Ezekiel 28:18

Eze 28:18 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.

Ver. 18. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries,] i.e., Thy kingly palaces, where thou art looked upon and honoured as a god, but a wretched one, and which for stateliness may vie with my sanctuary. Add hereto, that as none might come into the temple but priests only; so none might come into the palace but confiding persons. The Turks at this day suffer no stranger to come into the presence of their emperor, but first they clasp him by the arms, under colour of doing him honour, but indeed to bereave him of the use of his hands, lest he should offer him any violence. {a}

Therefore will I bring forth a fire in the midst of thee.] Thou shalt perish by thine own sins, as a house is burnt by fire kindled within itself.

And I will bring thee to ashes.] Which shall remain as a lasting monument of the divine displeasure; as did the ashes and cinders of Sodom; and Herodotus saith the same of the ashes of Troy.

{a} Turkish History, 715.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze_28:18

By the iniquity of thy traffic.

Corruption in commerce

The tendency is to measure all things by a money standard. The business that cannot be ruled by Christianity is wrong. What this does for a land, if it grows unchecked, is to make men sell the best things. Phoenicia did, and the spirit of her people died. Her inhabitants became the ministers of vice in every Eastern city. And the man eaten up by love of gain is preparing for himself and all he influences a like fate. Men object that business is a sort of neutral world in which the maxims of New Testament morality cannot come into play. But if this is true, either Christianity cannot be a faith for the whole of a mans life, or the business that cannot be ruled by it is wrong. It is to rule my eating and drinking, my clothing and housing of myself and mine, my buying and selling, my work am! play. Whatsoever ye do, buying or booking, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. But men object today that the severity of the competition by which they are pressed makes some moral laxity in the conduct of business most difficult to avoid. They have to contend with others who are not hampered by scrupulosity in the methods by which they obtain orders or make profits. Some time ago, the Rev. Mr. Carter, the Secretary of the Christian Social Union, informs us, the Oxford branch of that society sent out a number of queries to practical men on the subject of commercial morality. In answer to the question: Do you find it difficult to apply the principles of Christian truth and justice to the conduct of business? two employers write: Business is based on the gladiatorial theory of existence. If Christian truth and justice is not consistent with this, business is in a bad case. A commercial traveller writes: Not only difficult, but impossible, for a man is not master of himself. If one would live, and avoid the bankruptcy court, one must do business on the same lines as others do, without troubling whether, the methods are in harmony with the principles of Christian truth and justice or not. A drapers assistant answers: Extremely so. The tendency to misrepresent, deceive, or take unfair advantage under circumstances that daily offer the opportunity of so doing is generally too strong to resist where self-interest is the motive power of action, the conventional morality the only check. To me they appear to be opposing principles--the first of self-sacrifice, the second of self-interest. Another says: If it were possible to do away with competition, the excuse and justification for a large proportion of commercial immorality would be gone. As it is, it is quite plain that honourable trade has to meet with and fight what is unjust. As Arthur Hugh Clough says in one of his poems Thou shalt not covet, but tradition Approves all forms of competition. (G. T. Forbes, M. A.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 28:18-19. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries — Thy throne, palace, judgment-seats. The word מקדשׁ, generally rendered sanctuary, sometimes signifies a palace, in which sense it probably ought to be taken Amo 7:13, where our translation renders it the king’s chapel. Thus Bishop Patrick understands it, Exo 25:8, where our version reads, Let them make me a sanctuary; God commanding that he should be served and attended upon in the tabernacle, as a king in his court or palace. The cherubim were his throne, the ark his footstool, the altar his table, (and therefore called by that name, Eze 41:22; Mal 1:7,) the priests his attendants, and the show-bread and sacrifices his provisions. The king of Tyre had filled his palace and courts of judicature, and the Tyrians their stately buildings, with iniquity and injustice, and therefore God was determined utterly to destroy them by the Chaldeans. I will bring fire from the midst of thee — Punishment shall follow thy crimes, and thy own ways shall bring it upon thee: thy destruction shall proceed from thyself. I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth — I will bring thee to dust. Thou shalt be made no more account of than ashes spread on the ground. All that know thee shall be astonished — So low a fall from such a height of glory will astonish all who ever saw thy former magnificence.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28:18-19 Far from being a deity who could sanctify a piece of ground by his presence, the prince of Tyre had the opposite effect. He defiled the holy ground of his sanctuaries. Judgment was pronounced on his city in the previous two panels, and it was the prince of Tyre’s fate to come to a terrible end, and . . . exist no more (cp. 26:21; 27:36). The exalted captain would go down with his glorious ship and be brought to nothing by the Lord’s act.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the honor, whereunto I called them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

thy sanctuaries--that is, the holy places, attributed to the king of Tyre in Eze 28:14, as his ideal position. As he "profaned" it, so God will "profane" him (Eze 28:16).

