Ezekiel 28:13

He who was nurtured in a paradise of delight as one of the twelve precious stones was wounded and went down to hell from the mount of God.

The chief author of sin, then, is the devil, the author of all evil. Not I but the Lord has said, "The devil sins from the beginning." Before him no one sinned. Nor did he sin because by nature he was of necessity prone to sin—or else the responsibility for sin would reflect on him who created him in this way—but after being created good, he became a devil by his own free choice, receiving that name from his action. Though he was an archangel, he was afterwards called devil (slanderer) from his slandering, and though he was once a good servant of God, he was afterwards rightly named Satan, for Satan is interpreted "the adversary." This is not my teaching but that of the inspired prophet Ezekiel. For taking up a lament against him, he says, "You were a seal of resemblance and crown of beauty; you were begotten in the paradise of God," and a little further on, "Blameless you were in your conduct from the day you were created until evil was found in you."

The Manichaeans do not understand that if the devil is evil by nature, there can be no question of sin at all. They have no reply to the witness of the prophets, for example, where Isaiah, representing the devil figuratively in the person of the prince of Babylon, asks, "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of the dawn?" or where Ezekiel says, "You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering." These texts indicate that the devil was for a time without sin.

The sacred word mentioned kinds of metals that were different among themselves. How are different metals fused together in the same furnace? It is because by the variety of metals there is meant the different kinds of humanity. Even silver, which is a metal of …

One of the angel powers, the marshal of one host, bore in himself no trace of natural evil from his Maker's hand but had been created for good, yet by his own free and deliberate choice he turned aside from good to evil and was stirred up by madness to the desire to take up arms against his Lord God.

We should notice that the nature of angels is not said to have been made in the likeness of God but as the seal of the likeness, since as its essential nature is finer, it is suggested that God's image is expressed with greater likeness in it. The prophet immediately adds, every precious stone was your covering, carnelian, topaz and jasper, chrysolite, onyx and beryl, sapphire, carbuncle and emerald. He gave the names of nine stones, since there are nine ranks of angels. The first angel was adorned and covered with these nine since when it was set ahead of the whole multitude of angels, it was more illustrious in comparison with them. Why have I briefly listed these choirs of steadfast angels, if I am not also to comment more specifically on their functions? In Greek, angels are "messengers," and archangels are the most important messengers. We should know too that the word angel is the name of a service, not of a nature. The holy spirits of our heavenly homeland are always indeed spirits, but they cannot always be called angels since they are only angels when some message is communicated by them. So the psalmist says, he makes his spirits angels, as if to say plainly, he who always possesses them as spirits makes them angels when he wishes. Those that communicate relatively unimportant messages are called angels and those that communicate the most important are called archangels. That is why it was not just any angel, but the archangel Gabriel, that was sent to the Virgin Mary. It was right that a most important angel should come on this mission, to communicate the most important message of all.

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God, and that in the day thou wast created. Some think that by the king of Tyre is meant the whole royal family, this including also the foregoing kings, and looking as far back as Hiram, king of Tyre. The then governor is called prince (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God,.... Not only in Eden, but in the garden which was in Eden, and was of the Lord's immediate planting; and therefore called the garden of God, as well as because of its excellency, fragrancy, and delight; not that the king of Tyre was literally there, or ever dwelt in it; but his situation in Tyre was as safe, and as pleasant and delightful, as Adam's was in the garden of Eden, at least in his own imagination.

He as a man, but it is here owned that he was a very considerable man and one that made a mighty figure in his day. (1.) He far exceeded other men. Hiram and other kings of Tyre had done so in their time; and the reigning king perhaps had not come short of any of them: Thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

There is a great variety of precious stones; but he had of every sort and in such plenty that besides what were treasured up in his cabinet, and were the ornaments of his crown, he had his clothes trimmed with them; they were his covering.

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.

The nine precious stones here mentioned answer to nine of the twelve (representing the twelve tribes) in the high priest's breastplate (Ex 39:10-13; Of the four rows of three in each, the third is omitted in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the Septuagint.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens