Chapter 28
2023 - In 26, we see what God said to Tyre through Ezekiel the son of man. In 27, Ezekiel speaks a lament for the city of Tyre. Here in 28, the Prince of Tyre is addressed. So three very distinct things are going on. I wonder if this Prince is the man on earth, or the demon with dominion over Tyre? Hmm...It states pretty quickly that the Prince is a man...who fancies himself a God.
Prophecy concerning Tyre continues into this third chapter. The prince of Tyre is addressed. A human ruler, or a prince in the sense of the one who restrained Gabriel in Daniel? Hmm...MSB says this passage is similar to Isa.14:3-23 which addressed the King of Babylon. MSB says some of both passages could best be applied to Satan. MSB thinks both texts are primarily about the human king who is being used by Satan, as Peter when Jesus said to him "Satan, get behind me." Maybe so...but I didn't notice 14 seeming to describe Satan.
2025 - There has to be a reason that so much is made of Tyre. You do not hear about Tyre in the history books as you hear about Babylon, Assyria, and Medo-Persia, or the Greeks and the Romans. Tyre is passed over. And yet this is now the third chapter about that city. I am missing something...
Getting to the text, vs 2 seems to me to answer all questions:
2 "Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because your heart is proud, and you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,' yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god-- [Eze 28:2 ESV]
The King of Tyre is a very proud, puffed up, self-important human being. He elevates himself to a god in his own thoughts. vs 3 says this king is wiser than Daniel, and no thought is hidden from him. Odd that Babylon and Tyre would both have such powerful kings at the same time. Has the earth known such a situation since then? Certainly it has not in the Middle East.
2024 - I don't think we have anything in Revelation on the "Prince of Babylon". But if we have the events of Revelation even remotely correct, the MoL will be in charge of world government and would surely have a residence at least, if not his capitol, in Babylon. So he is there, and he too is a man, perhaps though in the same way that this Prince of Tyre is just a man.
2024 - Note also the use of son of man in reference to Ezekiel. Same title Jesus took for himself. The phrase is used 93 times in this book. Surely there is a book that looks deeply at this? Jesus and Ezekiel, though Ezekiel is quoted nowhere in the New Testament. Ezekiel was in captivity when he wrote about the fall of Jerusalem...
Because this prince of Tyre has "become proud in his wealth" and "has made his heart like the heart of a god", the most ruthless of nations (Babylon) will come against him with the sword. This penetrating question, that could be asked of all who consider themselves gods, such as the Emperors of Rome, the Pharaohs of Egypt, and so on:
9 Will you still say, 'I am a god,' in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a man, and no god, in the hands of those who slay you? [Eze 28:9 ESV] Those who intend to kill you are the best judges of your "god-ness"
2025 - Pharoah made himself a god, and he was destroyed. Herod, in the NT, did not deny he was a god when the people of Capernaum praised him as one, and the worms ate him. Neb became a beast in the field for his excessive pride. So a recurring theme in the Bible. Men who become so great as to believe themselves "able" to be a god to lesser men end up despised and deposed by God, who tolerates no contenders.
2023 - It is very tempting to "transpose" these verses to address the principalities and powers over both Tyre and Babylon. We might do the same to Assyria, and to a number of Pharoah's. And in some sense, some indirect sense, this is accurate. But I think staying true to what is written requires that we see this as an address to a MAN who has been elevated by the powers that rule to a position of such wealth, and such absolute power, that he truly does have the position, the reach, the domain if you will, of a lesser god. These chapters show us what the ultimate end of such arrogance, such self-importance is, not only to the Prince, but to all in his domain.
