Ezekiel 28:13

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.