Origins of Sin, Evil, and Satan

What About Ezekiel 28?

Ezekiel 28:12-17 – Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Though hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wasnt perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise thy have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stone of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. (KJV)

Similar to the Isaiah passage, many believe that “the king of Tyrus” is Satan. They interpret this passage completely incorrectly because of several keywords. This passage takes quite a while to dissect, so bear with me. First off, God says he his full of wisdom and perfect beauty in verse 12. People think that these are qualities of Satan. But look at this previous verse:

Ezekiel 27: 2-3 – Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. (KJV)

In this verse the king of Tyrus says that he himself has perfect beauty. So in Ezekiel 28:12, God is simply quoting what the king said about himself, to mock him. Yes, God does that. Next verse:

Ezekiel 28:13 - Though hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. (KJV)

Verse 13 says that he was in Eden. So the argument is that it is Satan again. However, there is a mistranslation. The word translated “Eden” in this verse is from the Hebrew word Eden, from the root word adan, which means to be soft or pleasant, to live voluptuously. Eden is translated as pleasure or pleasures in Gen. 18:12, Psalm 36:8, and Ezek. 28:13. I could go into all the uses for Eden, but to keep this article at a reasonable length let’s just go to the next verse:

Ezekiel 28:14 - Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. (KJV)

Verse 14 sounds like it is talking about Satan again, saying an anointed cherub that walks in the midst of stone of fire. Only a supernatural being would be able to walk across stones of fire. So let’s look at some other translations for this verse:

Ezekiel 28:14 – With an anointed cherub as guardian I place you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the stone of fire. (The New Revised Standard Version)

Ezekiel 28:14 – In the day of you creation they established the anointed cherub’s booth. And I bestow you in the holy mountain of Alueim [God]. (Concordant Version of the Old Testament)

Ezekiel 28:14 – With the Cherub I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God, walking among the fiery stones” (The New American Bible)

All of these translations suggest the king of Tyrus was beside or near the cherub, not the cherub himself. The King James is simply a bad translation for this verse. This can happen sometimes because the grammar is very tricky.

The King James has another grammar problem in this verse: the word “Thou” is translated from the Hebrew word ath which can be used as a feminine pronoun or verb. However the word “cherub” is translated from the Hebrew word kruwg, which is masculine. So if cherub is not Satan, nor the king of Tyrus, what is it? Let’s look at where Cherub is used in other verse in the Bible:

Genesis 3:24 – yea, he casteth out the man, and causeth to dwell at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubs and the flame of sword which is turning itself round to guard the way of the tree of life (YLT)

Exodus 25:20 – And the cherubs have been spreading out wing on high, covering the mercy-seat over with their wings, and their faces [are] one towards another – towards the mercy-seat are the faces of the cherubs. (YLT)

In Genesis, God used cherubs to guard the garden of Eden and the tree of life. In Exodus, Cherubim figurines were made of gold and placed on the ark of the covenant. The two figurines face each other and their wings touch, which symbolically mean they will be united as one group. It’s simple: Cherubs are spiritual messengers, or angels. Now on to the final verse:

Ezekiel 28:15-16 - Thou wasnt perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise thy have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stone of fire. (KJV)

The king sinned by stealing merchandise and now he will be destroyed in fire. (see Lake of Fire notes) However, the cherub is spiritual, did not sin, did not steal merchandise, and can’t be destroyed. So the king and the cherub are completely different entities.

In conclusion, we proved that Ezekiel 28 is not referring to Satan at all. The king of Tyrus is the actual king of Tyrus, Eden is not the garden of Eden, but simply means pleasant, and cherubs are spiritual messengers of God.

Page 3 of 3

< Previous             Return from Origin of Sin to Bible Study Lessons >