2026 - vs 3:
3 you are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you; [Eze 28:3 ESV]. This is said about the Prince of Tyre. Wiser than Daniel implies that the prince in question is but a man, and we know he is not a god. But imagine a man even wiser than Daniel with all we know about him. This certainly makes a comparison between the Prince of Tyre and the MoL tempting. That future ruler is also very wise but inside of a corrupt, merciless, anti-christian mindset. Perhaps this Prince of Tyre is a type for the more complete fulfilment of such a ruler, over the entire world and not just Tyre, in the future in the same way as Isa 7:14 gives us the OT type for the virgin birth. Luke 2 is the amplified, real life ultimate fulfilment of what the birth in Isaiah's time began. Emmanuel in Isaiah saved his people. Jesus saved all people. Perhaps here in the Prince of Tyre we see how a supernaturally wise human - I think enhanced by the power of Satan both then and in Revelation - foreshadows that final ruler who through commerce, bribery, "free love", and favoritism, will amass untold wealth and power, believe himself invincible, and declare himself a god. Type and fulfillment. BE CAREFUL HERE with terminology. The Bible nowhere calls this a type and we should not elevate it to that level. Isa 7:14 is called a sign, but this symbolism doesn't even get labeled with that. But it is a prophecy. It was fulfilled back then, and a very similar situation can be seen in Revelation. A vision for the now, and a vision far off that more intensely fulfills the prophecy.
How long after this prophecy in Ezekiel did the siege of Tyre take place.
2026 - I got this information from ChatGPT:
Prompt: Compare the dates of the writing of the Biblical book of Ezekiel with the sieges of Tyre first by the Babylonians and then Alexander the Great.
Key dates (BCE)
Ezekiel’s writing / dated prophecies
Ezekiel’s first dated message: 593 BCE.
Latest dated oracle in the book: April 571 BCE.
The oracle against Tyre (Ezekiel 26) is dated to the “11th year” of exile—commonly placed 587/586 BCE.
Sieges of Tyre
Babylonian siege (Nebuchadnezzar II): 586–573 BCE (about 13 years).
Alexander the Great’s siege: Jan–Jul 332 BCE (about 7 months).
How they line up
Ezekiel’s Tyre oracle (c. 587/586) lands right at the start of (or essentially contemporaneous with) Nebuchadnezzar’s long siege 586–573.
Ezekiel’s latest dated oracle (571) is ~2 years after that Babylonian siege is usually dated to have ended (573).
Alexander’s siege (332) happens roughly 240–255 years after Ezekiel’s dated prophecies (depending whether you measure from 571 or 587/586).
2026 - From this, we see that the prophecy of Ezekiel was fulfilled, for all to see, during his own time. Almost immediately in fact. The city of Tyre was wrecked, but the offshore island was never taken by Neb. Alexander took it though, and his conquest of the city and the brutality that followed breaching of the islands defenses are a more "complete" fulfilment of this prophecy. And the future fulfilment, which will be the ultimate fulfilment, is likely to be even more devastating, in that the man who makes himself a god in that day will have commercial control over the entire planet.
2020-These first 10 verses seem very much to be about one man, one Prince, who is wise very much like Solomon was wise. He was very unique in his perceptions of how things work and why they work that way. He knows who values what, and so can trade merchandise in a way that allows him to make money at every step of the process. He is wiser than Daniel. We are not told that God gave this wisdom to the Prince of Tyre as a gift or for His purposes, but this prince was beyond wise. So perhaps the wisdom, the insight, came from Satan. Satan was beautiful, and surely wise, and one of the highest creatures ever created by God. Satan, in fact, believed Himself equal to God and worthy of worship as God was. This is what all that wisdom bestowed on the Prince of Tyre did to him also. He was so much "in a class by himself" that he attributed that to being a god. And so part of the point of vs 9 is that "false gods" can be killed. THE God cannot. The ultimate test of being man, or angel, or God is whether you can be killed The attitude - the "character" - of the prince of Tyre came from Satan. He was above all the men of his time. (2025 - Like Satan, he believed himself equal with God, and worthy of worship in his own right. This evaluation God will not accept.) But when it came right down to it, he could be killed. As I read the history of Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the place for 13 years but never conquered it. If it didn't really fall, did this particular prince of Tyre actually die at the hands of the foreigners? The place didn't really fall until Alexander the Great took it down. But I do not know the details of Neb's siege of the place. Perhaps after all that time, Neb got in and killed the king and set up his own there. Or maybe it was the "spirit of the King of Tyre" that ultimately died when Alexander sacked the place.
(2025 - If under siege, Tyre could not conduct commerce. They were surrounded. No bags of gold could pass through Neb's lines. The power of the King of Tyre, his ability to conduct affairs and influence the world, was cut off. He himself was not killed, but Neb demonstrated to the King of Tyre that he had more power.)
