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.