Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 28:18

"By the multitude of thine iniquities, in the unrighteousness of thy traffic, thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of thee; it hath devoured thee, and I have turned thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee." — Ezekiel 28:18 (ASV)

Defiled your sanctuaries.— These are not to be understood so much as the actual temples of Tyre, but rather as the ideal “holy mountain of God,” in which the prophet has represented the prince of Tyre as “a covering cherub.” Yet, undoubtedly, even in the former sense, it was true that the Tyrians, like the Gentiles of whom St. Paul speaks in Romans 1:21, did not live up to the religious light they had and, violating their own consciences and sense of right, defiled even such representation of the true religion as still remained in their idolatrous worship.

The main thought, however, is the former one, and it is in accordance with this that the fire is represented as going forth to consume the king. Many of the Hebrew manuscripts have sanctuary in the singular.

By the iniquity of your traffic.— Here, as so often in other cases, the sin is represented as consisting in the abuse of the very blessings God had given, a sin that leads directly to its own punishment. No fact is more striking in history, whether of Israel or of the heathen, than that the gifts of God, which should have been for their blessing and His glory, are perverted by the sinfulness of man: first to their own guilt, and then, in consequence, to their ruin.

Ezekiel 28:20–26 constitute another distinct prophecy, of which Ezekiel 28:20-24 are occupied with the denunciation of judgment upon Zidon, and Ezekiel 28:25-26 with promises to Israel. There are several obvious reasons, besides that of making up the number of the nations to seven, why at least a word of prophecy should have been directed especially against Zidon, despite her forming a part of Phoenicia and contributing to the mariners of Tyre (Ezekiel 27:8). In the first place, Zidon (situated about twenty-five miles north of Tyre) was the more ancient city from which Tyre had sprung, and always maintained her independence.

Hence, she might seem not to be exposed to the judgment of God upon Tyre, unless especially mentioned. Also, Zidon (rather than Tyre) had especially been the source of corrupting idolatrous influences upon Israel. This had begun as early as the times of the Judges (Judges 10:6); it had been continued and increased in the days of Solomon (1 Kings 11:33). It reached its consummation under the reign of Ahab. He married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Zidon and high priest of Baal (1 Kings 16:31), and set up the worship of Baal as the state religion of Israel. That this influence was still powerful in Judah also in the days of Ezekiel is clear from the reference to the Tammuz worship in Ezekiel 8:14.

There is only one mention (Judges 10:12) of the Zidonians as coming into armed conflict with Israel, but they had rejoiced in her fall. As this prophecy closes the circle of the nations who had thus exulted in the destruction of Jerusalem, a promise of restoration to Israel is appropriately placed at the end. This restoration will occur when all these judgments upon her enemies have been accomplished.