Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He reproves the arrogance of the king of Tyre, who, having forgotten that he was a man, wished to be God. Then, from verse 12, he takes up a lamentation over him: "You were the seal of likeness," etc., "you were in the delights of the paradise of God. You, the extended cherub," etc., "you walked in the midst of fiery stones, and you sinned, and I cast you out from the mountain of God." Second, from verse 20, he threatens Sidon with the same destruction. Finally, from verse 25, on the other hand, he promises Israel return from captivity and happiness.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 28:1-26
1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2. Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord God: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said: "I am God, and I sit in the seat of God in the heart of the sea" — though you are a man and not God — and you have set your heart as the heart of God. 3. Behold, you are wiser than Daniel: no secret is hidden from you. 4. By your wisdom and your prudence you have made yourself strong, and have acquired gold and silver in your treasuries. 5. By the multitude of your wisdom and by your trade you have multiplied your strength, and your heart is lifted up because of your might. 6. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have set your heart as the heart of God: 7. therefore behold, I will bring upon you the most powerful strangers of the nations, and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they shall defile your splendor. 8. They shall slay you and bring you down, and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the sea. 9. Will you indeed say: "I am God," before those who kill you — though you are a man and not God, in the hand of those who slay you? 10. You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers, for I have spoken, says the Lord God. 11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre: 12. and you shall say to him: Thus says the Lord God: You were the seal of likeness, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, 13. you were in the delights of the paradise of God: every precious stone was your covering: sardius, topaz, and jasper, chrysolite, and onyx, and beryl, sapphire, and carbuncle, and emerald: gold was the work of your adornment, and your settings were prepared on the day you were created. 14. You were the extended cherub, and the protector, and I placed you on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of fiery stones. 15. You were perfect in your ways from the day of your creation, until iniquity was found in you. 16. By the multitude of your trading, your interior was filled with iniquity, and you sinned: and I cast you out from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O protecting cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. 17. And your heart was lifted up because of your beauty: you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor; I cast you to the ground: I set you before the face of kings, that they might behold you. 18. By the multitude of your iniquities, and by the iniquity of your trading, you defiled your sanctification: therefore I will bring forth fire from your midst, which shall devour you, and I will make you ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who see you. 19. All who see you among the nations shall be astonished at you: you are brought to nothing, and you shall never be again. 20. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 21. Son of man, set your face against Sidon, and prophesy concerning it, 22. and say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I come against you, Sidon, and I will be glorified
in your midst: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in it, and shall have been sanctified in it. 23. And I will send pestilence upon it, and blood in its streets: and the slain shall fall in its midst by the sword on every side: and they shall know that I am the Lord. 24. And there shall no longer be for the house of Israel a stumbling block of bitterness, nor a thorn inflicting pain from all around them, from those who are hostile to them: and they shall know that I am the Lord God. 25. Thus says the Lord God: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, I will be sanctified in them before the nations: and they shall dwell in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. 26. And they shall dwell in it securely: and they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and shall dwell in confidence, when I shall have executed judgments upon all those who are hostile to them round about: and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.
Verse 2: Say to the prince of Tyre
2. Say to the prince of Tyre — that is, to the devil, say St. Jerome, epistle 146 to Damasus; St. Augustine, book XI of The City of God, chapter 15; Origen, Isidore, On the Supreme Good, chapter 12, and Bede, book of Questions, question 9 on the Angels; Ambrose, book On Paradise, chapter 2; Tertullian, book II Against Marcion, chapter 10. Second, Polychronius understands this prince to be the king of Tyre himself, who was exceedingly proud because he could not be conquered by Nebuchadnezzar — who, he says, in this eleventh and last year of Zedekiah, which was Nebuchadnezzar's 22nd year, set up a statue so that he might be worshipped by all. But he errs in chronology. For this was the 18th year, not the 22nd of Nebuchadnezzar: also in the 18th year, he overthrew the king and kingdom of Judea. The statue was also erected by the king in another year, as I shall show at Daniel 3:1. Third, Apollinaris, and following him Theodoret, consider that some things here are said of the devil, some of the king of Tyre, and some of both. But I say that the Prophet properly speaks of the king of Tyre, as is clear from his words — but in such a way that, under the type of the devil whom the king imitated, he describes the king's pride and ruin. So Isaiah, chapter 14, under the type of Lucifer, describes the similar pride and fall of Belshazzar. Where note that in both places certain things are said that properly and grammatically apply to the devil, but must be explained hyperbolically or metaphorically of the king of Babylon or Tyre — as when Isaiah says: "How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?" And what Ezekiel says here: "You said: I am God, and I sit in the seat of God." These words, says St. Jerome, properly belong to raving demons, but hyperbolically to the king of Tyre, who so swelled with his prosperity and the power of his kingdom that, thinking present goods to be perpetual, he forgot that he was a man and claimed eternal dominion for himself. See Canon V.
Prince. — In Hebrew it is נגיד nagid, which is derived from נגד neged, that is, "before," namely, before the people; because the king is like a mirror before the people, whom the people look to and follow in all their actions. Thus the people followed the pride of the king of Tyre. Hence the Prophet exaggerates the king's sin above all others.
Because your heart is lifted up. — These words depend upon and are completed at verse 7: "Therefore behold, I will bring upon you strangers."
You said: I am God. — In Hebrew אל אני el ani, "I am that powerful one," namely, the omnipotent one, who can do all things. So Julius Caesar allowed altars and temples to be dedicated to himself, as Suetonius attests. Alexander wished to be regarded and worshipped as the son of Jupiter Ammon. So Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 3:1, and the other, Judith 3:13. Likewise Caius Caligula, Domitian, and Heliogabalus wished to be worshipped as gods. Optatus of Milevis, book III, rightly applies these words to Donatus, the founder of the Donatist heretics. For Donatus was a prince, that is, a Bishop, of Tyre, that is, of Carthage, which is a colony of the Tyrians. To whom God says: "You said: I am God. For he exalted his heart so that he thought no man comparable to himself. Then, since bishops ought to serve God, he demanded so much from the bishops for himself that all revered him with no less fear than God. And since men customarily swear by God alone, he allowed men to swear by himself, as by God. Then, since before his pride all who believed in Christ were called Christians, he dared to divide the people from God, so that those who followed him were called not Christians but Donatists: whence his words to each person coming from elsewhere were: 'What is being done among you concerning my party?'" He was also in the heart of the sea, that is, in love of the world. He seemed to himself wiser than Daniel in refusing gifts, since he refused to accept (like Daniel) what appeared to have been sent by the Christian Emperor (Constans). Whence it is clear that Donatus was the fountain of all evil causes." So far Optatus. In like manner you may apply these words to Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and the like.
