Ezek. 28 God’s judgment upon the prince of Tyre for his impious pride, Ezek. 28:1–10. A lamentation of his great glory corrupted and fallen through sin, Ezek. 28:11–19. The judgment of Zidon, Ezek. 28:20–23. The restoration of Israel, Ezek. 28:24–26.

Unto; of. The princes; king, whose name was either Ethbaal, or Ithobaal. Thine heart is lifted up; thou art waxen proud, and aspirest above all reason, and boastest extravagantly in thyself, state policy, and power. Hast said; thought, imagined, or flattered thyself.

Thou art wiser, in thy own thoughts of thyself, than Daniel, who was then famous for his wisdom, which was imparted to him from Heaven, Ezek. 14:20, Dan. 1:20, Dan. 2:20, Dan. 2:48.

With thy wisdom; by thy policy in government, and by thy skill in trading, for he speaks of that kind of prudence to which these names are given. Gotten, or made, so the word.

Thy great wisdom: here the eminent degree of this prince’s wisdom is owned. And by thy traffic: and might as well be spared, for as it is not in the Hebrew, so it rather obscures than clears the text; let it be read, By thy great wisdom in thy traffic, and it is very plain, and so the French reads…

Hast set thine heart: see Ezek. 28:2. As the heart of God, who doth, as justly he may, design himself, his own glory, in all he designeth and worketh, and take the glory to himself; thou hast done so too, designed thy own greatness, and gloried in it.

Will bring; cause to come. Strangers; a foreign people, called strangers for their multitude, and to intimate how little regard they would have to the Tyrian glory; these strangers were the Babylonian forces. The terrible of the nations; a fierce, violent, and cruel nation, Hab. 1:7–8.

These strangers shall slay thee, which is a blemish to the honour of a king thus to be brought to the pit. The pit; a usual periphrasis of death and the grave.

A cutting taunt, or sarcasm: What will become of thy godship then? Wilt thou then dream of immortality and almighty power, when thine enemy is cutting thy throat? Thou shalt be a man; appear thou to thyself and others to be a mortal, weak, conquered man, who dieth a sacrifice to the conqueror’s…

The deaths: Ezek. 28:8. A twofold death, temporal and eternal. Of the uncircumcised; of the wicked, or an accursed death: the Jews do express a vile and miserable death thus. Or, the uncircumcised, i.e.

A lamentation: see Ezek. 27:2. The king; called prince, Ezek. 28:2. Thou sealest up the sum; in the search into the frame of thy government, the management of it, the prosperity thereof, and its glory, power, riches, and confederacies, thou dost think thyself but just to thy kingdom to account it…

Thou hast been; thou hast dwelt and reigned. In Eden; in the midst of all delights; and though nature made thy lot a very barren rock, thy art and industry, added to that of thy progenitors, have made it as pleasant, rich, and beautiful as Eden, that place of all desirable enjoyments.

Thou art the anointed cherub: I would rather keep the order of the words in the Hebrew, which the French also keep, Thou art a cherub, anointed, a protector, or one who covereth for defence.

I think the prophet continues his irony: The prince of Tyre would be a god. Yes. Now God is perfect in all his ways or works; and thou, O prince, wert so too.

By the multitude; by, or in, or according to (as the Gallic version) the multitude or greatness of thy trading: in Tyre were merchants that traded in very great adventures, with vast stocks, and in mighty cargoes.

Thine heart was lifted up: see Ezek. 28:2, Ezek. 28:5. Thy beauty: see Ezek. 28:12. Converted thy wisdom; depraved or lost thy wisdom, by reflecting and gazing on thy own glory, state, wealth, and magnificence, and hast forgotten thou art a man; thou exaltest thyself above man, above thy neighbour…

Thou who shouldst have kept all pure in religion, as thou art king, pretending to Divinity, has polluted it. Thy sanctuaries: still there is, as all along from the 14th verse I think there hath been, much of an irony deriding this proud prince, an allusion to his pretended godship.

All that have heard, seen, or formerly known thy riches, power, allies, wisdom, and vigilance, shall be astonished at thee; be amazed at the certain news of thy great fall, from greatest glory to greatest reproach.

Set thy face: see Ezek. 20:46, Ezek. 21:2. Against Zidon; neighbour and confederate of Tyre. Prophesy against it; declare her sins, approaching sorrows, and my judgments against her.

To these heathen, yet neighbours of the Jews. the prophet might well suppose the name and greatness of the God of Israel was so known, as to command their attention when he speaketh. I am against thee; provoked by thy sins, I am an adversary to thee, and as such determined to proceed with thee.

I will send; the pestilence is one of God’s arrows, and he sends it wheresoever it walks; it is one of his sore judgments, and wasteth where it cometh.

No more; the time intended here is, when, after seventy years’ captivity, loathing themselves for their iniquities, and repenting, they return and settle in their own land. Pricking brier, grieving thorn: by these two metaphors the prophet points out the troublesome neighbours of the Jews.

When seventy years is expired, which is the term of their captive state. I shall have gathered; moved the hearts of my people to come together upon Cyrus’s proclamation, and from all parts of that vast kingdom, to prepare for a return to the country most of them never saw: it was God who moved…

Safely; which is to be understood comparatively, safer than before; it must be accommodated to the circumstances of human condition; in such safety as excludes continual inward cares, and fears, and perplexities, as it is said of Laish, Judg.