1 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
2 "Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, 'Thus says the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou have said, "I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas;" yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:'"
God has been yelling at the city of Tyrus for two chapters now. He continues on into this third one by directly addressing the human king, Ethbaal, or Ithobal (ancient Hebrew did not yet have vowels, so we aren't real sure which).
Evidently this king thought he was something very special. God is going to give him an attitude adjustment.
3 "'Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:'"
This may be the biblical Daniel who was serving the king of Babylon at this time. He would have done all the dream interpreting by this time and be third in the kingdom, though he wouldn’t have had supper with the lions yet.
Or it may be a different Daniel; one from eastern legends.
Either way, the king of Tyrus thought he was equal to this Daniel.
4 "'With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou have gotten thee riches, and have gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
5 "'By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic have thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:'"
The king of Tyrus was a good business man and had prospered because of it. This made him think he was equal to God.
6 "'Therefore thus says the Lord God; Because thou have set thine heart as the heart of God;
7 "'Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.'"
Because of the king’s arrogancey, God will let Nebuchadnezzar conquer them.
8 "'They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shall die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.'"
You’re going to die violently.
9 "'Wilt thou yet say before him that slayed thee, "I am God"? But thou shall be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayed thee.'"
I seriously doubt this king of Tyrus stood eye to eye with Nebuchadnezzar and said I am a god while Nebby cut his head off.
10 "'Thou shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, says the Lord God.'"
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
12 "Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, 'Thus says the Lord God; Thou sealed up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.'"
We have just spent two chapters condemning the physical city Tyrus and half a chapter yelling at the physical king of the city, and this is after many chapters railing on several physical kingdoms and their kings.
Yet many believe God suddenly switches subjects here to Satan. I believe that is improper interpretation of scripture.
Scripture is properly interpreted by assuming God means exactly what He says and taking the entire setting into account. The reason for scripture in the first place is to communicate with us, so God was careful to speak as plainly as possible and repeat Himself often so we could understand (He did compare us to the stupidest of all farm animals, the sheep, after all). When we begin to add in hidden codes and extra stories that aren’t even told in the Bible, we stray from Its intended purpose. Assuming complicated interpretations and “verse here linked with verse there,” in fact, makes God out to be a very poor communicator.
He specifically says "Take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus." He is still talking to Ethbaal, or Ithobal, the physical king of an island off the coast of Judah who built a mighty trade kingdom and became very rich and very big headed.There is no reason to believe otherwise.
13 "'Thou have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy [tambourines] and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.'"
“Eden, the garden of God” is a euphemism for “you have lived in the seat of luxury.” God is not saying that this king of Tyrus shook hands with Adam.
14 "'Thou art the anointed cherub that covers; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.'"
Remember, God specifically said He is talking to the King of the city of Tyrus.
God had blessed the man in his endeavors, likely as a combined punishment to the Jews and an attempt to woo Ethbaal to His service.
"The Holy Mountain of God" is either Jerusalem (which the king of Tyrus had possibly visited frequently), or should have been plural- Mountains of the gods. This would mean he was trying to set himself up as a deity to be worshiped along with all the idols of the people. It was not uncommon for ancient kings to do this.
15 "'Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.'"
Ethbaal evidently had a good start in life. He probably had a relationship with God when he was young. His success and riches, however, caused him to fall.
16 "'By the multitude of thy merchandise (Satan doesn’t have merchandise, people do) they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou have sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God (out of extreme blessings): and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub (bit of sarcasm here), from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 "'Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou have corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.'"
The conquering of Tyrus by both Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander are such significant events in history nearly everyone knows of them.
18 "'Thou have defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; …'"
Ethbaal had cheated in his trade deals.
"'…therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.'"
God will bring the fire of destruction and remove this king from his place of prominence, and He will do it publicly.
19 "'All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shall be a terror, and never shall thou be any more.'"
Many in the ancient world did find it terrifying that Tyrus would fall. That meant that no one was safe, no one was secure from Babylon (or later, Alexander)
20 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
21 "Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,"
Now we change to the country of Zidon…
22 "And say, 'Thus says the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.'"
Zidon was the capital city of the Phoenicians, though Tyrus had become richer. Zidon was located just north of Israel and easily knew about the true God.
23 "'For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord.'"
God would use Nebuchadnezzar to punish Zidon for her arrogance and cruelty.
24 "'And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God.'"
They have been an annoyance to Israel. That will stop.
25 "'Thus says the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to My servant Jacob.'"
God will bring Israel/Judah back to their land after their time of punishment is over, but He won’t bring all these neighboring countries back. They will cease to exist.
26 "'And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.'"
God did bring Israel back to their land just a few decades after Ezekiel wrote this. This entire verse was fulfilled during the time of Ezra, Nehemiah and the Maccabees.