fire . . . devour--As he abused his supposed elevation amidst "the stones of fire" (Eze 28:16), so God will make His "fire" to "devour" him.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) Defiled thy sanctuaries.—These are not to be understood so much of the actual temples of Tyre as of the ideal “holy mountain of God,” in which the prophet has represented the prince of Tyre as “a covering cherub.” Yet still, doubtless, even in the former sense, it was true that the Tyrians, like the Gentiles of whom St. Paul speaks in Rom_1:21, did not act up to the religious light they had, and violating their own consciences and sense of right, defiled even such representation of the true religion as still remained in their idolatrous worship. The main thought, however, is the former one, and it is in accordance with this that the fire is represented as going forth to consume the king. Many of the Hebrew manuscripts have sanctuary in the singular.

By the iniquity of thy traffick.—Here, as so often in other cases, the sin is represented as consisting in the abuse of the very blessings which God had given, and this sin as leading directly to its own punishment. No fact is more striking in history, whether of Israel or of the heathen, than that the gifts of God, which should have been to their blessing and His glory, are perverted by the sinfulness of man: first to their own guilt, and then, in consequence, to their ruin.

Eze_28:20-26 constitute another distinct prophecy, of which Eze_28:20-24 are occupied with the denunciation of judgment upon Zidon, and Eze_28:25-26 with promises to Israel. There are several obvious reasons, besides that of making up the number of the nations to seven, why at least a word of prophecy should have been directed especially against Zidon, notwithstanding her forming a part of Phœnicia and contributing to the mariners of Tyre (Eze_27:8). In the first place, Zidon (situated about twenty-five miles north of Tyre) was the more ancient city from which Tyre had sprung, and always maintained her independence. Hence she might seem not to be exposed to the judgment of God upon Tyre, unless especially mentioned. Then also Zidon (rather than Tyre) had been peculiarly the source of corrupting idolatrous influences upon Israel. This had begun as early as the times of the Judges (Jdg_10:6); it had been continued and increased in the days of Solomon (1Ki_11:33); it reached its consummation under the reign of Ahab, who married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Zidon and high priest of Baal (1Ki_16:31), and who set up the worship of Baal as the state religion of Israel. That this influence was still powerful in Judah also in the days of Ezekiel is plain from the reference to the Thammuz worship in Eze_8:14.

There is only one mention (Jdg_10:12) of the Zidonians as coming into armed conflict with Israel; but they had rejoiced in her fall. As this prophecy closes the circle of the nations who had thus exulted in the destruction of Jerusalem, there is appropriately placed at the end a promise of restoration to Israel when all these judgments upon her enemies shall have been accomplished.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. defiled thy sanctuaries] profaned. The phrase occurs ch. Eze_7:24; here, however, where the prince is spoken of, “sanctity” or personal sacredness rather than “sanctuary” seems the sense required. It is doubtful if the word can bear this meaning. LXX. reads: because of the multitude of thine iniquities in the wrong of thy traffic I have profaned thy sanctuaries, and I have brought forth a fire. The tenses are all in the perfect of threatening, and the threats here pass away from the prince and apply more to the city. On “fire” cf. ch. Eze_19:14.

