfection of creature beauty. "Every precious stone was your covering" represents, I suppose, the various lights in which God's glory was reflected in creation.
The same jewels turn up twice more in Scripture, and the sequence tells a story:
We have these precious stones in Scripture three times. In the garden of Eden they appear in connection with creation. In Exodus 28 they appear on the breastplate of the high priest, and there it is clearly a question of grace for a failing people. When we see these same stones in the foundation of the heavenly city, the thought suggested is permanent glory.
Older translations end the verse with "tabrets and pipes" where the ESV has "settings and engravings." A. J. Pollock explains what those two instruments were for:
This is a highly symbolic description of a created being of wonderful power and beauty. Tabrets (timbrels) and pipes (flutes) were musical instruments commonly used in the East at weddings and feasts. They show that God created this creature to utter His praises.
That clause settles what kind of being this is. However great the splendour, it had a beginning and a Giver. Darby traces the failure, then the contrast:
But he took pleasure in his own beauty and fell — perfect from the day he was created until iniquity was found in him. It was the fallibility of a creature. He lost the beauty and enjoyment, whatever they were, through failure inside himself. How the blessed Lord Christ shines out in contrast here! How sure a place was "on the breastplate"! How incapable the creature is of standing in any place!
Not everyone takes the passage past the human king. F. W. Grant keeps the man in view, hears "Eden" as a comparison, and treats his splendour as something he gathered for himself:
True, it was all for his own interests, and the beauty he had gained was only artificial — the result of everything he had heaped together of the world's goods. He had been, as it were, in another Eden, a garden like the one of old, stocked with everything pleasant to the eye. Nature had opened its resources to him and enriched him with its innermost secrets… So every precious stone was his covering. This is the exquisite beauty God has scattered over the earth. The fall itself has not removed that beauty, though it has dimmed the shine it was meant to have.
- Created. The words "on the day that you were created" mark him as a creature. He is magnificent, but he has a starting date and a Maker.
- Covered. The nine gems were a covering: light lent from outside and reflected back in colour.
- Commissioned. Tabrets and pipes were festival instruments: God made this being to sound His praise.
- Corrupted. The beauty God gave became the reason for pride, and iniquity replaced perfection.
- Contrast. The same stones reappear on the high priest's breastplate and in the heavenly city's foundations. What this creature lost, Christ makes sure for His people.
Thou wast the anointed covering cherub, and I had set thee [so] thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou didst walk up and down in the midst of stones of fire.
Ezekiel sings a lament over the king of Tyre. But the language soon outgrows any human ruler — Eden, a holy mountain, an anointed cherub, stones of fire. Commentators have long read these lines as a window into the origin, dignity, and ruin of the being we know as Satan.
The chapter's first half judges the prince of Tyre; from verse 11 the title changes to king. One writer sees the same man in both, with a deeper subject carried inside the words.
There is more difficulty about verses 11-19. Is it the same person or a different one? I am inclined to think it is the same person historically. But it carries a deeper reference to Satan's fall inside it. This may be one reason why the Spirit of God changes "prince" into "king."
Commentators differ. Others keep the two apart, resting the case on the scale of what is said:
So Ezekiel 28, from verse 11, is commonly — and I have no doubt rightly — applied to the fall of Satan. It is not the same as the prince of Tyre, who is judged historically at the beginning of the chapter... Clearly we see this under the figure of the king of Tyre — but under a figure. It goes far beyond the idea of a mere king of Tyre, and I do not doubt it is Satan.
One writer takes the phrases one at a time.
"You are the anointed cherub who covers" shows that God charged him with carrying out His judgments, and with doing it intelligently — the anointed cherub. "You were on the holy mountain of God," the seat or symbol of His holy authority. He had walked "in the midst of the stones of fire." That seems to picture how familiar he had been with the display of God's moral glory. Before that glory, evil is consumed and disappears. And yet, perfect as he had been, his heart became lifted up because of his beauty, and iniquity was found in him. Such, sadly, is the creature — such fully was Satan.
Where the ESV says "guardian," older translations read "covering," and the writers keep that older word. It comes from one place in particular.
Then we are told he was the anointed cherub that covers — that is, that defends — a word used for the cherubim covering the mercy seat.
