June
29, 2014
“We have a magnificent description of
Tyre by Ezekiel under the figure of a great ship in chapter 27. In this chapter
we have one of the finest passages in the Old Testament and one of the best
opportunities for the study of ancient commerce to be found anywhere. Tyre is
pictured as a gallant ship, a splendid big ship, one of the great merchantmen
of that age: ‘They have made all thy planks of fir trees from Senir [Hermon];
they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for thee. Of the oaks of
Bashan have they made thine oars; they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in
boxwood, from the isles of Kittim [Cyprus.’] Her sail was made of fine linen
from Egypt, and it was an ensign.”
AN
INTERPRETATION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE by B. H. Carroll;
Vol.
8, Prophets of the Chaldean Period
“That city had achieved great commercial
importance. She traded with every known nation in the world; she had lent her
influence to every nation; she was the envy of almost every nation. She was the
most active, the most aggressive, had the greatest commercial power, in some
respects the greatest wisdom and the greatest skill, as well as the greatest
colonizing power, of any nation at that period. From the thirteenth century
Tyre was the commercial center. She had been friendly to Judah and Jerusalem
under David and Solomon and some later kings, but for a century or two her
relations to Judah had been changed; she had grown jealous of Judah's
commercial advantages, and was now exhibiting the same hatred and jealousy
toward Judah that all the other nations were manifesting. She rejoiced over the
fall of Jerusalem the same as the other nations. Her business rival was now
destroyed; her own chances were enhanced and, with the true spirit of
commercial greed, she was glad that her sister nation had perished.”
AN
INTERPRETATION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE by B. H. Carroll;
Vol.
8, Prophets of the Chaldean Period
Portrait Of
Selfish Pride (Ezekiel 28:1-5)
1 The word of the
LORD came again to me, saying,
2 "Son of man,
say to the leader of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because your heart is
lifted up And you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the
heart of the seas'; Yet you are a man and not God, Although you make your heart
like the heart of God—
3 Behold, you are
wiser than Daniel; There is no secret that is a match for you.
4 "By your
wisdom and understanding You have acquired riches for yourself And have
acquired gold and silver for your treasuries.
5 "By your great
wisdom, by your trade You have increased your riches And your heart is lifted
up because of your riches—
Verse
1-2:
“Throughout
the east the majesty and glory of a people were collected in the person of
their monarch, who in some nations was worshipped as a god. The prince is here
the embodiment of the community. Their glory is his glory, their pride his
pride.”
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
“…this prince
of Tyre is thought by some to be an emblem of the devil; but rather of
antichrist;”
John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible
“I sit in
the seat of God; in a place as delightful,
safe and happy, as heaven itself, where the throne of God is; so antichrist is
said to sit in the temple of God, in the house and church of God; where he
assumes a power that does not belong to him,…”
John Gill’s exposition of the Bible
Verse
3:
“After Egypt's
defeat in 605 B.C., Tyre was the main foe of Babylon in western Asia. It was
the leading city in Phoenicia and renowned for its maritime trade. Standing out
from the coast approximately six hundred yards from the mainland, the island
city of Tyre and its harbor were secure from anything but a sustained siege.
The waters were also deep enough to allow for heavily laden ships to approach
and offload their cargoes. Dedicated to commercial activity, Tyre was supplied
with food and other essentials by its sister city of Ushu.”
IVP Bible Background Commentary
“He cherishes
a God's mind, because he attributes to himself superhuman wisdom, through which
he has created the greatness, and might, and wealth of Tyre.”
Kiel & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
“Daniel, an
important official in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, was already renowned for his
wisdom. Daniel proclaimed that all his wisdom came from God. By contrast, the
king of Tyre thought that he himself was
a god. As truly wise people get closer to God, they recognize their need to
depend on him for guidance.”
Life Application Bible Study Notes
Verse
4-5:
“His wisdom
expressed itself and found scope in his commerce and manufactures and in his
arts. These produced wealth and splendour, which led to ungodly arrogance: the
prince said, I am God, I dwell in the abode of God. For this deifying of
himself in his own mind he shall be brought down.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Folly Of Selfish
Pride (Ezekiel 28:11-13a, 14-15)
11 Again the word of
the LORD came to me saying,
12 "Son of man,
take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord
GOD, "You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in
beauty.
13 "You were in
Eden, the garden of God;
………………….
14 "You were the
anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the
midst of the stones of fire.
15 "You were
blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was
found in you.
Verse
11-12:
“…pride and self-deification was the
sin of the prince and caused his expulsion. This, however, in Ezekiel is the
sin of all the foreign princes or nations, Egypt no less than Tyre, and cannot
be held part of a tradition of the Fall, or of paradise.”
The
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
“…a
lamentation or funeral ditty is ordered to be taken up and said for him, to
denote his certain destruction and ruin.”
John Gill’s exposition of the Bible
Verse
13a:
- The same spirit of pride and self-deification was present in the Garden of Eden.
Verse
14:
·
The
king of Tyre’s opportunities were so grand that the situation was comparable to
Satan’s once exalted position.
Verse
15:
·
The
king of a Tyre who, like Satan, had every blessing yet foolishly let pride and
wickedness take hold in his life.
*****
“From early on
in church history there has been an interpretive tradition understanding this
passage as an account of the fall of Satan. Though this same type of
interpretation in Isaiah 14 was fervently denied by well-respected exegetes
such as John Calvin (who bluntly ridiculed it), it has persisted into modern
times. From a background standpoint, it must be noted that Satan is never
portrayed as either being a cherub or being with the cherub in the garden in
any passage of Scripture. Furthermore, Israel's understanding of Satan was far
more limited than that found in the New Testament. Even in Job, Satan is not a
personal name but a function. ‘Satan’ does not become identified as the
personal name of the chief of demons until about the second century B.C., and
he does not take up his position as the source and cause of all evil until the
unfolding of Christian doctrine. Consequently, the Israelites could not have
understood this passage in this way, and no New Testament passage offers a
basis for departing from the Israelite understanding of it.”
IVP Bible Background Commentary
"...he pictures the prince of Tyre
as a cherub in the garden of God, or on the mountain of God, clothed in all the
magnificence of the finest and most precious and costliest stones that could be
found. This cherub, this angelic being, fell prey to sin and was destroyed.”
AN
INTERPRETATION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE by B. H. Carroll;
Vol.
8, Prophets of the Chaldean Period
Result Of
Selfish Pride (Ezekiel 28:16-19)
16 "By the
abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you
sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I
have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire.
17 "Your heart
was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of
your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may
see you.
18 "By the
multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned
your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has
consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all
who see you.
19 "All who know
you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you
will cease to be forever."'"
Verse
16:
·
The
accomplishments of Tyre’s commercial activity did not bring satisfaction.
·
Instead
financial success deluded the king made him greedy for more material goods.
·
He
was willing to anything to acquire additional wealth, even hugging other people.
Verse
17:
·
The
Phoenicians were so mesmerized by their achievements they neglected the means
those achievements ere acquired.
·
Therefore
God would overthrow the king of Tyre and humiliate him in the eyes of his
peers.
Verse
18:
·
In
reality the king was a servant of Satan and by allying himself with God’s enemy
he would share Satan’s fate.
Verse
19:
·
Tyre
was ultimately defeated by Alexander the Great.
·
The
city never recovered its former glory and political influence.
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