Ezekiel 28
Dead: Tyre and Sidon
Good king goes bad
1The LORD gave me a message:2Human, tell the King of Tyre that the Lord God says this:
You’re arrogant.
You tell people, “I’m a god.
I sit at the God Table like other gods
Here in the land of the big sea.”
Yeah, right.
You’re no god. You’re just a human
Who thinks he’s got the brains of a god.
3You’re wiser than Daniel, I’ll give you that.
You’ve got the keys to unlock the secrets.
4It’s your wisdom that got you this rich.
You’ve shoveled in silver and gold.
5You’re wise in business.
That got you even richer,
So rich that it’s gone to your head,
Which you say is full of a god’s intelligence.
6I am the Lord God.
Since you say you have the head of a god
Sitting on your shoulders,
7I’m going to introduce you
To the most vicious nation in the world.
You’ll find out which is sharpest
Their swords or your smarts.
Spoiler alert: you’re going to look dumb.
8They’re going to get violent with you.
They’ll kill you here.
You’ll trade the heartland of the sea.
For the pit of the dead.
9When they raise the sword to kill you
Will you say, “I’m a god.”
You’re no god, human.
10You will die a loser [1]
At the hand of a foreigner.
That’s what I said,
And I’m the Lord God.
Funeral song for King of Tyre
11The LORD gave me a message.12Human, I’m giving you a funeral song for the king of Tyre. Sing it to him. Tell him the Lord God says this:
You were the perfect king
A wonderful example of a wise ruler.
13You lived in Eden. You had everything.
You wore every jewel you could lay your hands on,
Then you embedded them in gold settings:
carnelian, chrysolite, and moonstone,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire, turquoise, and emerald.
They were yours the day I created you.
Guardian angel king
14You were a cherub there, the guardian angel.You had access to me on the mountain of God,
As you walked by a field of beautiful, red gemstones. [2]
15From the beginning you were innocent.
But along the way, you began to sin.
16In your trade battles for profit
You got violent, and you sinned.
So, I exiled you from God’s mountain.
I drove away the guarding cherub,
Beyond the beauty of the red jewels.
17You thought your beauty was enough.
You let profits decay your good judgment.
I threw you off the mountain, to the ground.
I let rulers see what you had become.
I gave them a good, long look at you.
18You dirtied up the sacred places in your life
By the dishonest way you conducted business.
So, I let the wildfire inside you burn
Until it burned you out
And left you lying there,
As a pile of ashes.
19Everyone who knows you
Is horrified at what has happened to you.
You died in a terrible way.
That’s it for you. Forever.
Sidon’s bloody end
20The LORD gave me a message:21Human, turn and look toward the city of Sidon. Condemn the people with this prophecy. 22Tell them the Lord God said this:
Listen, Sidon, I stand against you.
People will thank me for that.
Once I punish you
People will see I don’t tolerate sin.
They’ll know I’m the holy LORD.
23I’ll punish them with a plague.
And I’ll surround them with swords.
People will fall dead,
And their blood will flow in the streets.
24Israel won’t have to deal any longer with such a hurtful neighbor and corrupt merchant. Then, they’ll see that the Lord God is the one who punished Sidon.
Welcome home Israel
25The Lord God said this:I’m going to bring back my people who scattered to other lands. They will settle on the land I gave to Jacob and his descendants. When I do this, they’ll again see my goodness and holiness. [3] 26They’ll live safely in the land, building homes and planting vineyards. They’ll be safe because I’m going to punish the neighbors who treated them like trash. When I do this, Israel will know that I’m the one who did it, the LORD their God.
Footnotes
King Nebuchadnezzar failed to destroy Tyre. He reached a negotiated agreement with the ruler. Alexander the Great from Greece, however, did kill the people and level the city in 332 BC. But he did not kill the king, a man named Azemilcus (also spelled Ozmilk). He treated him respectfully, as a defeated ruler. Reported losses for Tyre: 6,000 killed, 2,000 crucified on the beach, and 30,000 sold as slaves. The king and his family took shelter in a temple devoted to Melqart, a god over kings and the sea. Alexander spared them and some pilgrims from the north African city of Carthage. It’s unknown how he died.
There’s interpretation added in this verse. More literally, the verse says God put this cherub on “the holy mountain of God” and he “walked past stones of fire.” Scholars are left guessing what this means. The guess here is that the metaphor is about God entrusting Tyre’s king with great authority and with direct access to wisdom from God. Some interpret the stones of fire as something negative. Here, the guess is that it means something beautiful and are symbols of the majesty of God.
God’s name developed a bad reputation because of what happened to his people. He seemed weak and corrupt—as a god who promised to protect but did nothing but punish. With Israel’s remarkable turn of events, which sends them home, God’s name is repaired in the eyes of the people, and his holiness is vindicated of any wrongdoing. “Holy” means one thing when talking about people and another thing when talking about God. Some scholars say that when the Bible says God is holy, it’s saying there is nothing like him; he’s unique, “wholly other” scholars say, and he’s perfectly loving and just and pure.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