The dignity was given, not seized.
He was the anointed cherub that covers; the Lord had set him to be this. As the anointed cherub, chosen by God, he held a high position in the government of God's throne. Everything shows that this majestic creature had a place of great dignity. He was "on the holy mountain of God," walking up and down among the stones of fire. He was always there, moving about in the fiery glory of a holy and righteous God.
These stones appear again later in Scripture, and the contrast is the point.
Scripture says that before his fall Satan walked up and down among the stones of fire, and that every precious stone was his covering. The precious stones were on the breastplate of the high priest. These stones are not pure light. They are the reflection of the divine glory, where the most exalted creature walked before its fall... In Ezekiel, this is in creation; on the breastplate of Jesus, in grace; here, in glory. In the first case the creature could not keep itself there. Christ keeps the church there in its weakness.
Nearness to God was no safeguard. What ruined him was pride in what he had been given.
He was clearly the highest creature that God in His wisdom created. Sadly, pride was his ruin.
The specific failure was to forget he was still a creature, however splendid.
Indeed he was once morally like them, the very chief of them all (Ezek. 28) — the "covering cherub" that overshadowed the throne of the LORD. But "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!" He was dazzled by his own glory. He deliberately forgot the creature-place he must always keep, and so he fell into pride ("the condemnation of the devil"). By that pride he became the bitter, eternal enemy of all that is good, and of God Himself.
That power is real, so we should not treat the enemy casually.
We do well, I am sure, to recognise that the spiritual forces ranged against us are very great. Realizing this, we shall never speak lightly or dismissively of the devil... If he was "the anointed cherub that covers," he was in the very nearest position to God Himself. He aspired to be as God, and then he fell.
- Given — "I placed you": God appointed the office. It was a high place in the government of His throne, not something the creature won.
- Guarding — "covering" is the word used of the cherubim over the mercy seat. He defended, and he carried out God's judgments intelligently.
- Glory — the holy mountain is the seat of God's authority. The stones of fire display His moral glory, which consumes evil.
- Grasping — dazzled by his own beauty, he forgot the creature-place he must always keep, and fell into pride.
- Guarded — the highest creature could not keep himself there. Christ keeps His people there in their weakness.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee.
Ezekiel sings a lament over the king of Tyre, and the words turn to a being flawless from the day of his creation. Then something goes wrong inside him, and commentators read this as the closest Scripture comes to showing where sin itself began.
The chapter first judges the prince of Tyre, then turns to the king. One writer thinks the same man is still in view, and that the picture also carries a deeper fall. He treats the change of title as a clue.
There is more difficulty with verses 11-19. Is it the same person or a different one? I am inclined to think it is the same person historically, but with a deeper reference to Satan's fall built into it. This may be one reason why the Spirit of God changes "prince" into "king."
Commentators have long differed here. Another writer speaks of the prophet addressing the devil under the figure of the king of Tyre.
Three things stand around this verse: the anointed cherub, the mountain of God, the stones of fire. God gave him each one, and each one shaped his fall.
He acts in God's judicial government according to God's own mind (this is the character of the anointed cherub). He is clothed with the moral beauty that reflects the character of God as light, in all its variety... He had also been where God exercised His authority — on the mountain of God. He walked where God displayed His moral perfections in their glory — "the stones of fire" — a glory before which evil could not stand. His ways had been perfect. But all these advantages were the occasion of his fall, and characterised it. For the privileges we enjoy always characterise our fall... Moreover, this was not an outward temptation, as it was with man — something that did not take away man's guilt, but did change its character.
The word "till" marks a boundary. Before it, nothing was wrong. One writer ties that boundary to the devil sinning "from the beginning" in 1 John 3:8, then stops where Scripture stops.
Whoever practises sin is of the devil. I take "the beginning" in that eighth verse to mean the first appearance of unrighteousness — "till unrighteousness was found in you" (Ezekiel 28:15)... Sin, which is lawlessness, began at a certain moment. It is not for us to go beyond what the word of God says about it, and the passage in Ezekiel is enough.
The fault was not in what he had, but in what he did with it.
