←Ezekiel 28→BSB

• The third panel against Tyre (see study note on 26:1–28:19) addresses and condemns its ruler, the prince of Tyre, for his pride. He personifies the city of Tyre, so his fate represents Tyre’s fate. In his arrogance, the prince of Tyre laid claim to divinity and the power that goes with it, asserting that he sat on a divine throne, ruling the chaotic, untamable seas. The reality, however, was otherwise; he was only a man.
• This chapter and Isa 14 (about the king of Babylon) have often been interpreted as referring to the heavenly conflict between God and Satan, “the prince of demons” (Matt 12:24). However, this view ignores the historical nature of both passages. Tyre and Babylon were real places and their kings were real men whose great power was matched by great pride. The king of Tyre’s claim to be a god proved hollow. The political powers that oppose God and his people may be agents of Satan in his struggle against God. The sure demise of such human rulers foreshadows God’s ultimate triumph over all the forces of darkness. Every power that sets itself up against the living God will be brought to destruction.

The prince of Tyre’s claim to divine status was based on his wisdom and his wealth. His wisdom had made him very rich, and those riches had made him inordinately proud.

The prince of Tyre’s pride was the precursor to his fall (Prov 16:18). His claim to wisdom and power would be empty when the Lord brought the Babylonian army against him; they would draw their swords and cut him down to size.

This eulogy at first appears to take the prince of Tyre’s aspirations to divinity seriously. He was the very model of perfection, full of wisdom and . . . beauty. It turns out to be a sarcastic lament.

• Mocking Tyre’s claim to antiquity and preeminence, Ezekiel describes its king as being present in Eden at the beginning of the world, as the mighty angelic guardian—that is, as one of the heavenly beings that carried the Lord’s throne in ch 1 and guarded the garden in Gen 3. There in Eden, he had access to the holy mountain of God (mountains are often associated with God’s presence in the Bible).
• The stones of fire may be an obscure reference to a hedge of sparkling gemstones around the Garden of Eden. The list of jewels that the prince of Tyre supposedly wore in his original glory adds to this image of his divine election since it includes nine of the twelve jewels found on the high priest’s breastplate in Exod 28. This description satirizes the prince of Tyre’s claim to an even higher place than Adam’s—a place among the divine beings themselves.

This sarcastic description of the prince of Tyre’s greatness and pride sets him up for his coming fall, which is cast in terms reminiscent of the fall of humanity (Gen 3). As with Adam, the king of Tyre’s supposedly blameless condition was not permanent, but came to an abrupt end when evil was found in him. His rich commerce and dishonest trade led him to violence (cp. Ezek 26:17). One who claimed to be greater than Adam could experience a fall from favor similar to Adam’s and be banished . . . from the mountain of God, the place of God’s favor. The prince of Tyre’s God-given beauty and wisdom were corrupted by his pride, which inevitably led to disaster and exposed his true nature.

Far from being a deity who could sanctify a piece of ground by his presence, the prince of Tyre had the opposite effect. He defiled the holy ground of his sanctuaries. Judgment was pronounced on his city in the previous two panels, and it was the prince of Tyre’s fate to come to a terrible end, and . . . exist no more (cp. 26:21; 27:36). The exalted captain would go down with his glorious ship and be brought to nothing by the Lord’s act.

No specific charges are made against Sidon, Tyre’s close neighbor to the north, though presumably it was guilty of similar offenses. Its rejoicing at Judah’s destruction would not last.

The Lord planned to reveal his glory and holiness by bringing upon Sidon the threefold judgment of plague, blood, and attack (or the sword) on every side.

The Lord would not reveal his holiness simply by judging the nations for their pride, arrogance, and enmity toward his chosen people. He would also gather his people back to the land of Israel. There they would live safely and be able to build homes and plant vineyards, which were typical signs of covenantal blessing in the Old Testament (see Mic 4:4; Zech 3:10). After God acted to punish the neighboring nations and restore his people, they would be at rest. The nations would know that God is the Sovereign Lord through his powerful acts of judgment, and Israel would know that he was the Lord their God, a title that speaks of God’s covenant relationship of worship and fellowship with them.