Eze 28:11-19 | Clarke

Ezekiel 28:11-19

Verse 12

Thou sealest up - This has been translated, "Thou drawest thy own likeness." "Thou formest a portrait of thyself; and hast represented thyself the perfection of wisdom and beauty." I believe this to be the meaning of the place. Verse 13

Thou hast been in Eden - This also is a strong irony. Thou art like Adam, when in his innocence and excellence he was in the garden of Eden!

Every precious stone was thy covering - For a description of these stones see the note on Exo 28:17. Verse 14

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth - The irony is continued; and here he is likened to the Cherub that guarded the gates of Paradise, and kept the way of the tree of life; or to one of the cherubs whose wings, spread out, covered the mercy-seat.

Thou mast upon the holy mountain of God - The irony is still continued; and now he is compared to Hoses, and afterwards to one of the chief angels, who has walked up and down among the stones of fire; that is, thy floors have been paved with precious stones, that shone and sparkled like fire.

Lucan, describing the splendor of the apartments of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, speaks in nearly a similar language: -

Nec summis crustata domus, sectisque nitebat

Marmoribus, stabatque sibi non segnis achates,

Purpureusque lapis, totusque effusus in aula

Calcabatur onyx;

Pharsal. lib. x.

Rich as some fane by slavish zealots reared,

For the proud banquet stood the hall prepared:

Thick golden plates the latent beams infold,

And the high roof was fretted o'er with gold.

Of solid marble all the walls were made,

And onyx e'en the meaner floor inlaid;

While porphyry and agate round the court

In massy columns rose, a proud support.

Of solid ebony each post was wrought,

From swarthy Meroe profusely brought.

With ivory was the entrance crusted o'er,

And polished tortoise hid each shining door;

While on the cloudy spots enchased was seen

The trusty emerald's never-fading green.

Within the royal beds and couches shone,

Beamy and bright with many a costly stone,

The glowing purple rich.

Rowe. Verse 15

Thou wast perfect in thy ways - The irony seems still to be kept up. Thou hast been like the angels, like Moses, like the cherubs, like Adam, like God, till thy iniquity was found out. Verse 16

I will cast thee as profane - Thou shalt be cast down from thine eminence.

From the midst of the stones of fire - Some, supposing that stones of fire means the stars, have thought that the whole refers to the fall of Satan. Verse 18

Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries - Irony continued. As God, as the angels, as the cherubim, thou must have had thy sanctuaries; but thou hast defiled them: and as Adam, thou hast polluted thy Eden, and hast been expelled from Paradise. Verse 19

Thou shalt be a terror - Instead of being an object of adoration thou shalt be a subject of horror, and at last be destroyed with thy city, so that nothing but thy name shall remain. It was entirely burnt by Alexander the Great, as it had been before by Nebuchadnezzar.