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.
Thou art the anointed cherub. Gesenius translates х mimshach (H4473), from an Aramaic root, maashach (H4886)], 'extended cherub.' The English version, from the Hebrew root, 'to anoint,' is better, and is supported by the Chaldaic version. 'The cherub consecrated to the Lord by the anointing oil' (Fairbairn). That covereth. The imagery employed by Ezekiel as a priest is from the Jewish temple, wherein the cherubim covered or overshadowed the mercy-seat, as the King of Tyre, a demigod 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, esteemed by men as a Messiah or Christ, being anointed to the kingdom, and usurping the place of Him who is the true anointed One, and the covering of the Church. The pretensions of Antichrist are the ulterior referent, of whom the King of Tyre is a type. Compare "As God
... in the temple of God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
And I have set thee so - not thou set thyself (Proverbs 7:16, "By me princes rule;" Romans 13:1).
Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God - Zion: following up the image.
Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire - in ambitious imagination he stood in the place of God, "under whose feet was as it were a paved work of sapphire," while His glory was like "devouring fire" (Exodus 24:10; Exodus 24:17).