I sit in the seat of God (that is, I sit) in the heart of the sea — as if to say: On this lofty throne of the towering rock, which, surrounded on every side by the sea, has all beauty, fortification, wealth, merchandise, and glory, I sit as God, so strong and secure that I fear no one. I play a kind of god in the sea: I sit in lofty and inaccessible Tyre, as God in heaven, whom no one can reach or assail. What heaven is to God, the sea is to me: for I am as safe and fortified by this island surrounded by the sea as God is by the walls of heaven.
Though you are a man — as if to say: You have forgotten your origin, the misery and condition of humanity and mortality, yet you boast yourself to be a god.
Josephus, in book I of Against Apion, near the end, reports from Berosus that this king of Tyre was named Tobaal, and that he was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years.
You set your heart as the heart of God — you assumed the disposition of God: you were so lofty in spirit and mind, as if you seemed to yourself to be God. Note that "heart," or mind, signifies counsel, wisdom, and prudence joined with greatness of soul, which is neither depressed by adversity nor exalted by prosperity. This is clear from what follows. Whence it is said of it: "Each person's mind is his god;" and: "The mind is the queen of heaven and earth," which Socrates celebrates in Plato's Philebus; and Pythagoras "approached the gods with his mind," says Ovid, Metamorphoses XV, on account of his wisdom and virtue. These virtues are royal and necessary for a king, so that he may rightly govern the state, as is clear in Solomon, III Kings 4:20, in which God, the king of kings and prince of princes, excels, being their origin and end. This excellence of God the king of Tyre arrogates to himself, as though he possesses these gifts from himself and not from God, and as though he excels in them all living beings — men, genii, and gods alike. St. Gregory truly says, Moralia XVII, 6: "Humble ignorance pleases God more than proud knowledge."
Verse 3: Behold.
3. Behold. — This is irony. Whence the Septuagint translates: "Are you perhaps wiser than Daniel?" He crushes the pride of the king of Tyre, as if to say: You arrogate to yourself the wisdom of God, when Daniel, though a captive and a Hebrew — from those Hebrews whom you despise — is far wiser than you, and Nebuchadnezzar and all his satraps honor him as the wisest of men, say Theodoret and the Scholiast. Indeed, that entire age regarded Daniel as surpassing all mortals in wisdom and as incomparable, to such a degree that not even the king of Tyre dared compare himself to him, especially in the interpretation of dreams and the prediction of future events.
Vilalpando explains differently, as if to say: Since you have the heart of God, who would doubt that you are wiser than Daniel? For he attributes his wisdom not to himself but to God, chapter 2:28; you attribute it neither to man nor to God, but to yourself. He refused to be worshipped by Nebuchadnezzar when the latter wished it; you wish to be worshipped even by the unwilling. As if to say: And this is absurd, for all venerate Daniel as the wisest of mortals. See, then, and acknowledge your stupidity and arrogance.
Note: Ezekiel prophesied these things in the 11th year of Zedekiah, as is clear from chapter 26, verse 1, when Daniel was 38 years old, as is gathered from what was said at chapter 14, verse 14. See, therefore, how young Daniel was when he was most celebrated throughout the whole world for wisdom, virtue, and fame. At that age, then, Daniel was of such wisdom and fame that the wisest kings and princes wished to hear "another Daniel" — just as we say of an outstanding orator: He is another Cicero; of a rare philosopher: He is another Aristotle; of a physician: He is another Galen; of a theologian: He is another Augustine. So the French gave these titles in the epitaph to Peter Abelard, a man of great intellect and learning (who, correcting his errors and embracing monastic life, died a holy death at Cluny in the year of Christ 1140):
"The Socrates of the French, the greatest Plato of the West, Our Aristotle; in logic whoever existed Was his equal or his better."
So the people of Cologne placed this epitaph in old-fashioned style and verse for Albert the Great, teacher of St. Thomas, among the Preachers:
"Phoenix of scholars, without peer among philosophers, Prince of the learned, a vessel pouring forth sacred doctrine. Greater than Plato, scarcely inferior to Solomon."
Moreover, Sidonius Apollinaris wrote this epitaph in the year of Christ 400 for the priest Claudianus, brother of St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne:
"The glory and grief of his brother Mamertus, The unique gem among admiring bishops, Under whose mastery the threefold library — Roman, Attic, Christian — shone. Orator, dialectician, poet, Expositor, geometer, and musician, Skilled at untying the knots of questions, Here the singer and voice-master of the Psalms, etc."
Verse 4: You made yourself strong
4. You made yourself strong — you made yourself fortifications and the establishment of your wealthy kingdom, towers, furnished with the best and everlasting laws. Whence the Chaldean translates: You made yourself wealth, substance, resources, and armies. For the Hebrew חיל chel signifies all these things. All these things are to be understood not in themselves, not in truth, but from the opinion of the king himself. For the king believed and boasted that he abounded in all these things.
Verse 5: In your might.
5. In your might. — R. David says, in your army; others, in your wealth. For these two things constitute the strength of a kingdom. In Hebrew again it is חיל chel.
Verse 7: The most powerful.
7. The most powerful. — The Septuagint translates, pestilent men, who, like a plague infecting the air and bodies, will corrupt and kill you, without distinction of age, rank, or sex.
The beauty of your wisdom — that is, your most beautiful kingdom and the glory of your city. Or rather, whatever is beautiful in you, in your city and kingdom, which you attribute entirely to your own wisdom — all this the Chaldeans with their swords will defile with your blood.
They shall defile — they shall destroy, they shall lay waste.
Verse 8: They shall slay.
