CHAPTER 28

(588 B.C.)

JUDGMENT ON THE PRINCE OF TYRUS

¹The Word of the LORD came again unto me, saying (regarding the spirit world, this Chapter is one of the most remarkable in the Bible. As the Holy Spirit through Ezekiel had concerned Himself with the city, He now concerns Himself with its ruler, who is symbolic of Satan. In fact, this Chapter, in combination with Isa., Chpt. 14, gives us great insight into the ruler of darkness, Lucifer),

²Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, 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 God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are a man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God (it is noticeable that Pauls description of the man of sin [II Thess. 2:4] presents the same picture in nearly the same words. Even though this Passage speaks of the earthly Prince of Tyrus, nevertheless it is Satan himself who energizes his victim. The characterization of this earthly prince is pride, which denotes the foundation sin of all sin):

³Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from you (he was not really wiser than Daniel, only wiser in his own eyes):

⁴With your wisdom and with your understanding you have gotten yourself riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures (Daniels wisdom was used to carry out the Will of God, while this mans wisdom was used to gain riches, as most of the wisdom of this world is used):

⁵By your great wisdom and by your traffic have you increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches (if successful, and even in the things of the Lord, men quickly become lifted up in themselves):

⁶Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have set your heart as the Heart of God (this is the great sin of mankind, fueled by pride. Satan wants to be God, and all who follow Satan have the same spirit);

⁷Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon you, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they shall defile your brightness. (This refers to the army of Babylon, which will soon come against this rich city and its king. Men rule, but God overrules!)

⁸They shall bring you down to the pit, and you shall die the deaths of them who are slain in the midst of the seas. (They shall bring you down to the pit, refers to Hell itself. And you shall die the deaths of them who are slain in the midst of the seas, means that he would not be given a royal funeral, but that his body would be thrown into the waters, as are all who die on ships.

It is not known from secular history as to exactly what did happen to Ithobal, King of Tyre. Nebuchadnezzar, as stated, laid siege to the city for thirteen years. After his conquest, Judges were appointed, and these ruled for periods of several months each. All this indicates a period of confusion and anarchy the consequence of a great catastrophe.

Unless a specific date is given, it must be remembered that most Prophecies germinate over a period of time. This means that what the Prophet saw in vision, as wrought out in a moment of time, was actually the outcome, at least in many cases, of the slow decay of centuries, and of catastrophes separated from each other by long intervals of dwindling history. Sometimes, the main facts of that history may be briefly stated, with the totality of the Prophecy covering many years, even centuries, but ultimately being brought to pass.)

⁹Will you yet say before him who kills you, I am God? but you shall be a man, and no God, in the hand of him who kills you. (Up beside Nebuchadnezzar, the Tyrian Monarch will prove to be no match, because Nebuchadnezzar was Gods Instrument.)

¹⁰You shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD. (This Scripture refers to the Tyrian Monarch dying lost.)

LAMENTATION FOR THE ANGELIC KING OF TYRUS: SATAN

¹¹Moreover, the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying (the tenor of this Chapter will now change from the earthly Monarch, the Prince of Tyre, to his sponsor, Satan, of which the earthly king was a symbol),

¹²Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus says the Lord GOD; You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. (As is obvious, even though the king of Tyrus is used as a symbol, the statements made could not refer to any mere mortal. In fact, they refer to Satan.

The phrase, You seal up the sum, means that Lucifer, when originally created by God, was the perfection of wisdom and beauty. In fact, the phrase intimates that Lucifer was the wisest and most beautiful Angel created by God, and served the Lord in Holiness and Righteousness for a given period of time.

Perfect in beauty, means that he was the most beautiful of Gods Angelic creation. The Holy Spirit even labeled his beauty as perfect.)

¹³You have been in Eden the Garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of your tabrets and of your pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were created. (You have been in Eden the Garden of God, does not actually refer to the Eden of Gen., Chpt. 3, but rather to the Eden which existed on this Planet before Adam and Eve, which evidently was ruled by Lucifer before his rebellion.

Every precious stone was your covering, presents itself as very similar to the dress of the High Priest of Israel [Ex. 28:17-20].

The workmanship of your tabrets and of your pipes, has to do with music. There is every indication that Lucifers leadership had something to do with the Worship of God. As well, he is called, O Lucifer, son of the morning [Isa. 14:12]. When the Earth was originally created, the Scripture says, The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy [Job 38:4-7]. So, if the idiom, son of the morning, can be linked to the morning stars, these Passages tell us that Lucifer, at least before his fall, was greatly used in leading the Worship of God.

