Day 233: Ezekiel 25–28 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Hey, Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny Arango. Welcome to the Bible Department podcast powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebibledepartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. Family, welcome to day 233. We are in Ezekiel chapters 25 and 28 today. And Ezekiel chapter 28 is actually a very well-known passage of scripture because a lot of people are going to interpret a handful of verses from Ezekiel chapter 28, and they're gonna interpret it to be talking about Satan. They're gonna interpret these verses, and a lot of Christians actually, I would say it's a very common interpretation for Christians to think that Ezekiel is actually prophesying against Satan. The text actually says that it's about the King of Tyre. We're gonna get into that later into the episode, and we're gonna try to answer the question, is Ezekiel talking about the King of Tyre? Is he talking about Satan? What's going on in Ezekiel chapter 28? But before we get there, we gotta tackle Ezekiel chapter 25, 26, and 27. And like always, I'm gonna give you context clues, then I'm gonna give you as many nerdy nuggets as I can. We're always gonna leave off with a timeless truth because we're not here to learn history. We're here to learn about the character

and the nature of God and how he works in the lives of real people. So if you have done the reading for today, then everything that I'm gonna say, you're gonna have context for. If you haven't done the reading for today, then how about you stop the video, stop the audio, go do the reading for today. We just got a couple of chapters of Ezekiel to read, and then you'll have all the understanding that you need to really dive in to today's content. With no further ado, let's actually dive in. So let me give you context, okay? Ezekiel chapter 25 to 28 are what we would call oracles against the nations, oracles against the nations. A handful of these oracles are gonna have dates. And when we get to those, I will give you those dates. I mean, precise dates. This is one of the really cool things about studying a prophet who's in the Babylonian time period because the Babylonians had mastered the calendar because they had mastered astronomy and astrology. And so we get way more accurate dates for prophets who are prophesying, who are influenced by the Babylonian world as opposed to the Assyrian world or the Canaanite world or the Egyptian world. So we get some dates for a couple of these oracles, but Ezekiel chapter 25 to 28

are oracles against the nations. Now chapters 25 to 28 are oracles against Judah's neighbors. And I actually wanna give you bigger context. I wanna widen your context, which will help us out tomorrow. But Ezekiel chapter 25, all the way to Ezekiel chapter 32. Okay, so Ezekiel 25 to 32 are the section of Ezekiel's book or book of prophecy that would be considered an oracle against the nations. If you have been studying any of the prophetic books, especially with us, you know that oracles against the nations are not new. Jeremiah chapter 46 to 51 contain oracles against the nations. Isaiah chapters 13 to 21 contain oracles against the nations. You may be wondering, why would God be prophesying against foreign nations that he doesn't have a covenant with? Well, that's exactly why God has some harsh words for the neighboring nations that surround Israel and Judah. Imagine if my wife cheated on me, okay? Imagine if my wife found some lover and was in an adulterous relationship. I wouldn't just be angry at my wife. I would also be angry at whoever this freaking loser is, at whoever this guy is, whoever this... Absolutely, I got some choice words that I can't really say on this episode, but I would be upset at this guy, okay? I would have some very vengeful, hateful,

wrathful things to say, not just to my wife, but also to the man that she's been unfaithful with. In the same way, Yahweh is in a covenant with Israel. Israel has cheated on Yahweh and been unfaithful to Yahweh with... the gods of other nations through idolatry. And so Yahweh is going to have some choice words for those nations. I want you to also think about it this way. By the way, this doesn't take away the responsibility from if my wife were to be unfaithful to our marriage covenant, she's still responsible. That doesn't mean that I'm not mad at the guy, okay? That I don't got beef with now this dude over here. In the same way, think about God, how the Lord interacts with Adam, Eve, and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Even though Adam and Eve are held responsible for their actions and there are consequences to their decisions, the serpent is still cursed by God for deceiving these people, for manipulating their weakness, okay? So everybody's held responsible for the part they have played. And in that way, God, Yahweh, who's already been depicted as a lover, a husband who has been cheated on by Israel, he's got some words for the nations, okay? So I wanna put that in context. The reason that Yahweh has some choice words

for people that he's not in covenant with is because he's actually upset with the very people who have drawn Israel away, who have deceived Israel, who have lured Israel into idolatry. That doesn't mean that Israel is not responsible. Israel as a nation, as a wife is responsible, but God is also holding the nations that have lured her into polytheism, into idolatry responsible as well. And that's why Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel are going to have what we would call oracles against the nations, all right? We actually have a possible chiasm in the book of Ezekiel. So I wanna put our reading today, even in context of the entire book of Ezekiel. Remember in the Western story arc, the climax of the story always comes at the end. That's where the plot actually reaches an ultimate climax and finally gets resolved, okay? So if you're watching anything produced in the Western world, there's the initial inciting incident where the plot is kicked into action. And then the tension rises all the way to a climax. And at the climax, the story is resolved. And then there's a rising, a falling action. So inciting incident, rising action, climax, and then falling, a resolution, okay? So in the Eastern world,

