Ezekiel 28

Eze 28:1-26.

PROPHETICAL

DIRGE ON THE

KING OF

TYRE, AS THE

CULMINATION AND

EMBODIMENT OF THE

SPIRIT OF

CARNAL

PRIDE AND

SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF THE

WHOLE

STATE.

THE

FALL OF

ZIDON, THE

MOTHER

CITY.

THE

RESTORATION OF

ISRAEL IN

CONTRAST WITH

TYRE AND

ZIDON.

2. Because, &c.--repeated resumptively in

Eze 28:6.

The apodosis begins at

Eze 28:7.

"The prince of Tyrus" at the time was Ithobal, or Ithbaal II; the name

implying his close connection with Baal, the Phœnician supreme

god, whose representative he was.

I am a god, I sit in . . . seat of God . . . the

seas--As God sits enthroned in His heavenly citadel exempt from all

injury, so I sit secure in my impregnable stronghold amidst the

stormiest elements, able to control them at will, and make them

subserve my interests. The language, though primarily here applied to

the king of Tyre, as similar language is to the king of Babylon

(Isa 14:13, 14),

yet has an ulterior and fuller accomplishment in Satan and his

embodiment in Antichrist

(Da 7:25; 11:36, 37;

2Th 2:4;

Re 13:6).

This feeling of superhuman elevation in the king of Tyre was fostered

island" [SANCONIATHON], being sacred to Hercules,

so much so that the colonies looked up to Tyre as the mother city of

their religion, as well as of their political existence. The

Hebrew for "God" is El, that is, "the Mighty One."

yet, &c.--keen irony.

set thine heart as . . . heart of God--Thou thinkest of thyself as if

thou wert God.

3. Ezekiel ironically alludes to Ithbaal's overweening opinion of

the wisdom of himself and the Tyrians, as though superior to that of

Daniel, whose fame had reached even Tyre as eclipsing the Chaldean

sages. "Thou art wiser," namely, in thine own opinion

(Zec 9:2).

no secret--namely, forgetting riches

(Eze 28:4).

that they can hide--that is, that can be hidden.

5.

(Ps 62:10).

6. Because, &c.--resumptive of

Eze 28:2.

7. therefore--apodosis.

strangers . . . terrible of the nations--the Chaldean foreigners

noted for their ferocity

(Eze 30:11; 31:12).

against the beauty of thy wisdom--that is, against thy beautiful

possessions acquired by thy wisdom on which thou pridest thyself

(Eze 28:3-5).

defile thy brightness--obscure the brightness of thy kingdom.

8. the pit--that is, the bottom of the sea; the image being that of

one conquered in a sea-fight.

the deaths--plural, as various kinds of deaths are meant

(Jer 16:4).

of them . . . slain--literally, "pierced through." Such deaths as

those pierced with many wounds die.

9. yet say--that is, still say; referring to

Eze 28:2.

but, &c.--But thy blasphemous boastings shall be falsified, and thou

shalt be shown to be but man, and not God, in the hand (at the mercy) of

Him.

10. deaths of . . . uncircumcised--that is, such a death as the

uncircumcised or godless heathen deserve; and perhaps, also, such as

the uncircumcised inflict, a great ignominy in the eyes of a Jew

(1Sa 31:4);

a fit retribution on him who had scoffed at the circumcised Jews.

12. sealest up the sum--literally, "Thou art the one sealing the sum

of perfection." A thing is sealed when completed

(Da 9:24).

"The sum" implies the full measure of beauty, from a

Hebrew root, "to measure." The normal man--one formed after

accurate rule.

13. in Eden--The king of Tyre is represented in his former high state

(contrasted with his subsequent downfall), under images drawn from the

primeval man in Eden, the type of humanity in its most Godlike form.

garden of God--the model of ideal loveliness

(Eze 31:8, 9; 36:35).

In the person of the king of Tyre a new trial was made of humanity with

the greatest earthly advantages. But as in the case of Adam, the good

gifts of God were only turned into ministers to pride and self.

every precious stone--so in Eden

(Ge 2:12),

"gold, bdellium, and the onyx stone." So the king of Tyre was arrayed

in jewel-bespangled robes after the fashion of Oriental monarchs. The

nine precious stones here mentioned answer to nine of the twelve

(representing the twelve tribes) in the high priest's breastplate

(Ex 39:10-13;

Re 21:14, 19-21).

