Ezekiel 28: "Puny god"
I have been using thebibleproject ReadScripture app for three years now. If you have never visited thebibleproject, stop reading this and go there now! It is so awesome! Every morning I read the selected chapters and prayerfully meditate upon the psalm. This morning practice has changed my engagement with scripture and God. Currently, I am reading from the prophet Ezekiel. I noticed a couple of cool things in reading Ezekiel 26-30.
Tyre was called “perfect in beauty.” That is quite a description from the Creator of all! It was full of glorious jewels, vegetation, textiles, fish…all sorts of wonderful stuff. Yet, in the describing Tyre’s sea-faring trade with Tarshish, we begin to see issues. Tyre traded in metals, but also in humans- they were slave traders! The prophets of scripture give a customary list of offenses which invoke God’s intervention: idolatry leading to violence and socio-economic injustice. Scripture often uses the metaphor of sea and water as rival nations bringing judgement or threats. “In the midst of the sea, Tyre was filled and very glorious, yet on the day of ruin they will fall into the midst of the sea.” Ezekiel 27:34 says of Tyre, it will be “broken by the seas in the depths of the waters.” Though they make their glory from the sea, it will be the sea that brings their ruin.
Ezekiel 26 condemns Ammon of rejoicing in Israel’s demise. Job 27 uses similar language. They disdained Israel. Though God brought judgement (Psalm 39, the psalmist withholds his tongue, and like Job seeks to know the brevity of his days, then seems to remind God- “you did this”), God will not abide the gloating in in the injury to His Beloved. Moab faces a similar fate and for similar reasons. Edom, from the tribe of Esau, is still seeking vengeance on Jacob. The violent retribution Edom seeks on Israel will be visited upon them. What they seek will come upon them. Or, as scripture often says , we will be judged in the manner of our “ways and doings”. Philistia will suffer in like manner for their “spiteful heart.”
Regarding Tyre, it is condemned for the greed it displayed in Jerusalem’s fall. Just as it licked its chops, so too other nation will lick their chops in your fall. The language of the curse is used to describe Tyre: desolation, the pit, deep waters cover, waste. But again, Tyre’s beauty, artistry, seamanship- it’s wisdom, was praised. How can such heights plummet so low; what melts the wings of Icarus?
Ezekiel 28, the King of Tyre lifted up his heart and said “I am a god!” And the claim to sit among the gods, or the divine council, is not dismissed. “No secret thing was hidden from you…wisdom and understanding procured riches for yourself- yet riches lifted your heart.” Pride, arrogance, self-exaltation coupled with abundance is not a a recipe for godly living. “You will be brought low.” And this is where the Avengers come in!
Joseph Campbell wrote about the themes of religion and myth in the Power of Myth. Modern mythology is undoubtedly found in our superhero stories. He describes these stories as capturing a truth that we live in and experience, truth otherwise unknowable. “Myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary ‘real’ world.(The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkein)” Engaging the imagination, seeing relationship within scripture and these stories does not make scripture less true. It makes it more alive, more apparent- it reveals its truth. It is like Paul at the Aeropagus, describing the “unknown god.” Ezekiel 28 is played out in the myth story of Loki and Hulk and provides an excellent illustration of the exchange.
“Will you still say before him who slays you, ‘I am a god!’ (Or, will you still say “kneel before me you dull creature!’) But you shall be a man, and not a god.” Or, despite Loki’s insistence of his superior position, Hulk will smash! God will show the king of Tyre just how puny he is. Wise, beautiful, rich, powerful…”puny god.”
Yet, YHWH does not smash and walk away. Smashing, though warranted, is not YHWH’s heart. He laments.
Next post, God’s mercy shown to pagan nations. Yes, He loves them too!