Note, the unrighteousness was found in him — it was "looking at his own beauty." Lord, keep us from this! For how vile to attribute this beauty to ourselves! And yet we should all have this devilish tendency, except as we are kept. Look at the brightness which is in the stone! We are engraved on it, and call it our own because we are engraved on it and it bears us. Dependence was lost, and what had been natural quality became a power of evil.
If the creature was made perfect, evil did not come from the Creator's hand. This verse traces the whole flood of evil back to one source.
He is not the author of it: the devil is, he sins from the beginning (1 John 3:8). There was no sinner before him. God set him in the highest position any creature was ever given. Then his pride rose up in rebellion against the One who had made him, and who in goodness gave him that place. The prophet addresses him under the figure of the king of Tyre... Sin began to exist in the thought of that anointed cherub. There we trace the dark river back to its source. Its foul waters found their way into the garden of Eden, and from there they have filled the world with violence, corruption, sorrow, death and misery.
This fall is not just ancient history. One writer finds the same danger inside the church.
He was puffed up with pride. The temptation came either from the position he held or from his own beauty and excellence (see Ezekiel 28:11-17). For this, judgment fell on him. The same danger, as the Spirit of God warns us, might beset a "novice" if he obtained office in the assembly. He might be lifted up with pride, and fall as the devil had fallen.
- Given — God gave him all of it: the office of the anointed cherub, the mountain of God, the stones of fire where His moral glory shone.
- Perfect — he was flawless from the day he was created, so evil did not come from the hand of the Creator.
- Found — sin started at one definite moment inside him. Scripture says no more than that, and neither should we.
- Beauty — the wrong was looking at his own beauty. He lost dependence, and a good quality became a power of evil.
- Repeated — the same pride can lift up a young believer given position too soon, and he may fall as the devil fell.
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 from the mountain of God, and have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
God tells Ezekiel to sing a lament over the king of Tyre, and this verse is its turning point. Who is God speaking to here, and how does a creature set that high end up thrown out?
Earlier in the chapter God speaks to the "prince" of Tyre. From verse 11 the word changes to "king." One writer treats that change as a clue to who is really in view.
There is more difficulty about verses 11-19. Is it the same person or a different one? I am inclined to think it is the same person historically, but with a deeper reference to Satan's fall built into it. This may be one reason why the Spirit of God changes "prince" into "king."
The violence in this verse grows out of trade. One writer shows how commerce becomes a weapon against God.
As the civilised world came up out of the mud of image-worship, it was caught in the net of trade. It became aware of the riches that commerce would pile up. Satan uses Tyre to display the glory and riches of the world, and so Tyre becomes an instrument against God. Through commerce Satan tries to make the curse ineffective. The earth was to bring forth thorns and thistles, and man was to eat bread by the sweat of his brow. Satan would get around that sentence by gathering the different products of the earth and filling the eye and the mind with them. He would try to hide the thorns by spreading a carpet of Tyrian merchandise over them.
Verse 16 assumes the place described in verse 14. Each term there names a privilege.
"You were an anointed guardian cherub" shows that God charged him with carrying out His judgments, and with understanding as he did it — the anointed cherub. "You were on the holy mountain of God" — the seat or symbol of His holy authority. He had walked "in the midst of the stones of fire." That seems to picture how familiar he was with the display of God's moral glory. Before that glory, evil burns up and disappears. And yet, perfect as he had been, his heart became lifted up because of his beauty, and iniquity was found in him.
Nothing pushed him. The ruin came from inside, and it came through the very gifts that made him great.
But all these advantages were the occasion of his fall, and gave it its character. For the privileges we enjoy always give our fall its character. From where have we fallen? — that is the question; for it is failing in that place, while we still had it, that degrades our condition. And no temptation came from outside, as it did in man's case. That circumstance did not take away man's guilt, but it did change the character of his guilt. "Your heart was proud because of your beauty." He exalted himself against God, and God cast him out as profane from the mountain of God. His spirit was independent and secure, until God threw him to the ground and humbled him.
The language is extreme, and some dismiss it as eastern exaggeration. Kelly rejects that reading.
Can it be doubted, however, that in this sentence God had before Him the fall and ruin of His arch-enemy? Many fail to see such hints, past or future, and above all fail to see Christ in the prophecies. That failure often leads souls who are not settled in the truth to bring foolish charges against God's word. They imagine eastern exaggeration. Those who know the truth find the deepest reason to thank God for His grace, which binds all His revelations into one harmonious whole.
