It is a common charge that LDS theology, especially its Christology, is at odds with Ezek 28. According to pp.100-101 of this anti-LDS book:
Mormon men say that Lucifer is the brother of Jesus . . . In contrast, the Bible describes Satan (Lucifer) as a created angelic being.
"You (Lucifer) were in the Eden, the garden of God . . . on the day you were created . . . you were the anointed cherub . . . you were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until righteousness was found in you . . . your heart was lifted up . . . you corrupted your wisdom." (Ezekiel 28:13, 15, 17)
Isaiah 14 presents a taunt directed to the king of Babylon; verses 12-15 derive from an early North West Semitic tradition of a god in the divine council who attempts to usurp the throne of the high deity; see the evidence provided in Mark R. Shipp's Of Dead Kings and Dirges: Myth and Meaning in Isaiah 14:4b-21 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002). Biblical scholar Michael Hesier goes so far as to suggest that the reading can be entirely correlated with the Baal-Athtar myth from Ugarit. See Michael S. Heiser, The mythological provenance of Isa. xiv 12-15: a reconsideration of the Ugaritic material, Vetus Testamentum 51 (2001): 354-369. Further, see LDS apologist, Ben McGuire’s article on this issue, “Lucifer and Satan.”
Furthermore, the authors are assuming, when one encounters the concept of “creation,” that it means creation out of nothing (creatio ex materia); however, this is false. For the ancients, God created from pre-existing material. Representative of such scholarship, see Thomas Oord, "An Open Theology Doctrine of Creation and the Solution to the Problem of Evil," in Oord, ed. Creation Made Free: Open Theology Engaging Science (Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick Publications, 2009), pp. 28-52; Oord, ed. Theologies of Creation: Creatio Ex Nihilo and Its New Rivals (Routledge, 2014); Gerhard May, Creatio Ex Nihilo (T&T Clark, 2004) and Blake Ostler's seminal essay, “Out of Nothing: A History of Creation ex Nihilo in Early Christian Thought.”
We even see this in the verb Ezek 28 uses for the “creation” of the king of Tyre ברא.Notice how it is used elsewhere:
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. (Isa 65:17-18; emphasis added)
What is interesting to note in this particular passage is that the term does not have the subtext “out of nothing,” (ex nihilo) but instead, “from pre-existing material (ex materia), as the New Creation will come from a regeneration of this present creation, not one that is generated/created ex nihilo. For a further discussion of creation ex materia, see my review of Thomas Oord’s essay that was referenced above here. Even conservative Evangelicals are forced to admit this:
The root בָּרָא, Genesis 1, or creation by the word (contra Foerster) cannot explicitly communicate a doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. (VanGemeren, W. (Ed.). (1997). New international dictionary of Old Testament theology & exegesis (Vol. 1, p. 732). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
As one commentator on the book of Genesis stated:
If this is correct—and there is no other convincing attempt to trace the derivation of ברא—then the Priestly ברא is based on a concrete idea, something like יצר. We do not know if the word was used of creation by God in this concrete sense before Deutero-Isaiah and P. One must be cautious about attributing too much to the word as if it could of itself say something about the uniqueness of the creative act of God. It is clear that it was P’s intention to use a special theological word for creation by God. But it is not correct to regard this word as the only one and to neglect such words as עשׂה or יצר. Nor is it correct to read creatio ex nihilo out of the word as such as, for example, does P. Heinisch: “If not always, then for the most part, the word indicates creatio ex nihilo.” On the other hand A. Heidel is correct: “This concept (creatio ex nihilo), however, cannot be deduced from the Hebrew verb bārāʾ, to create, as it has been done.… There is no conclusive evidence in the entire Old Testament that the verb itself ever expresses the idea of a creation out of nothing,” p. 89. (Westermann, C. (1994). A Continental Commentary: Genesis 1–11 (pp. 99–100). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.)
The critic is out in left field concerning (1) LDS Christology in general and (2) the issue of Satan and Jesus (and all of us) being "spiritual brothers" (their presentation of this is nothing short of yellow journalism). See my article, The "Mormon Jesus" being a "Spirit Brother" of Satan--what the Bible really says for a refutation of this charge, showing the Bible supports Latter-day Saint theology on this matter.
More importantly for this discussion, the critic is guilty of eisegesis of Ezek 28.
