you are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you;
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.
The man in view
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:
J. N. DarbyIn 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 Bible TreasuryThe 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.
Why Daniel is the measuring stick
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 Bible TreasuryThe 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.
Wisdom counted in gold
How did the prince prove he was wise? By what he had piled up. He was not the only man to reason that way:
William KellyIt 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:
William KellyThis 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.
What Daniel's wisdom looked like
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:
C. Knapp"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.
A side witness to Daniel himself
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:
William KellyEven 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).
Where the boasting ends
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:
William KellyIf 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.
Summary
- 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.