Ezekiel 28:1-19 is NOT about the Devil

[First posted in 2012; part of our series on the controversial figure in Christian and other religions referred to as the “devil” or Satan who is mis-named “Lucifer” but let’s not get into all that in this introduction.  Other posts in this series, in case you have not read them, are:  

• Revisit: Ha Satan got a bad rap!
• The Christian Devil Finally Goes to Christian Hell
• Isaiah 14:12-15 is not about the Devil
• If the Tanakh does not promote belief in fallen angels, why are they so prominent in the New Testament?
• Does Judaism believe in heaven and hell?
• Revisit: TNK” ha satan” vs. OT “Satan”/NT “Devil”
• So if there’s no devil and demonic spirits, explain the occult.
• If there’s no Devil, then there’s no hell?

—Admin1]

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This is an example of either mistranslation, or tampering with the original Hebrew verses. But let us give well-meaning scholarly Christian translators the benefit of the doubt;  we will presume that this was simply mistranslation, done unintentionally, not outright tampering with the original verses to fit Christian doctrine.

 

When you are after THE TRUTH, it does not help much to read the “Old” Testament in the Christian Bible; you have to read the Jewish/Hebrew English translations.  When you keep reading the same verses in any Christian translation of the Old Testament, you will keep seeing the devil and Jesus all over the OT.  You will begin to understand why this is so when you read one key verse —-Ezekiel 28:13—as one of many examples.

 

 

This requires a longer article than Isaiah 14 so please don’t lose interest while reading through ArtScroll Tanach [AST] and New American Study Bible [NASB]. And by the way, if you own a Study Bible whether Christian or Jewish, the background notes are helpful as far as history, geography, culture, word study are concerned; just don’t swallow the interpretation of verses without checking them out to your satisfaction, because Study Bibles have an agenda.

 

 

To understand any reading material, it helps to be aware of the following:  

• Who is speaking [narrator, character]; 
• who is being referred to.  
• If there are three speakers, figure out who’s saying what.  
• The narrator is always the invisible presence, so don’t forget him and his point of view.  
• The other invisible Presence is of course the God of Israel who uses His prophets as His mouthpiece.
•  Learn to recognize when the text suddenly shifts to metaphorical and figurative language.

 

Since these verses are in the book of Ezekiel, the narrator is the prophet Ezekiel.  It helps to know —

• when he lived,
• under which king in the divided kingdom, 
• and which conquering power was threatening the nation of Israel. 

 

In brief, Ezekiel was among the Israelites who were exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BCE.  While in exile, he received his call to become a prophet, though he was of a priestly family, the son of Buzi the priest.  His wife was left behind in Israel so that when Jerusalem was under seige and would surely fall, he knew he would lose his wife, and the Israelites would lose their beloved Jerusalem.

 

 

Preceding chapters starting from Chapter 25 announce YHWH’s judgment on 7 gentile nations; Chapters 26 and 27 focus on Tyre and by Chapter 28, the focus further narrows to the king of Tyre.  With that in mind, read the two versions and see if you notice a difference in the rendering of certain  verses, specifically vs 13.  This time we will start with the Christian translation to get the gist of what’s going on in the chapter:

 

 

The way verse 13 is translated “You were in Eden, the garden of God” — it suddenly transports the reader from the reference to the earthly king of Tyre to a character in Eden–[AHA, who else?] the talking serpent— which Christian interpreters connect with Satan, the Devil.  Then, since the next few verses do not fit the serpent (covering of every precious stone), the thought of Lucifer comes to mind, “seal of perfection,” “full of wisdom,” “perfect in beauty.”  And to bolster all that,  “You were the anointed cherub” who was “on the holy mountain of God” and “walked in the midst of the stones of fire.”

 

What does one do with all these verses that seem to talk about the most beautiful of angels according to Christian teaching?

Strangely, and to their credit, the translators and interpreters of the NASB themselves do not connect these verses with Satan.   Surprised?  Notice how they explain the verses:

 

You were in Eden. “Like Adam (Gen. 2:15), Ezekiel continues to use imagery of the creation and the fall to picture the career of the king of Tyre (see 31:9,16, 18).

Every precious stone. Unlike Adam, who was naked (Gen. 2:25), the king is pictured as a fully clothed priest, ordained to guard God’s holy place.  The 9 stones are among the 12 worn by the priest (Ex. 28:17-20). (The Septuagint lists all 12).

vs. 14 cherub who covers.  The Genesis account has cherubim (plural) stationed in the border of the garden after the expulsion of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:24).

vs 15  You were blameless . . . Until . . . The parallel to Gen 2-3 is clear (see Gen 6:9, 17:1).

vs 17.  cast you to the ground. Expulsion from the heavenly garden.

 

In fact, the commentary continues explaining the subsequent verses as related to the history of Israel, against the seven nations under judgment here, Sidon and Tyre, etc. There was not one reference to Satan in these notes!  It appears some modern biblical scholars are re-examining traditional interpretation and are more objective and careful in their interpretation of verses within the larger context and true to the progression of thought leading to the isolated “proof texts”.

 

With that in mind, please read the same verses in the Hebrew translation below and again, notice how verse 13 is translated:

 

 

 

In sum:  Adam, a man . . . king of Tyre, a man . . . angel, a messenger of God . . . .fallen angel, an invention of pagan idolatrous man-made religions which believe in dualism.

 

 

End of discourse.