Firstly, it is commonly believed that Satan fell from heaven into Eden, or that he gained access to Eden in order to tempt Adam and Eve, but this text says that the person in view was in Eden before he sinned, and only cast out after he sinned. Further, as Duncan Heaster notes:
“Thou hast been in Eden”, refers to where the king of Tyre was in place, not in time. Pharaoh and Assyria are similarly described as being a “cedar in Lebanon”, no “tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty...all the trees of Eden envied him...yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised” (Ez. 31:2,3,8,9,16,18). Thus "You have been in Eden" has similarities with the language used by Ezekiel about Egypt in Ez. 31. Egypt is described in language which recalls the trees in the garden of Eden, watered by many waters- and then cut down. In the same way as the Garden of Eden was ended, so would Egypt be.
The trees in Eden are not to be taken literally, they represent the nations whom Pharaoh and Assyria conquered, possibly referring to the fact that they were all within the old geographical boundaries of the garden of Eden. Pharaoh being the greatest of the trees in Eden and the most appealing maybe, suggests that he was taking to himself the place of the tree of knowledge, which was in the midst of Eden and probably the most attractive of them all, seeing that it fascinated Eve so much with its tempting fruit. Pharaoh was not literally that tree, but in the parable he was making himself like it. Similarly the king of Tyre is likened in this parable to the cherubim in Eden.
In reality, competent biblical scholars reject the idea that Satan before his fall is in view in Ezek 28, to the critic’s use of this passage rests on eisegesis, not sound exegesis. Notice the following:
Direct equation of Eden with the garden of God (gan-ʾĕlōhı̂m) is found in Ezek 28:13. Here the king of Tyre is described residing in Eden, the garden of God, enjoying its privileges, and exhibiting a life commensurate with that until iniquity is found in him (v 15). He is then driven out to die without dignity on earth (vv 17–19). Equation of Eden with the garden of God is also found in Ezek 31:8–9 in an oracle describing the pharaoh of Egypt as a mighty and splendid tree with its top in the clouds and its roots watered by subterranean springs. It was luxuriant and provided shelter for animals and birds (vv 3–7). !e trees of Eden which were “in the garden of God” were jealous of it (v 9). Further reference is made to the trees of Eden in the subsequent oracles speaking of the downfall of the pharaoh (vv 16–18) . . . Some scholars have argued that the oracles of Ezekiel 28 and 31 show direct literary dependence on the Eden narrative of Genesis 2–3. Certainly some motifs are held in common (the magnificent trees, the rebellion against God and subsequent expulsion, wisdom, precious stones, cherubim, and fire) and the oracles reveal some knowledge of the Eden tradition, but the stories also show marked differences. It is easier to assume that the Ezekiel passages come from a fluid oral tradition, and while they have drawn on the same theme and used some of the same motifs, they nevertheless have been composed independently of Genesis 2–3. (Howard N. Wallace, "Eden, Garden of" in the Anchor Bible Dictionary)
According to another source:
28.11-19: Dirge for the king of Tyre. While it was the “ruler” who was condemned in vv.1-10, here the lament is for the king. This prophecy is to be understood against the background of the king of Tyre being in a bejewelled Garden of Eden. References to the Garden of Eden are very rare outside of Gen. chs 2-3. The king boats of his wisdom and beauty, qualities that the ancient Near Eastern kings were expected to have. 12: Seal of perfection, a unique expression, here is a sign of royal authority. 13-15: Ezekiel employs the imagery of the Garden of Eden story to describe the Tyrian king’s downfall. 14: He employs the imagery of the cherub to stress the Tyrian king’s power and high position. The once perfect creature is shown to have sinned and therefore was struck down. (The Jewish Study Bible [2d ed; Oxford, 2014], 1084)
Even scholars who tie Ezek 28 back to the “serpent” in Eden will admit that the King of Tyre is not Satan before his fall. See, for instance:
Michael S. Heiser, The Nachash and His Seed: Some Explanatory Notes on Why the "Serpent" in Genesis 3 Wasn't a Serpent
Some disagree that this refers to the serpent, and believe that it instead refers to Adam (but still in the Garden of Eden which is clearly identified here in Ezekiel). In this case, to harmonize with the language of divinity, it would be asserted that Adam was divine in some way before his fall. At any rate, we have part of the narrative of Ezekiel's oracle referring to the King of Tyre and part of it referring to one of these two beings in the Garden of Eden - and then a comparison between the two of them. Adam/the Serpent lose their glory when they are expelled from the Garden. So too, the King of Tyre will lose his glory and will come to a horrible end in the eyes of all the nations, as a just repayment for his sins - so too was Adam/the serpent's punishment just.