Secondly, Nebuchadnezzar is also one who calls himself god. He is mentioned as the ruler of the most brutal nation ever. Two paths lead to delusions of godhood. Amassing great wealth because you are wiser in the ways of trade than anyone else on the planet, or by military means, and unparalleled brutality and violence and knowledge of the ways of conflict and of bending other men's wills to your own.
2025 - Here is the example of choosing immorality over morality, of strength over weakness. These rulers are examples of what happens in a Godless society. People do not always trend towards cooperation and ethical behavior, fairness, and helping the poor. In Assyria and Babylon surely force and power were the "normal" pursuit of men. No compassion, no empathy, no charity. Only the strong had what they needed. And look at the success this brings in terms of worldly success! These Kings, the Roman Emperors, Napoleon and Hitler. They ruled without question. They had power beyond what we can imagine. All these did it through the military, but the King of Tyre did it through commerce...and that may also be the foundation of future Babylon.
2025 - Hmm...Elon seems to be pretty wise also. Able to amass great wealth because he sees what no one else sees and turns it into money. Right now, Elon seems like the "good guy" among the world's multi-billionaires. You would think he would be a target for Satan...
Both of these things lead men to believe they are gods. Both these things come from Satan's own characteristics. Surely he does know what people want, and how to corrupt their very souls with the want of it or the acquisition of it. And he also knows about making war, and about bending men to make war and inflict all the horror that comes with it. He himself will gather the world to fight against Jerusalem even at the end of the Millennial when all will know, will just have to know objectively, that Jesus is Lord of all. Yet Satan will convince men to fight against Him. Satan also offered Jesus the wealth of the whole world in tempting Jesus to renounce the Father. To offer this, Satan had to know how to get it. So Satan's ambitions rest on his wisdom in wealth acquisition and his military prowess. And from this passage we know that he can someone "bequeath" or "share" these things with mortal man, and in doing so, spread corruption and brutality to the whole world.
2022 - In light of this mornings judgment study where beasts - demons in the service of Satan - can have human counterparts in the same dominion, this might be a man in correspondence with the same kind of creature that becomes the beast from the sea who stands on the sand in Rev 13, and who, because of his surpassing powers, also empowered his human counterpart. In the case of Tyre, the end was wealth, riches, and the admiration of men as if he were a god, and his own opinion of himself - that he must surely be a god if he could do all these things. Satan's demon seduced him beyond measure for the purpose of corrupting as much and as many as he could get his hands one. Greed was the theme, and association with one who could make you wealthy was the desire instilled in those who knew of him. This relationship is a fitting example of what is in the Dan 7/Rev 13 scenario.
vs 11 begins "A Lament for the King of Tyre"
Format changes to that of previous laments, more a poetry or verse format than just narrative text. Perhaps this also explains the hyperbole used to describe this king. Surely of all the pretenders that ever were, Satan's pretense to being deserving of worship in his own right makes him the best example of what not to do.
vs 13 starts with "You were in Eden..." The King of Tyre was not. Hyperbole is how I would describe this passage. vs 14 calls him "an anointed guardian cherub". vs 15, 16 though bring us back to Tyre. They speak of skill at trading, and succumbing to unrighteousness. Trade is mentioned several times. Satan, so far as I can think, was not, and is not a trader in goods. This King of Tyre must have gone past mere trade to extortion, unfairness, perhaps even theft, in order to increase his wealth. He left skill alone and ventured into unrighteousness in his pride. He made himself a god in the sense of not being subject to the laws of man. This would be like Satan also. vs 19 says he came to a dreadful end. Satan is still with us. 2022 - Exactly. This is not Satan. This is a different angel, in the service of Satan, likely persuaded by Satan of the same prideful self-admiration as Satan had. But this is different. And this one is dead...just like the one who's body is burned in Revelation 12.
2022 - See 2022 note on the Prince of Tyre. Might be the titles are distinguished so we see that the prince was just a man - how many times does it emphasize that - and this King was an angel, created before Eden, a guardian cherub, who at some point rebelled to Satan's service, was given the dominion of Tyre, and through that prince, helped to bring untold corruption and dishonor upon the kingdoms of men.