The New Testament turns this fall into a warning for anyone who holds office among God's people.
An overseer of a local assembly, among other things, must not be "a novice, so that he may not become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil." … This passage gives a remarkable insight into the cause of the devil's fall. He was puffed up with pride. The temptation came either from the position he held or from his own beauty and excellence. For that reason God passed judgment on him. The same danger, as the Spirit of God warns us, might beset a "novice" if he obtained office in the assembly. He might be lifted up with pride, and fall as the devil had fallen.
- Set — God placed him Himself: an anointed cherub on the mountain of His authority, walking among the stones of fire where His glory burns.
- Filled — the charge is trade turned violent. Commerce is the net that gathers the world's riches and hides the thorns of the curse.
- Lifted — no tempter came from outside. His own privileges gave the occasion, and his heart rose over his own beauty.
- Cast — God threw the anointed one out as profane, down to the ground, humbled where he felt most secure.
- Warned — this is revelation, not exaggeration. A new believer given office too soon can fall by the same pride.
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.
Ezekiel's lament over the king of Tyre reaches its turning point here: a creature full of beauty and wisdom admires his own gifts, and pride ruins him. The words sound too large for any human ruler, so readers ask who is really in view.
The chapter first addresses the "prince" of Tyre. From verse 11 the title changes to "king." One writer keeps both the historical man and a deeper figure in view.
There is more difficulty about verses 11-19. Is it the same person or a different one? I am inclined to think it is the same one historically. But a deeper reference to Satan's fall is built into it. This may be one reason why the Spirit of God changes "prince" into "king."
The verse names an inward cause, not an outside attack. James Boyd traces the devil's fall to pride of heart, and notes what no unfallen being ever does.
He is a fallen creature who is occupied with anything but God. No unfallen being is found contemplating his own excellency. Pride of heart was the cause of the fall of the devil. I suppose we may take Ezekiel 28 as having reference to him. He is spoken of as full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Every precious stone was his covering. But this is what is said to him: his heart was lifted up because of his beauty, and he had corrupted his wisdom because of his brightness. Whatever he was, he was God's handiwork, and the glory all belonged to God, but he gave the glory to himself.
The beauty and the brightness were real gifts. One writer shows how those gifts shaped the fall, and draws a principle that reaches past this one figure.
But all these advantages were the occasion of his fall, and they marked its character. For the privileges we enjoy always mark the character of our fall. From where have we fallen? That is the question. We had the privilege and failed there, and that is what degrades our condition.
The verse says the wisdom was corrupted, not removed. Mawson follows that wisdom into what it became, and where Scripture first shows him at work.
When he fell from his high place, the wisdom of this great being was corrupted into devilish subtlety. Scripture first introduces him as the serpent, the deceiver (Gen. 3). By that subtlety Satan deceived Eve and turned the man and the woman into sinners against God. By that same subtlety he is blinding men and women today.
The "brightness" in the verse was never his own. Samuel Ridout shows where such light comes from, and what boasting does to it.
"God is light," and His hosts are hosts of light; they shine in a glory that is not their own... Let any of these sons of the morning boast in themselves, and their brightness would grow dim. Of God it must always be said, "who dwells in unapproachable light." His light goes beyond that of all His creatures, however high they stand.
Darby names the moment iniquity appeared in him, and what he lost then.
Note, the iniquity was found in him — it was "looking at his own beauty." Lord, keep us from this! For how vile to attribute this beauty to ourselves! And yet we should all have this devilish tendency, except as we are kept... Dependence was lost, and what had been a natural quality became a power of evil.
The verse does not stop at the cause. God throws him down and puts him on show before kings. One writer follows what that did to a spirit that had felt secure.
He exalted himself against God, and he was cast out as unholy from the mountain of God. His spirit, secure and independent, was humbled when he was cast to the ground. His nakedness is shown to all, and his folly will in the end be clear to all.
If self-admiration ruined the highest creature, how does God deal with us now? Frederick Grant says He keeps our own excellence out of our sight.