bring thee to ashes] have brought, perf. of threatening. Any reference to the Phenix, consumed in a self-kindled fire, has little probability. The idea of the city, of the spirit and activity of which the king is the embodiment, tends more and more to take the place of the idea of the king. This is evident from the closing words Eze_28:19, which are identical with those referring to the city, ch. Eze_27:36. For people read peoples as usual.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities,.... Or, "thy palaces", as Kimchi; the palace of the king, and the palaces of the nobles, where much iniquity was committed, and which was the cause of their being defiled or destroyed by the Chaldeans; or it may design their sacred places, their temples, where their gods were worshipped, and idolatry committed. This may be applied to the places of religious worship among the Papists, their churches; which, instead of being adorned, are defiled with their images and image worship, and other acts of superstition and will worship:

by the iniquity of thy traffic; as by bringing in ill gotten goods into the sacred places of Tyre, as they were accounted, so by selling pardons; praying souls out of purgatory for money; by simony, or buying and selling ecclesiastical benefices; and such like spiritual merchandise in Roman churches:

therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee; sin, and the punishment of it, as Kimchi; which, for sin committed in the midst of them, should consume as fire; or some from among themselves, that should stir up and cause internal divisions, which should issue in their ruin; as the unclean spirit that shall go out of the mouth of the beast, dragon, and false prophet, to gather the antichristian kings to battle, will end in their ruin, Rev 16:14. The Targum is,

"I will bring people who are strong as fire, because of the sins of thy pride they shall destroy thee.''

Alexander, when he took Tyre, ordered all the inhabitants to be slain, excepting those that fled to the temples, and the houses to be set on fire (u); which literally fulfilled this prophecy; and which may also have respect to the destruction of Rome by fire, because of the sins committed in it, Rev 18:8,

and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee; the kings and merchants of the earth, who shall stand and look on the city as it is burning, and when reduced to ashes; which denotes the utter destruction of it, Rev 18:9. The Targum is,

"I will give thee as ashes on the earth, &c.'

and shall be no more accounted of.

(u) Curtius, Hist. l. 4. c. 4. p. 75.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Sanctuaries, or temples, which was a crime (Calmet) in an idolater, as he took them to be the temples of a real deity. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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. A god hath his sanctuaries, and thou thine, but they nasty, polluted ones.

By the multitude, by the greatness as well as number,

of thine iniquities. The iniquity of thy traffic; impieties, irreligion, and atheism of thy merchants, as well as by their injustice, falsehood, and oppressions, by their perjuries, breaking covenants confirmed in the temples at the altars, or in the name of their gods; when thy trade thrived by these, thou and they have thought there was nothing sacred, nor any god above thee.

I will bring forth a fire; some civil dissension or occasion of thy injustice shall, like a fire,

rise from the midst of thee, among thy injured malcontents.

It shall devour thee; which, like fire in the house, shall burn all up, and waste all, thou shalt never quench it: thy discontented subjects applying themselves to Nebuchadnezzar with addresses for his favour, power, and royal justice to relieve them, and to right his own subjects oppressed by Tyre in their trade, shall enkindle Nebuchadnezzar’s rage, and he shall never be appeased but in thy ruin.

I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth; thou shalt be burnt to ashes, and these cast on the earth to be scattered abroad, and trampled under feet.

In the sight of all them that behold thee; all this done, that all about thee may see, fear, and reverence the justice, power, and holiness of the God of heaven, who ruleth among men, and knows how to abase proud atheists.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Defiled — Rather, profaned.

Sanctuaries — Perhaps, sanctity, with Cornill, Toy, etc.

A fire from the midst of thee — Only by internal treachery could Alexander the Great capture the city. Tyre, by her own iniquities, had kindled the flame which would consume her. (Compare Eze_19:14.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will bring thee - Thou shalt be burnt to ashes, and trampled under feet.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to the king of Tyre.

General Information:

The words "you" and "your" in these verses refer to the king of Tyre.

it will consume you

"it will devour you." The fire is spoken of here as if it was eating him up. AT: "it will burn you up" (See: Idiom)

turn you into ashes

This idiom means burning up until only ashes are left. AT: "burn you up to ashes" or "burn you up completely" (See: Idiom)

shudder

shake or tremble with fear

you will be no more forever

See how you translated this in Ezekiel 27:36.

translationWords

defile

holy

fire

consume

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

you profaned your sanctity [Heb. מִקְדָשֶׁךָ,] your sanctity.

fire out of your midst Haughty words that came out of your mouth, saying, “I am a god.” Another explanation: [It is to be interpreted] according to the Targum: And I brought forth peoples as strong as fire because of your arrogant sins.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.