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.