The King of Tyre

[B-A-C]

This is a rather lengthy passage, I apologize in advance, But theologians have a lot of stake in this passage.
I am going to use some colors to emphasize some portions, I hope it doesn't make things too confusing here.
Now History shows us there was a nation called Tyre, It would be called southern Lebanon today.
Obviously there were kings over this nation, but is the passage below about,... something.. or someone more.

Ezek 28:1; The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,
Ezek 28:2; “Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God,
“Because your heart is lifted up And you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas’;
Yet you are a man and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God—
Ezek 28:3; Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; There is no secret that is a match for you.
Ezek 28:4; “By your wisdom and understanding
You have acquired riches for yourself And have acquired gold and silver for your treasuries.
Ezek 28:5; “By your great wisdom, by your trade You have increased your riches
And your heart is lifted up because of your riches—
Ezek 28:6; Therefore thus says the Lord God,
‘Because you have made your heart Like the heart of God,
Ezek 28:7; Therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon you,
The most ruthless of the nations. And they will draw their swords
Against the beauty of your wisdom And defile your splendor.
Ezek 28:8; ‘They will bring you down to the pit, And you will die the death of those who are slain
In the heart of the seas.
Ezek 28:9; ‘Will you still say, “I am a god,” In the presence of your slayer,
Though you are a man and not God, In the hands of those who wound you?
Ezek 28:10; ‘You will die the death of the uncircumcised By the hand of strangers,
For I have spoken!’ declares the Lord God!”’”

It says this being will be brought down to the pit. Rev 20:3; says Satan will be cast into a pit for 1,000 years after the tribulation.

Ezek 28:11; Again the word of the Lord came to me saying,
Ezek 28:12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God,
“You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

This is where things get interesting.

Ezek 28:13; “You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;
And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you.
On the day that you were created They were prepared.
Ezek 28:14; “You were the anointed cherub who covers,
And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
Ezek 28:15; “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.
16 “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence,
And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane
From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.

This is typically considered to be a "parallel passage" (meaning it is talking about two (or more) things at once).
It is unlikely that a man who was the King of Tyre was ever in the garden of Eden, even if we use the "new Earth" timeline and say it was less than 3,000 years.
That's a long time for a human man to be alive. In verse 14 this person is called the "anointed cherub". Again it is unlikely that a human man would be called
an angel. This person was also of the Holy Mountain of God (possibly heaven) at one time. It's pretty unlikely that a human man was in heaven.
Also in verse 16, This being is "cast down" from the mountain of God (heaven). In Luke 10:18; Jesus says Satan was cast down out of heaven.
Finally, also in verse 16.. we see the phrase "covering cherub" again. It seems much of the passage is about an angel who was in the garden of Eden.

The question here becomes, was the sin of the King of Tyre, the same "original sin" of Satan.
Verses 2 and 9 above are a little problematic because they both say "you are a man" (not a god). Is an angel a man?
One explanation could be, that this part of the passage is specifically talking about the human man who was the king of Tyre, and not Satan.
Another explanation could be, is that the emphasis, isn't so much that this person is a man, but rather "they are not God".

Ezekiel 28:
17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings,
That they may see you.
18 “By the multitude of your iniquities,
In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries.
Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you;
It has consumed you,
And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you.
19 “All who know you among the peoples
Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever.”’”

In any case, whether is Satan, the King of Tyre, or both... it seems their sin was trying to make themselves exalted like a God.
This happened many times in the past, Pharaohs, and Caesars, and Kings have all tried to "be God" to certain people in the course of history.

.. to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

I have another lengthy passage here, please bare with me. It is slightly different, in that it is about "the King of Babylon".
Now Babylon was a kingdom in Mesopotamia. (Modern day Iraq) but it was destroyed around 470 BC.

Isaiah 14:
3 And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved,
4 that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,“How the oppressor has ceased,
And how fury has ceased!
5 “The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers
6 Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
7 “The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They break forth into shouts of joy.
8 “Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
9 “Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;
It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 “They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.
11 ‘Your pomp and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
12 “How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!

This verse 12 is interesting. King James says "Lucifer" instead of star of the morning. Lucifer isn't a name, but it is a title.
Again we see a being who tried to make themselves into a God, but was fallen from .. "heaven".

This verse can can be problematic for some people, because Jesus is also called the morning star. ( 2 Pet 1:19; Rev 2:28; and Rev 22:16; )
A couple of possible explanations are... Satan was considered a "good" angel before He fell. A more likely explanation is that this verse is
mocking Satan, making fun in a way of who Satan wanted to make himself into.

13 “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’

Again, is the sin of the King of Babylon, the same sin as the King of Tyre and Satan?
Trying to make themselves "like God".

15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will ponder over you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world like a wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’

It seems there will be a day when Satan stands before men. The men of the earth will say.. "This is the guy we were afraid of?"
"This is the guy who made the earth tremble?". It seems to indicate He won't be nearly so lofty at that time.

18 “All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own tomb.
19 “But you have been cast out of your tomb
Like a rejected branch,
Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit
Like a trampled corpse.
20 “You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have slain your people.
May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever.
21 “Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter
Because of the iniquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the Lord.
23 “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

... to be continued ...

 

[Curtis]

If we look at both the "prince" of Tyre, and the "king" Tyre they seem to have the same attitude. I believe the Lord is revealing that what is happening on earth is the results of a spiritual king who is the "spiritual wickedness in high places" that is in control of wicked men who are just following their father the Devil.

 

[B-A-C]

Now of course, not everyone believes these passages are about Satan. That's up to you.
But if they are... then this passage from Ezekiel seems to indicate that at some point in the past... Satan was a "good" angel.

Ezek 28:
14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers,
And I placed you there.
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 “You were blameless in your ways
From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.
16 “By the abundance of your trade
You were internally filled with violence,
And you sinned;
Therefore I have cast you as profane
From the mountain of God.
And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.

.. to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

Since this thread is really about Satan, I would like to toss another passage in here.

Rev 12:3; Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
Rev 12:4; And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

So who is the dragon who swept a third of the stars from heaven? What are the stars?
Finally, when we read this passage, we might think all of this happened in a very short time, possibly even a few seconds apart.
But in reality it was thousands of years (at least 4,000 years if we use the young earth timeline) before "the woman gave birth".

Tradition says the Dragon was Satan, the third of the stars are angels that defected with him.
The woman could be Mary, Israel, or both. Her "child" is obviously Jesus.

There are a couple of places in Revelation that says the dragon is the "the serpent of old" (presumably the one in the garden of Eden).

Rev 20:2; And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

The serpent, the dragon and Satan are all the same person.

Rev 12:7; And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,

People interpret this verse many ways...
1. This happened in the distant past when Satan originally rebelled.
2. This will happen in the future when Satan is released from the pit and Christ is reigning over the earth.
3. This is happening right is a spiritual sense all over the earth.
4. All of the above.

 

[B-A-C]

Not everyone believes these passages are about Satan, but if they are allegorical passages, it makes it clear that Satan was an angel, a created being.
Never the brother to Jesus. It also makes it clear that Satans sin, was trying to make himself like God.