Ezekiel28chapter 28

Ezekiel 28:11

“The dirge of the prince of Tyre, answering to the dirge of the state. The passage is ironical; its main purpose is to depict all the glory, real or assumed, of “the prince of Tyrus,” in order to show how deplorable should be his ruin. Eze 28:12 To “seal the sum” is to make up the whole measure of perfection.”

Ezekiel 28:12

“It follows that the serpent in paradise was certainly not brought into being without the will of God. In the figure of the serpent we see the devil. That the devil existed even in paradise we are informed by the prophet Ezekiel, who in discussing the prince of Tyre says, "You are in Eden, the garden of God." The prince of Tyre stands for the devil. Shall we, therefore, accuse God because we cannot comprehend the treasures—with the exception of those that he has deigned to reveal—of his majesty and wisdom that lie hidden and concealed in Christ?”

Ezekiel 28:12

“Thou sealest up - This has been translated, “Thou drawest thy own likeness.” “Thou formest a portrait of thyself; and hast represented thyself the perfection of wisdom and beauty.” I believe this to be the meaning of the place.”

Ezekiel 28:13

“He had in himself the power of admitting either good or evil. Falling away from good, he turned with his whole mind to evil. There are other created beings who, while possessing the power to choose either, by the exercise of free will flee from evil and cleave to the good.”

Ezekiel 28:13

“Thou hast been in Eden - This also is a strong irony. Thou art like Adam, when in his innocence and excellence he was in the garden of Eden! Every precious stone was thy covering - For a description of these stones see the note on Exo 28:17.”

Ezekiel 28:14

“For the king who was anointed with the holy oil was called a cherub. And he was overshadowing all his people.… They were sitting in the shadow of the king, while he was standing at their head. And when the crown of their head fell, they were without shade. And if anyone should say that this word is spoken concerning Christ, let him accept what I write for him without dispute, and he will be persuaded that it was said with reference to the king.”

Ezekiel 28:14

“Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth - The irony is continued; and here he is likened to the Cherub that guarded the gates of Paradise, and kept the way of the tree of life; or to one of the cherubs whose wings, spread out, covered the mercy-seat.”

Ezekiel 28:14

“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. The pretensions of Antichrist are the ulterior reference, of whom the king of Tyre is a type. Compare "As God . . . in the temple of God" (2Th 2:4).”

Ezekiel 28:15

“Thou wast perfect in thy ways - The irony seems still to be kept up. Thou hast been like the angels, like Moses, like the cherubs, like Adam, like God, till thy iniquity was found out.”

Ezekiel 28:16

“I will cast thee as profane - Thou shalt be cast down from thine eminence. From the midst of the stones of fire - Some, supposing that stones of fire means the stars, have thought that the whole refers to the fall of Satan.”

Ezekiel 28:18

“Therefore, he defiled his sanctification which he had when he dwelt on the mountain and conversed among the burning stones. It follows: I will bring fire in the midst of you which shall devour you. This fire was kindled in the heart of the king of Tyre by him whose arrows are kindled, as it is written: All those who commit adultery are like an oven, their hearts (Hosea).”

Ezekiel 28:18

“Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities,.... Or, "thy palaces", as Kimchi; the palace of the king, and the palaces of the nobles, where much iniquity was committed, and which was the cause of their being defiled or destroyed by the Chaldeans; or it may design their sacred places, their temples, where their gods were worshipped, and idolatry committed.”

Ezekiel 28:19

“Thou shalt be a terror - Instead of being an object of adoration thou shalt be a subject of horror, and at last be destroyed with thy city, so that nothing but thy name shall remain. It was entirely burnt by Alexander the Great, as it had been before by Nebuchadnezzar.”

Ezekiel 28:21

“Prophecy against Zidon. Zidon (mod. Saida) was more ancient than Tyre and was the original metropolis of Phoenicia Gen 10:19, but in the times of Phoenician greatness it ever played a subordinate part. Only once Jdg 10:12 do we find the “Zidonians” in conflict with Israel. The evil which they did was the seducing them to idolatry (compare Eze 28:24), as in the case of Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians 1Ki 16:31. The capture of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar increased the importance of Zidon, which was a wealthy and flourishing town when Artaxerxes Ochus destroyed it.”

Ezekiel 28:21

“Zidon--famous for its fishery (from a root, Zud, "to fish"); and afterwards for its wide extended commerce; its artistic elegance was proverbial. Founded by Canaan's first-born (Ge 10:15). Tyre was an offshoot from it, so that it was involved in the same overthrow by the Chaldeans as Tyre.”

Ezekiel 28:22

“Note, When God is sanctified he is glorified, for his holiness is his glory; and those whom he is not sanctified and glorified by he will be sanctified and glorified upon, by executing judgments upon them, which declare him a just avenger of his own and his people's injured honour.”

Ezekiel 28:23

“It is God that judges, and he will overcome. Nor is it Tyre and Zidon only on which God would execute judgments, but on all those that despised his people Israel, and triumphed in their calamities; for this was now God's controversy with the nations that were round about them,”

Ezekiel 28:24

“There shall be no more a pricking brier - Nothing to excite Israel to idolatry when restored from their captivity. Perhaps there is an allusion to Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon, and wife to Ahab, king of Israel, who was the greatest curse to Israel, and the universal restorer of idolatry in the land, see 1Ki 16:31. Sidon being destroyed, there would come no encourager of idolatry from that quarter.”

Ezekiel 28:26

“And they shall dwell safely therein,.... There being none to make them afraid, all their enemies being destroyed, and they also under the protection of Christian princes: and they shall build houses and plant vineyards; signifying their continuance in their land, and their enjoyment of the blessings of it.”

Ezekiel 28:26

“God had been dishonoured by the sins of his people, and their sufferings too had given occasion to the enemy to blaspheme ( Isa. lii. 5 ); but God will now both cure them of their sins and ease them of their troubles, and so will be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, will recover the honour of his holiness, to the satisfaction of all the world,”