Eastern narratives don't work that way. Eastern narrative doesn't work with putting a climax or the most important part to something at the end, but rather in the middle. So a chiasm is gonna be mirroring ideas until you get to the center. So I want you to kind of track this with me. We're gonna look at the book of Ezekiel and we're gonna keep going a layer in till we get right down to the middle. So Ezekiel 1-7 is about old Israel. Ezekiel 45-48, which is the end of the book, is about new Israel, okay? So the beginning of the book and the end of the book mirror each other. Then you go one layer in. Ezekiel 8-11 is all about Yahweh leaving the old temple. But Ezekiel 40-44 is about Yahweh entering the new temple. Then you go another layer in. So that layer mirrors each other. Then you go another layer in and you get Ezekiel 12-24, which is the old Israel is judged by their king. But then Ezekiel 33-39, we get the new Israel protected by their king, okay? And then we get the middle, which is Ezekiel 25-28, which is words against Judah's neighbors. And then 29-32, which is words against Egypt. And these two sections,

which is today's reading and tomorrow's reading, take up a bigger section, which is words or prophecies or oracles against the nations. And that seems to actually be the center of the book. So this content in here sometimes gets overlooked because it's not about Israel specifically. However, this seems to be, in terms of a narrative context or a literary context, the most important stuff that's actually in the book. I think I've given you enough context. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere books are sold. Literally today, I walked into a Barnes & Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes & Noble, or you can go to a Books A Million, or. or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller, I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode.

Let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. First nerdy nugget I've got for you is that there are seven nations in this oracle collection. And the seventh nation has seven separate oracles against it. That's technically in tomorrow's reading, all right? But this entire section, Ezekiel chapter 25, all the way to Ezekiel chapter 32, which encompasses today's reading and tomorrow's reading, have seven oracles, okay? Seven nations in this oracle collection. And the seventh nation, which is Egypt, is gonna have seven separate oracles against it. Seven conveys completion or fullness. These oracles represent all of Yahweh's judgment against those who have hurt his wife, who have hurt his vassal. This is his complete judgment on the nations. So I'll actually list all seven for you, okay? The first is Ammon, which is Ezekiel 25. The second is Moab, which is Ezekiel 25. The next, the third is Edom, which is also Ezekiel 25. The fourth is Philistia, which is also Ezekiel 25. And then we're gonna get two Phoenician cities, okay? Two cities in Phoenicia. The first is Tyre, which is gonna be Ezekiel 26 to 28. And the second is Sidon, which is gonna be Ezekiel 26 to 28. And then the last, which is my pinky over here, is Egypt, which is gonna be Ezekiel chapter 29 to 32. And we will dive into that tomorrow

because that is on the Bible reading plan for tomorrow. All right, that's our first nerdy nugget, that there are seven nations in this oracle collection and the seventh nation has seven distinct oracles against that seventh nation. And so the idea here is completion, wholeness, fullness, okay? So second nerdy nugget, three of these oracles are dated and I'm gonna give you all three of those. So this is a hybrid between a context clue, but it's also a nerdy nugget, okay? First, the oracle against Tyre is given on the first day of the first month of the 11th year of exile. This is April 23rd, 586 BC. Obviously the Babylonian calendar doesn't have the month of April, but we're translating it into what does this date mean in our calendar, okay? I'm not saying that they had the month of April back in 586 BC, they did not. But we have the month of April and we can actually line up the Babylonian calendar system against our calendar system and translate that date into what that date would be in our calendar system. All right, second is the oracle against Pharaoh. That's given on the 12th day of the 10th month of the 10th year of the exile. This would be the 7th of January, 587 BC. And then the third is actually the last prophecy ever to be given by Ezekiel. An oracle to Babylon about Egypt given on the first day

