XXVIII. This chapter consists of two prophecies: the first and larger one against the prince of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:1); the second, a very brief one, against Zidon (Ezekiel 28:20). The first prophecy consists of two parts, corresponding to Ezekiel 26, 27; in the former of these the pride of the prince... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM A GOD. — The arraignment of the prince occupies Ezekiel 28:2, his consequent doom Ezekiel 28:6. The point of the charge is inordinate pride, begotten of great prosperity; this prosperity, being attributed to his own powers instead of to its true source, led him to imagine himself almost more th... [ Continue Reading ]
WISER THAN DANIEL. — This is ironically spoken. Daniel was so famed for his wisdom in the great Chaldæan Empire (Daniel 1:20; Daniel 2:48; Daniel 4:18; Daniel 5:11; Daniel 6:3, &c.) that the report must have already reached Tyre. He had been twenty years in Nebuchadnezzar’s court when Jerusalem fell... [ Continue Reading ]
SET THINE HEART AS THE HEART OF GOD. — The same expression as in Ezekiel 28:2. (Comp. Obadiah 1:3, “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee.”) The meaning is plain: thou hast entertained thoughts and purposes fitting only to the Supreme.... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAINST THE BEAUTY OF THY WISDOM. — The figure seems incongruous, but it is to be remembered that the expression is only a form of designating Tyre itself. The description of the Chaldæans as “the terrible of the nations” is repeated in Ezekiel 30:11; Ezekiel 31:12 (comp. also Ezekiel 26:7 and Isaia... [ Continue Reading ]
DEATHS. — The plural accurately represents the rare form of the original, and indicates emphatically a violent death.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT BE A MAN. — The future, added to the text by the words in italics, should be omitted. The original form is exactly the same as in Ezekiel 28:2, and should be so translated. In both cases the article is better omitted. The contrast between the weakness of man and the power of God is strong... [ Continue Reading ]
THE UNCIRCUMCISED. — To the Jew this term conveyed all, and more than all, the opprobrium which the Greeks and Romans attached to _barbarians_. (Comp. Ezekiel 31:18; Ezekiel 32:19; Ezekiel 32:21; Ezekiel 32:24, &c.) It is equivalent to saying “the profane and impious.” Ezekiel 28:11 contain the doom... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SEALEST UP THE SUM. — Thou markest it as complete or perfect. (Comp. Daniel 9:24; Job 9:7.) The word for _sum_ occurs only here and in Ezekiel 43:10, where it refers to the well measured and arranged building of the Temple.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY PRECIOUS STONE. — There is some uncertainty in regard to the names of some of these stones (as sardius may be _carnelian,_ and beryl _chrysolite_)_,_ but the general fact is an allusion to the profuse use of precious stones as ornaments of their royal apparel by Oriental monarchs. The stones m... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU ART THE ANOINTED CHERUB. — The tense is not expressed in the Hebrew, and it is better to supply the same simple past as is used throughout the passage: _thou wert._ The imagery is taken from the Temple upon Mount Zion: not that the king of Tyre had at this time any special connection with this,... [ Continue Reading ]
TILL INIQUITY WAS FOUND IN THEE. — This and the following verse renew still more clearly the comparison with Adam. The king was altogether prosperous until his sin became manifest; then, when his heart was corrupted by his prosperity (Ezekiel 28:16), he was cast out for ever, like Adam from his para... [ Continue Reading ]
FILLED THE MIDST OF THEE. — The language passes very naturally here from the king himself to the state over which be presided, and with which he was identified, immediately recurring, however, to the king personally. He, as polluted, should be cast out of his imagined mountain of God: he, the cherub... [ Continue Reading ]
DEFILED THY SANCTUARIES. — These are not to be understood so much of the actual temples of Tyre as of the ideal “holy mountain of God,” in which the prophet has represented the prince of Tyre as “a covering cherub.” Yet still, doubtless, even in the former sense, it was true that the Tyrians, like t... [ Continue Reading ]
A PRICKING BRIER. — The language refers back to the threat of Numbers 33:55, of the reality of which Israel had long had such bitter experience. Nothing is said of the special sins of Zidon, and very little of the detail of her overthrow; these were already sufficiently known, or else included in wh... [ Continue Reading ]
SANCTIFIED IN THEM IN THE SIGHT OF THE HEATHEN. — The course of God’s providence is very distinctly marked out in these verses of promise. The judgment upon Judah had already come, in the fall of their holy city and the captivity of the people. This leads them to repentance, and thus God is “sanctif... [ Continue Reading ]