28:1–5 The king199 of Tyre acts as a personification of the city, seated “in the heart of the seas” (27:4, 25, 26, 27; 28:2). His heart is so exalted with pride that he attributes to himself godlike identity and authority: “I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods” (v. 2). Yet in reality he is no god but a mere mortal (Hb. ʾadam, “a man”; v. 2). His residence is not a divine mountain, such as the one inhabited by the Canaanite deities, but merely a low-lying island. He lives “in the heart of the seas,” which is not merely a geographical description but suggests the fragility of his situation, surrounded on all sides by the archetypal symbol of the forces of chaos.

The king boasts of his divine intelligence, believing his “heart” (the seat of thinking in antiquity) to be “like the heart of a god”; he also proclaims his divine wisdom, claiming to be wiser than Daniel (v. 3). It is debated by commentators whether this is a reference to the figure Danel from ancient Near Eastern mythology or the biblical character Daniel (the spellings are interchangeable). Ancient Danel certainly displays great wisdom in the Ugaritic Aqhat epic,200 but it is extremely unlikely that a prophet like Ezekiel would hold up a pagan as an exemplar of a virtue whose foundation is the fear of the Lord (Prov. 1:7). In the biblical book that bears his name, Ezekiel’s older contemporary Daniel perfectly fits the description of someone from whom no secret is hidden and who unravels mysteries not normally accessible to mere flesh and blood (cf. Dan. 2:21–23, 47; 4:6, 18; 5:12), and he would have been well-known to Ezekiel’s audience in Babylon. He therefore seems the likelier point of comparison. Yet the king of Tyre claims to have exceeded even Daniel’s remarkable insights. It is to these qualities that the king of Tyre attributes all his financial and commercial success (Ezek. 28:4–5). Truly, his heart has become puffed up in his wealth and prosperity.

28:6–10 It will not take much effort, however, for the Lord to expose the emptiness of the king of Tyre’s claim. Because of the king’s pride, the Lord will demonstrate what true divine power looks like, bringing ruthless nations against the city who will defile the king’s “splendor”201 and demonstrate his mortality through the simple means of putting him to death (vv. 7–8). Not only can the king of Tyre not defend his city; despite his wealth and wisdom he cannot even defend himself. He will die the death of the uncircumcised—not literally, since the Phoenicians, like most ancient Near Eastern nations, practiced circumcision,202 but metaphorically. That is, he will join the ranks of the non-elect outsiders, cast down to the pit, the most undesirable portion of the underworld, along with those unfortunate souls who died in battle. The repetition of “in the heart of the seas” (v. 8) highlights the connection between the king’s fate and that of the city itself.

28:11–15 To raise a lament for the king of Tyre presupposes his death (v. 12) and therefore the emptiness of his claims to divinity. Like most eulogies, the lament begins by enumerating the deceased’s qualities, here ratcheted up to ludicrous levels, as if his claims to superman status had some warrant in reality. The king is described as the “signet of perfection” (v. 12)—that is, the touchstone of beauty and proportion, full of wisdom and consummate in appearance. It is unusual to compare humans to such sealing devices,203 but it was not unknown. In Jeremiah 22:24; Haggai 2:23 Jehoiachin is compared to a seal, and the point of comparison is the preciousness of such objects. Here, however, the point may be the similarity between the seal and the imprint it makes: the “signet of perfection” itself reflects the stamp of wisdom and beauty. It is, we might say, the “exact image of perfection” (cf. Col. 1:15).

The king’s status is underlined by his description as the original human being, with access to Eden, the garden of God’s presence (cf. Genesis 2). As king-priest of that garden sanctuary,204 he was adorned with all kinds of sacred precious stones—the list here is not just a random selection of jewels but includes nine of the twelve stones from the high priestly breastplate.205 Yet even this unparalleled high status of “original human” is less than the king of Tyre’s claim of divinity; such a human is still “created” rather than Creator (Ezek. 28:13). Perhaps the highest affirmation is the king’s description as an “anointed guardian cherub” (v. 14), one of the heavenly beings Ezekiel saw protecting and carrying the divine throne in chapters 1; 10. These cherubim were the guardians of the entry to the garden of Eden after the expulsion of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:24). In this parody of his claims the king of Tyre was anointed and set apart to that sacred task. In pursuit of that mission he was given access to the holy mount of God, walking (or patrolling; Hb. hithallek can have a military force, as in Zech. 6:7) among the stones of fire (Ezek. 28:14).206 Taken together, these references to the creation narrative set up the picture of the king of Tyre as the first (and therefore foremost) of all men—indeed, as greater than all men, for was he not also anointed as a cherub, one of the divine beings? Nor was this beauty merely external; he was blameless in his actions as well.

