Ezekiel 28:12-14

“You seal up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty,

You were in Eden, the garden of the gods (or ‘of God')

Every precious stone was your covering,

The sardius, the topaz and the diamond,

The beryl, the onyx and the jasper,

The sapphire, the carbuncle and the emerald,

Gold were the workings of your tabrets and pipes in you.

In the day that you were created they were prepared.

You (along with) an anointed covering cherub, and I established you,

And you were on the holy mountain of God,

You walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.”

Having nothing to go on except this description we must beware of becoming too fanciful. It is describing the king's view of himself (and Tyre's), but found here as interwoven by Ezekiel in terms of Eden. The connection between this and the original Eden is found in the name, in the fact of the garden, in the presence of a cherub, in the fact of the king's being ‘created', and in his final fall and expulsion. The Israelites would recognise immediately that this whole scenario diminished him to being simply a created and fallen man.

The garden and cherub (or similar creatures) and holy mountain could be found frequently in pagan temples. We are probably therefore to see this in terms of the king walking in bejewelled splendour in the hallowed temple gardens, arranged on an artificial mountain as found in such temples, where there was an image of a cherub, and musing proudly on his deity in terms of the original Paradise of the gods. But as reinterpreted by Ezekiel for the sake of the house of Israel.

‘You seal up the sum (or ‘plan' or ‘blueprint' or ‘example', compare Ezekiel 43:10), full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.' RSV has ‘you were the signet of perfection'. This would depict his claim as being that of someone of total perfection, full of wisdom and beautiful in his perfection.

Others would translate as ‘you were the one sealing the plan.' Here the idea would seem to be of the one who finalised and established the grand plan on which Tyre's prosperity was built. ‘Full of wisdom' would tie in well with this (see Ezekiel 28:4) and ‘perfect in beauty' is used of the glorious ship of trade (see Ezekiel 27:3) which originally carried out the plan. Possibly both ideas, that of absolute perfection, and that of the glorious planner, were thought of as included.

‘You were in Eden, the garden of the gods (or ‘of God').' Possibly the king boasted of having walked in the primeval garden (through his ancestors?), but we must probably also connect this claim with the holy temple garden which he saw as its present manifestation and in which he walked continually. Ezekiel tacks on ‘Eden' to relate this primeval garden to the Garden of Eden.

It may however be that Lebanon was known as ‘the garden of the gods' (compare on Ezekiel 31:8; Ezekiel 31:18) because of the splendour of its trees, especially the cedars of Lebanon.

‘Every precious stone was your covering --.' He was clothed in splendour, surrounded by precious stones. This was man's view of glory and perfection as it would be experienced in the mythical garden. And it left him without excuse, for with these blessings what excuse could there be for sin? But in the real garden what mattered was innocence, riches and clothes were irrelevant. That is the contrast. Thus the connection in Ezekiel's mind may well have been that instead of nakedness and then the fig leaf, he had bejewelled garments, but they served him no better. He did not avoid sin and his nakedness was not covered.

The stones listed are nine (three sets of three indicate completeness and perfection), and were reminiscent of the high priest's breastplate except that there there were twelve stones (Exodus 28:17). In fact LXX has twelve here, but that was probably an expansion with the high priest's breastplate in mind.

‘Gold were the workings of your tabrets and pipes in you.' The idea of splendour continues. The meaning of the word for ‘pipes' (nekeb) is unknown. Its only other use is in Joshua 19:33 (in the name Adami-nekeb) where a ‘pass' or ‘hollow' has been suggested, but tabrets or timbrels were musical instruments, thus the suggestion of a musical instrument as a translation for nekeb (something hollowed out?) Golden musical instruments may well have been in use in a pagan temple, and have been connected with a primeval Paradise.

‘In the day that you were created they were prepared.' The reference to his being originally ‘created' is a further reminder of his earthliness. These things only became available when he was created. They were not his permanent right. It may be that the king saw himself as the reproduction of a long line of divine kings (as with the Pharaoh), stretching back to the primeval garden from where he ‘came', thus the reference may be back to the first king. But Ezekiel stresses that it is a reminder that his source was earthly, for the primeval garden, the Garden of Eden was prepared for a created man, not a demi-god.

‘You (‘were' or ‘were with' understood) an anointed covering cherub, and I established you, and you were on the holy mountain of God. You walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.' Mountains were seen as the abode of the gods, and many a temple had within it an artificial mountain representing the home of the gods. Does this mean that the king had depicted himself as a guardian cherub, a demi-god committed to the protection of the gods, especially Baal Melkart the Tyrian god? Or is the idea that he claimed to be a god, even a personification of Melkart, protected by a guardian Cherub and that he is being reminded that he was set in the garden on the holy mountain by Yahweh, for all that is done, is done by Yahweh? Either way it represents his proud assumption of some kind of divinity as he walked in the temple garden on the mountain of the gods, so that Yahweh here has to remind him that anything he has, has come from Yahweh, for Yahweh is the Creator, and in all Yahweh is in control.

His claim to be a divinity protected by a guardian cherub, or that he was himself a guardian cherub, no doubt also encouraged the Tyrians with the thought that it made their fortress even more impregnable.

‘The stones of fire.' This is probably a reference to the covering of jewels previously mentioned. There may also be the thought that precious stones fell around him from the skies. But some have suggested connection with Phoenician cult practises where an effigy of the god was burned so as to bring about his resuscitation. This ritual of burning a god has been suggested from depictions on a bowl from Sidon and is said to be evidenced in the cult of Melkart at Tyre.