The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 115

trouble to the home and sorrow to the soul, is restorative. He seeks to enlighten, and, by enlightening, to restore us. 1. He wishes us to understand clearly that tbe earthly forces and human attachments in which we have been putting our trust and seeking our satisfaction are wholly insufficient to us; that they break down when we m0st need their help; that they are vain; and that we are wrong. 2. He desires to lead us back to himself-to his side and to his service; to an absolute trust in his Son our Saviour; and to a whole-hearted consecration to his holy service. And it is well worth while to suffer anything and everything that we may "know that he is Lord ; " that we may recognize in him the Saviour in whom to hide, the Divine Friend whom we can love with all the strength of our soul, the Leader whom we can follow at every step, the Lord whom it is both our sacred duty and our lasting joy to serve in every sphere. III. HIS PROMISE TO HIS PEOPLE. (Vers. 24-26.) How far this prediction has been fulfilled is matter of sacred history; perhaps it is one of those promises which are only realized by "the springing and germinant" fulfilment of which Lord Bacon speaks. Beside (1) the historical, there is (2) the spiritual; and there is al5o (3) the heavenly fulfilment. Of these three, the second is found in the spiritual condition of those who, by a full surrender of spirit to their Divine Lord, find a perfect rest in him (Matt. xi. 28; John xiv. 27; Phil. iv. 7; Eph. iii. 16-19). The last will be found when the thorns and the briers which here are felt even in "the garden of the Lord" shall have been cut away by the strong hand of the Divine Hnsbandman, and there shall be beauty without decay, joy without suffering or satiety, life without any fear or death or of decline. ,.Thom without flowers; flowers on the thorn, Then thornless, everlasting bloom, Three crowns;-the :fl.ret when Faith has worn, And Hop6 the next, with brow still tom, L<n,e shall the last a&11ume." a. Vars. 1-10.-The Prince of Tyre; or, the expression and punishment of pritk. "The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto the Prince of Tyre," etc. Following the prophecies concerning the city and state of Tyre, and completing them, Ezekiel delivers these concerning the king of the famous city. They apply to him, not only as a person, but as the representative of the people in their prosperity, power, and pride. "Throughout the East," says the• Speaker's Commentary,' " the majesty and glory of a people were collected in the person of their monarch, who in some nations was not feared as a man, but actually worshipped as a god. . . . The prince is here the embodiment of the community. Their glory is his glory, their pride his pride. The doom of Tyre could not be complete without denunciation of the Princo of Tyre." Our subject has two chief divisions. I. TBE EXPRESSION OF PBIDE BY MAN, (Vere. 2-6.) 1. Pride of personality. "Thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god" (var. 2; cf. Isa. :xiv. 14). There are other instances of exceeding pride recorded in the sacred Scriptures; e.g. "Pharaoh King of Egypt . , . so.id, My rlver is mine own, and I have made it for myself" (eh. xxix. 3). Nebuchadnezzar said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place P" etc. (Dan. iv. 30). Herod accepted the homage of the people who greeted him as a god (Acts xii. 21, 22). Bt1t the Prince of Tyre, in claiming to be a god, goes beyond these examples. It is as if be upheld the city and state, maintained the prosperity and power of hie people, and gave them all their glory. It is a claim of independence and self-sufficiency. In it pride reaches its most daring and blasphemous development, as weak, mortal, sinful man sets himself "8 a rival even unto God. 2. Pride of position. "I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas" (ver. 2). This proud boast of the Tyrian prince is partly accounted for by "the situation of the island-city, full of luxury and beauty, in the midst of the blue water of the Mediterr!lnean." Moreover, Tyre was regarded by many as a sacred island. Fairbairn says that " Sanchoniathon expressly calls it • the holy island ; ' and it is known that the Tyrian colonies all reverenced it as the mother-city of their religion, not less than the original source of their political existence. It was only in the spirit of ancient heathenism to conclude that a state which was not only strong by natural position, and by immense mari';irne resourr.as, but also stood in such close 118 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. (OH, nvm. 1-28.