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Ezekiel 28

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Judgment Against the Prince of Tyre 1–10

1
The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying,
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Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy 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 thy heart as the heart of God;— ​
3
behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from thee; ​
4
by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures;
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by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches;— ​
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therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God,
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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. ​
8
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. ​
9
Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou art man, and not God, in the hand of him that woundeth thee.
10
Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah. ​

Lamentation Over the King of Tyre 11–19

11
Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
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Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. ​
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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. ​
14
Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. ​
15
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee. ​
16
By the abundance 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. ​
17
Thy 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 before kings, that they may behold thee. ​
18
By the multitude of thine iniquities, 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. ​
19
All they that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt nevermore have any being.

Prophecy Against Zidon 20–23

20
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ​
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Son of man, set thy face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it,
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and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. ​
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For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

The Restoration and Security of Israel 24–26

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And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any that are round about them, that did despite unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. ​
25
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob. ​
26
And they shall dwell securely therein; yea, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and shall dwell securely, when I have executed judgments upon all those that do them despite round about them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah their God. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezekiel 28

Verse 2

I am a God, I sit in the seat of God — The ruler is 'prince' (nagid) here and 'king' (melek) in v.12. The claim is answered with 'thou art a man, and not God', as Isaiah said of Egypt, 'the Egyptians are men, and not God' (Isa 31:3). In Acts 12:20–23 Herod, with Tyre and Sidon seeking peace, hears 'the voice of a god' and is struck 'because he gave not God the glory'.

Verse 3

wiser than Daniel — Daniel was already known in Babylon as one who 'revealeth the deep and secret things' (Dan 2:22); the king found him and his companions 'ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers' (Dan 1:20). Ezekiel names him with Noah and Job in 14:14, 20. Against the prince's boast stands Dan 2:28, 'there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets'.

Verse 5

by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches — 'Traffick' is rekullah, trade (26:12, 'thy merchandise'), and 'riches' is chayil, the word rendered 'army' in 27:10–11, so wealth is power. The heart 'lifted up' (gabah) is the charge of vv.2, 17. 'If riches increase, set not your heart upon them' (Ps 62:10); the man who trusted 'in the abundance of his riches' is in Ps 52:7.

Verse 7

strangers… the terrible of the nations — The same phrase describes the destroyers of Egypt (30:11; 32:12) and of the great tree (31:12). 'Brightness' (yiph'ah) is found only here and in v.17. The swords are drawn 'against the beauty of thy wisdom', the beauty and wisdom of vv.3–5 and 12.

Verse 8

the deaths of them that are slain — 'Deaths' is the plural mamoth, found elsewhere only in Jer 16:4. 'In the midst of the seas' is where he said 'I sit in the seat of God' (v.2); there he will die. Tyre was brought down 'with them that descend into the pit' in 26:20, and the same sentence now falls on the ruler, the 'pit' here being shachath.

Verse 10

the deaths of the uncircumcised — The uncircumcised are those outside the covenant, as Goliath was (1 Sam 17:36); the phrase lays Tyre beside the great tree, which 31:18 names as Pharaoh, and Pharaoh again in 32:19, 32. 'By the hand of strangers' repeats v.7. 'For I have spoken it' closes the sentence as it closes the oracle in 26:5, 14.

Verse 12

full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty — The lament (qinah) of 27:2 is taken up for the king himself. 'Perfect in beauty' is the phrase of 27:3, the same kalil yofi the city claimed. 'Thou sealest up the sum' uses toknit, a measured pattern, found only here and in 43:10, 'let them measure the pattern'.

Verse 13

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God — 'The garden of God' occurs only in Ezekiel (28:13; 31:8–9), where the trees of Eden stand in it. All nine stones named here are among the twelve of the high priest's breastplate (Ex 28:17–20), under the same Hebrew names. 'Covering' (mesukkah) and 'pipes' (neqeb) occur only here, and 'created' is the verb of Gen 1:1.

Verse 14

the anointed cherub that covereth — 'Covereth' (sakak) is the verb of the cherubim 'covering the mercy seat with their wings' (Ex 25:20; 1 Kings 8:7), and 'anointed' (mimshach) is outspread, as with wings. 'Stones of fire' occurs only here and in v.16. Many Christian readers have also seen in the figure the fall of Satan (cf. Isa 14:12–15).

Verse 15

perfect in thy ways — Tamim, whole and blameless, is Noah's word, 'perfect in his generations' (Gen 6:9). The blamelessness lasted 'from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee'. 'Iniquity' here is 'evel, injustice, the word used again of 'the iniquity of thy traffick' in v.18.

Verse 16

they have filled the midst of thee with violence — The 'merchandise' of vv.5, 18 filled the city with chamas, violence. 'Cast thee as profane' is chalal, also the 'defile' of vv.7, 18. 'The love of money is the root of all evil' (1 Tim 6:10), and 'they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare' (1 Tim 6:9).

Verse 17

thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty — The same verb as in vv.2, 5, now with the cause 'thy beauty'. 'Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness' answers v.7, where the swords 'defile thy brightness'. 'Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall' (Prov 16:18); he is laid 'before kings', who will 'behold' him.

Verse 18

a fire from the midst of thee — The fire comes out of the city itself and turns it 'to ashes' (epher). Amos had already foretold 'a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof' (Amos 1:10), and Revelation gives the same end to Babylon, 'utterly burned with fire' (Rev 18:8). 'Sanctuaries' (miqdash) are defiled by 'the iniquity of thy traffick'.

Verse 20

Again the word of the LORD came unto me — The oracle on Zidon begins at v.21 with the same 'set thy face' as against Ammon in 25:2. Zidon is the older city: 'Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn' (Gen 10:15), and Joshua calls it 'great Zidon' (Josh 19:28). Tyre and Zidon are named together in Jer 25:22 and Joel 3:4.

Verse 22

I will be glorified in the midst of thee — Kabad, to be honoured, is God's own word of Pharaoh in Ex 14:4, 'I will be honoured upon Pharaoh'. Zidon is also to see him 'sanctified' (qadash), as Israel will in v.25 and 36:23. 'Executed judgments' (shephet) is said again in v.26; it is 'execute judgments upon Moab' in 25:11.

Verse 24

a pricking brier — Sillon, a thorn, found only here and in 2:6, where Ezekiel dwells among 'briers and thorns'. The image is Moses's: the peoples left in the land 'shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides' (Num 33:55). 'Despised them' is sha'at, one who contemns, the word used of the Philistines in 16:57.

Verse 25

When I shall have gathered the house of Israel — The gathering from 'among whom they are scattered' is the promise of Jer 32:37 and Ezek 36:24–28. 'In the sight of the heathen' joins it to 36:23, 'I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes'. 'My servant Jacob' and the land given him recur in 37:25.

Verse 26

they shall dwell safely — 'Safely' and 'with confidence' are one word, betach, said twice. 'Build houses, and plant vineyards' takes up the promise of Jer 32:15, 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land'. The same security, 'they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid', is in 34:28.