Ezekiel 28

of what the Lord was doing, and this was the most painful and costly of all his “action sermons.” In order to preach one sermon, Ezekiel had to lose his wife. But Ezekiel commanded the Jewish exiles to mourn over the loss of the temple just as he had mourned over the loss of his wife, without loud wailing, copious weeping, or any change in their dress or eating habits. The death of the prophet’s dear wife was an act of God, and so was the destruction of the temple. The woman who had died was innocent of any gross sin, but the temple had become a den of thieves. God gave Ezekiel only one day’s notice that he would become a widower, but He had been speaking to sinful Judah for many years and they had not listened. The destruction of the temple and the city should not be a surprise to anybody.

But how did the people know that the prophet was telling the truth? They didn’t have instant news service as we have today, so perhaps the whole thing was only Ezekiel’s way of dealing with his wife’s death. But God said that a messenger would arrive in Babylon with the news of the fall of the city and the destruction of the temple, and this occurred five months later, on January 8,585 BC (33:21–22).

The next day, God opened the prophet’s mouth and removed the discipline He had imposed at the beginning of his ministry (3:25–27). From this point on, the prophet was free to speak as he felt led, and at the same time, the focus of his ministry shifted. He had exposed the nation’s sins and announced her judgment. Now he would announce God’s plans for the Gentile nations, including victorious Babylon; and then he would minister hope to the Jewish exiles and share with them visions of the kingdom yet to come.

Ezekiel has been a faithful servant of God, even to the point of sacrificing his beloved wife so he could declare the word of God. What an example of dedication!

The destruction of Jerusalem was welcomed by the Gentile nations that were located in the vicinity of the kingdom of Judah. During the great days of their nation, the Jews had been a separated people, and this irritated their neighbors. The Jewish claim that Jehovah was the only true and living God meant that the other nations worshipped only dead idols. Both Saul and David had met many of these nations on the battlefield, and the Gentiles remembered and resented those humiliating defeats. But as the kingdom of Judah drifted from the Lord, the Jewish people adopted the gods and the practices of the Gentiles, and to their neighbors, this looked like pure hypocrisy. After all, if Jehovah is the true and living God, why do the Jews need other gods? And why would the kings of Judah look to human allies for protection if Jehovah is able to care for them? Nothing pleased the Gentiles more than to be able to laugh at the Jews in their day of humiliation and claim that the gods of the Babylonians were stronger than the God the Jews worshipped.

What the nations didn’t realize was that the destruction of Jerusalem wasn’t just a punishment of the Jews; it was also a warning to the Gentiles. “If the righteous will be recompensed on the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner?” (Prov. 11: nkjv). For if God displays His wrath against His own people, “What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17). There’s a great difference between a loving parent chastening a child and a judge punishing a guilty criminal. Israel knew God’s Word and therefore had sinned against a flood of light, but the Gentiles had the clear witness of creation (Rom. 1:18–32; Ps. 19) and conscience (Rom. 2:11–16) and were without excuse. But God was also judging the Gentiles for the way they had treated His people, because this was the covenant promise He had made with Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3).

It’s interesting that Ezekiel didn’t have a message of judgment against the Babylonians; God used Isaiah (Isa. 13:1—14:23; 21:1–9) and especially Jeremiah (Jer. 31; 40; 50–51) for that job. God told Ezekiel to set his face against the nations (Ezek. 25:2; see 6:2; 13:17; 20:46; 21:2, 7) and declare that judgment was coming.

It appears that two different persons are addressed in these verses: the prince of Tyre (vv. 1–10) and the king of Tyre (vv. 11–19). The first speech is a declaration of divine judgment, while the second is more of a lamentation. Both of these persons were guilty of great pride because of their wisdom and wealth, and both abused their privileges and offended the Lord. In fact, the prince of Tyre even claimed to be a god! However, foreign invaders would destroy the prince of Tyre (vv. 7–10), while the Lord Himself would judge the king of Tyre (vv. 16–19). The prince is called “a man” (v. 2), but the king is called “the anointed cherub” (v. 14). More than one student has identified the prince of Tyre as the ruler of the city when Nebuchadnezzar invaded, but they see the king of Tyre as Satan, the enemy of God and of the Jewish people, who energized the prince and used him to accomplish his own evil purposes.

Judgment on the prince of Tyre (vv. 1–10). The issue here is pride, a sin that God hates (Prov. 6:16–17). This ruler was proud of his wisdom and his wealth (Ezek. 28:3–5), and because of this pride, he exalted himself as a god. However, God would demonstrate that he was but a man, for the prince of Tyre would be slain and die like any other man. When you read Scripture, you find occasions when God judged arrogant rulers, such as Pharaoh, whom the Egyptians treated as a god (Ex. 5:2), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4), and Herod Agrippa (Acts 12). World leaders who ignore the Lord and act as if they are gods will all be exposed and judged.

