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  1. Tue: Isaiah 36-39
  2. Wed: 1 Samuel 13-16
  3. Thu: 2 Corinthians 4-7
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

1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, 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 man, and not God, though thou didst set thine heart as the heart of God:

3behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from 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 and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

6therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Because thou hast set thine 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 defile thy brightness.

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

9Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou art man, and not God, in the hand of him that woundeth thee.

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

11Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

12Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Thou sealest up the sum, 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 beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared.

14Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

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

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

17Thine 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, in the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of thee, it hath devoured thee, and I have turned 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 astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt never be any more.

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

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

22and say, Thus saith 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.

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

24And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor a grieving thorn of any that are round about them, that did despite unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

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

26And they shall dwell securely therein; yea, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and shall dwell securely; when I have executed judgments upon all those that do them despite round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.

Ezekiel 29

1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:

3speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have 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, with all the fish of thy rivers which stick unto thy scales.

5And I will leave thee thrown 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 have given thee for meat to the beasts of the earth and to the fowls of the heaven,

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

7When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and didst rend all their shoulders: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.

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

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

10therefore behold, I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even unto the border of Ethiopia.

11No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.

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

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

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

15It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it any more lift itself up above the nations: and I will diminish them, 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 to look after them: and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

17And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

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

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

20I have given him the land of Egypt as his recompence for which he served, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.

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

Revised Version (RV). Revised Version (RV), 1885, public domain.