So with the dealing of the Spirit of God with us individually. Do we imagine that He is going to display us to our own eyes "radiant with all the excellencies of Christ"? It would indeed be dangerous: "Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor" (Ezek. 28:17), it was said long ago. "Lest, being lifted up with pride," says the apostle, "he fall into the condemnation of the devil." (1 Tim. 3:6.)
- Given — the beauty, the wisdom and the brightness were God's handiwork; the glory all belonged to Him.
- Gazed at — the fall began inside him, as he looked at his own beauty. No unfallen creature does that.
- Corrupted — dependence was lost. A natural quality became a power of evil, and wisdom turned into the subtlety of the serpent.
- Cast down — he exalted himself against God, so God humbled him to the ground and showed his folly to all.
- Guarded — God does not display our beauty to our own eyes, so that we do not fall into the condemnation of the devil (1 Tim. 3:6).
By the multitude of thine iniquities, by the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries and I have brought forth a fire out of the midst of thee -- it hath consumed thee; and I have brought thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee.
This verse closes a lament over the king of Tyre, whose dishonest trade defiled even his sanctuaries. The fire that destroys him comes out of himself, and commentators have long asked whether the words reach past a human ruler to the fall of Satan.
Earlier in the chapter God speaks to "the prince" of Tyre. From verse 12 the title changes to "king." One writer takes both titles for the same man, with a second subject behind him:
There is more difficulty with verses 11-19. Is it the same person or a different one? In history I am inclined to think it is the same person. But the passage also carries a deeper reference to Satan's fall. This may be one reason why the Spirit of God changes "prince" into "king."
Commentators differ here. Others read the change of title as a change of person altogether:
In this chapter God is speaking through the prophet to the wicked prince of Tyre, but from verse 12 the King of Tyre, another person, is addressed.
The fall began inside, in a creature taken with his own beauty:
A great moral fall took place in one who held one of the highest places in the universe. His heart was lifted up because of his own beauty, and he was cast to the ground. To make self the object of the heart, to fall in love with one's own beauty, is the certain sign that a turning away from God is coming. In this bright and exalted creature the fall was terrible, and the consequences, which still continue, are even more terrible.
The verse ties the profaning of the sanctuaries to unrighteous trade. One writer traces that link inward, to the sanctuaries of the soul, and to the fire that breaks out from within:
How men can be taken with their own beauty, when it is only artificial! It is a glory that circumstances alone have thrown around a person, like the halo of a traditional saint. The God of truth cannot spare it, since the heart lifted up by this outward beauty is corrupted by it. All the sanctuaries of the soul, or what ought to be such, become profaned. It is the image of man that appears in them instead of God. Covetousness shows itself as idolatry. Out of it comes the fire that will certainly, in the end, sweep it all away.
In the Bible ashes are a sign of grief. They also picture what is left when everything is gone:
Ashes, mostly from burnt wood, were a sign of sorrow or mourning. People put them on the head, 2 Samuel 13:19, or on the body with sackcloth, Esther 4:1... To eat ashes expresses great sorrow, Psalm 102:9. To be reduced to them is a figure of complete destruction, Ezekiel 28:18; Malachi 4:3.
The rivalry here runs deeper than two cities competing for trade:
Ezekiel 26:2 shows that Tyre, the merchant city of the world, was the rival of Jerusalem, the city of God: "I shall be replenished now she is laid waste."... God was known in the palaces of Jerusalem; the god of this world was known in Tyre. There people could satisfy the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. So the destruction of Tyre, Ezekiel 28:12-19, shows the king of Tyre closely tied to the abuse, through Satan, of the wisdom and beauty given at creation.
The same appetite that ruined Tyre is still at work in the cities of today:
The trade that made that city famous has spread its wings over the cities of our day. They follow in the steps of Tyre. With the same unrighteousness they await the same doom... The spirit of Mammon — the love of money — rules the age. Under its influence men twist the truth. It becomes the profession of greedy men, who suppose that gain is godliness.
If the passage looks past Tyre to Satan, his end is already fixed:
God created Satan "full of wisdom and perfect in beauty," and set him on the holy mountain of God as the anointed covering cherub — so the Prime Minister of the Universe, the guardian of the rights of God's throne. Yet Satan will finish in the Lake of Fire (Ezekiel 28:12-17). He will not be sent there as king, but as the chief offender and the greatest sufferer.