Judgment on the king of Tyre (vv. 11–19). The previous declaration was one of Ezekiel’s “because … therefore” (vv. 6–7) statements, such as you find in chapters 25 and 26, but this paragraph is simply a statement of God’s intention to judge the king of Tyre and destroy him. As you read these verses, you get the impression that this “king” is much more than a human regent and that this could be a description of Satan. That Satan wants to control nations and their leaders is clear from 1 Chronicles 21 and Daniel 9, and Matthew 4:8–10 states that he has delegated authority to dispose of the nations.

The use of the word cherub (Ezek. 28:4, 16) suggests that we’re dealing here with an angelic creature, also the fact that he had been “upon the holy mountain of God” (v. 14). This sounds a great deal like the description in Isaiah 14:12ff. Satan began as an obedient angel but rebelled against God and led a revolt to secure God’s throne. The text describes his great beauty and names nine jewels that were a part of that beauty. All of these jewels were also found in the breastplate of the Jewish high priest (Ex. 28:17–20). This suggests that in “Eden, the garden of God” and upon “God’s holy mountain,” this person had special priestly functions to perform for the Lord. The settings and mountings for these jewels were of the finest gold. His pride and selfish ambitions led him into sin, and God judged him by casting him out. While the original description refers to the ruler of Tyre, it certainly applies to the god of this age, Satan, the enemy of the Lord.

The prince of Tyre, motivated and energized by the devil, engaged in business and also in violence (Ezek. 28:16), for he considered himself a god (v. 2). His way of doing business was also dishonest, for verse 18 speaks of “dishonest trade” (niv). Satan’s boast was, “I will be like the Most High” (Isa. 14:14), and his promise to Eve was, “[Y]ou will be like God” (Gen. 3: nkjv). The prince of Tyre accepted Satan’s offer and it led to his downfall, just as it led to Satan’s downfall. But during the career of the prince of Tyre, he was used of Satan to defile and destroy. The nations would be appalled at the judgment of the prince of Tyre and his city, but they had no idea that Satan was behind the city’s success and Jehovah was behind the city’s destruction. It reminds us of the ministry of the apostles in Luke 10:1–24. God used the apostles to heal the sick, cast out demons, and proclaim the message of the kingdom; but Jesus saw in their victories the fall of Satan (vv. 18–19).

After delivering a message of judgment, Ezekiel sometimes “dropped in” a message of hope for God’s hurting people. Even though the Lord was chastising His own people by destroying Jerusalem and the temple, He was still their God and had a loving concern for them. “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Rom. 5: nkjv).

Judgment on Sidon (vv. 20–24). Sidon was a rival city located about twenty-five miles north of Tyre. Usually the two cities are mentioned together (Isa. 23:1–4; Jer. 47:4; Joel 3:4), but here Sidon is singled out for judgment by the Lord. The people of Sidon despised the Jews and often caused trouble for them, but now that opposition would end. “They shall know that I am the Lord God” (Ezek. 28:24). Ezekiel makes the startling statement that God would be glorified in the destruction of the city (v. 22; see 39:12–13). How could the Lord be glorified by such carnage? Because it would demonstrate His holiness in rejecting false gods and punishing sin. The swords of the Babylonian soldiers would kill many of the people, and those who escaped would die of the plagues that often accompany wartime slaughter.

The regathering of Israel (vv. 25–26). One of the major themes of this book is the deliverance of the Jewish exiles from Babylon and the future regathering and reuniting of the nation. After the seventy years of exile and the Persian conquest of Babylon, God did cause Cyrus to allow the Jewish people to return to their land and rebuild the temple (2 Chron. 36:22–23; Ezra 1). But the return of about fifty thousand people (2:64–65) in 538–537 BC didn’t completely fulfill the promises in Ezekiel, for they have an application in the end times. Certainly the Jewish remnant that returned with Zerubbabel didn’t “dwell safely” (Ezek. 28:26) because they had all kinds of problems with the people in the land. Furthermore, Ezekiel mentioned “nations” (plural) and not just the one nation of Babylon, where the Jews were in exile.

There is coming a time when God will call His chosen people together into their own land, judge them, cleanse them, and establish His glorious kingdom (Zech. 10:8–12; 12:9—13:1; Matt. 24:31). God gave the land of Palestine to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 13:14–18; 15:7–17), and He renewed the promise to Jacob (28:10–15; 35:12; Ps. 105:8–11). The Jews owned the land because God gave it to them, but they possessed the land only when they obeyed the terms of the covenant God gave them. During the exile in Babylon, they were out of the land because they had rebelled against the Lord.

Ezekiel will have more to say about Israel’s future in chapters 37—48, but this brief promise must have brought encouragement to the faithful remnant among the exiles, just as the sure promise of Christ’s return brings encouragement to His people today.