of the first month of the 27th year of exile. This would have been 570 BC, April 28th, 570 BC. That's our second nerdy nugget. Let's get into our third nerdy nugget. The fifth and sixth oracles are against Tyre and Sidon. These are the leading cities of the Phoenicians. Now, on the surface level, it may not actually make sense why there's prophecies against Tyre and Sidon because Judah and Israel never go to war with the Phoenicians. Ammon makes sense. Moab makes sense. Edom makes sense. The Philistines definitely makes sense. These were Israel's enemies, ancient enemies up until 586 BC. These are enemies, clear. No mystery about why they're here. Tyre and Sidon, we actually have to dig a little bit. The Phoenicians were not traditionally the physical enemy of Israel and Judah, but they posed a different threat. Okay, the Phoenicians were the first great deep Sea traders. These are the only people really like wandering around the ancient world on on boats or on ships. Most of the ancient world is deathly scared of the sea because it is the abode of chaos. Most ancient people believe that there are chaos monsters that live in the sea which you know not shocking right that Jonah would get swallowed by some kind of chaos monster as he's out there in the deep blue sea. In the ancient world the ocean or the sea is definitely synonymous with chaos and that would be the home of chaos monsters. Alright so

the Phoenicians were the only people who would even dare venture out into the deep blue sea which meant that their sea craft was unparalleled in the ancient world and this was the basis of their great trading empire. They traded with almost everyone in the Mediterranean world and established their own trading colonies, Carthage being the most famous. Having such a wealthy northern neighbor so the Phoenicians are the northern neighbor of Israel. Having such a wealthy northern neighbor was always a bonus for Israel as they fought many wars to defend or control the trade routes to Phoenicia. The desire to ally and trade with them brought disaster however as it was a trade alliance with Phoenicia that brought a princess named Jezebel or Jezebel Jezebel into Israel's royal family. Remember she marries Ahab and she brought with her the worship of Baal. Phoenicia is seen then as the pagan temptress alluring the people of Yahweh away from him with promise of wealth through trade. So the marriage between Ahab and Jezebel or Jezebel is not just about worshiping other gods it's the desire for wealth and security through trade that actually even winds this Jewish prince marrying a pagan princess okay and Jezebel wreaks havoc in the nation of Israel promoting Baal worship not just promoting but endorsing and teaching and instructing and spreading Baal worship all throughout the kingdom of Israel okay so Tyre and Sidon the leading cities of the Phoenicians are going to be judged okay because of this all right nerdy nugget number four is actually the one that I teased at the very top of the episode so let's get to Ezekiel chapter 28 Ezekiel chapter 28 we'll kind of start reading in verse 1 says the word of the Lord came to me son of man it's the ruler of Tyre so this is the king of Tyre okay I need to make this very clear the person being spoken about is the king of Tyre this is what the sovereign Lord says in the pride of your heart you say I am a god I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas all right right on the outset Yahweh is judging the king of Tyre because in his heart his heart is full of arrogance full of pride and just like Pharaoh just like all the ancient kings of the ancient world I know that a little bit of a redundant sentence the ancient kings of the ancient world okay they all

believed they're they're not just royalty but that they were deities okay Pharaoh is worshipped as a god Alexander the Great worshipped as a god whether it's Persian or Babylonian or Syrian or Phoenician Kings these men were worshipped as gods this obviously influences the Greco-Roman world okay Caesar Caesar Augustus is going to claim that he's the son of a god which means he has to say that his dad Julius Caesar was a god and he's gonna Roman Caesar's are gonna go on to claim that they are gods there's nothing new about kings or dictators or monarchs declaring that they're gods that are descendants of gods or that they are a part of the pantheon of gods so in the pride of your heart you say I am a god I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas why in the heart of the seas because Phoenicia had built its empire on trade so they had they had the best boats in the ancient world they dared to go off into the sea and actually trade with people but you are a mere mortal and not a god though you think you are wise as a god so the the tone of all this stuff is arrogance and humility that the king of Tyre is arrogant and Yahweh is saying You should realize you are a mere mortal. Okay, so there's an arrogance here All this is clear until we get to verse 11 And then it seems like there's a second word of prophecy the word of the Lord came to me son of man Take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre So this is still about the king of Tyre and say to him This is what the sovereign Lord says now this is where people will begin to make parallels between what is said here and The character that we know as Satan you were the seal of perfection full of wisdom Perfect in beauty you were in Eden the Garden of God Every precious stone adorn you carnelian chrysalite and emerald topaz onyx jasper lapis lazuli Turquoise and barrel your settings and mountings were made of gold on the day you were created They were prepared all right now when the Bible says your settings and mountings, okay, so let's tackle that part first I think this is the easiest part Most people or most Christians in the modern age at least are going to have heard