In fact, this is the reason that Satan has done everything within his power to corrupt the music of the world, and to corrupt the music of the Church above all. Inasmuch as the Book of Psalms is the longest Book in the Bible, we learn from this that music and singing are among the highest forms of Worship of the Lord.)

¹⁴You are the anointed Cherub who covers; and I have set you so: you were upon the Holy Mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. (You are the anointed Cherub who covers, means that Lucifer was chosen and anointed by God for a particular task and service. This probably was the worship to which we have just alluded.

You were upon the Holy Mountain of God, speaks of his place and position relative to the Throne [Rev. 4:2-11]. You have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire, has reference to his nearness to the Throne [1:26-27]. As well, the phrase, Walked up and down, seems to imply that not just any Angel would have been given such latitude.)

¹⁵You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was found in you. (Pride was the form of this iniquity [Lk. 10:17-18]; the rebellion of Lucifer against God probably caused the catastrophe which occurred between the First and Second Verses of Gen., Chpt. 1.)

¹⁶By the multitude of your merchandise they have filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I will cast you as profane out of the Mountain of God: and I will destroy you, O covering Cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. (Violence has been the earmark of Satans rule and reign in the world of darkness [Jn. 10:10]. Lucifer being cast out of the Mountain of God refers to him losing his place and position, which he had held with God since his creation. It was because he had sinned, which spoke of pride that caused him to lift himself up against God.)

¹⁷Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I will cast you to the ground, I will lay you before kings, that they may behold you. (Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, tells us the reason for his fall. As stated, it was pride. He took his eyes off of Christ, noticing his own beauty as it grew more and more glorious in his eyes. At some point in time, his heart was changed from Christ to himself. As far as we know, this was the origin of evil in all of Gods Creation.

You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness, does not refer to the loss of wisdom, but instead refers to wisdom corrupted, hence, the insidious design practiced upon the human family [Jn. 10:10].

I will cast you to the ground, refers to his ultimate defeat [Rev. 12:7-12]. I will lay you before kings, that they may behold you, refers to him ultimately being cast into the Lake of Fire, where all the kings of the Earth who have died lost will behold him in his humiliation [Mat. 25:41; Rev. 20:10].)

¹⁸You have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of you, it shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them who behold you. (When Satan at long last will be thrown into the Lake of Fire [Rev. 20:10], all the billions he has duped, who also are in Hell because of him, will hate him with a passion that words cannot begin to express, and a hatred which will last forever and forever.)

¹⁹All they who know you among the people shall be astonished at you: you shall be a terror, and never shall you be any more. (Then the prayer of Christ, Your Will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven, will finally be answered and brought to pass [Mat. 6:9-10].)

THE PROPHECY AGAINST ZIDON

²⁰Again the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²¹Son of man, set your face against Zidon, and prophesy against it (Zidon [Sidon] was about 30 miles north of Tyre. Tyre and Zidon were sister cities, but yet Tyre served as the chief city),

²²And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against you, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of you: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. (Suffering, but not extinction, was the judgment of Zidon. She exists today, but her history has been one of pestilence and blood. The phrase, Shall be sanctified in her, refers to the truth that the Lord will be sanctified either by righteous living on the part of His Subjects or righteous Judgment on those who rebel against Him.)

²³For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD. (The pestilence and blood into her streets have to do with the terrible invasions she suffered from this time forward.)

²⁴And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the House of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all who are round about them who despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. (They the Zidonians shall get to know [to their sorrow] that I am Adonai-Jehovah. They will prick Israel no more!)

RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

²⁵Thus says the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the House of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to My Servant Jacob. (The gathering of Israel, as stated here, will take place in the coming Kingdom Age. Then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to My Servant Jacob, refers to the longest conflict that has engaged this Planet, speaking of the conflict over the Land of Israel. In this Passage and many others, the Lord proclaims that He has given this Land to His People; He also specifies exactly where this Land should be [Gen. 15:18]. When He uses the phrase, My Servant Jacob, He, at the same time, is saying that He did not give it to Esau, i.e., the Arabs. The Palestinians, as well as the entirety of the world, should read this Verse.)

²⁶And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed Judgments upon all those who despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God. (The return of the Hebrews to the Land of Israel is foretold in many Prophecies [Deut. 30:3-4; Isa. 11:11-13; 27:12-13; Jer. 31:8-10; 32:37; Ezek. 34:13; 37:21; Amos 9:14-15; Rom., Chpt. 11].)