Ezechiel xxviii.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 2. Prince. The Jews say Hiram, (St. Jerome) supposing that he lived a thousand years; though this is not requisite, as he died only four hundred and thirty years before. The idea is childish. The king who was taken and slain at this siege, was probably (Calmet) Ithobalos. (Josephus, Antiquities x. 11.) — Origen applies this to the angel guardian of Tyre. St. Augustine thins an allusion is made to the fall of Lucifer. But it may all refer to the king, (Calmet) though others explain part of him and the rest of the devil. (St. Jerome) (Estius)
Ver. 3. Than Daniel; viz., in thy own conceit. The wisdom of Daniel was so much celebrated in his days, that it became a proverb among the Chaldeans, when any one would express an extraordinary wisdom, to say he was as wise as Daniel. (Challoner) (Worthington) — He was now at court, and had explained the dream of Nabuchodonosor, Daniel ii. 27.
Ver. 10. Uncircumcised. The Jews deem this a disgrace, 1 Kings xxxi. 4. The king would be exposed to eternal death, being devoid of faith, &c. (Calmet)
Ver. 12. Resemblance. The king of Tyre, by his dignity and his natural perfections, bore in himself a certain resemblance to God, by reason of which he might be called the seal of resemblance, &c. But what is here said to him is commonly understood of Lucifer, the king over all the children of pride. (Challoner) — A seal is perfect when it represents things exactly. The prophet speaks ironically, to repress the king’s vanity.
Ver. 13. Paradise. Thou hadst every thing delightful at Tyre. (Calmet) — Covering. Hebrew, “bandage;” diadem, (Haydock) or belt. Septuagint specify twelve stones. See Exodus xxviii. 17. — Pipes; music used at the coronation, which was celebrated as a birth-day. (Calmet) — God gives and withdraws power from all kings. As long as they act well, they are in a sort of sanctuary. (Haydock)
Ver. 14. Stretched out. That is, thy wings extended. This alludes to the figure of the cherubims in the sanctuary, which with stretched out wings covered the ark, (Challoner) on the holy mountain. (St. Jerome, &c.) — Fire. That is, bright and precious stones, which sparkle like fire. (Challoner) — With these the king’s robes glittered, or he walked upon them, Esther i. 6. (Calmet) — Calcacabatur onyx. (Lucan x.)
Ver. 15. Iniquity. Tyre was before wicked; but when the king pretended to be a god, (ver. 2.) it could no longer be endured. (Worthington)
Ver. 17. Beauty. Riches have corrupted thy heart.
Ver. 18. Sanctuaries, or temples, which was a crime (Calmet) in an idolater, as he took them to be the temples of a real deity. (Haydock)
Ver. 22. Sidon. It gave rise to Tyre, yet was now inferior, though independent of it, (Isaias xxiii. 4.) or subject to Egypt. (Diodorus ii. 2.) — It was now pillaged.
Ver. 24. Bitterness. Jezabel came hence; (4 Kings xvi. 31.) and the Phœnicians hemmed in the Israelites as much as possible, and fought against them. (Calmet) — Sidon was near Tyre, and imitating her crimes was also punished.
Ver. 25. When. All shall praise God, seeing that he receives his people again after he has justly chastised them. (Worthington)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
The king of Tyre, who affected to be like to God, shall fall under the like sentence with Lucifer. The judgment of Sidon. The restoration of Israel.
1 And *the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 Son of man: say to the prince of Tyre: Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said: I am God, and I sit in the chair of God, in the heart of the sea: whereas, thou art a man, and not God: and hast set thy heart as if it were the heart of God.
3 Behold thou art wiser than Daniel: no secret is hid from thee.
4 In thy wisdom, and thy understanding, thou hast made thyself strong: and hast gotten gold, and silver, into thy treasures.
5 By the greatness of thy wisdom, and by thy traffic, thou hast increased thy strength: and thy heart is lifted up with thy strength.
6 Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Because thy heart is lifted up as the heart of God:
7 Therefore behold, I will bring upon thee strangers, the strongest of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy beauty.
8 They shall kill thee, and bring thee down: and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain in the heart of the sea.
9 Wilt thou yet say before them that slay thee: I am God; whereas thou art a man, and not God, in the hand of them that slay thee?
10 Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
11 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre:
12 And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty,
13 Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle, and the emerald: gold, the work of thy beauty: and thy pipes were prepared in the day that thou wast created.
14 Thou a cherub stretched out, and protecting, and I set thee in the holy mountain of God, thou hast walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee.
16 By the multitude of thy merchandise, thy inner parts were filled with iniquity, and thou hast sinned: and I cast thee out from the mountain of God, and destroyed thee, O covering cherub, out of the midst of the stones of fire.
17 And thy heart was lifted up with thy beauty: thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast thee to the ground: I have set thee before the face of kings, that they might behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thy iniquities, and by the iniquity of thy traffic: therefore, I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, to devour thee: and I will make thee as ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all that see thee.
19 All that shall see thee among the nations, shall be astonished at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.
20 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
21 Son of man, set thy face against Sidon: and thou shalt prophesy of it,
22 And shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, Sidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall execute judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
23 And I will send into her pestilence, and blood in her streets: and they shall fall, being slain by the sword, on all sides, in the midst thereof: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
24 And the house of Israel shall have no more a stumbling-block of bitterness, nor a thorn causing pain on every side round about them, of them that are against them: and they shall know that I am the Lord God.
25 Thus saith the Lord God: When I shall have gathered together the house of Israel, out of the people among whom they are scattered: I will be sanctified in them before the Gentiles: and they shall dwell in their own land, which I gave to my servant, Jacob.
26 And they shall dwell therein secure, and they shall build houses, and shall plant vineyards, and shall dwell with confidence, when I shall have executed judgments upon all that are their enemies round about: and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.
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1: Year of the World 3415.