The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 99

EXPOSITION. Bide-thrust at Nebuchadnezzar and his OHAPTER XXVIII. tendencies in the same direction, " Is not Ver. 1.-From the oity the prophet pa.sees this great Babylon, which I have builded?" to its rnler, who concentrated in himself Ver. 7.-I will bring strangers, etc. whatever wae most arroge.nt and boastful in These are, of course, the hosts of many the temper of his people. He is desoribed nations that made up the Che.ldean army here as a" prince," in ver. 12 11,9 "king," and (comp. the pe.re.llel or eh. xxx. 11 and xxxi. the combination of the two words points 12). The beauty of thy wisdom is that of probably to some peoulie.rity of the Tyrian the city on which the prince looked ae constitution. "Prince" it will be remem- having been produced by his policy. bered, is oonste.ntly used by Ezekiel of Zede- Vers. 8, 9.-The effect of the Chaldean kiah (eh. vii, 27; xii. 20, et al.). The King of invasion was to bring the king down to the Tyre at the time we.a lthobal or Ethbaal UL nether world of the dead. In the use of (Josephus, 'Contra A.pion,' i 21), who had the plural ••deaths" we have e. parallel to taken part with Pharaoh-Hopbra and Zede- the "plurima mortis imago" of Virgil kiah in the league against Nebuchadnezzar, (' lEneid,' ii. 369). And this death was not Ezekiel's description of what one may call to be like that of a hero-warrior, but as that his self-apotheosis may probably have rested of those who are sle.in in the midst of on a personal knowledge of the man or of the seas, who fall, i.e., in a nave.I battle, and official documents. are cast into the waters. Would he then Ver. 2.-I am a God. We are reminded repeat hie boast, I am God 1 of Isaiah's words (xiv. 13, 14) e.e to the Ver. 10.-The climax comes in the King of Babylon. Did Ezekiel emphazise strongest language of Hebrew scorn. All and amplify the boo.ate of Ethbaal, with a the uncircumcised were to the Israelite side-glance at the Ob.e.ldeau king, who also (1 Se.m. xvii. 36; xxxi 4), so should the we.s lifted up in the pride of hie heart King of Tyre, unhonoured, unwept, with no (Dan. iv. 30)? For like examples, see the outward marks of reverence, be among the boo.et of Hopbre., in oh. xxix. 3; and tb.e great ones of the past who dwell in Hades. praise given to Herod Agrippa by the Ezekiel returns to the phrase in eh. xxxi. Tyriane (Aots xii 21). It is noticeable that 18 ; xxxii. 24. The words receive e. special St. Paul's description of the man of sin {2 force from the foot the.t the Phcenicians Thees. ii. 4) presents the same picture in practised circumcision before their inter- nearly the same words. I sit in the seat of course with the Greeks (Herod., if. l0t). God, eto. Tyre was kuown u the Holy Ver. 12.-Thou sealest up the sum, etc. Island (Sanohon., edit. Orelli, p. 36). The The noun ie found only 1here and in oh. oity was thought of as rising from its waters xliii. 10, where it is translated "pRttern," like the rook-throne of God. Though thou but is cognate with the word rendered" tale" 10t thy heart. The words remind us of the (equivo.lent to "measure") of Exod. v. 13, temptation in Gen. iii. 5. To forget the e.nd "men.sure" in eh. xiv. ll. The probable limitations of human ignorance and weak- meo.ning is, 771ou. settest the seal to tl&y ness, to claim an authority and demand a completeness (peT/ection). Thou deemeot home.ge which belong to God, WRS the sin the.t thou hast attained the consummo.tion of the Prince of Tyre, ae it had been that of all beauty and wisdom. The LXX. o.nd of Benue.cherib, as it wae of Nebuchad- the Vulgo.te give, "Thou a.rt o. seal;" und nezzar, as it hae been einoe of the emperors this suggests a po.mllelism with Jeremiah's of Rome, and of other rulers. works to Coniah (Jer. xxii. 24). Tho words Ver. 3.-Thou art wiser than Daniel, etc. were, of course, written with o. keen irony. There is, of course, a marked irony in the This wo.s whe.t the King of Tyre thought of words. Daniel was for Ezekiel-and there himself. aeems something singularly humble and Ver. 13.-Thou hast been in Eden, eto. pathetic in the prophet's reverence for his The words are suggestive, as showing that oontempore.ry-the ideal at once of right- Ezekiel wo.s familiar with the history of Gen. eousness (eh. xiv.14) and of wisdom. He wue ii. and iii. (compo.re the mention of Noah, a revealer of the secrete of the future, and in oh. xv. H, 20). To him ihe King of read the hearts of men. His fame was Tyre seemed to clo.im !l position like tho.t spreo.d far and wide through the Chaldean of Adam before his full, perfect in beauty empire. And this was the man with whom and in wisdom, the lord of the cre!ltion. the King of Tyre compured himself with a And in tho.t fancied E<len ho stood, so he self-satisfied sense of superiority, and he thought, not like Ad!lm, " naked and found the proof of his higher wisdom in hid 11,sho.med," but like one of tho cherubim that wealth, Here, again, I venture to traco a guarded the gates of the primeval Paradise 102 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [oH. xxvm.1-26,