8. They shall slay. — In Hebrew: They shall cast you down into the pit, that is, they shall plunge you into the abyss of your sea.
And you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the sea. — That is, you shall die and be buried in the sea, as happens to those who die at sea; namely, in the sea in which you gloried as in an impregnable place and one most wealthy from imported merchandise — in that same sea you shall be swallowed by the waves and become food for fish, and the sea itself shall be your tomb.
Verse 9: Will you indeed say.
9. Will you indeed say. — This is sarcasm, as if to say: O king of Tyre! You are accustomed to boast that you are God: this
will you do this when enemies invade you — will you hold up the name of God before them, and stupify them as it were with the name of God? By no means. Rather, by killing you, they themselves will show that you are a man, not God. So Theodoret.
Verse 10: By the death of the uncircumcised
10. By the death of the uncircumcised — which, namely, the uncircumcised will inflict upon you, that is, the impious Gentiles, the barbarous, cruel Chaldeans. Whence it follows, "by the hand of strangers." For this death was shameful among the Jews. Whence Saul, surrounded by the Philistines, lest he be killed by them, ordered his armor-bearer to kill him, 1 Samuel 31:4. So Maldonatus.
Second, "by the death of the uncircumcised," that is, you shall die the death that the uncircumcised deserve — that is, the faithless and impious. For these generally have an unhappy and miserable end to their lives. So the Chaldean and R. David.
Third, Vilalpando explains, as if to say: When the vengeance that you exercised upon others is exercised upon you, then you will appear "uncircumcised" in vengeance — that is, you will have been superabundant in it and altogether exceeding the limits prescribed for you by God's justice and mercy. For judges and princes ought to punish the guilty in such a way that they mix in nothing of their own indignation, but rather, with Christ (Luke 19:41) and indeed with Titus, who wept at the just destruction of Jerusalem, should weep and grieve. But the Chaldeans will not grieve at your death, but will insult you; because you likewise, putting others to death, did not grieve for them, but insulted them. Just as you did not "circumcise" your vengeance upon others, but allowed it to rage freely, so too the Chaldeans will not "circumcise" their vengeance upon you, but will allow it to rage freely.
By the hand of strangers — so that you may know that I am not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Chaldeans, by whom, as My ministers, I will punish you. So Polychronius.
Verse 11: Raise a lamentation
11. Raise a lamentation — mourn with a loud voice a mournful song. For this is what קינה kina means, as discussed at verse 19.
Verse 12: You were the seal
12. You were the seal — namely, perfectly expressed. For a signaculum is the impression of a sigillum (seal-ring), such as what is impressed and expressed upon letters by a seal when they are closed and sealed shut so that no one may open and read them. Second, "seal" can be taken for the sigillum itself: for this is what the Hebrew חותם chotam signifies, as if to say: You will be a seal perfectly engraved, plainly reflecting and expressing both its exemplar and its maker and engraver. Vatablus translates from the Hebrew: You who seal the arrangement or figure of a building, that is, you were in every way perfect and complete. For whoever seals something puts the finishing touch upon it, and completes and perfects the work. For the Hebrew chotam signifies a seal or signaculum; but with a different pointing חותם chotem (as the Hebrews now point and read) it signifies the one sealing. In like manner the Syriac translates: You are a seal of the likeness of a thing, full of wisdom and a crown of glory; and the Arabic of Antioch: And you are a seal in the likeness of a thing full of wisdom, and a crown of glory; and the Arabic of Alexandria: But you are as a seal full of wisdom.
Of likeness. — That is, most similar and most aptly representing the exemplar or the seal itself which is engraved in a ring, as if to say: You fill out the form, beauty, and arrangement of all things — as it were, the stamped and expressed likeness of God, and consequently the likeness of all things, or as the expressed seal of them all. Whence the Septuagint adds in explanation: You are a crown of beauty, as if to say: O king of Tyre! Once, when you associated with David, Solomon, and the other pious kings of Judea and the holy friends of God, you were like a seal — a true expressed image of God in wisdom, beauty, glory, and wealth, as David and Solomon were. So the Scholiast. Second, just as a seal authenticates and confirms the letters of a king and the work of an artisan (for the work is then perfect when the artisan affixes his seal to it): so you were, as it were, the final and most perfect complement of all God's works. Whence Maldonatus says: "You were the seal of likeness" — that is, he says, the perfection of the image. For images, like other works, are customarily sealed when they are completed, as if to say: If anyone had wished to paint the image of the most fortunate and perfect prince, he would have had to take it from you and paint you. For you were the exemplar of a certain wonderful perfection, into which all could and should gaze as into the most perfect mirror of virtues. For God marked you with His likeness, and as if by an appended and impressed seal attested, and as it were boasted, that you were His illustrious work — namely, magnificent, perfect, first and foremost — in which, above all others, His wisdom, goodness, power, and glory shone and gleamed in expressed form, like an image in a mirror. Whence Vatablus translates: You are a pattern complete in all respects; others translate: You sealing the number, or sealing the sum, that is, you were complete in all respects, or at least seemed so to yourself. For the Hebrew תכנית tachnit has many meanings: first, sum and number, so Pagninus; second, arrangement, figure, adaptation, so Marinus; third, measured, dimensioned, elaborated according to all its dimensions, as if to say: You were like a seal dimensioned or measured and thoroughly elaborated in every direction, and perfectly proportioned and adequate to its pattern. So Forster. For the root תכן tathan means to weigh, ponder, arrange, fit, precisely measure, and proportion. Hence, fourth, tachnit signifies likeness (although Pagninus thinks it should then be read with תבנית tabnit), as the Septuagint and our Translator render it. But all these translations come to the same thing: they signify that this seal was so perfect that it was fully adapted, proportioned, and similar to its exemplar.
Chotam signifies a seal, not an unseal.
