Tyre - Judgment - Ezekiel 28

Ezekiel 28:13 "Thou 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 was created."

While this is the judgment of the port city Tyre, it also talks of the judgment of Satan. What better place to set himself up than at the crossroads of the world (of that day).

We see a glimpse into the spiritual part of things. Behind every evil work is Satan.

v2 "Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God."

People can think great things about themselves. Sometimes people who are close to a person of authority get to thinking that they are the one of power. Satan was a cherub in the mountain of God but he was a created being and not God. He had the power that God gave him.

v17 "Thy 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."

We might say that he became very proud of himself and just did not think correctly because he had his eyes on his own beauty (which God made) and not on God.

So, it was with Tyre. The nations came to trade and I expect the prince took a share of all the trades. He became very rich but failed to remember that the little island/city of Tyre made little compared to what was traded. Without the traffic from the nations, they would be selling purple to the occasional traveler.

But perhaps the prince sat in his penthouse and watched as people of all journeyed there to trade. Perhaps, he thought to himself, I am doing all this, these people are coming to me. He was wrong of course.

v15 "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."

Glory of the LORD - Ezekiel 10

Ezekiel 10:4 "Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD's glory."

This is in contrast to back in Solomon's day of building the temple, then the Lord was coming in, now he is leaving the house. I picture him sitting in his chariot then getting up to walk out of the temple. It was a sad day for Israel.

v1 "Then I looked, and behold in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne."

Now the one on the throne speaks to the man in linen. He is to get fire from under the throne. The chapter goes into a description of the cherubim, cherub and the wheels after the brief glimpse of the one on the throne. It is understandable, eyes of flesh could not capture the beauty of Him, nor are they allowed to do so. The glory from Him is so great that the best the writer can do is describe the brightness of gems that we consider, perhaps, the most beautiful things on earth.

v2 "And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and aid, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight."

The only way I could possibly name what Ezekiel saw upon which the Lord's throne stood, is that I think of it as a living chariot. The description is there to read, here in chapter 10. I don't know how much we are suppose to understand.

From what I can visualize, I see the Lord stepping down off this 'living chariot' and walking out of the temple. BUT that is just my thoughts.

v20 "This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubim."

v18 "Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim."

I admit that I am a writer and do see things in story form. In reading this over and over, the sight I saw was the Lord sitting upon the cherubim, then stepping down to walk out of the house built for him, then being back on the cherubim again after he left the threshold.