Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, 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 prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou was upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more (verses 11-19).
The Prince and the King are identical, and not different persons as some say. But what is said now of the ruler of Tyrus as king could never be said of a mere human being. Hardly any of the descriptions given in these verses can be applied to the heathen King of Tyrus. The description fits another being, the person who was originally the greatest and most beautiful creature of God, but has become a fallen creature and the enemy of God. In one word, it is Satan in his original greatness and in his fall who is revealed in connection with the King of Tyrus. Satan was the power behind the throne of the Tyrian King, as Satan is still the god of this age who controls the kingdoms of the world. Inasmuch, then, as Tyrus is a type of the commercial glory of the world, its wealth and pride, foreshadowing the final great world-city or world-system, Babylon, the ruler of Tyrus, spoken of as Prince, foreshadows the Antichrist, while as King, Satan himself stands behind him as the domineering power. The descriptions given of Satan as an unfallen being, show that he was originally a marvelous being, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. From Jude's epistle we learn that even Michael still recognized in him the grandeur of his unfallen past and did not bring a railing accusation against him (Jude verses 8-10). He was in Eden, the garden of God, and every precious stone was his covering. It is a description of Satan's original place and of his great beauty. Furthermore, he was the anointed cherub that covereth; the Lord had set him to be this. As the anointed, divinely chosen cherub he held an exalted position in connection with the government of the throne of God.[19] Everything shows that this majestic creature possessed a place of great dignity, being "upon the holy mountain of God," walking up and down in the midst of the stones of fire, he was ever present and moving about in the fiery glory of a holy and righteous God. "Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till unrighteousness was found in thee." Surely the first part of this verse could never apply to the King of Tyrus nor to any other human; it is a picture of the unfallen glorious creature of God. But unrighteousness was found in him. He sinned, and as a result divine sentence is pronounced upon him. Yet this sentence in verse 16 is not yet executed. He is not yet cast out in the fullest sense, nor bruised completely, nor is he in the lake of fire. All this is future. God in His all-wise purpose delays the complete execution of this judgment. But the day will come when he, who walked once in the presence of the glory of God, in the midst of the stones of fire, will be cast into the lake of fire, his eternal abode. What was his sin? "Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou has corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." He became puffed up, lifted up with pride (1 Tim. iii:6) on account of his own beauty and brightness. There can be no question, but the person so closely linked with the King of Tyrus is Satan. The passage contains one of the most interesting revelations we have in the Bible on the person and dignity of that fallen being. Verses 18 and 19 show that the King is in view and the fate of his city Tyrus: "I have turned thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee."
III. A Prophecy Concerning Zidon.
Again the word of the Lord came unto me saying: Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it. And 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. For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord. And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despiseth them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord (verses 20-26).
Zidon (or Sidon) was situated twenty miles north of Tyrus. Like Tyrus she was built offshore on island rocks. For many years Zidon was even more prominent and prosperous than Tyrus. She was burnt after a revolt against Artaxerxes Ochus, 351 B. C., but later rebuilt. See its mention in the New Testament in Mark iii:8, vii:24. Jehovah announces that He would execute judgments in Zidon and thus be glorified and sanctified in her. When a holy God deals in judgments with sin, with individuals and nations, He maintains thereby His holy character. He is light in whom there is no darkness at all and a consuming fire. It has been said that there is no special transgression mentioned why Zidon should be judged. No doubt she was as proud as her sister city Tyrus. But verse 24 tells us the reason; she was a pricking brier to the house of Israel. She sinned against her neighbor, the people of God, and for that judgment came on her. And so can present-day nations not escape judgment for their sins against the Jews. The last two verses are a prophecy relating to Israel's restoration. Needless to say up to this time their restoration has not taken place. The time is given when it will come, when the Lord executes judgment upon the nations. When our Lord comes again these judgments will fall. And how near all this must be when we behold nations filling full the measure of their wickedness and the Jews as a suffering people with faces turned towards their homeland.
PROPHECIES CONCERNING EGYPT.
Chapter xxix.
The predictions about Tyrus and Zidon are followed by the prophecies against Egypt. These prophecies are of even greater interest than those preceding. First Pharaoh and Egypt are addressed; the coming judgment and the desolation of the land is announced. A restoration after forty years is promised when the captivity of Egypt is to be brought again; but the former glory will be departed and Egypt's decline, to be the basest of the kingdoms, is predicted. The King of Babylon is announced as the conqueror of Egypt (chapter xxix). In chapter xxx the destruction of Egypt, her people and her allies, is vividly described; at the close of this chapter the defeat of Pharaoh by Nebuchadnezzar is predicted. In chapter xxxi the King of Egypt is described as a mighty cedar; its fall is foretold as well as the effect of Pharaoh's fall among the nations. Chapter xxxii contains a lamentation over the King of Egypt. In the second half of this chapter, the concluding section of these prophecies against Egypt, we find a solemn dirge over the doomed people. The unseen regions are unveiled and those who enjoyed earthly honors and glory are seen in the place of dishonor, misery and shame.
I. The Prediction of Egypt's Desolation.
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: Speak, 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. But 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. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. And 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. When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries (verses 1-12).
The King of Egypt addressed in this prophecy was Pharaoh-Hophra, called in Greek, Apries. He was the grandson of Pharaoh-Necho who defeated King Josiah at Meggido (2 Chronicles xxxv:20-27). King Zedekiah of Judah expected help and relief from Pharaoh-Hophra, when Jerusalem was besieged. The Egyptian army under Hophra advanced through Phoenicia and forced the Chaldeans to raise the siege of Jerusalem (Jer. xxxvii:5-7). But the relief was only temporary, for the Egyptian army had to retire. The prophet Jeremiah announced also the doom of Hophra, associating it with Zedekiah's doom: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give Pharaoh-Hophra, King of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah, King of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life" (Jer. xliv:30).