Parabolically, Rupert, book I of On the Victory of the Word of God, chapter 8, says: The devil was the seal of the likeness of the Most Holy Trinity in three respects, namely, greatness, knowledge, and beauty: "For what was this likeness, if not the seal of the holy and adorable Trinity, according to these three things? For the Trinity itself is greatness, wisdom, and beauty. The greatness of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is the Father. The wisdom of the Father and of the Holy Spirit is the Son. The beauty of the Father and of the Son is the Holy Spirit: because the devil (namely Lucifer) participated in greatness, wisdom, and beauty above all others. But that fool, though placed in such great honor, did not understand, and turned all these things into material for pride. The great generosity of the Creator did not suffice for him, unless the same were said or he thought the same of himself as of God. For he denied that God was his creator, and said that he himself was God." So far Rupert. In a similar way Trismegistus said in the Pimander, chapter 11: "The image of God is the world, of the world the sun, but of the sun, man" — and even more so the angel, especially Lucifer. For, as the same author says in the Asclepius, chapter 11: "With God stands eternity, containing the world within itself, and the image of God; consequently the world (especially the angelic world and man) was made an imitator of eternity."
Verse 13: You were in the delights of the paradise of God
13. You were in the delights of the paradise of God — O king, you were happy in Tyre as if in the paradise of God, that is, you were in a most pleasant city and one most full of delights. In Hebrew it can be translated: You were in the garden of Eden, that is, you were as if in the earthly paradise in which Adam was created. For the same Hebrew words are here as in Genesis 2:8. Whence the Arabic of Antioch translates: You were in the Eden of the paradise of God. For the opulence and delights of this paradise passed into a proverb, so that it is said of any place most rich and most delightful, such as Tyre was. So the Greeks had the gardens of Alcinous, the vale of Thessalian Tempe, the rose garden of Midas, the Elysian Fields — which learned men think Homer borrowed from the earthly paradise. For in paradise there was a happy abundance not only of trees and fruits, but also of gold and gems, which are attributed to the king of Tyre. Hear what Tertullian says of it in the book On the Judgment of the Lord:
"Flowers are fragrant in the meadows, and purple covers the fields."
And then:
"A beautiful gem gleams with colored stones; Here the emerald-green shines; there the carbuncle blazes; And the grassy emerald is green with a grand light."
Then of spices he adds:
"Here cinnamon grows on fragrant branches, And the glad amomum blazes with thick foliage."
And of metals:
"Here lies fiery gold of radiant light, And most abundant buds weigh down the verdant branches."
Note: First, Origen, book I of Peri Archon, and St. Gregory, book XXXII of the Moralia, chapter 18, and Tertullian, book II Against Marcion, chapter 10, and some others, consider that all these things apply not to a man, e.g. the prince of Tyre, but to the devil alone, that is, to Lucifer. For he was the wisest and most eminent of all the angels. He was born in the paradise of God. He was the extended Cherub, etc. But St. Ambrose, book I of On Paradise, chapter 2, St. Jerome, Theodoret, and others explain these things literally of the king of Tyre, and figuratively or parabolically of the devil. And St. Augustine, book XI of On Genesis Literally, chapter 25, expressly proves that these things cannot be understood of the devil. Whence he contends that from this passage it cannot be proven that the angels were created in grace — proven, I say, that is, directly and demonstratively; for indirectly and with sufficient probability the same thing can be deduced and proved from this passage. Literally, therefore, the Prophet speaks of the king of Tyre, but under the type and parable, as I said at verse 2, as if to say: Just as the devil was created the most beautiful angel, so that he might be the stamped likeness — that is, the perfect image of God — but fell from this dignity through pride and collapsed, so too exactly the same happened to you, O king of Tyre! In a similar way, in Hebrews 1:3, the Son of God is called "the brightness and figure of the substance of the Father," as I explained there. The Prophet therefore alludes to the creation of the angel, as well as of the first man in paradise (whence you may rightly apply all these things to both); but directly and properly in the literal sense he speaks only of the king of Tyre. This king, therefore, is called the seal and image, not of the devil, as a certain learned interpreter would have it, but of God, as is clear from what follows, as if to say: You seemed, O king of Tyre, to be the living image of God on earth, and to be a kind of earthly god.
Note: Second, Tertullian, book II Against Marcion, chapter 10, reads: You were the unseal of likeness; because, namely, the devil, turning his heart away from his God — sealed as it was with God's seal — fraudulently unsealed it for himself through the desire for his own excellence: "You," he says, "are the unseal of likeness, who obviously have unsealed the integrity of the image and likeness." St. Jerome in his commentary on Ezekiel mentions this reading but does not approve it: "In the Latin codices," he says, "resignaculum (unseal) is read for signaculum (seal): since the translator, rendering word for word, translated ἀποσφράγισμα, that is, 'much imitator,' which the Septuagint has, as resignaculum. Whence some understand it thus: that the king of Tyre unsealed and lost the seal of God and the figure that was expressed as if in the softest wax, so that instead of a seal he became an unseal." But the Hebrew
Finally, concerning the abundance of honey and milk, he concludes hyperbolically thus:
"Rich honey blazes in verdant cane, And drinkable milk flows in full streams."
Second, Theodoret says: "You were in the paradise of God" — that is, he says, in Jerusalem, as an associate and ally of it. For Jerusalem is called the paradise of God because it had the law, the prophecies, the high priests, etc., providing salvation and life.
Parabolically, the demon was in paradise, that is, in the empyrean heaven; for he was created there. So St. Jerome.
Every precious stone was your covering. — The Chaldean: All precious stones were arranged in your garment. St. Jerome notes that these are the same stones that were in the Rational (breastplate) of the high priest, Exodus 28:17 (see what I said about them there), and in the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem, Revelation 21:18; but there they are twelve, here only nine — as if the king of Tyre is here blamed for having profaned these sacred gems and, by clothing himself and his crown with them, affected divine honors. But rather these words pertain to the praise and glory of the king of Tyre, as is evident. He is therefore praised here for his wealth and beauty, because clothed in gold and gems, he gleamed all over, so that he seemed to be made of gems.
Symbolically, by these gems are understood the spiritual graces and ornaments of the angels before their fall.
St. Gregory, Moralia XXXII, 18, understands by these nine stones the nine choirs of angels, with which Lucifer, as their leader, was clothed and arrayed as with his retinue and armies: and he, as their superior, contained in himself the perfections of all of them.
