16 By the multitude H7230 of thy merchandise H7404 they have filled H4390 the midst H8432 of thee with violence, H2555 and thou hast sinned: H2398 therefore I will cast thee as profane H2490 out of the mountain H2022 of God: H430 and I will destroy H6 thee, O covering H5526 cherub, H3742 from the midst H8432 of the stones H68 of fire. H784
For G1063 if G1487 God G2316 spared G5339 not G3756 the angels G32 that sinned, G264 but G235 cast them down to hell, G5020 and delivered G3860 them into chains G4577 of darkness, G2217 to be reserved G5083 unto G1519 judgment; G2920 And G2532 spared G5339 not G3756 the old G744 world, G2889 but G235 saved G5442 Noah G3575 the eighth G3590 person, a preacher G2783 of righteousness, G1343 bringing in G1863 the flood G2627 upon the world G2889 of the ungodly; G765 And G2532 turning G5077 the cities G4172 of Sodom G4670 and G2532 Gomorrha G1116 into ashes G5077 condemned G2632 them with an overthrow, G2692 making G5087 them an ensample G5262 unto those that after should G3195 live ungodly; G764
But G1161 they that will G1014 be rich G4147 fall G1706 into G1519 temptation G3986 and G2532 a snare, G3803 and G2532 into many G4183 foolish G453 and G2532 hurtful G983 lusts, G1939 which G3748 drown G1036 men G444 in G1519 destruction G3639 and G2532 perdition. G684 For G1063 the love of money G5365 is G2076 the root G4491 of all G3956 evil: G2556 which G3739 while some G5100 coveted after, G3713 they have erred G635 from G575 the faith, G4102 and G2532 pierced G4044 themselves G1438 through G4044 with many G4183 sorrows. G3601
And G2532 he went G1525 into G1519 the temple, G2411 and began G756 to cast out G1544 them that sold G4453 therein, G1722 G846 and G2532 them that bought; G59 Saying G3004 unto them, G846 It is written, G1125 My G3450 house G3624 is G2076 the house G3624 of prayer: G4335 but G1161 ye G5210 have made G4160 it G846 a den G4693 of thieves. G3027
Tarshish H8659 was thy merchant H5503 by reason of the multitude H7230 of all kind of riches; H1952 with silver, H3701 iron, H1270 tin, H913 and lead, H5777 they traded H5414 in thy fairs. H5801 Javan, H3120 Tubal, H8422 and Meshech, H4902 they were thy merchants: H7402 they traded H5414 the persons H5315 of men H120 and vessels H3627 of brass H5178 in thy market. H4627 They of the house H1004 of Togarmah H8425 traded H5414 in thy fairs H5801 with horses H5483 and horsemen H6571 and mules. H6505 The men H1121 of Dedan H1719 were thy merchants; H7402 many H7227 isles H339 were the merchandise H5506 of thine hand: H3027 they brought H7725 thee for a present H814 horns H7161 of ivory H8127 and ebony. H1894 Syria H758 was thy merchant H5503 by reason of the multitude H7230 of the wares of thy making: H4639 they occupied H5414 in thy fairs H5801 with emeralds, H5306 purple, H713 and broidered work, H7553 and fine linen, H948 and coral, H7215 and agate. H3539 Judah, H3063 and the land H776 of Israel, H3478 they were thy merchants: H7402 they traded H5414 in thy market H4627 wheat H2406 of Minnith, H4511 and Pannag, H6436 and honey, H1706 and oil, H8081 and balm. H6875 Damascus H1834 was thy merchant H5503 in the multitude H7230 of the wares of thy making, H4639 for the multitude H7230 of all riches; H1952 in the wine H3196 of Helbon, H2463 and white H6713 wool. H6785 Dan H2051 H1835 also and Javan H3120 going to and fro H235 occupied H5414 in thy fairs: H5801 bright H6219 iron, H1270 cassia, H6916 and calamus, H7070 were in thy market. H4627 Dedan H1719 was thy merchant H7402 in precious H2667 clothes H899 for chariots. H7396 Arabia, H6152 and all the princes H5387 of Kedar, H6938 they occupied H5503 with thee H3027 in lambs, H3733 and rams, H352 and goats: H6260 in these were they thy merchants. H5503 The merchants H7402 of Sheba H7614 and Raamah, H7484 they were thy merchants: H7402 they occupied H5414 in thy fairs H5801 with chief H7218 of all spices, H1314 and with all precious H3368 stones, H68 and gold. H2091 Haran, H2771 and Canneh, H3656 and Eden, H5729 the merchants H7402 of Sheba, H7614 Asshur, H804 and Chilmad, H3638 were thy merchants. H7402 These were thy merchants H7402 in all sorts H4360 of things, in blue H8504 clothes, H1545 and broidered work, H7553 and in chests H1595 of rich apparel, H1264 bound H2280 with cords, H2256 and