Ezekiel 28:7

Eze 28:7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

Ver. 7. Behold, therefore I will briny strangers upon thee.] Who shall not at all regard thy great wisdom, but grasp after thy wealth, and suck thy blood for it. Neither will they favour thee the more because thou art a king, but slay thee the rather, and say, Hunc ipsum quaerimus, This we seek ourselves, This is the right bird, as that soldier said who slew the most valiant King of Sweden at the battle of Lutzen.

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.

therefore--apodosis.

strangers . . . terrible of the nations--the Chaldean foreigners noted for their ferocity (Eze 30:11; Eze 31:12).

against the beauty of thy wisdom--that is, against thy beautiful possessions acquired by thy wisdom on which thou pridest thyself (Eze 28:3-5).

defile thy brightness--obscure the brightness of thy kingdom.

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 7. I will bring strangers upon thee] The Chaldeans.

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

(7) Against the beauty of thy wisdom.—The figure seems incongruous, but it is to be remembered that the expression is only a form of designating Tyre itself. The description of the Chaldæans as “the terrible of the nations” is repeated in Eze_30:11; Eze_31:12 (comp. also Eze_26:7 and Isa_47:6; Hab_1:6). The term, however, is by no means necessarily confined to them.

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

Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers upon thee,.... The Chaldean army, who not only lived at a distance from Tyre, but were unknown to them, not trading with them; nor are they mentioned among the merchants of Tyre: these, in the mystical sense, may design the angels that shall pour out the vials on the antichristian states, the kings of Protestant nations:

the terrible of the nations; as the Babylonians were, very formidable to the world, having conquered many countries, and their armies consisting of men of all nations, mighty, courageous, and expert in war; and alike formidable will the Protestant princes be to the antichristian powers, when they shall with their united strength attack them:

and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom; their beautiful city and spacious buildings, the palaces of their king and nobles, their walls and towers erected with so much art and skill; or their forces, the men of war within their city, which made their beauty complete, so well skilled in military affairs, Eze 27:10, or their ships, and the merchandise of them, and the curious things brought in them: even everything that was rich and valuable, the effect of their art and wisdom: all which may be applied to the city of Rome, when it will be taken, ransacked, and burnt, Rev 18:8,

and they shall defile thy brightness; profane thy crown, cast down thy throne, destroy thy kingdom, and all that is great and glorious in thee; thus the whore of Rome shall be made bare and desolate, Rev 17:16. The Targum renders it,

"the brightness of thy terror;''

which shall no more strike the nations, or affect them.

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

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.

The beauty of thy wisdom; those beautiful things, in which thy wisdom appeared; either thy noble, regular, and strong buildings, or thy beautiful well-stored arsenal and army, or the unparalleled rarities, which all but rudest soldiers would esteem, and spare these monuments of thy wisdom. Defile; pour contempt and stain.

Thy brightness; thy royal dignity, depose thee from thy throne, and kill thy authority and thy person.

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

7. The terrible of the nations — This is a strong name for the Chaldean army, which shall destroy the beautiful works produced by Tyrian wisdom and prove that the prince is not God, but man (Eze_30:11; Eze_32:12; Hab_1:6-10). She is intrenched “in the heart of the seas” (Eze_28:8), but that which she supposes to be her greatest protection shall be her grave.

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 strangers, etc. These are, of course, the hosts of many nations that made up the Chaldean army. (comp. the parallel of Eze_30:11 and Eze_31:12) The beauty of thy wisdom is that of the city on which the prince looked as having been produced by his policy.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The beauty - Those beautiful things, in which thy wisdom appeared.

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

and they will draw their swords [This is to be understood] according to its apparent meaning. [According to] Midrash Aggadah (see Mechilta to Exod. 15:9; Tan. Va’era 9), it means homosexuality, for he was used sexually as women are. Three pretended to be gods and were sexually molested like women: Joash the son of Ahaziah, as it is said (II Chron. 24:24): “and upon Joash they exacted judgment,” Hiram, and Nebuchadnezzar.

your brightness [Heb. יִפְעָתֶךָ,] your brightness, an expression of the appearance of the countenance. The Medrash interprets it as “the beauty of your time (יְפֵה עִתֶּךָ).”

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.