Gold was the work of your adornment — that is, with gold artistically and laboriously wrought you adorned yourself; the Septuagint: You filled your treasuries with gold; the Hebrew: your timbrels, so that out of luxury the king made timbrels and other musical instruments from gold.
Your settings. — Namely, the settings of gold in which gems were enclosed: or he calls the gleaming gems themselves "settings," because their brilliance makes them similar to little eyes or openings. R. David translates, your pipes. They can also be taken as all musical instruments that consist of holes.
Mystically St. Gregory, Moralia XXXII, 18: "The settings of gold," he says, "are the capacity for charity." For the devil himself "was created capable of charity" — understand, of perfect and constant charity. For otherwise Lucifer was created not only capable of charity, but actually endowed with it. For all the angels, even those who fell, were created in grace. That this is what St. Gregory means is clear from what follows: "For if," he says, "he had made himself penetrable by the gold of charity, united with the holy angels, he would have remained a stone fixed in the royal ornament. Therefore this stone had settings, but through the vice of pride they were not filled with the gold of charity."
On the day you were created — as if to say: From the day of your birth you were created a king, gleaming with precious gems, acting as a kind of god on earth, whose power you exercise. It can be translated: on the day you were recreated, or fattened — that is, you began to abound in an abundance of all things. For the Hebrew ברא bara signifies both to create and to recreate: whence ברי bari means recreated, sleek, fat. The Chaldean explains differently, as if to say: You have so swelled with pride that, forgetting your condition, you have not considered that you are a man, and that on the day you were born, the openings of your mouth and nostrils were given to you — as to a man — for breathing. Again, the Hebrews, as well as the Chaldean, referring these words to what follows, explain, as if to say: The work of your timbrels and your pipes was prepared in you on the day you were created, that is, you were born with timbrels, pipes, and other musical instruments sounding. So R. David.
Verse 14: You were the Cherub.
14. You were the Cherub. — Note: The king of Tyre is called "Cherub," first, on account of the multitude of wisdom that he either possessed or arrogated to himself. For "Cherub" is the same as כרב kerab, that is, like a rabbi, like a wise man and teacher: for from this the eighth order of angels is called Cherubim, and this is alluded to here. For a king, a prelate, and a prince ought to be a Cherub, that is, to excel and surpass in wisdom, about which I said much at Exodus 25:18.
Second, there is an allusion to the Cherubim of the temple, as is clear from what follows, as if to say: You, O king, who with the extended wings of your power and dominion, raised and lifted on high, protect very many subject peoples, just as the Cherubim protect the ark and the mercy seat. So St. Jerome. Hence R. David explains, as if to say: "You, Cherub" — that is, a king of the greatest dignity: for the Hebrew כר rab signifies great, powerful in wealth, strength, knowledge, and other gifts, as a king is. For Tyre was in the sea like a bird that with the two wings of its power and empire overshadowed and protected the sea and the land, and especially Jerusalem and Judea, where the temple, the ark, and the mercy seat were. Again, just as the ark was covered by two Cherubim placed on either side: so on the western side, Tyre and the sea were like a Cherub — that is, a wall and bulwark — for the temple, Jerusalem, and Judea; while on the eastern side, Jericho, the Jordan, and the Dead Sea provided the same. Moreover, just as the Cherub with a flaming sword guards the earthly paradise, Genesis 3:24, so you as another Cherub guard with your sword the holy land, which is like the paradise of God. Whence he said of him at verse 13: "You were in the delights of the paradise of God." And in this verse: "You walked in the midst of fiery stones."
Third, by metathesis "Cherub" is said as if it were rocheb, that is, one riding, that is, a prince, ruler, governor: for these in ancient times rode on horses; and just as a horseman governs a horse with reins, so they governed the people with laws. Again, "Cherub" is derived from רכב recheb, that is, chariot. For a prince is like the chariot of the commonwealth, who bears its burdens. So Elijah is called "the chariot of Israel and its horseman," 2 Kings 2:12; and Christ is said to uphold all things by the word of His power, Hebrews 1:3.
Parabolically, Lucifer is called a Cherub, that is, full of knowledge; because in knowledge and other natural gifts, as well as in grace, he surpassed the other angels. So St. Thomas, I, Question 63, article 7.
Here note that Ezekiel compares the king of Tyre and his antitype the devil to a Cherub, not a Seraph; because he moved among the Cherubim, as is clear from chapter 1, chapter 10, chapter 13:3, and elsewhere. Conversely, Isaiah, chapter 14:12, compares the king of Babylon and his antitype the devil to a Seraph — namely, the prince of all the angels, who is Lucifer — because Isaiah moved among the Seraphim, as is clear from Isaiah 6. Again, Lucifer, although he was of the Seraphim, is rightly called a Cherub: because Lucifer takes his name from light, as Cherub from knowledge, which is the light of the soul. But because this light in him was fiery — that is, Seraphic — hence, alluding to the Seraphim, Ezekiel says of him and of the king of Tyre: "You walked in the midst of fiery stones."
Extended. — The Hebrew ממשח mimsach; the Septuagint, χρισθείς, that is, anointed — namely, for kingship, as the Chaldean has it — or bright, shining, illustrious. For these are the effects of oil and anointing. Whence Forster translates mimsach as anointed, explaining: pigmented, colored, bright, illustrious; Vatablus translates, anointed. So also R. David, Pagninus, Mercer, Marinus, and others. Our Translator perhaps for ממשח mimsach read ממשא mimsa, that is, extended, stretched out, spread wide, from the root משא masa, that is, he drew, extracted, extended. For this properly applies to the Cherubim, who, with wings extended, covered the mercy seat. Whence it follows, "and protecting."
The meaning is what I gave a little before. The Syriac translates: And you were with the Cherub measured (or anointed) and overshadowed; the Arabic of Antioch: And you were with the Cherub measured and illuminated; the Arabic of Alexandria: And you were with the Cherub measured (or anointed) who reclined in shadow (who is preeminent in shadow). The same word in both Syriac and Arabic signifies to measure and to anoint.
