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Ezekiel 28

emptytomb

Member
Hello friends. I have a question about Ezekiel 28:11-19. Is it literally about the king of tyre or about Lucifer?
 
emptytomb said:
Hello friends. I have a question about Ezekiel 28:11-19. Is it literally about the king of tyre or about Lucifer?

I found this article portion at: http://www.christiancourier.com/article ... ezekiel-28

Hope it helps.

(1) The king of Tyre had been appointed by Jehovah to his place of authority (v. 14). God is the ruler of all nations (Psalm 22:28), and he places the dignitaries in power, and he likewise removes them — according to their character (Daniel 2:21; 4:17; cf. Proverbs 14:34).
With glowing imagery, the ruler’s initial administration is described as analogous to “Eden,†the very “garden of God.†The illustrious regime is graphically portrayed with dazzling precious stones (v. 13).

(2) But the king’s power and riches corrupted him; unrighteousness consumed him. He became violent and egotistical. The Sovereign of the earth thus declared his impending doom, “I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God†(vv. 15-17). The verb is a prophetic perfect. That which is certain to happen is spoken of as if it were accomplished already (Block, p. 116).
The fact that the Lord employed the “creation†motif (e.g., the fall of humanity) to convey these ideas should not be confused with the basic thrust of the message. There was some parallelism between the fall of man, and the apostasy of this human ruler.

(3) The punishment to be inflicted upon the pagan ruler would be devastating. The city of Tyre would be overthrown and turned into ashes (v. 18). The ultimate destruction would be complete and final, striking a note of terror in the hearts of those familiar with the events (v. 19). “The idea of the city, of the spirit and activity of which the king is the embodiment, tend more and more to take the place of the idea of the king†(Davidson, p. 208; cf. v. 19 with 27:36).
 
See, I think its a parallelism, in as much that it is a direct reference to lucifer and also of the king of tyre. Here is the interesting thing though: if one takes it literally about Lucifer, then he hadn't fallen when God planted the garden of Eden. Also the reference to the mountain of God which we know is the mountain that Jerusalem sits on and ultimately the temple mount. Perhaps this passage is a little insight into Lucifer's fall, especially of his sin. I'm not adamantly supporting this point, more so a thought to be processed.
 
emptytomb said:
See, I think its a parallelism, in as much that it is a direct reference to lucifer and also of the king of tyre. Here is the interesting thing though: if one takes it literally about Lucifer, then he hadn't fallen when God planted the garden of Eden. Also the reference to the mountain of God which we know is the mountain that Jerusalem sits on and ultimately the temple mount. Perhaps this passage is a little insight into Lucifer's fall, especially of his sin. I'm not adamantly supporting this point, more so a thought to be processed.
et,

The following verses brings the identification to someone other than human.

Ezek 28:18-19
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. KJV

Joe
 
Yes, there are many terms used throughout this passage that indicates the recepient as being more than mortal. Nevertheless, I don't think that the words of verse 12 can be igorned...."a lament concerning the king of Tyre..."
I think possibly we see here God comparing the deeds of the mortal king to those of satan. He is taking what is mortal and poetically tranlating it to what is immortal.
 
I agree, there is definately a point being made of both the king of Tyre and of Lucifer. One thing I love about forums like this, is being able to discuss this with common Christians. To be common, or not subject to over analyzing every contextual translational letter is what I mean. This passage when researched out you get bombarded by scholars. Scholars at best make this passage ambigous. I'd like to think that our LORD and saviour has preserved the context of scripture in what we have before us, the bible. In discussions I've had in the past it has been pointed out to me that scholar "so and so," said this. Which I guess, there is the assumption if he has a degree then he must be right. Although I find that most of these scholars really don't have faith. I came across a professor, who I might add could talk circles around me. The more I read of his conclusions on scripture, the more I wondered how does he apply any of this to actual daily living. Although my point in bringing up Ezekiel 28 is to see what the applied Christian thinks. Now don't get me wrong, there are places for scholars. I am not attacking or belittling their degrees. I just want to be careful of following men rather than Christ.
 
Scripture like Ezekiel 28 (and like Ezek.31 and Isaiah 14 also), is something God does in His Word many times within the Books of the prophets. While talking about one thing or an entity, at the same time another thing or entity is being pointed to as a type, or shadow. We're supposed to pick this up when coming upon Scripture like that, seeing both sides of the coin.

The word "Tyrus" means 'rock'. It's about Zidon, and the historical island city of Tyre and the king of Tyre (off the coast of Lebanon), which at the same time serves as a type or shadow for Satan and what he did of old. Tyre was an old international type city of commerce of the pagan Phoenicians, had double walls surrounding it up to 150 feet high. It could not be conquered from the sea. Alexander of Greece conquered the island part of the city by his army literally moving earth out to it building a land bridge (which land bridge still stands today).

Ezek.28:2 is an idea also covered in Isaiah 14 about the kings of Assyria and Babylon as types for "Lucifer". It also is the idea Paul covered in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 about a false one who is to sit in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

God's judgment upon Tyre in Ezek.28:7-10 is about historical Tyre's downfall mentioned back at Ezekiel 26, and also about God's eventual judgment upon the false 'rock' Satan (see Deut.32:31). The rock fortress of Tyre was literally destroyed, becoming a place for fisherman to cast their nets.

Ezekiel 28:12-18 is specifically a reference to Satan as a "covering cherub" who had been in Eden, and was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him. So God is using Satan's original rebellion against Him as a type for the flesh king of Tyre, and visa versa.

Ezekiel 28:21-26 is future prophecy mixed within the previous Messages of the chapter. God paints a picture of Zidon (Sidon), a coastal city of Phoenicia (founded by the Canaanites). The Sidonians were a thorn in the side of Israel many times. Ahab's wife Jezebel was a Sidonian, and she introduced the Sidonian's pagan gods (Baal) into Israel. This last section of Ezekiel 28 verses serve as a 'type' for the spiritual enemies of God, and is why it's associated with His previous Messages about Tyrus (i.e., Satan, his servants, his kingdom, as a type all the way to its end).
 
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