made of cedar, H729 among thy merchandise. H4819 The ships H591 of Tarshish H8659 did sing H7788 of thee in thy market: H4627 and thou wast replenished, H4390 and made very H3966 glorious H3513 in the midst H3820 of the seas. H3220 Thy rowers H7751 have brought H935 thee into great H7227 waters: H4325 the east H6921 wind H7307 hath broken H7665 thee in the midst H3820 of the seas. H3220 Thy riches, H1952 and thy fairs, H5801 thy merchandise, H4627 thy mariners, H4419 and thy pilots, H2259 thy calkers, H919 H2388 and the occupiers H6148 of thy merchandise, H4627 and all thy men H582 of war, H4421 that are in thee, and in all thy company H6951 which is in the midst H8432 of thee, shall fall H5307 into the midst H3820 of the seas H3220 in the day H3117 of thy ruin. H4658 The suburbs H4054 shall shake H7493 at the sound H6963 of the cry H2201 of thy pilots. H2259 And all that handle H8610 the oar, H4880 the mariners, H4419 and all the pilots H2259 of the sea, H3220 shall come down H3381 from their ships, H591 they shall stand H5975 upon the land; H776 And shall cause their voice H6963 to be heard H8085 against thee, and shall cry H2199 bitterly, H4751 and shall cast up H5927 dust H6083 upon their heads, H7218 they shall wallow H6428 themselves in the ashes: H665 And they shall make themselves utterly H7144 bald H7139 for thee, and gird H2296 them with sackcloth, H8242 and they shall weep H1058 for thee with bitterness H4751 of heart H5315 and bitter H4751 wailing. H4553 And in their wailing H5204 they shall take up H5375 a lamentation H7015 for thee, and lament H6969 over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, H6865 like the destroyed H1822 in the midst H8432 of the sea? H3220 When thy wares H5801 went forth H3318 out of the seas, H3220 thou filledst H7646 many H7227 people; H5971 thou didst enrich H6238 the kings H4428 of the earth H776 with the multitude H7230 of thy riches H1952 and of thy merchandise. H4627 In the time H6256 when thou shalt be broken H7665 by the seas H3220 in the depths H4615 of the waters H4325 thy merchandise H4627 and all thy company H6951 in the midst H8432 of thee shall fall. H5307 All the inhabitants H3427 of the isles H339 shall be astonished H8074 at thee, and their kings H4428 shall be sore H8178 afraid, H8175 they shall be troubled H7481 in their countenance. H6440 The merchants H5503 among the people H5971 shall hiss H8319 at thee; thou shalt be a terror, H1091 and never shalt be any more. H5704 H5769
And it shall come to pass after the end H7093 of seventy H7657 years, H8141 that the LORD H3068 will visit H6485 Tyre, H6865 and she shall turn H7725 to her hire, H868 and shall commit fornication H2181 with all the kingdoms H4467 of the world H776 upon the face H6440 of the earth. H127 And her merchandise H5504 and her hire H868 shall be holiness H6944 to the LORD: H3068 it shall not be treasured H686 nor laid up; H2630 for her merchandise H5504 shall be for them that dwell H3427 before H6440 the LORD, H3068 to eat H398 sufficiently, H7654 and for durable H6266 clothing. H4374
Defile H2930 not ye yourselves in any of these things: H428 for in all these the nations H1471 are defiled H2930 which I cast out H7971 before H6440 you: And the land H776 is defiled: H2930 therefore I do visit H6485 the iniquity H5771 thereof upon it, and the land H776 itself vomiteth out H6958 her inhabitants. H3427 Ye shall therefore keep H8104 my statutes H2708 and my judgments, H4941 and shall not commit H6213 any of these abominations; H8441 neither any of your own nation, H249 nor any stranger H1616 that sojourneth H1481 among H8432 you: (For all these H411 abominations H8441 have the men H582 of the land H776 done, H6213 which were before H6440 you, and the land H776 is defiled;) H2930 That the land H776 spue not you out H6958 also, when ye defile H2930 it, as it spued out H6958 the nations H1471 that were before H6440 you.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 28
Commentary on Ezekiel 28 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 28
Eze 28:1-26. Prophetical Dirge on the King of Tyre, as the Culmination and Embodiment of the Spirit of Carnal Pride and Self-sufficiency of the Whole State. The Fall of Zidon, the Mother City. The Restoration of Israel in Contrast with Tyre and Zidon.
