Ezekiel chapter 28

vs 1

Yep, it does that, Ezekiel. For you, anyway.

vs 2

This verse straight away should tell us that this is really about the king of Tyre claiming to be a god. It's not about Satan. Should we be surprised that someone claims to be a god? It's strange to us, but pharoahs did, Babylonian emperors did, Persian emperors did, Greek rulers did, Roman emperors did. Do you get the picture?

vs 3

Good old Danel. He was a wise, wise man.

vs 4

So it's not that he has no wisdom and understanding. He's got enough to amass gold and wealth for himself. So, perhaps 15?

vs 5

As I say, it's not like he's a total brainless vegetable. He's got the smarts to be able to come up with a big trading empire and make himself rich. But he doesn't have the wisdom to not get all proud about it, he starts boasting he's a god, he lives a life of pleasure and selfishness.

vs 6

Only think, it's not true of course.

vs 7

And, you know, if you're a god, you can make them go away. Right?

vs 8

But you'll rise from the dead, because you're a god, right? Silly thing to say, really, that you're a god.

vs 9

"You can't kill me, I'm a god!" is probably even worse than "You can't kill me, I'm wearing magical armo...argh" if people actually then kill you. It shouldn't be a command, it should just be a simple statement of fact.

A simple statement of fact Jesus never made. He said, "You can kill me, but I'm God."

vs 10

In his death he will be separated from God, because of his claims about being a god himself. And his death will be a judging death, a death before his old age.

vs 11

And God wasn't finished either, he had more to say.

vs 12

See, God could see Tyre, he could see how wonderful, rich and glorious and splendid it was. He's not saying it wasn't.

vs 13

A great verse for getting a bunch of hebrew names for stones. Probably relates to stone of red, stone of blue, stone of green etc though. Lapidary concerns were not so precise back then. But it also shows a huge wealth, and it makes this claim about the garden of Eden, linking the king of Tyre back to Adam, showing that God had given him everything. The King of Tyre had his whole life, his wealth and splendour, to remind him that God had given him everything. But instead, he decided to claim that he was a god himself. Oops.