Of the four rows of three in each, the third is omitted in the

Hebrew, but is supplied in the Septuagint. In this, too,

there is an ulterior reference to Antichrist, who is blasphemously to

arrogate the office of our divine High Priest

(Zec 6:13).

tabrets--tambourines.

pipes--literally, "holes" in musical pipes or flutes.

created--that is, in the day of thine accession to the

throne. Tambourines and all the marks of joy were ready prepared

for thee ("in thee," that is, "with and for thee"). Thou hadst not,

like others, to work thy way to the throne through arduous struggles.

No sooner created than, like Adam, thou wast surrounded with the

gratifications of Eden. FAIRBAIRN, for "pipes,"

translates, "females" (having reference to

Ge 1:27),

that is, musician-women. MAURER explains the

Hebrew not as to music, but as to the setting and

mounting of the gems previously mentioned.

14. anointed cherub--GESENIUS translates from an Aramaic root,

"extended cherub." English Version, from a Hebrew root, is

better. "The cherub consecrated to the Lord by the anointing oil"

[FAIRBAIRN].

covereth--The imagery employed by Ezekiel as a priest is from

the Jewish temple, wherein the cherubim overshadowed the mercy seat, as

the king of Tyre, a demi-god in his own esteem, extended his protection

over the interests of Tyre. The cherub--an ideal compound of the

highest kinds of animal existence and the type of redeemed man in his

ultimate state of perfection--is made the image of the king of Tyre, as

if the beau ideal of humanity. The pretensions of Antichrist are the

ulterior reference, of whom the king of Tyre is a type. Compare "As God

. . . in the temple of God"

(2Th 2:4).

I have set thee--not thou set thyself

(Pr 8:16;

Ro 13:1).

upon the holy mountain of God--Zion, following up the image.

in . . . midst of . . . stones of fire--In ambitious imagination he

stood in the place of God, "under whose feet was, as it were, a pavement

of sapphire," while His glory was like "devouring fire"

(Ex 24:10, 17).

15. perfect--prosperous [GROTIUS], and

having no defect. So Hiram was a sample of the Tyrian monarch in his

early days of wisdom and prosperity

(1Ki 5:7,

&c.).

till iniquity . . . in thee--Like the primeval man thou hast fallen

16. filled the midst of thee--that is, they have filled

the midst of the city; he as the head of the state being involved in

the guilt of the state, which he did not check, but fostered.

cast thee as profane--no longer treated as sacred, but driven out of

the place of sanctity (see

Eze 28:14)

which thou hast occupied (compare

Ps 89:39).

17. brightness--thy splendor.

lay thee before kings--as an example of God's wrath against

presumptuous pride.

18. thy sanctuaries--that is, the holy places, attributed to the king

of Tyre in

Eze 28:14,

as his ideal position. As he "profaned" it, so God will "profane" him

(Eze 28:16).

fire . . . devour--As he abused his supposed elevation

amidst "the stones of fire"

(Eze 28:16),

so God will make His "fire" to "devour" him.

21. Zidon--famous for its fishery (from a root, Zud, "to

fish"); and afterwards for its wide extended commerce; its artistic

elegance was proverbial. Founded by Canaan's first-born

(Ge 10:15).

Tyre was an offshoot from it, so that it was involved in the same

overthrow by the Chaldeans as Tyre. It is mentioned separately, because

its idolatry (Ashtaroth, Tammuz, or Adonis) infected Israel more than

that of Tyre did

(Eze 8:14;

Jud 10:6;

1Ki 11:33).

The notorious Jezebel was a daughter of the Zidonian king.

22. shall be sanctified in her--when all nations shall see that I am

the Holy Judge in the vengeance that I will inflict on her for sin.

24. no more . . . brier . . . unto . . . Israel--as the idolatrous

nations left in Canaan (among which Zidon is expressly specified in the

limits of Asher,

Jud 1:31)

had been

(Nu 33:55;

Jos 23:13).

"A brier," first ensnaring the Israelites in sin, and then being made

the instrument of punishing them.

pricking--literally, "causing bitterness." The same

Hebrew is translated "fretting"

(Le 13:51, 52).

The wicked are often called "thorns"

(2Sa 23:6).

25, 26. Fulfilled in part at the restoration from Babylon, when

Judaism, so far from being merged in heathenism, made inroads by

conversions on the idolatry of surrounding nations. The full

accomplishment is yet future, when Israel, under Christ, shall be the

center of Christendom; of which an earnest was given in the woman from

the coasts of Tyre and Sidon who sought the Saviour

(Mt 15:21, 24, 26-28;

compare

Isa 11:12).

dwell safely--

(Jer 23:6).