Ezekiel 28:1-10 - Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

Oracle Against the Nagid of Tyre.

Here the King of Tyre is called ‘the Nagid of Tyre'. Nagid (prince) is a title elsewhere restricted in the singular to princes and leaders of Israel. (Some see Daniel 9:26 as an exception, but that might tell us something about their interpretation of Daniel 9:26). Thus the use here would seem to be a sarcastic one, comparing him to a Prince of Israel. But in contrast to princes of Israel he saw himself as a god. Thus he is further condemned. The prince referred to was probably Ithobal II.

Note how the charges against Tyre have built up. Firstly she gloated at the riches she would receive now that Jerusalem was destroyed (Ezekiel 26:2). Then she proclaimed herself ‘perfect in beauty' (Ezekiel 27:3) and as almost invincible. Now her king claims godlikeness. And Tyre shares in his god-like status. All that is said about the king also applies to his people.

Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 28:1

Ezekiel 28:1-10

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.