Symbolically, these words more aptly apply to the demon and his followers, who before their fall were Cherubim — that is, full of knowledge — especially those who were of the eighth order of the Cherubim. These from the day and instant of their creation were anointed with the oil of grace. Therefore this anointing was sanctification, say Theodoret and St. Jerome. These also, with the wings of their power and wisdom spread out as it were, covered the lower angels, men, and other created things.
I placed you on the holy mountain of God. — The Chaldean incorrectly translates: You despised the holy mountain of God, you planned to dominate the holy people. Maldonatus better explains this of Hiram, king of Tyre, who sent timber for the construction of the temple to Solomon, 1 Kings 5:9; and therefore he is said to have been situated "on the holy mountain of God," because he assisted in building the temple. So also the Hebrews, who think all these things are said of Hiram: for they claim he lived a thousand years, namely from the age of Solomon up to the times of Daniel. St. Jerome laughs at this fable here. But note: Tyre was situated on a mountain within the boundaries of the Holy Land, namely in the tribe of Asher, although the Jews could not obtain it. Hence it is called Holy, just as all Canaan, destined for the holy people of the Jews, is called the Holy Land even when it was inhabited by the most wicked Canaanites, Wisdom 12:3; Deuteronomy 32:8-9. The king of Tyre is here reproved for living in the Holy Land not holily, but impiously.
Wherefore St. Augustine, book XI of On Genesis Literally, chapter 25, volume III, takes these words in an expanded literal sense as referring to the impious who have fallen from the grace of God into the state of sin, "and have become the body of the devil. For these," he says, "were created as Cherub — that is, with the seat of God, which is interpreted as 'multiplied knowledge' — and I placed you on my holy mountain, that is, in the Church."
You were in the midst of fiery stones, that is, of Saints fervent in spirit, living stones: you walked without fault in your days, from the day you were created, until your transgressions were found in you.
Tropologically, Theodoret says: "The holy mountain is the height of the knowledge of God." R. David and R. Solomon explain differently, as if to say: I gave you the occasion to merit, namely by giving you the ability to send timber and artisans for Solomon's construction of the temple.
Symbolically, St. Jerome says, the holy mountain is heaven, and, as the Scholiast says, the most lofty angelic state, from which the Cherubim as armed guards cast out the devil, who had corrupted his knowledge and, because of his pride, had been unable to keep his station and place.
In the midst of fiery stones — that is, stones gleaming and flashing like fire, e.g. carbuncles, as if to say: You so abounded in gems, as is clear from verse 13, and were so covered with them, that you seemed to walk among carbuncles. R. David adds that the king of Tyre used them at night for light in place of candles. But this is frivolous and impossible.
Second, and more sublimely, he alludes to the twelve precious stones that were in the Rational (breastplate) of the high priest, on which were inscribed the names of the twelve sons of Jacob and the tribes of Israel. These are rightly called fiery stones, especially because through the extraordinary splendor of these stones in time of war, as Josephus says, God signified His favor and protection toward the twelve tribes. As if to say: You dwelt among the Jews as among fiery stones; and yet you remained cold, deprived of the vital warmth of grace and faith. Whence R. Jonathan explains, as if to say: You lived among the holy people. Polychronius takes the fiery stones as the stone tablets of the Decalogue, given and promulgated with fire on Sinai.
With these tropes he graphically depicts the beauty and glory of the king of Tyre. With a similar trope an orator described the beauty of a rose, saying: "The rose among flowers is a fiery gem, the purple of gardens, the sapphire of scents, the eye of April, the phoenix of spring, nature's display." With a similar scheme the poet of Vendome placed this epitaph for his Tobias:
"A bird clothed in noble raiment, the ornament of the world, the form of honor, A gem of priests, the lamp of the flock."
With a similar scheme St. Jerome is called by St. Lawrence Justinian, in his sermon on St. Jerome: "the common father of all, the light of the world, the preacher of the kingdom, the mediator of God and men, the mirror of holiness, the exemplar of virtue, the defender of the Church, the protector of the faithful, a martyr, albeit without the shedding of blood, of the Lord." And by others: "The jasper of faith, the emerald of hope, the carbuncle of charity, the diamond of constancy." And St. Augustine is called by St. Paulinus and others "the salt of the earth, the well of wisdom, the master of Theology, the flower of intellects, the ornament of the schools, the temple of religion, the pillar of the Church, the shield of faith, the example of prelates, the light of preachers, the doctor of Doctors, a man taught by God, the holiest of the learned, and the most learned of the saints." And St. Chrysostom, in his homily on Saints Peter and Paul, calls them "the light of the world, more powerful than kings, stronger than soldiers, richer than the wealthy, wiser than philosophers, more eloquent than orators, having nothing and possessing all things, the exemplar of martyrs, the crown of virgins, the rule of the married, the model of monks, the ornament of kings, the bridle of barbarians, the hammer of heretics." And Eusebius of Emesa, in his sermon on the same saints, calls them "two fountains springing from the throne of God, two heavenly physicians, two sharp arrows shot from the quiver of God, two trumpets of the world, two lamps of the globe." And St. Gaudentius, sermon 3 on the same, says they are "the founders of the Church, the masters of innocence, the authors of all holiness and truth." And St. Leo calls them "the two eyes of the mystical body of Christ."
Symbolically, the demon among the nine named stones — that is, among the nine orders of angels — and among the fiery Seraphim, says R. Jonah, dwelt as one like them, but now dwells in the fires of hell. So St. Jerome and St. Gregory, Moralia XXXII, 18 (according to another edition, 25, near the end): "The devil," he says, "walked in the midst of fiery stones; because among the hearts of the angels kindled with the fire of charity, he stood forth, bright with the glory of his condition."
For what good did he not have, who was the seal of God's likeness? For Lucifer among the fiery stones was a fiery stone, among the Seraphim a Seraph — indeed, the leader and prince of the Seraphim.
You walked. — In Hebrew התהלכתי hithallacthi, in the hitpael reflexive conjugation, signifies a strutting gait composed for display and pride, as peacocks in the midst of the eyes of their raised tails turn about with outstretched necks. As if to say: You strutted proudly like a peacock, displaying your wealth and glory.
Verse 15: Perfect in your ways.
