Ezekiel 28:1-26 - G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

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Bible Comments

The prophecy concerning Tyre ended with a message to its prince and a lamentation for its king. A distinction must be drawn between these two. Most evidently the prince was the then reigning king, Ithobal. Great difficulty has been felt with regard to the remarkable description of the king which follows. It is most likely that from his height of inspired vision the prophet saw behind the actually reigning prince the awful personality of Satan, whose instrument Ithobal was. All the language used in reference to the king perfectly falls in with this interpretation of the prophet's meaning. Ezekiel declared that the sin of the prince was pride of heart, expressing itself finally in that he thought of himself as a god, and boasted accordingly. That he was a remarkable person is revealed by Ezekiel's declaration that he was wiser than Daniel. By this wisdom he had achieved the successes already described, and on account of it his heart had become lifted up. His judgment was to be that by humiliation and destruction, even to the pit, he would learn that he was a "man, and not God."

The prophet then took up his lamentation over the king of Tyre, of whom he declared that he sealed up the sum, being full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He described his original appointment by God in poetic language full of suggestiveness. He then declared that his sin began in the day when unrighteousness was found in him, and violence became his method. On account of this unrighteousness he was cast out of the mountain of God. Because of his pride he was cast down in the presence of kings. For the multitude of his iniquities a fire devoured him, and he was burnt to ashes.

In this passage we have the prophet's message to Satan, and a brief parenthesis in which he declared the ultimate restoration of Israel. Satan would be involved in the overthrow of Tyre, and in the midst of her Jehovah would be glorified. All this was in order that there should be no more "a pricking brier*' to the house of Israel.

This final declaration led the prophet to utter the brief word concerning the ultimate restoration of Israel. He declared in the name of Jehovah that the scattered ones would be gathered and set apart in the midst of the nations, dwelling securely there, and that in order that the people should know that Jehovah was their God.

Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 28:1

Ezekiel 28:1-26

1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, 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 midsta of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:

4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

5 By thy greatb wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;

7 Behold, therefore 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 deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayethc thee.

10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

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.

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius,d 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 prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: 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 iniquity was found in thee.

16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror,e and never shalt thou be any more.

20 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,

22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.

26 And they shall dwell safelyf therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.