- Height. The one addressed held one of the highest places in the universe. Commentators differ on whether one person or two are in view.
- Heart. The fall started with a heart lifted up over its own beauty. Self-admiration is the sure sign that a break with God is coming.
- Hands. What began in the heart came out in the trade. Covetousness worked as idolatry, until the inner sanctuaries showed the image of man instead of God.
- Fire. The fire comes from inside him, out of the covetousness he fed, and it sweeps everything away in the end.
- Ashes. To be reduced to ashes is the Bible's picture of complete destruction. The enemy behind Tyre ends in the lake of fire — not as its king, but as its chief sufferer.
All they that know thee among the peoples shall be amazed at thee thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.
This verse ends a funeral song for the king of Tyre, and everyone who knew him is left staring at a glory that is gone for good. Ezekiel speaks to a real king of a real city, yet his words reach far past any city — so who is this song really about?
The chapter shifts from "prince" to "king." Writers read the second half on two levels at once. The real city is still in view, and the closing verses prove it.
In Ezekiel 28 the prince and the king of Tyre are judged for their pride… Verses 11-19 keep speaking of Tyre, but I think they go much farther. They show, though not plainly, the fall and the ways of Satan, who through our sin became the prince and god of this world… I have no doubt that Tyre itself is meant in history; verses 16-19 prove it. But, I repeat, the mind of the Spirit goes much farther.
Why Tyre? It was the trading capital of the world, and it set itself up as Jerusalem's rival. There you could buy whatever you wanted.
Ezekiel 26:2 shows that Tyre, the merchant city of the world, was the rival of Jerusalem, the city of God. God was known in the palaces of Jerusalem. In Tyre it was the god of this world, and there people could satisfy the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. So the destruction of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:12-19 shows the king of Tyre to be closely tied to the misuse, through Satan, of the wisdom and beauty seen in creation.
Read as politics alone, the passage sounds like eastern overstatement. One writer warns that this is how readers end up finding fault with God's word.
Can anyone doubt that in this condemnation God had before Him the fall and ruin of His great enemy? When people fail to see such hints, past or future, and above all fail to see Christ in the prophecies, those not yet settled in the truth are often led to find fault with God's word. They call it eastern exaggeration. But those who know the truth find here the deepest reason for a thankful heart, because God's grace ties all He has revealed into one harmonious whole.
The ruin had a cause, and it was not an attack from outside. It was a creature turning to look at itself.
A great moral fall happened in one who held one of the highest places in the universe. His heart was lifted up because of his own beauty, and he was cast to the ground. To make yourself the object of your own heart, to fall in love with your own beauty, is what always comes just before apostasy — a full turning away from God. In this bright and exalted creature the fall was terrible, and the consequences, which still last, are even more terrible.
Some have hoped that the fallen cherub might one day be restored. The last line of this verse refuses that hope.
Ezekiel 28 speaks of one destroyed from among the stones of fire and cast out of the mountain of God, because he was lifted up with his own beauty. But there is no promise that the anointed cherub will be restored from his fallen state. Verse 19 says plainly, "you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever."
(Older translations read "you shall be a terror, and never shall you be any more.")
The fault named here is not only his. One writer turns it into a prayer for himself and his readers.
Note, the iniquity was found in him — it was "looking at his own beauty." Lord, keep us from this! How vile it is to take the credit for this beauty ourselves! And we would all have this devilish tendency, unless God keeps us. Look at the brightness which is in the stone! We are engraved on it, and call it our own because we are engraved on it and it bears us. Dependence was lost, and what had been a natural quality became a power of evil.
- Given. The song is sung over a real king of Tyre, yet "the mind of the Spirit goes much farther." The one addressed held "one of the highest places in the universe."
- Admired. The fall started inside him, with a heart "lifted up because of his own beauty." Loving your own beauty is what always comes just before turning away from God.
- Sold. Tyre was the world's merchant city and Jerusalem's rival, the place where the eye, the flesh and pride could all be satisfied.
- Ended. No promise of restoration is given to the anointed cherub. The verse records an ending: he "shall be no more forever."
- Guarded. The same tendency sits in us. One writer's response is a prayer: "Lord, keep us from this!"