On this, Old Testament scholar Dexter E. Callender, jr. wrote:
In Ezek 28:11-19 we encounter a presentation of the primal human that is fundamentally different from what we observed in the traditions of Genesis. It is a prophetic oracle built on allusions to the primal human. In it, mythological elements are invoked to make a point. The primal human becomes an expression of another protagonist—the king of Tyre, the putative focal point of the oracle. The text tells us something of the myth of the primal human in an indirect way. Here the primal human is not cast within simple linear history, or as the past progenitor of humanity responsible for the ills of the race. Rather, he emerges in the mind of the trident as a mythical paradigm whose identity coalesces with that of the Tyrian monarch. The king of Tyre is not simply “like” the primal human, he is the primal human . . . . Verses 12-14 describe the glorious exalted state of the primal human. There are some difficulties in the language that present obvious problems, but the state of exaltation is nonetheless clear. The information given in these verses suggests both royal and priestly imagery. The picture I believe we are given is that of the primal human, endowed at his creation with royal and priestly accoutrements, a common topos in the ancient Near East. As in the Genesis 2-3 account, the primal human is set within the context of the divine habitation and cohabits with the divine . . . The phrase ba’eden gan ‘elohim hayita in v. 13 is obviously reminiscent of the Genesis 2-3 narrative . . . Eden represents the divine abode. Just as in the first oracle of Ezek 28:1-10, so here the protagonist is placed in the divine habitation. It was referred to as the seat or dwelling of the gods in 28:2, and here it is referred to as Eden, the garden of God. The phrase may also be translated ‘garden of the gods’ or ‘divine garden’. But this location is also called har qodesh ‘elohim, ‘the holy mountain of God’ in v. 14 and har ‘elohim ‘the mountain of God’ in v. 16; the garden and the mountain are equated as the divine habitation. There is, no doubt, significance in the fact that the protagonist is stated to be in the divine habitation: the protagonist was a human living in a divine place—a situation identical to that presented in the first oracle in 28:1-10.(Dexter E. Callender, Jr. Adam in Myth and History: Ancient Israelite Perspectives on the Primal Human [Harvard Semitic Studies 48; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000], 87, 90, 100)
Concluding the discussion of Ezek 28, the author writes:
The theme of conflict between God and the primordial being is perhaps the most recognizable of the elements in the text. In this oracle, the conflict stems from the figure’s location and relation to divinity, particularly with respect to wisdom. The conflict is explicitly called ‘sin’ and is represented in the abuse of wisdom.
The misdeed leads to the primal human’s expulsion from the divine abode, and death. The imagery is much like that found in Genesis 3. He is expelled (‘profaned’) from the holy mountain of God—a place also referred to as Eden, the garden of God—and driven out (literally ‘made to perish from’) the divine beings . . . Eze 28:11-19 reveals a structure that features a contrast of states or conditions and it is this contrast, reiterated several times over, that captures the essence of the conflict. (Ibid., 135)
Interestingly, on Ezek 28:14, Callender notes that:
There are two traditions in 28:14 with regard to the identity of the cherub. The consonantal text is ambiguous regarding the relationship between the primal human and the cherub. The Masoretic pointing suggests quite clearly that the cherub and the first human figure are one and the same. The Greek and Syriac suggests that the phrase ‘att kerub ‘you were the cherub’ should probably be read ‘et-kerub ‘(you were) with the cherub’. What is more, the tradition preserved in Gen 3:24 seems quite clearly to make a distinction between human and cherub. Because of the Greek and Syriac witnesses and Gen 3:24, I have adopted the reading ‘I placed you with the anointed cherub’. (Ibid., 109)
Notwithstanding, it is clear that this attack on Latter-day Saint theology, as with so many arguments, greatly misses the mark and shows our critics to be poor exegetes of the Bible. There is nothing in Ezek 28 that is in conflict with “Mormon” theology.
