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Friday · Week 14
The Later Prophets

Ezekiel 28-29

Week 14 · about 10 min
  1. Sat: Psalms 17-20
  2. Sun: Exodus 14-17
  3. Mon: Mark 6-7

Ezekiel speaks against the ruler of Tyre, then Sidon, and then turns to Pharaoh of Egypt.

Yet Thou Art a Man, and Not God

Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast 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:

Ezekiel 28:2 (KJV)

Tyre’s ruler got so rich and clever that he decided he was divine. God’s answer is short: “yet thou art a man, and not God.” A second lament goes further. It describes someone in Eden, a guardian cherub, perfect until iniquity was found in him. Like Isaiah 14, many readers see Satan’s own fall reflected here. In chapter 29 Pharaoh is a great monster lying in the Nile, saying “My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.” God will put hooks in his jaws and drag him out. The thread through all these chapters is pride, treating what God gave as if it were your own.

Reflect: What do you treat as “mine own” that God actually gave you?

Ezekiel 28

1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the heart of the seas, (and thou art a man, and not God,) and thou settest thy heart as the heart of God:

3behold, thou art wiser than Daniel! nothing secret is obscure for thee;

4by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures;

5by thy great wisdom thou hast by thy traffic increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches.

6Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God,

7therefore behold, 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 tarnish thy brightness.

8They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of those that are slain in the heart of the seas.

9Wilt thou then say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and not God, in the hand of him that pierceth thee.

10Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised, by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.

11And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

12Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou, who sealest up the measure of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty,

13thou wast in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the chrysolite, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the carbuncle, and the emerald, and gold. The workmanship of thy tambours and of thy pipes was in thee: in the day that thou wast created were they prepared.

14Thou wast the anointed covering cherub, and I had set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou didst walk up and down in the midst of stones of fire.

15Thou wast perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee.

16By the abundance of thy traffic they filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned; therefore have I cast thee as profane from the mountain of God, and have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I have cast thee to the ground, I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18By the multitude of thine iniquities, by the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries: and I have brought forth a fire out of the midst of thee -- it hath consumed thee; and I have brought thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19All they that know thee among the peoples shall be amazed at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.

20And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

21Son of man, set thy face towards Zidon, and prophesy against it,

22and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, Zidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be hallowed in her.

23And I will send into her the pestilence, and blood in her streets; and the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, by the sword upon her on every side: and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

24And there shall be no more a wounding sting for the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn, among all that were round about them, that despised them: and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.

25Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be hallowed in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their land which I have given to my servant Jacob.

26They shall dwell in it in safety, and shall build houses and plant vineyards; and they shall dwell in safety, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despised them round about them: and they shall know that I am Jehovah their God.

Ezekiel 29

1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against the whole of Egypt;

3speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which saith, My river is mine own, and I made it for myself.

4And I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales;

5and I will cast thee into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open field; thou shalt not be brought together nor gathered: I will give thee for meat to the beasts of the earth and to the fowl of the heavens.

6And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

7When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst give way and rend all their shoulder; and when they leaned upon thee, thou didst break, and didst make all their loins to tremble.

8Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast from thee.

9And the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste: and they shall know that I am Jehovah, because he saith, The river is mine, and I made it.

10Therefore behold, I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt deserts of wasteness and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, even unto the border of Ethiopia.

11No foot of man shall pass through it, nor shall foot of beast pass through it, nor shall it be inhabited, forty years.

12And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolated, and her cities shall be, in the midst of the cities that are laid waste, a desolation forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

13Yet thus saith the Lord Jehovah: At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the peoples whither they were scattered;

14and I will turn again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return to the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth, and they shall there be a base kingdom.

15It shall be the basest of kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; and I will diminish them, so that they shall no more rule over the nations.

16And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance, when they turn after them: and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.

17And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

18Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to do hard service against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he from Tyre no wages, nor his army, for the service that he had served against it.

19Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry away her multitude, and seize her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.

20I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord Jehovah.

21In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them: and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

Darby Translation (Darby). Public domain.