15. Perfect in your ways. — This is hyperbole, as if to say: From infancy you learned to live, act, and govern the people well and perfectly. Polychronius explains, as if to say: By experience you learned my laws.
Symbolically, these words more aptly apply to the demon. Whence from this passage St. Augustine, Gregory, and the Theologians teach that the angel was created by God perfect in grace, but by his own free will sinned and became a demon. Whence it follows:
Perfect in your ways from the day of your creation. — These words parabolically indicate that the angels exercised not one but several good and meritorious operations in the state of wayfaring, says Luis de Molina, I, Question 63, article 6. The word "walked" signifies the same thing. For to walk implies more than one instant and more than one step of operation. In the literal sense, "ways" signify the works, actions, and fortunes of the king of Tyre, as if to say: You were powerful and fortunate; you did whatever you wished; wherever you turned, whatever you did, whatever you undertook, everything succeeded for you happily according to your desire. But this felicity made you proud, and thereby unhappy.
Verse 16: By the multitude of your trading
16. By the multitude of your trading — as if to say: Your commerce and wealth were for you the cause and occasion of avarice, injustice, fraud, pride, gluttony, luxury, and all sins. So Polychronius.
Parabolically, St. Jerome and Theodoret explain, as if to say: The demon, not content with the knowledge and power given to him, but inflamed by the desire for greater things, kicked against his Creator.
R. David notes that the frauds and sins of the Tyrian merchants are imputed to the king, because he did not prevent them when he could and should have. Similar is Numbers 25:1 and following.
And you sinned — The Hebrew חטא chata, and the Greek ἁμαρτάνειν, signify to miss the mark, to go astray from the hope, the target, and the proposed end. As if to say: When you were at the height of felicity, glory, wealth, beauty, and wisdom, you proudly desired and expected greater things — namely, divinity — but you erred by the whole breadth of heaven, and chose means contrary to your end. Hence you will attain an end entirely contrary to what you intended, says Vilalpando — namely, that you ascend not to the highest but descend to the lowest; that you become not a Cherub but a Nochote — that is, one ignorant and erring — not fortunate but unfortunate.
The Scholiast explains differently, as if to say: You sinned so grievously that you did not repent — that is, through impenitence: hence you will be punished.
Polychronius explains differently again: "you sinned" means you were punished and cast down from your rank and place.
Morally, learn here that the true path to eminence and glory is self-abasement and humility. The humble and wise St. Francis knew this and followed it. St. Bonaventure narrates in his Life, chapter 6, that a certain religious of great virtue in an ecstasy saw among many seats in heaven one more worthy than the rest, adorned with gems and shining with every glory, and heard a voice: "This seat belonged to one of the fallen, and now it is reserved for the humble Francis." He, wishing to test the truth of the vision, asked St. Francis what he thought of himself. Francis replied: "I seem to myself the greatest of sinners." The other objected that he could not say or think this with a clear conscience. Francis answered: "If Christ had pursued any criminal whatsoever with such great mercy, I believe he would certainly be more pleasing to Him than I." The religious was confirmed by hearing such admirable humility in the truth of the vision shown to him, knowing from the Gospel that the truly humble person is exalted to the eminence of glory.
Verse 17: You corrupted (in Hebrew, you destroyed) your wisdom because of
17. You corrupted (in Hebrew, you destroyed) your wisdom because of your beauty. — The Septuagint: with your beauty. "Since you wished to be more than you were created," says St. Jerome, "and to know more than you had received from God, you also lost what you had, and instead of beauty and learning, deformity and foolishness took possession of you." Polychronius aptly takes "beauty" as the glory of the kingdom, as if to say: Since you proudly exalted yourself on account of the splendor of your royal dignity and glory, you lost true wisdom, which consists in true self-knowledge, self-abasement, and modesty.
It can, second, be translated: You corrupted your wisdom because of your beauty, when, namely, you devote yourself too much to beauty and gape after it. Women often do this, says Tertullian in the book On the Dress of Women. For when they adorn themselves too much, they corrupt their natural beauty and wisdom, which consists in the gravity and modesty of dress.
Morally, St. Bernard, sermon 74 on the Song of Songs: "You lost your wisdom in your beauty. I do not want," he says, "a beauty that takes away my wisdom. You ask, what is this beauty of yours that is so harmful? Listen more clearly: private, personal beauty. We do not blame the gift, but the use of it. Unless I am mistaken, the one beauty of both angel and soul is wisdom itself. For what is either the soul or the angel without wisdom, if not a rude and misshapen wretchedness? But he lost it when he made it his own, so that to have lost wisdom in his beauty is nothing other than to have lost wisdom in his own wisdom. Ownership is the cause. That he was wise, that he did not give glory to God, that he did not return grace for grace — this is why he lost it; indeed, this is that he lost it. For to have it in this way is to lose it."
I cast you to the ground — that is, I deposed you from your kingdom, says St. Jerome, and, as Polychronius explains, I deprived you of your eminence: for one who, placed above others, acts proudly, falling from his dignity excels his subjects in nothing except the mark of infamy, says Vilalpando.
Symbolically, the demon fell from heaven into this air, the earth, and hell, says Apollinaris. This is what Christ says, Luke 10: "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven." In a similar way Adam was cast out of paradise because of pride, Genesis chapter 3, says St. Jerome.
Verse 18: You defiled your sanctification
18. You defiled your sanctification — that is, your former holiness and religion; or rather, the holy mountain of God, on which you seemed to be as a Cherub. For in Hebrew it is מקדש micdash, that is, sanctuary. As if to say: By your pride and sins you have defiled your city, your palace and royal residence, which was on the mountain and in the holy land, and which, as something sacred and inviolate by enemies, was celebrated and honored by all nations. I will now cast that same place before the assaults of enemies as if it were profane, and I will cause it to be desecrated and overthrown by them. So Maldonatus, Vilalpando, and others.
R. David adds, or rather imagines, that the palace of the king of Tyre was built in the form and shape of a sanctuary, that is, of a temple.
Therefore I will bring forth fire from your midst — namely, O Tyre, which will burn you together with your king. As if to say: I will cause punishment to be born from your sins, by which you will be consumed, just as a house is consumed and burned by fire arising within it.
