On
Ezek 28:1-2:
The opening words are aimed directly
at the prince of Tyre. The Lord accuses him of overweening pride: your
heart is proud (literally, “lifted up” or “exalted”). This ruler has
claimed divine status for himself, saying, I am a god, / I sit in the
seat o the gods, / in the hearts of the seas. (Daniel A. Keating, Ezekiel
[Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker
Academic, 2024], 200)
On
Ezek 28:11-19:
The qualities that Ezekiel assigns to
the king of Tyre are stunning. He is the signet of perfection, / full of
wisdom / and perfect in beauty. This is high praise indeed! A “signet” is a
seal, often fixed to a ring made from a fine jewel. Here the “signet” or “seal”
is a sign revealing the identity and character of the Tyrian king. The description
of the king of Tyre as “the signet of perfection” is probably intended as an
echo of Adam and Eve being in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27).
Furthermore, this king dwelt in
Eden, the garden of God, where he had access to precious gems. The king, who
dwelt on the holy mountain of God, was given an anointed guardian
cherub to guard him. Additionally, the king—like Adam—was blameless in all
his ways until the day when unrighteousness was found in him. Because of this,
God cast him away from the mountain of God. All this took place because his heart
was proud and his wisdom became corrupted. This glorious figure, who began
with such promise, is cast to the ground, exposed before all the nations, and
destroyed by fire. It is the story of the rise and fall of Tyre’s king,
figuratively portrayed against the backdrop of the creation and fall of Adam.
The scene of Adam in the garden
provides the imaginative backdrop for the magnificent endowments and the tragic
fall of he king of Tyre, and the parallels between the Tyrian king and Adam in
the garden of Eden are striking and unmistakable. Like Adam, the king of Tyre
dwelt in Eden, the garden of God. All this was prepared for him
on the day of his creation. A guardian cherub was there in the garden
with him, and the king walked in righteousness right up until the day
when pride claimed his heart. Because of his pride, like Adam he was cast out
of the garden and brought to ruin. All this recalls the figure of Adam in the
garden.
While the parallels are many, there
are also contrasts. The precious gems fixed on the Tyrian king’s clothing are
in sharp contrast to the naked state of Adam (and Eve) in the garden. Notably,
the list of gems generally matches the precious stones sewn into the high
priests’ garments (see Exod 28:17-20; 39:10-13), and so links the figure of the
prince of Tyre and the high priest is unclear, but is striking that the high
priest bore on his garments the “signets” of the twelve tribes of Israel (Exod
39:6, 14), and that the high priest’s crown
bore an inscription “like the engravings of a signet, ‘Holy to the Lord’” (Exod
39:30). This link between the king of Tyre and the high priest may also be
based on Ezekiel’s belief that Adam himself originally possessed a high
priestly role in creation.
Two details in Ezekiel’s story find no
parallel in Genesis: the garden of Eden is situated on the mountain of God,
and the king of Tyre walks in the midst of the stones of fire. Ezekiel
freely adapts the details of the Genesis story to show how great were the
endowments of the king of Tyre and how devastating his subsequent fall through
pride. (Ibid., 202-4)
. . . Ezekiel probably understood himself
to be prophesying about the king of Tyre . . . (Ibid., 204)
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