2020-These verses seem to describe Satan himself, created with such beauty and splendor that precious stones also had to be created to adorn him. A splendid cherub, an anointed guardian, placed in Eden and "on the mountain of God". This is not about the Prince of Tyre literally. This is about an angel. A cherub, not an archangel. Different than Michael and Gabriel. Blameless until "free will" chose unrighteousness. It looks for all the world like Lucifer was a trader even among angels and excelled at it. But this success is what eventually so consumed him as to make him turn to unrighteous methods to increase his wealth still further. It is this "spirit of greedy acquisition" that vs 19 speaks of when it says:
19 All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever." [Eze 28:19 ESV] I suspect that Tyre was an "experiment" of Satan's in trying to make a mortal man so wealthy that all men would worship him instead of God. Could this be? And at the same time, in the same region of the world, there was Nebuchadnezzar, so powerful militarily that men might also worship him instead of God? We know he required it of men. But the Bible is clear that it was God controlling Neb's actions. Was God taking a "gift" bestowed on Nebuchadnezzar to make him a military power, and turning it to His own use to destroy what Satan was trying to do in Tyre, AND to turn Israel away from the idols Satan kept them worshiping? I wonder if idols in those days did very much seem to have some power of their own because Satan could bring about some things that some men "prayed" for from the idols? Maybe Satan made them seem pretty real, as he will again in the end times. And about the same time, Satan raised up the Prince of Tyre, and God raised up Neb to defeat him? All that happens in this world is getting back to the battle between good and evil? And just throw Israel into the mix with their idolatry to bring the world into a crucible of time when something had to give. Satan orchestrated Israel's blinding fascination with idols in order to push them over to worshiping men as gods, and God instead raises up another man to stomp on Tyre, showing that the Prince there is no god at all, but just a man, and then using Neb to conquer Jerusalem, destroy the polluted temple, and usher in the age of the Gentiles as all these timelines knot up so tightly that only a God-ordained change of direction can keep things moving? This is pretty interesting. I wonder if it is at all on the right track?
2026 - If Lucifer is a cherub, one of the cherubim as the passage pretty clearly shows, we can deduce that cherubim are more powerful than archangels. A very good reason for archangels to say "the Lord rebuke you" rather than taking him on themselves. Those wheel within a wheel creatures at the beginning of Ezekiel are also Cherubim. And the four creatures around the throne are all cherubim. Look where they are? They are the creatures closest to the throne of God in heaven. They are the inner circle of God's created angels, top of the hierarchy. Wow.
2026 - "stones of fire" are referenced several times. What, or more importantly where, is this place with stones of fire upon which only angels dare to walk? (in vss 14 and 16).
2023 - As the prince was a man, maybe the King of Tyre is the principality and power over Tyre. The one who has so "shared" his power with the Prince that the prince his risen to god-like status. So here we have this reminder that the principalities too will fall, as their own leader Satan undeniably fell from heaven when he too rebelled against God, when he evaluated himself as equal with God. What happens to the Prince of Tyre might be seen as a warning to Satan's own angels that the more powerful they are the more they make themselves targets of the only true power, the greatest power, the power of God.
...but then vs 19. These three chapters need a lot more study than I have previously given them.
Three timelines - the unacceptable idolatry of Israel, the supernatural wealth of the Prince of Tyre, and the irresistible conquest of the King of Babylon all coming together in the same place at the same time. How could this not be a critical point in the war between God and Satan? Look at the indictments of Samaria and then Judah as God's wrath breaks loose and is withheld no longer. Total corruption and evil as a means to accumulate wealth. Even widows and orphans cheating each other for money. And the idols on every roof, at the head of every street, and even in secret places in the temple itself. And military force - violence - the only cure for them.