So tropologically, from the collision of commerce, avarice, and pride, the fire of discord is kindled, devouring the prince together with the commonwealth. So the demon, so the sinner, by his sins builds and prepares for himself a fire both present and eternal, Isaiah 50:11. Others explain, as if to say: I will cause some of your inhabitants to flee to the Chaldeans and betray you to them.
And I will make you ashes upon the earth in the sight of all — so that these ashes may be a monument of the burning of Tyre, lasting forever, as an example to others.
Symbolically, Theodoret says: "Man, fallen in his own earth, became dust; and the devil, who ruled the world, overthrown by Christ, is trampled upon by men like ashes."
Verse 19: You are brought to nothing
19. You are brought to nothing — you who wished to be a god, O king, and O demon, you are brought to nothing, most abject, most vile, and you shall never be restored to your former dignity. In Hebrew it is: you shall be a terror, that is, you shall be a terror to all ages; all posterity will be deterred by your example from sins and offending God, because you shall utterly perish and shall not exist forever. Others take these words not of the king, but of Tyre itself, which was restored after 70 years; and then "forever" or "age" signifies the 50 years of a jubilee.
Morally, Tyre and the king of Tyre are a type of sinners, especially the proud and apostates, who flee from the clergy, from their Order, or even from Holy Church to heretics or others. Its abasement and burning represent the fires of Gehenna. Thus lightning strikes the highest mountains. Why? "Because," says Augustine, "they wished to ascend the mountain on which the angel ascended and the devil descended" — the mountain, I say, of eminence, of equality with God, of pride and arrogance. Therefore all these things that are said to the king of Tyre you may rightly apply and address to Judas the traitor, to Origen, to Tertullian, to Luther, to Calvin, and their like.
Verse 21: Set your face.
21. Set your face. — This phrase signifies the freedom and immovable constancy of mind required in preachers, says the Scholiast. Second, as Vilalpando says, it signifies how diligently they must attend to their delivery, so that they take care to express with action — for example, here with a stern expression — what they signify with words.
The meaning is, as if to say: Turn your face and your speech toward Sidon, and freely and severely proclaim to it the destruction which, since it is neighbor to Tyre in location and customs, will likewise be similar in punishment and death.
Sidon. — Sidon was founded by Sidon, son of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah, says Josephus, Antiquities book I, chapter 6. Although Justin, book 18, would have Sidon named from the multitude of fish: for the Phoenicians call fish "Sidon," from the Hebrew ציד tsud, that is, to hunt; whence צידה tseda signifies hunting of both birds and fish.
Verse 22: Behold, I come against you
22. Behold, I come against you — supply: I will come to punish, says St. Jerome. It is the aposiopesis of one angered.
I will be glorified in your midst — in your just punishment and vengeance I will show My justice and glory.
When, etc., I shall have been sanctified (when, by punishing Sidon, I shall show Myself to be the just and holy avenger of the impious, so that all may glorify and praise Me and My holy justice and vengeance upon the impious Sidonians. Hence) 23. I will send pestilence upon it and blood — slaughter, shedding of blood.
Verse 24: And there shall no longer be for the house of
24. And there shall no longer be for the house of Israel a stumbling block of bitterness — that is, a scandal that embitters, or that brings about bitterness and affliction. R. David translates: a piercing thorn. For the Sidonians and neighboring peoples by their example, familiarity, and persuasions drew the Jews to their crimes, especially idolatry. Whence God handed them over to those very peoples to be vexed and punished: who, not moderately, nor to satisfy God's justice, but to satisfy their own hatred and indignation, most grievously afflicted the Jews, and so were to them like a piercing thorn, Joshua 23:12, and adversaries, as is said here. As if to say: I, God, so love the Jews and My people that for their sake I will overthrow the Sidonians and all their neighbors round about, so that henceforth the Jews may not have them as an example of impiety, and also as enemies constantly attacking and tormenting them. So Theodoret.
Verse 25: I will be sanctified in them
25. I will be sanctified in them — so that all may celebrate My holy justice, as well as My mercy and faithfulness, and My care for My people, when they see that I have punished them with a long captivity on account of their sins; but have restored them, once punished and corrected, to their former state, freedom, and homeland through Cyrus; and mystically, through Christ, have called them back from the captivity of sin and the devil to their former freedom and the grace of God. For then they shall dwell in perfect security in the Church, having the interior peace of conscience with God.
Theodoret notes: God punishes friends one way, enemies another; the elect one way, the reprobate another: the latter to destroy, the former to correct and amend. Thus here He amended the Jews but destroyed the Sidonians. Finally, see how the king of Tyre has fallen; see how the famous fall. Ambrosius Leo, the distinguished philosopher, proposes an excellent problem on this subject, in his Problems, chapter 283: "Why," he asks, "have very many of those who have been called heroes and illustrious men fallen into the greatest calamities, as Isocrates says — such as Hercules, Achilles, Ajax, Hector, Themistocles, Romulus, Camillus, Marcellus, both Scipios, Hannibal, C. Caesar, Cicero, Demosthenes, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Euripides, Empedocles, Pliny, and countless others?" And he responds first: "Or is this itself perhaps not true? It seems to be, nevertheless. For the life of all men is afflicted by various kinds of calamities, to such a degree that there is no one who is not struck by the severity of evils
pressed — indeed, a great part of illustrious men, if not all, are touched by calamities. Nevertheless, the eminence of a person, by which each of the heroes is placed before the eyes of all, makes the sufferings of the one who bears them more conspicuous." Second: "Or is this also true, and does it happen because of the arduous and difficult condition of the supreme good, which Nature and fortune can scarcely tolerate? For this reason, one who by nature's guidance excelled in intellect and body, fortune often could not favor; just as often one who excelled in fortune lay with a dull mind and a languid body." For God so established nature that good things are mixed with bad, and consequently great evils with great goods in life, so that we may aspire to the blessed life. I pass over envy, which often oppresses great men; and the fact that great men often expose themselves to great dangers, in which they perish. Finally, the moral cause, which the Prophet assigns here, is pride; for the great bear great spirits, which God, the best and greatest, crushes.