2. Because, &c.—repeated resumptively in Eze 28:6. The apodosis begins at Eze 28:7. "The prince of Tyrus" at the time was Ithobal, or Ithbaal II; the name implying his close connection with Baal, the Phœnician supreme god, whose representative he was.
I am a god, I sit in … seat of God … the seas—As God sits enthroned in His heavenly citadel exempt from all injury, so I sit secure in my impregnable stronghold amidst the stormiest elements, able to control them at will, and make them subserve my interests. The language, though primarily here applied to the king of Tyre, as similar language is to the king of Babylon (Isa 14:13, 14), yet has an ulterior and fuller accomplishment in Satan and his embodiment in Antichrist (Da 7:25; 11:36, 37; 2Th 2:4; Re 13:6). This feeling of superhuman elevation in the king of Tyre was fostered by the fact that the island on which Tyre stood was called "the holy island" [Sanconiathon], being sacred to Hercules, so much so that the colonies looked up to Tyre as the mother city of their religion, as well as of their political existence. The Hebrew for "God" is El, that is, "the Mighty One."
yet, &c.—keen irony.
set thine heart as … heart of God—Thou thinkest of thyself as if thou wert God.
3. Ezekiel ironically alludes to Ithbaal's overweening opinion of the wisdom of himself and the Tyrians, as though superior to that of Daniel, whose fame had reached even Tyre as eclipsing the Chaldean sages. "Thou art wiser," namely, in thine own opinion (Zec 9:2).
no secret—namely, forgetting riches (Eze 28:4).
that they can hide—that is, that can be hidden.
5. (Ps 62:10).
6. Because, &c.—resumptive of Eze 28:2.
7. therefore—apodosis.
strangers … terrible of the nations—the Chaldean foreigners noted for their ferocity (Eze 30:11; 31:12).
against the beauty of thy wisdom—that is, against thy beautiful possessions acquired by thy wisdom on which thou pridest thyself (Eze 28:3-5).
defile thy brightness—obscure the brightness of thy kingdom.
8. the pit—that is, the bottom of the sea; the image being that of one conquered in a sea-fight.
the deaths—plural, as various kinds of deaths are meant (Jer 16:4).
of them … slain—literally, "pierced through." Such deaths as those pierced with many wounds die.
9. yet say—that is, still say; referring to Eze 28:2.
but, &c.—But thy blasphemous boastings shall be falsified, and thou shalt be shown to be but man, and not God, in the hand (at the mercy) of Him.
10. deaths of … uncircumcised—that is, such a death as the uncircumcised or godless heathen deserve; and perhaps, also, such as the uncircumcised inflict, a great ignominy in the eyes of a Jew (1Sa 31:4); a fit retribution on him who had scoffed at the circumcised Jews.
12. sealest up the sum—literally, "Thou art the one sealing the sum of perfection." A thing is sealed when completed (Da 9:24). "The sum" implies the full measure of beauty, from a Hebrew root, "to measure." The normal man—one formed after accurate rule.
