The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 113

but it may be taken that he was representative of hie court and of his people, and that; the denunciation and doom here recorded apply to the ete.te as well as to its head. We have _suggested to us the course as-well as the doom of arrogance. I. IT BEGINS IN A DANGEROUS A.ND mBEVEBENT COMPLACENCY. The consciousness of power or of priority is found to be a pleasant thing, and it need not be any wise associated with evil. It is often the gift of God; it is often the result of such natural advantages as Tyre possessed. It may give a pure and honest joy to the heart; and when it leads to gratitude and ends in blessing, it is good in every light and at every turn. But when, as is only too often the case, it gives rise to an unwholesome complacency of spirit, which ascribes too much to its own sagacity and too little to the Divine favour, then it stands on perilous ground (vers. 4, 5). Indeed, it has already begun to depart from the highway of wisdom and goodness; for this is not the spirit; of godliness, but of irreverence. II. IT PASSES ON TO A WEAK AND FOOLISII EXAGGERATION. Its heart is "lifted up" (ver. 2). It magnifies its own capacities, its own virtues, its own achievements. It conceals its own errors, defects, misdoings, so that they are not visible to its own eyes. It thinks much "more highly of itself than it ought to think,'' and supposes itself capable of accomplishing that to which it is wholly unequal. It thinks itself a Daniel (ver. 3) when it is not. III. IT ENDS IN IMPIOUS PBEBUMPTION. It says, "I am a god, I sit in the seat of God" (ver. 2). There have been many men and there have been some "world-powers" -Babylon, Macedon, Rome, Spain-who (which) have arrogated to themselves an authority and a power little (if any) short of the Divine. They have believed them- selves able to act as a Divine providence, determining who or what should be raised up or cast down, supposing that their will could be impressed upon the institutions,or the peoples, or the Churches of their age. They have claimed a homage and assumed a function which belong to none but the Most High himself. Thus human arroganco places on its own haughty head the crown of a daring and impious assumption. IV. IT BRINGS UPON ITSELF TRE SEVERE CONDEMNATION OF GoD. (Text; see 2 Sam. :x.xii. 28; Isa. ii. 11; Dan. iv. 37; Luke i. 61; Jas. iv. 6.) V. IT IS DOOMED TO DESTRUCTION. (Vere. 6, 10.) The strong terms of the text speak of: 1. The deciitlve and successful antagonism of those who have been despised, but who prove to be" terrible" and victorious (ver. 7, former part). 2. The loss of all that has been most prized (ver. 7, latter part). 3. Uttermost ruin (ver. 8). And this is the fate of the haughty-hearted. They suffer the most mortifying humiliation in the discovery to themselves, and exposure to others of their false pretensions; the loBB of their high position and forfeiture of all that they once held in so tight a grasp; the ruin, material or moral, which is fitly described as "death." They "go down to the pit." Let us learn: 1. To guard our power and our success by cultivating the spirit of humility and of gratitude. 2. To gain the approval of our Lord by employing our position and our privilege to bless our neighbours, so that we may win his smile and not suffer his reproach. 3. To humble our heart, if it should be lifted up, that we may gain God's mercy and not endure the penalty of our sin.-C. Vers. 11-19.-The inS'Ufficiency of circumstance, etc. However we may interpret this imaginative passage (see Exposition), there are certain truths which are not only clear, but even brilliant to our sight ae we regard it. I. 'l'BE INSUFFICIENCY OF FAVOURABLE CIR0UMBTANOE. The Prince of Tyre W',U under such fortunate and enviable conditions that he is drawn by the prophet as II mnn who dwelt in the garden of Eden, in a perfect paradise; as one clothed with garments that shone with all precious stones; as one who was admitted, like the cherubim of tho most holy place, to the very near presence of God; as one that stood, with the illustrious leader of Israel, on the sacred mount, and that saw, with him, the splendour of the Divine manifestation (vere.13, 14). Nothing was wanting that the craving heart of man could desire; he "sealed up the sum," or he" sealed completeness" (Fairbairn) (ver. 12). He was "perfect in his ways" (ver. 16); i.e. not perfect in the ways of wisdom and worth, but of pleasure and honour and privilege. He lacked nothing that would lend beauty or grandeur or delight to human life. But what availed it all with- out righteousness? No barrier of rocky walls or of surrounding sea would keep out the  116 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL, [oH. xxvm. 1-26.