2024 - These verses: 18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. 19 All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever." [Eze 28:18-19 ESV]. These verses tell us that whomever or whatever this King of Tyre might have been, he was turned to ashes never to rise again. He was in Eden, and was a guarding Cherub. He was an angel. We saw a lot about Cherubs early in this book. Perhaps God himself put an end to this cherub - an immortal angel died - and that resulted in the fall of the man through whom the cherub was working, just as we see that angel die in Revelation and bring all the subordinates into line quickly. I have also had that theory about Satan trying different methodologies to gain power on earth as seen in the contrasts between the four beasts in Daniel. Does this King of Tyre correspond to one of those, or is this a completely different attempt? I think the MoL will have the power of the beast in Revelation. It will "channel" right to him or that beast will have physical power in the world, which this Cherub in Tyre did not seem to have. The cherub in Tyre could ONLY work through man. The beast in Revelation can fully work in the earth because of the great changes that occur in the 70th week.
A break comes in vs 20, Tyre is left behind and the prophecy turns to Sidon. This city is on the coast of modern day Lebanon, about halfway between old Tyre and modern Beirut. It is a short prophecy, and mostly found in this verse:
23 for I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the slain shall fall in her midst, by the sword that is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am the LORD. [Eze 28:23 ESV] This language indicates a siege, at least to me. Did some reading here: https://www.ancient.eu/sidon/ No mention of a siege. They gave up to Persia - Darius - without a fight. Plague got to them in the 300's AD. They were conquered many times in their history, but none seems to have been very dramatic, perhaps explaining the minimal attention it gets in this chapter. But what does this phrase mean?
22 ...I will manifest my glory in your midst... [Eze 28:22b ESV]
Then this whole series so far is summarized like this:
24 "And for the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD. [Eze 28:24 ESV] All those nations around Israel who had from time to time "picked on her", abused her, stolen from her, and probably constantly wished ill towards her, are brought low, and never again rise to the level of world power that they once had. Israel doesn't either, but she is restored to some extent. This might go back to God saying He is done with them, ushering in the age of the Gentiles. Perhaps all that went on in the middle east up until this time was "about Israel". In Daniel, there were four empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Alexander, and...what? Babylon only came to power to execute God's wrath against Jerusalem. This was perhaps a turning point for all of history?
The last two verses of the chapter speak of the restoration of Israel to their land, and say they will dwell there in peace, unbothered, unworried. God will put them there, and keep them safe there. I believe this refers out to the Millennial.
2020-There is a near/far I think. There have been many prophecies that tie this time period (586 BC =/-) to the downfall of many of Israel's antagonists. Ammon, Philistia, Moab, and so on. Neb and to some extent Egypt reduced those nations to rubble at the same time that Israel was reduced. Now look at today. Israel is a nation again, and so are many of her neighbors, but under different names than their were back then. They are all growing in power and military might, and the neighbors are once again threats to the nation of Israel - especially if you go out as far as Iraq and Iran. It's the same neighbors that are threatening. Part of establishing the Millennial will be the crushing of all those neighbors yet again, but this time the establishment of a people of God in Israel will be the result, rather than decimation of the whole region. The Jews will be brought home and protected, instead of God's wrath on them crushing them and scattering them to the nations - as happened in Ezekiel's time. This sure seems plausible. This makes good sense.
2024 - Beginning in vs 25 we are talking about Israel - the 10 lost tribes. Ezekiel has been careful to distinguish between Israel and Judah up to this point, and I think he is being specific here, not all-inclusive. He is talking about the return of those 10 from the nations to which they have been scattered. Note that this gathering is still future, also. There is still a Judah, though many are captive in Babylon. It would be a good study to look at every use of Israel in Ezekiel and see if they are always scattered in prophecies about them, and then look at every use of "Judah", and see if they are always in Canaan, but not always obedient. And if that could be established, what prophecies in other books would we interpret differently? Jeremiah also used both terms - Israel and Judah - and I think Isaiah even did it a time or two. Wouldn't take long to do the searches necessary. Ahhh....Israel was still in a nation at the beginning of Isaiah...Have to start AFTER the fall of the 10. Very worthwhile study here....
2025 - This verse: 26 And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God." [Eze 28:26 ESV]
The point here is that Israel does not, in any sense, dwell securely. Not today. And surely, 100%, they are treated with contempt by their neighbors. These prophecies in vss 25-26 have not come true, EVER. And perhaps Israel is more despised today than they ever were in Ezekiel's time. You do not want to be on the receiving end of God's wrath!