13. in Eden—The king of Tyre is represented in his former high state (contrasted with his subsequent downfall), under images drawn from the primeval man in Eden, the type of humanity in its most Godlike form.
garden of God—the model of ideal loveliness (Eze 31:8, 9; 36:35). In the person of the king of Tyre a new trial was made of humanity with the greatest earthly advantages. But as in the case of Adam, the good gifts of God were only turned into ministers to pride and self.
every precious stone—so in Eden (Ge 2:12), "gold, bdellium, and the onyx stone." So the king of Tyre was arrayed in jewel-bespangled robes after the fashion of Oriental monarchs. 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; Re 21:14, 19-21). Of the four rows of three in each, the third is omitted in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the Septuagint. In this, too, there is an ulterior reference to Antichrist, who is blasphemously to arrogate the office of our divine High Priest (Zec 6:13).
tabrets—tambourines.
pipes—literally, "holes" in musical pipes or flutes.
created—that is, in the day of thine accession to the throne. Tambourines and all the marks of joy were ready prepared for thee ("in thee," that is, "with and for thee"). Thou hadst not, like others, to work thy way to the throne through arduous struggles. No sooner created than, like Adam, thou wast surrounded with the gratifications of Eden. Fairbairn, for "pipes," translates, "females" (having reference to Ge 1:27), that is, musician-women. Maurer explains the Hebrew not as to music, but as to the setting and mounting of the gems previously mentioned.
14. anointed cherub—Gesenius translates from an Aramaic root, "extended cherub." English Version, from a Hebrew root, is better. "The cherub consecrated to the Lord by the anointing oil" [Fairbairn].
covereth—The imagery employed by Ezekiel as a priest is from the Jewish temple, wherein the cherubim overshadowed the mercy seat, as the king of Tyre, a demi-god 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. 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).
I have set thee—not thou set thyself (Pr 8:16; Ro 13:1).
upon the holy mountain of God—Zion, following up the image.
in … midst of … stones of fire—In ambitious imagination he stood in the place of God, "under whose feet was, as it were, a pavement of sapphire," while His glory was like "devouring fire" (Ex 24:10, 17).
15. perfect—prosperous [Grotius], and having no defect. So Hiram was a sample of the Tyrian monarch in his early days of wisdom and prosperity (1Ki 5:7, &c.).
till iniquity … in thee—Like the primeval man thou hast fallen by abusing God's gifts, and so hast provoked God's wrath.
16. filled the midst of thee—that is, they have filled the midst of the city; he as the head of the state being involved in the guilt of the state, which he did not check, but fostered.
cast thee as profane—no longer treated as sacred, but driven out of the place of sanctity (see Eze 28:14) which thou hast occupied (compare Ps 89:39).
17. brightness—thy splendor.
lay thee before kings—as an example of God's wrath against presumptuous pride.
18. thy sanctuaries—that is, the holy places, attributed to the king of Tyre in Eze 28:14, as his ideal position. As he "profaned" it, so God will "profane" him (Eze 28:16).
fire … devour—As he abused his supposed elevation amidst "the stones of fire" (Eze 28:16), so God will make His "fire" to "devour" him.
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. It is mentioned separately, because its idolatry (Ashtaroth, Tammuz, or Adonis) infected Israel more than that of Tyre did (Eze 8:14; Jud 10:6; 1Ki 11:33). The notorious Jezebel was a daughter of the Zidonian king.
22. shall be sanctified in her—when all nations shall see that I am the Holy Judge in the vengeance that I will inflict on her for sin.
24. no more … brier … unto … Israel—as the idolatrous nations left in Canaan (among which Zidon is expressly specified in the limits of Asher, Jud 1:31) had been (Nu 33:55; Jos 23:13). "A brier," first ensnaring the Israelites in sin, and then being made the instrument of punishing them.
pricking—literally, "causing bitterness." The same Hebrew is translated "fretting" (Le 13:51, 52). The wicked are often called "thorns" (2Sa 23:6).
25, 26. Fulfilled in part at the restoration from Babylon, when Judaism, so far from being merged in heathenism, made inroads by conversions on the idolatry of surrounding nations. The full accomplishment is yet future, when Israel, under Christ, shall be the center of Christendom; of which an earnest was given in the woman from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon who sought the Saviour (Mt 15:21, 24, 26-28; compare Isa 11:12).
dwell safely—(Jer 23:6).