3 Behold, thou art wiser H2450 than Daniel; H1840 there is no secret H5640 that they can hide H6004 from thee:
There is H383 a man H1400 in thy kingdom, H4437 in whom is the spirit H7308 of the holy H6922 gods; H426 and in the days H3118 of thy father H2 light H5094 and understanding H7924 and wisdom, H2452 like the wisdom H2452 of the gods, H426 was found H7912 in him; whom the king H4430 Nebuchadnezzar H5020 thy father, H2 the king, H4430 I say, thy father, H2 made H6966 master H7229 of the magicians, H2749 astrologers, H826 Chaldeans, H3779 and soothsayers; H1505 Forasmuch as H6903 H3606 an excellent H3493 spirit, H7308 and knowledge, H4486 and understanding, H7924 interpreting H6590 of dreams, H2493 and shewing H263 of hard sentences, H280 and dissolving H8271 of doubts, H7001 were found H7912 in the same Daniel, H1841 whom the king H4430 named H7761 H8036 Belteshazzar: H1096 now H3705 let Daniel H1841 be called, H7123 and he will shew H2324 the interpretation. H6591
And God H430 gave H5414 Solomon H8010 wisdom H2451 and understanding H8394 exceeding H3966 much, H7235 and largeness H7341 of heart, H3820 even as the sand H2344 that is on the sea H3220 shore. H8193 And Solomon's H8010 wisdom H2451 excelled H7235 the wisdom H2451 of all the children H1121 of the east country, H6924 and all the wisdom H2451 of Egypt. H4714 For he was wiser H2449 than all men; H120 than Ethan H387 the Ezrahite, H250 and Heman, H1968 and Chalcol, H3633 and Darda, H1862 the sons H1121 of Mahol: H4235 and his fame H8034 was in all nations H1471 round about. H5439 And he spake H1696 three H7969 thousand H505 proverbs: H4912 and his songs H7892 were a thousand H505 and five. H2568
Daniel H1841 answered H6032 in the presence H6925 of the king, H4430 and said, H560 The secret H7328 which the king H4430 hath demanded H7593 cannot H3202 H3809 the wise H2445 men, the astrologers, H826 the magicians, H2749 the soothsayers, H1505 shew H2324 unto the king; H4430 But H1297 there is H383 a God H426 in heaven H8065 that revealeth H1541 secrets, H7328 and maketh known H3046 to the king H4430 Nebuchadnezzar H5020 what H4101 shall be H1934 in the latter H320 days. H3118 Thy dream, H2493 and the visions H2376 of thy head H7217 upon H5922 thy bed, H4903 are these; H1836
The king H4430 answered H6032 unto Daniel, H1841 and said, H560 Of H4481 a truth H7187 it is, that H1768 your God H426 is a God H426 of gods, H426 and a Lord H4756 of kings, H4430 and a revealer H1541 of secrets, H7328 seeing thou couldest H3202 reveal H1541 this H1836 secret. H7328 Then H116 the king H4430 made H7236 Daniel H1841 a great man, H7236 and gave H3052 him many H7690 great H7260 gifts, H4978 and made him ruler H7981 over H5922 the whole H3606 province H4083 of Babylon, H895 and chief H7229 of the governors H5460 over H5922 all H3606 the wise H2445 men of Babylon. H895
And Hamath H2574 also shall border H1379 thereby; Tyrus, H6865 and Zidon, H6721 though it be very H3966 wise. H2449 And Tyrus H6865 did build H1129 herself a strong hold, H4692 and heaped up H6651 silver H3701 as the dust, H6083 and fine gold H2742 as the mire H2916 of the streets. H2351
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).