EZK 28Ezekiel 28

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NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)

New Living Translation (NLT)

A Message for Tyre’s King

28 Then this message came to me from the LORD: 2 “Son of man, give the prince of Tyre this message from the Sovereign LORD: though you boast that you are a god. 3 You regard yourself as wiser than Daniel and think no secret is hidden from you. 4 With your wisdom and understanding you have amassed great wealth— gold and silver for your treasuries. 5 Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich, and your riches have made you very proud. 6 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you think you are as wise as a god, 7 I will now bring against you a foreign army, and defile your splendor! 8 They will bring you down to the pit, pierced with many wounds. 9 Will you then boast, ‘I am a god!’ but merely a man! 10 You will die like an outcast I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!” 11 Then this further message came to me from the LORD: 12 “Son of man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, on the day you were created. 14 I ordained and anointed you and walked among the stones of fire. 15 “You were blameless in all you did until the day evil was found in you. 16 Your rich commerce led you to violence, from your place among the stones of fire. 17 Your heart was filled with pride and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings. 18 You defiled your sanctuaries in the sight of all who were watching. 19 All who knew you are appalled at your fate. and you will exist no more.”

A Message for Sidon

20 Then another message came to me from the LORD: 21 “Son of man, turn and face the city of Sidon and prophesy against it. 22 Give the people of Sidon this message from the Sovereign LORD: that I am the LORD. 23 I will send a plague against you, that I am the LORD. 24 No longer will Israel’s scornful neighbors that I am the Sovereign LORD.

Restoration for Israel

25 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The people of Israel will again live in their own land, the land I gave my servant Jacob. For I will gather them from the distant lands where I have scattered them. I will reveal to the nations of the world my holiness among my people. 26 They will live safely in Israel and build homes and plant vineyards. And when I punish the neighboring nations that treated them with contempt, they will know that I am the LORD their God.”

Introduction to Ezekiel

Background of Ezekiel

What Is the Book of Ezekiel About?

Time: 4 Minutes

Do you know about the apocalypse craze that captured the imagination of teenagers and young adults in the early 2000s? Animated by interest in the Mayan calendar, many were obsessed with the “end of the world,” supposedly foretold by the Mayans, whose calendar ended on the year 2012.

We have a kind of obsession with the “end times”—think of all the apocalyptic books and movies. In the Bible, though, the apocalypse doesn’t simply mean the “end of the world.” Rather, it’s a revealing or unfolding of that which is real. Literally, the word “apocalypse” means “unveiling.”

We catch a glimpse of this unveiling in the book of Ezekiel.

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. (Ezekiel 1:1 ESV)

Through Ezekiel’s apocalyptic vision, God pulled back the curtain of the physical world. The heavens opened. Ezekiel saw reality—the seen and the unseen. This first verse of Ezekiel alone piques our curiosity—what did he see?

Before we answer that question, we need to know why Ezekiel saw this vision from God.

Ezekiel was a prophet to the exiles from Israel’s southern kingdom, Judah, in 597 BC. The foreign power, Babylon, had violently taken these people from their homes. In other words, God had displaced his people from the land he had given them because of their sin and rebellion against him. Ezekiel lived among the exiles in this foreign land.

A songwriter in the exile laments: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4). How can God’s people worship in such tragic circumstances? If ever God’s people needed to hear from God, it was now. So in his kindness, God sent Ezekiel to the exiles to speak for him—to reorient them to reality. Ezekiel helps the exiles see themselves, God, and their future all from God’s perspective.

God appoints Ezekiel to be a “watchman for the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 3:17). Some of the visions he sees serve to remind the disoriented Israelites that their sins brought about their tragic circumstances. These visions are warnings from God that if they did not turn from their sin, further tragedy would befall Israel, but if they do turn from sin, God will forgive and renew them. Ezekiel tells the exiles that if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all God’s statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die (Ezekiel 18:21).

The book of Ezekiel opens our eyes to the majesty and greatness of God.

Ezekiel also sees visions of God himself. Though Ezekiel and his contemporaries are displaced by Babylon, no longer in Israel, God still visits him in a “chariot” (Ezekiel 1:4-28), symbolizing that God’s power and presence are not confined to only Israel. He is sovereign over all places and people. Ezekiel seems to struggle to describe God. Contrast the long descriptions of the “four living creatures” (Ezekiel 1:4-25) with the rather short and terse description of God (Ezekiel 1:26-28). In contrast to the creatures, God is difficult to describe—what we see of him is merely a “likeness.” This is because he is holy and unlike anything else in all his creation. The book of Ezekiel opens our eyes to the majesty and greatness of God.

