Ezekiel XXVIII
Ezek. 28: 1-19, R.V. — “The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the LORD God: Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art man, and not God, though thou didst set thine heart as the heart of God: behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; therefore behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit; and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain, in the heart of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayest thee, I am God? but thou art man, and not God, in the hand of him that woundeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the LORD God. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation for the King of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God: Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou wast in Eden the garden of God: every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared. Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou iv ast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee. By the multitude of thy traffic they filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore have I cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I have cast thee to the ground, I have laid thee be fore kings, that they may behold thee* By the multitude of thine ini* quities, in the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of thee, it hath devoured thee, and I have turned thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.”
To whom does this remarkable passage refer?
Vv. 1-10 refer at least primarily to the prince of Tyre, then reigning (Ittiobalus by name, according to Josephus). They were fulfilled in the seige of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar.
Vv. 11-19 have expressions which it is difficult, if not impossible, to refer to any mere man — e. </., vv. 12, 13, 14. There are, however, other verses that seem to indicate an earthly king dom — e. g., 16, 18.
What is the explanation of this enigma?
We frequently find in prophecy that the prophet is borne on from speaking of a contemporaneous event to some event of the last times, of which the coutemporaneus event is in some respects a type. For example, in Matt. 24: 15-21, Christ speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem, which was in a very trae sense a Day of the Lord, and from that he passes on to speak of the great Day of the Lord yet to come in vv. 22-31. So swift is the transition from the one to the other that it is difficult to mark exactly where it takes place. So in Ezekiel’s prophecy. Ittiobalus was in important respects a type of “the man of sin.” (Vv. 2, 5, 6. Compare 2 Thess, 2:3, 4. Also v. 2 with Dan. 11: 41-45. Note “The heart of the seas” and “between the seas.”)
But there are some things in vv. 11-19 (the king of Tyre) that seem to apply to a supernatural and some to an earthly king. This earthly king is to have enormous commerce. Compare the great development of commerce in the last days.
Rev. 13: 16, 17 — “And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Rev. 18: 3, 9-19 — “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.... And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off. And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning; saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! For in one hour is she made desolate.”
The simplest explanation of all this is that the King of Tyre represents the Anti-Christ (as the Prince of Tyre was the type of the Anti -Christ) and that he is to be an incarnation of Satan as the true Christ was an incarnation of God.
(Comp. 2 Thess. 2: 8, 9, R.V. — “When shall be revealed the law-Jess one... whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power, etc.”)
If this is the true solution, this passage teaches us much about Satan.
(1) V. 12 — “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, thus saith the Lord God, Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.”
FIRST PROPOSITION: Satan was full of wisdom and perfect
in beauty, sealing up the sum of created perfection.
(2) V. 13 — “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy tab rets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.”
SECOND PROPOSITION: He was in Eden, the garden of God.
This does not appear to have been the Adamic Eden, but an earlier one. The Adamic Eden was remarkable for its vegetable glory. (Gen. 2:9.) This early Eden for its mineral glory. Compare the New Jerusalem which is to be.
Rev. 21: 10-21 — “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone y clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth; and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass, and the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; -the fourth an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite: the eighth, beryl; the ninth a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”
In the Adamic Eden Satan was present not as here, as a minister of God, but as an apostate spirit and a tempter. The glory of this early Eden seems to have been specially prepared for Satan. (R.V., last clause v. 13.) There was also the pomp of royalty, tabrets and pipes.
(3) V. 14 (a) — “Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth.”
THIRD PROPOSITION: Satan was the anointed cherub that
covereth.
(a) Anointed and set apart as the priest of God. (Lev, 8:12.) (b) A Cherub, a high, or it may be the highest, rank in the angelic world. Compare the living creatures leading the worship of the universe in Rev. 4:9, 10, R. V.:
“And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying.” Rev. 5: 14, R.V. — “And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped.”
(c) He was not a cherub, but “the cherub”; (d) the cherub u that covereth.” There may be an allusion to this in the covering cherubim.
Ex. 37: 9 —” And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to
another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubim.”
It seems to be hinted that Satan was the one who led the
worship of the universe. If so, he tried to direct to himself what
properly belonged to God. This is a danger with all priests and
ministers.
(4) V. 14 (b) — “And I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God.”
FOURTH PROPOSITION: The Devil icas “upon the holy mountain of God” — i. e., the place where God visibly manifested His glory.
(5) V. 14 (c) — “Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.”
FIFTH PROPOSITION: The Devil “walked up and down in
tfie midst of the stones of fire”
The living creatures of Ezek. 1: 15, 22, 25, 26, R.V., were just beneath a “firmament, like the colour of the terrible crystal.” “And above the firmament was the likeness of a tnrone, as the appearance of a sapphire stone.” In Ex. 24: 10, R.V., when the seventy elders “saw the God of Israel,” “there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven for clearness.” In the seventeenth verse “the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.” This may give us an idea of what “the stones of fire” were. Satan seems to have been very near God.
(6) V. 15 — “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee.”
SIXTH PROPOSITION; Satan was perfect in his ways from the day that he was created until unrighteousness was found in him. He is evidently a created being.
(7) V. 1 6 — “By the multitude of thy traffic they filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned.”
This seems to refer in part to Satan’s manifestation in the Anti-Christ. It has been suggested that the word translated “traffic” comes from a root which means to travel either for merchandise or for slander, and the word should have been translated “slander,” and that the Devil means “the slanderer.” (Compare Rev. 12: 10; Job 1: 9.) This is not likely. There is a closely related word, from the same root, which is translated in the several passages where used “slander,” “carry tales,” “tale bearer,” but the precise word found in our passage is used four times (Ezek. 28: 5; Ezek. 28: 18; Ezek. 26: 12; Ezek. 28: 16), and is translated either “traffic “or “merchandise.” All these passages are in Ezekiel, and some of them it would be impossible to translate by “slander.” The word from which it is immediately derived is used twice (Song of Solomon 3: 6; Ezek. 27: 20) and is translated “merchant” (R.V. of Ezek. 27:20, “trafficker”).
(8) V. 17 (a, b) — “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.”
SEVENTH PROPOSITION: Satan’s heart was lifted up be cause of his beauty; he corrupted his wisdom because of his brightness. (Compare 1 Tim. 3: 6, R.V. Marg.)
(9) V. 16 — “Therefore have I cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.”
EIGHTH PROPOSITION: Satan shall be (or isy cast out of the mountain of God and destroyed from the midst of the stones of fire.
(10) V. 17 (c) — “I have cast thee to the ground, I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”
NINTH PROPOSITION: He shall be cast to the earth and made a spectacle, and “turned to ashes” before kings and all that behold. (V. 18.) (Compare Rev. 12: 9, 10; 2 Thess. 2: 8; Rev. 19:20.)