Nevertheless, amid this impressive eulogy, the seeds of the king’s coming downfall are already evident. He was only blameless “till unrighteousness was found in you” (v. 15). And his claims of divinity could not be substantiated, because there was a day on which he was created (vv. 13, 15). His pride would inevitably lead to a tragic fall.

28:16–19 That fall, when it came, was shocking and swift. The realities behind the metaphor protrude through the veil, and it becomes clear that Ezekiel is speaking of the actual city of Tyre; in its endless pursuit of economic growth the city was filled with violence. Since the king’s task was to establish justice and righteousness in the community, he was charged with sin when these virtues were absent. The parallels with the story of Adam and Eve are obvious. Nothing corrupt can remain in the divine presence, and so the king was cast out of the sanctuary and “banished” (ESV mg.) from his former status as guardian cherub in the beautiful garden (v. 16). It is not merely the king’s toleration of violence for which he is driven out; he is also convicted of pride and corrupted wisdom. His lofty status led him to aspire to even higher glory, instead of being content with the beauty and dependent wisdom with which the Lord had gifted him. The punishment fits the crime: aspiring to move higher, the king was cast down to the earth, or perhaps even the underworld, since the Hebrew ʾerets can have that force (cf. 26:20).207

The third charge returns to the subject of unrighteous trade. The source of Tyre’s great wealth and the king’s boast in 28:4–5, the marketplace of the nations, is also the locus of his greatest sin. The exact nature of Tyre’s unrighteous trade is not spelled out, though the inclusion of slaves in the cargo list of 27:13 is one example of the way in which the pursuit of massive wealth easily tramples God’s law. Even though certain forms of slavery were tolerated and regulated in the OT, commercial slavery—buying and selling human beings—was not permitted. Other luxury goods on that list also had human costs attached. Such sin profaned Tyre’s holy status and resulted in judgment: the fire of holiness consumed her from within, turning her to ashes. Once again, as with the sinking of the ship in chapter 27, this fall is public and widely observed by her former friends and allies. The triptych ends with the third appearance of the ominous refrain, “You have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more” (28:19; cf. 26:21; 27:36).

28:20–23 This short oracle against Sidon could easily get lost against the backdrop of the lengthy oracle against her much larger neighbor. It seems plausible that it was included to provide a complete number of seven oracles against the nations (with seven distinct oracles against the final nation, Egypt). The oracle itself is somewhat formulaic. No specific charges are brought against Sidon; presumably she joined her neighbors in rejoicing over Jerusalem’s destruction. The focus is squarely on the city’s destruction and the Lord’s motivation; the Lord will demonstrate his glory by completely destroying the city and her inhabitants. The result of this judicial action will be that Sidon, like their neighbors, will know the Lord’s power to predict and direct the course of human history (vv. 22, 23, 24; cf. 25:5, 7, 11, 17; 26:6).

28:24–26 As noted earlier, the oracles against the nations are intended to convey a message to God’s own people, one contained in these verses at the center of the oracles. Israel too will come to know the Lord’s sovereign power when he deals with their neighbors for treating them with contempt (vv. 24, 26). The Abrahamic covenant is still in force: those who treat Israel with contempt will be cursed (Gen. 12:3, though the Hebrew verb is different). The Sinai covenant threatened that the nations around Israel would be thorns in their eyes if they did not drive them out (Num. 33:55; Josh. 23:13; Judg. 2:3), and so it has happened—as the oracles against the nations have made clear. But now those thorns and briers will be removed (Ezek. 28:24; cf. Isa. 27:4; 33:12): Israel will once again dwell in the land given to Jacob, no longer in fear but securely (Ezek. 28:26; cf. Lev. 25:18, 19; 26:5). She will build houses and plant vineyards, long-term projects that speak of enduring peace (contrast the curse of Deut. 28:20). Israel too will then be able to recognize the Lord’s sovereign power—not poured out in judgment upon her, as has been the case so frequently thus far in Ezekiel (e.g., Ezek. 6:10; 13:9; 23:49; 24:24), but now unleashed in judgment on Israel’s neighbors, which will mean salvation and blessing for God’s people. He will be their God, and they will be his people (cf. Ex. 6:7).