Finally, God comforts these exiles with visions of the future: God will gather his people again (Ezekiel 34:11-24) through a Shepherd; he will bring life to our dead bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14); This Shepherd will be a King and unite God’s people (Ezekiel 37:22-28); God will overcome and defeat all of Israel’s enemies (Ezekiel 38-39); and, finally, God’s presence will be restored among his people, with the new temple (Ezekiel 40-48).

Though Ezekiel sees visions of the “end of the world,” this apocalyptic literature in the Bible is different in the Bible than popular understandings of the apocalypse. Ezekiel’s visions are filled with grand and hopeful promises.

Above all of these is God’s promise to give us his Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26), who will remake us and bring us life—life with him (Ezekiel 36:28). The keen Bible reader will see how Jesus fits into each of these future promises. Indeed, the cries of God’s people to be delivered and restored is answered in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

What determines your vision of God, the world, and your future? Open Ezekiel and ask God to make his vision your own.

What Is the Background of Ezekiel?

Time: 20 Minutes

The Background of Ezekiel

1

Author and Date

The first dated message in Ezekiel is from the summer of 593 BC, four years after Nebuchadnezzar deported the first group of exiles to Babylon. The latest dated oracle is 22 years later, in April 571 BC. If Ezekiel was 30 years old when his ministry began (Ezekiel 1:1), the final vision of the book came when he was about 50.

2

Theme and Purpose

Ezekiel spoke to a people forced from their home because they had broken faith with their God. As the spokesman for the Lord, Ezekiel spoke oracles that defended his reputation as a holy God (see especially Ezekiel 36:22–23). The primary purpose of Ezekiel’s message was to restore God’s glory before Israel, who had rejected him in front of the watching nations.

3

Background

Ezekiel prophesied during a time of great confusion following Israel’s exile to Babylon in 597 BC. A former Judean king was among the exiles (the 18-year-old Jehoiachin), and the Babylonians had appointed a puppet king to the throne in Jerusalem (Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah).

In times of crisis, God sent prophets to bring his message to his people. Judah’s exile was therefore a period of intense prophetic activity. (Jeremiah also served during this time.)

Ezekiel’s fellow exiles were his main audience, but his oracles also communicated to people who remained in Judah.

4

Key Themes

1. As a priest, Ezekiel was deeply concerned with restoring God’s people to holiness. His understanding of the depth of Israel’s sin is clear in his version of Israel’s history (ch. 20). Even the oracles about a restored Israel (ch. 40–48) include a way to deal with the people’s sin so they can survive in the presence of a holy God. Ezekiel’s concern with sin also accounts for the many places where the book echoes the laws given in the Pentateuch, as well as the similarities between Ezekiel’s new temple (ch. 40–42) and the Exodus tabernacle.

2. Israel was subject to its national God. However, this God is no tribal deity. He is supreme over all nations. Therefore Nebuchadnezzar, king of mighty Babylon, was simply a tool in God’s hand to accomplish God’s purpose (e.g., Ezekiel 21:19–23; 30:25). God’s absolute supremacy is most clearly demonstrated in the battle against Gog, the final enemy (ch. 38–39), where God alone crushes Gog’s vast hostile forces.

3. Ezekiel declares judgment on those clinging to false hope, but offers true hope to those who accept God’s judgment (Ezekiel 37:11). He linked God’s judgment with the hope of a new heart and spirit (Ezekiel 36:22–32).

4. The condemnation of Israel’s “princes” (e.g., ch. 19) finds its hopeful counterpart in the promise of a future “prince” who would rule with justice (Ezekiel 34:23–24) and connect the people to God (Ezekiel 46:1–18).

5

Outline

I. Inaugural Vision (1:1–3:27)
II. Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah (4:1–24:27)
III. Oracles against Foreign Nations (25:1–32:32)
IV. After the Fall of Jerusalem (33:1–39:29)
V. Vision of Restoration (40:1–48:35)

6

The Near East at the Time of Ezekiel

Background of Ezekiel

The Global Message of Ezekiel

The book of Ezekiel is filled with global significance, both for the world of Ezekiel’s time and for our own world today.

1

Israel’s Failure

Ezekiel lived and prophesied among the Jewish exiles in Babylon immediately after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. This was a tragic time in Israel’s history. God’s promises to Abraham, including the promise that his descendants would live and flourish in the Promised Land, seemed to have been long forgotten. Another cause for discouragement was the way Israel had failed in its calling to be a light to the nations. Instead, the nations had influenced Israel, introducing idolatry and other forms of faithlessness into the life of God’s covenant people.