sermons or been influenced by the idea that this starting at verse 11 that this prophecy or this lament Against the king of Tyre is actually about Satan once you make that hermeneutical jump the next thing that people are probably not aware of is that in the King James version of the Bible it does not Say settings and mountings in verse 13, but it actually says Tambors and pipes a tambour is like a tambourine and then a pipe is like an organ pipe So they are then gonna draw the hermeneutical interpretation that Satan was in charge of music in heaven Or that Satan was a worship leader in heaven. And the reality is that that's a terrible interpretation Actually tambours and pipes is not a good interpretation of the Hebrew here Settings and mountings is actually a better interpretation and even the more modern interpretations are gonna say Engravings. Okay, so there's actually nothing musical in the Hebrew here. However an Interpretation or a translation of the Bible, which is the King James translation and I don't want to make people upset But the King James is not a good translation of the Bible I know I know I know I know people are gonna attack me people are gonna have all things to say I just will say this the only people who think the King James version is a good translation the Bible are actually are influenced by their denomination or our church people in the academic space as I went through my Undergraduate program Master's degree program in my doctoral studies I Never had a professor in the academic world that said the King James version is a good version of the Bible Never never never never in in academic circles. The NRSV is the gold standard Okay, and IVs cool ESVs cool But never had a professor that said you got to use the King James. That's it's really church people and Denominationally influenced people who have that stance. Anyway, we I think we can at least just go ahead and say the translation that this should be anything musical is most likely a bad Translation of of these verses. All right, I'm gonna go ahead and Just submit the idea that Satan was probably not a worship leader in heaven Like maybe he was maybe maybe he was but but this verse is not a good verse to stand on

When making that argument, all right next verse 14 you were anointed as a guardian cherub So I ordained you you were on the Holy Mount of God you walked among fiery stones You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created. So wickedness was found in you through your widespread trade You were filled with violence and you sinned so let me just say this this never stops being about the king of Tyre We have to acknowledge that there's no point where this is not about the king of Tyre Now if we want to make the argument that there's a layered meaning here that we're talking about the king of Tyre But we're also talking about Satan. I can rock with that. But here's what would probably be even more helpful is Realizing that the Bible often uses cosmic language to talk about human rulers cosmic language or what we would call angelic language or Apocalyptic language to talk about human rulers so this actually happens in chapter 31 of Ezekiel where the Pharaoh the king of Egypt is going to be compared to a Chaos monster a sea monster like Leviathan. We're going to use cosmic language to describe an earthly ruler. Here's what I actually think is happening. What I actually think is happening is that there are spiritual beings that are influencing human rulers. And God, in this oracle against the nations, is actually judging both. Judging the human being, the king of Tyre, and the deceptive force behind the king of Tyre. In the same way that when God looks at Adam and Eve, he holds them accountable for their actions, but also says the serpent was behind this and manipulated you and deceived you. That doesn't mean that you're not responsible, but that does mean that you are both responsible. And so I would say there's probably a layer here. Do I think that the Bible often uses cosmic language to describe earthly rulers? Yeah, it does. So I'm not so quick to say, yeah, this is about Satan, but I am open to the possibility that although the Bible is talking about the king of Tyre, that there may be nuance here. That the Bible is acknowledging that the king of Tyre has been influenced by spiritual or demonic forces. God is holding all of them responsible. Moreover, I would say that pride and arrogance are still the thing being addressed. That for earthly rulers, the thing that we can't miss is that the moment I exalt myself as a god, the moment I exalt myself as someone who's more than just a mere mortal, God is now in opposition to me. And I would say

from the very top of this chapter all the way down, the issue here is actually not whether it's about Satan or not. The issue here is about arrogance and pride. Verse 17, your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth. I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade, you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes to the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you. You have come to a horrible end and will be no more. I would say that Satan is not out here trading, but the king of Tyre was. So I'm gonna go ahead and say it's probably about the king of Tyre, and this actually leads us into our timeless truth, which is God gives grace to the humble, but he opposes the proud. That if you want God to be in opposition to you, be arrogant, be proud. But if you want God's grace, if you want God to be attracted to you, be humble. Whether or not this is about Satan or the king of Tyre is actually of minimal consequence. But whether or not you are arrogant or full of pride, or whether or not you have the humility that can actually sustain your spiritual life for the long haul, that is of maximum consequence. That is a very, very big deal. The other timeless truth that I want to focus on just for a moment is that Israel was designed to influence the nations in a positive way, but because of Israel's idolatry, the nations end up being judged. And you want to know something? I think there's a lot of blood on our hands as Christians. We are supposed to be salt and light in the earth, but there are people who love Jesus, but just don't like Christians and therefore lose out on a relationship with Jesus. And I think in the same way that the nations are judged because of Israel's idolatry, I think that still today there are people that don't know God who are going to be judged because of the church's idolatry. And that's not just true for Ezekiel's audience, that's true for us today. Tomorrow we got day 234, and we're going to be in Ezekiel chapter 29 and 32. It's going to be awesome. If you're on a streak, I'm so proud of you. How about you come right back here tomorrow so that we can continue our trek through the book of Ezekiel. I love you so much. I'll see you tomorrow. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department Podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend, and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebibledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.