A particular focus of Ezekiel is the way in which Israel’s failures reflect on God himself. In the eyes of the surrounding nations, God is spurned on account of Israel’s lack of loyalty to him. God is therefore going to take matters directly into his own hands: “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name. . . . And the nations will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 36:22–23). Throughout Ezekiel, therefore, we hear God determining to act “for the sake of his name” (Ezekiel 20:9, 14, 22, 44; 36:22) and “that they might know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 20:12, 26). God’s glory was at stake in Israel’s fidelity—or lack thereof.

2

God’s Solution

At the same time, Israel’s own fate was bound up with the fate of God’s honor. God says to Israel, “through you I will vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you” (Ezekiel 36:23–25). God would not vindicate his own name and honor at Israel’s expense, but rather through mercifully restoring them to himself. Throughout the book of Ezekiel, then, the focus constantly swivels between God’s holiness and mercy, his glory and his grace, his righteous hostility toward his people’s sin and his covenantally bound love for them. Both his holiness and his covenant love are key characteristics of God. They are nonnegotiable, definitive divine attributes. Neither can be compromised.

Only in Christ is this tension resolved. For it is only in Christ that God’s holiness and justice, on the one hand, and his mercy and love, on the other, are reconciled without compromising either. For in Christ God’s righteous justice is satisfied, and yet God’s amazing grace is on full display as believers receive freely the benefits of Christ’s atoning work.

Another way we see Ezekiel’s prophecy anticipate Christ is through the whole-Bible theme of spiritual marriage and adultery. Ezekiel 16 and 23, for example, graphically portray Israel’s faithlessness in terms of whoredom: God is the divine husband, Israel is the faithless wife. This metaphor carries on into the New Testament, where Christ is the great Bridegroom who gives himself up for the sake of his bride (Ephesians 5:25–27, 32; compare Mark 2:19; John 3:29). Indeed, this is the note on which the New Testament ends, as the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven and Christ is depicted as a sacrificial “Lamb” who has given his life for the sake of “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:9).

3

Universal Themes in Ezekiel

The Witness of God’s People to the World

The catastrophe into which Ezekiel was born—exile to Babylon—was the polar opposite of what God had called Israel to do. Israel was to be a light to the nations (Genesis 12:1–3; Isaiah 49:6; 60:3). Instead, the nations had brought darkness to Israel (see Ezekiel 34:12–13). Ezekiel shows how this capitulation to the godless ways of the nations detracts from God’s own glory. It is the welfare of God’s name, not only the welfare of Israel, that is at stake in Israel’s corporate life. God’s people then and now are called to bring the mercy of God to all the nations of the world, so that God might be properly glorified, and the peoples of the earth might be restored to their Maker.

God is Lord of All the Nations

Regardless of whether God’s own people are faithful to their mission to be a light to the nations, Ezekiel teaches us that the God of Israel is no tribal deity but is Lord of all the nations of the world. Even the mighty king of Babylon, seemingly invincible, does only what the God of Israel decrees (Ezekiel 21:19–23; 30:25). In the climactic battle against Gog, too, we see God’s global supremacy as he crushes this rebellious foe (ch. 38–39).

4

The Global Message of Ezekiel for Today

The core message of Ezekiel for the worldwide church today is its radical God-centeredness. The God who is presented in Ezekiel is utterly transcendent, perfectly holy, and not to be relegated to the sidelines of the corporate life of his people. At the same time, the Lord is depicted in Ezekiel as great not only in holiness but in mercy. In spite of his people’s faithlessness, he is not abandoning them but will himself sprinkle them clean and give them new hearts (Ezekiel 11:19–20; 36:25–26).

In our God-minimizing world today, the message of Ezekiel is much needed. Around the world, sin manifests itself not only in outright rebellion and transgression but also in a subtle sidelining of God, both individually and corporately. Trust in political power replaces trust in God’s rightful rule. The false security of money replaces the only solid refuge in God. The passing delights of sexual immorality replace the lasting delights of walking with God. Consumerism and a flood of advertising dull us into thinking that this world is our one shot at truly living. Greedy consumption of the earth’s resources by a powerful few replaces wise stewardship of what God has entrusted to the human race.

In an age of God-minimization, the global church has an urgent message: Our God reigns. He rules over all in power and might, and one day judgment will fall upon those who cling to the things of this world. Yet our message is two-pronged: not only does God reign in might and justice and judgment-to-come, he also invites into his goodness any who will bow their knee to him (Ezekiel 37:23). To those who do, their lifeless bones will be given life, the very breath of God (Ezekiel 37:1–14). They will be sprinkled clean (Ezekiel 36:25). One day Eden will be restored, and all those from around the world who entrust themselves to the Lord will be part of that great and final restoration (Ezekiel 36:33–36).

Want to learn more about the book of Ezekiel? Read our introduction to the book here.

Contribution line

28:1-28:19 The third panel against Tyre (see study note on 26:1–28:19) addresses and condemns its ruler, the prince of Tyre, for his pride. He personifies the city of Tyre, so his fate represents Tyre’s fate. In his arrogance, the prince of Tyre laid claim to divinity and the power that goes with it, asserting that he sat on a divine throne, ruling the chaotic, untamable seas. The reality, however, was otherwise; he was only a man. • This chapter and Isa 14 (about the king of Babylon) have often been interpreted as referring to the heavenly conflict between God and Satan, “the prince of demons” (Matt 12:24). However, this view ignores the historical nature of both passages. Tyre and Babylon were real places and their kings were real men whose great power was matched by great pride. The king of Tyre’s claim to be a god proved hollow. The political powers that oppose God and his people may be agents of Satan in his struggle against God. The sure demise of such human rulers foreshadows God’s ultimate triumph over all the forces of darkness. Every power that sets itself up against the living God will be brought to destruction.

28:3-28:5 The prince of Tyre’s claim to divine status was based on his wisdom and his wealth. His wisdom had made him very rich, and those riches had made him inordinately proud.

28:6-28:7 The prince of Tyre’s pride was the precursor to his fall (Prov 16:18). His claim to wisdom and power would be empty when the Lord brought the Babylonian army against him; they would draw their swords and cut him down to size.

28:8 The clearest demonstration that the prince of Tyre was a mortal man and not a divine being came when he was put to death by the Babylonians. His final resting place would not be in the heights with the gods, but in the pit, the residence of the dead. Like the city of Tyre, the prince of Tyre would die in the heart of the sea (cp. 27:26-27).

28:10 will die like an outcast: Literally will die the death of the uncircumcised. He would perish apart from a covenant relationship with God (cp. Gen 17:10-14).

28:12-28:19 This eulogy at first appears to take the prince of Tyre’s aspirations to divinity seriously. He was the very model of perfection, full of wisdom and . . . beauty. It turns out to be a sarcastic lament.

28:13-28:14 Mocking Tyre’s claim to antiquity and preeminence, Ezekiel describes its king as being present in Eden at the beginning of the world, as the mighty angelic guardian—that is, as one of the heavenly beings that carried the Lord’s throne in ch 1 and guarded the garden in Gen 3. There in Eden, he had access to the holy mountain of God (mountains are often associated with God’s presence in the Bible). • The stones of fire may be an obscure reference to a hedge of sparkling gemstones around the Garden of Eden. The list of jewels that the prince of Tyre supposedly wore in his original glory adds to this image of his divine election since it includes nine of the twelve jewels found on the high priest’s breastplate in Exod 28. This description satirizes the prince of Tyre’s claim to an even higher place than Adam’s—a place among the divine beings themselves.

28:15-28:18 This sarcastic description of the prince of Tyre’s greatness and pride sets him up for his coming fall, which is cast in terms reminiscent of the fall of humanity (Gen 3). As with Adam, the king of Tyre’s supposedly blameless condition was not permanent, but came to an abrupt end when evil was found in him. His rich commerce and dishonest trade led him to violence (cp. Ezek 26:17). One who claimed to be greater than Adam could experience a fall from favor similar to Adam’s and be banished . . . from the mountain of God, the place of God’s favor. The prince of Tyre’s God-given beauty and wisdom were corrupted by his pride, which inevitably led to disaster and exposed his true nature.

28:18-28:19 Far from being a deity who could sanctify a piece of ground by his presence, the prince of Tyre had the opposite effect. He defiled the holy ground of his sanctuaries. Judgment was pronounced on his city in the previous two panels, and it was the prince of Tyre’s fate to come to a terrible end, and . . . exist no more (cp. 26:21; 27:36). The exalted captain would go down with his glorious ship and be brought to nothing by the Lord’s act.

28:20-28:24 No specific charges are made against Sidon, Tyre’s close neighbor to the north, though presumably it was guilty of similar offenses. Its rejoicing at Judah’s destruction would not last.

28:22-28:23 The Lord planned to reveal his glory and holiness by bringing upon Sidon the threefold judgment of plague, blood, and attack (or the sword) on every side.

28:25-28:26 The Lord would not reveal his holiness simply by judging the nations for their pride, arrogance, and enmity toward his chosen people. He would also gather his people back to the land of Israel. There they would live safely and be able to build homes and plant vineyards, which were typical signs of covenantal blessing in the Old Testament (see Mic 4:4; Zech 3:10). After God acted to punish the neighboring nations and restore his people, they would be at rest. The nations would know that God is the Sovereign Lord through his powerful acts of judgment, and Israel would know that he was the Lord their God, a title that speaks of God’s covenant relationship of worship and fellowship with them.

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