Post by Lee on Oct 3, 2014 1:46:02 GMT
Eze 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
R.A.H. writes:—Would you express your opinion on the phrase, “the stones of fire,” occurring twice in Ezek. 28:14–16?
ANSWER.—The phrase is poetical, and we have always read it as the equivalent of “flashing gems.” And now, looking it up again for this “answer,” it appears that this is right. We use the word “fire” in a variety of senses, one of which is peculiar to precious stones. Gesenius renders the Hebrew phrase thus: “gems of a fiery splendour” (Heb. Lex.). It obviously is an allusion to the glory of Eden just described in verse 13. “Every precious stone was thy covering.” Of course, “the King of Tyre” (5:12) is the “anointed cherub” in question (5:14) and not the imaginary Satan of a paganised theology, as is sometimes asserted in interpretations of this passage. He is “a man and no god” (5:9), and the place of his mercantile glory is “the holy mountain of God,” that is the Holy Land, and neither heaven nor the “hell” of popular superstition. The phrase, “stones of fire” has a double figurative significance. It stands first for the material wealth and splendour of the Tyrian and Israelitish powers at their zenith, and secondly for the personification thereof in the “brightness” of the “kings” and “princes” of these powers (verses 1, 17, etc.). Ezekiel’s opening vision of the cherubim introduces the elements of “stones of fire” (“sapphire stone,” “throne,” “man,” “fire”—1:26, 27). See also ch. 10:1, 9. Christ is substance of it all, typified by the glory of David and Solomon, with whom the King of Tyre was contemporary and in alliance. There is a Tyrian power of the latter days, contemporary with the restoration of Israel, of which Ezekiel speaks in the conclusion of ch. 28. (vv. 24–26). So we read in Psa. 45:12: “The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift,” in the day of Messiah’s glory, when he makes his children “princes in all the earth.” In that day there will be “stones of fire” of an immortal order in the land. “For they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land” (Zech. 9:16). Compare also Rev. 21:11, 19, 21.
. Vol. 57: The Christadelphian: Volume 57. 1920 (electronic ed.) (216). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.
R.A.H. writes:—Would you express your opinion on the phrase, “the stones of fire,” occurring twice in Ezek. 28:14–16?
ANSWER.—The phrase is poetical, and we have always read it as the equivalent of “flashing gems.” And now, looking it up again for this “answer,” it appears that this is right. We use the word “fire” in a variety of senses, one of which is peculiar to precious stones. Gesenius renders the Hebrew phrase thus: “gems of a fiery splendour” (Heb. Lex.). It obviously is an allusion to the glory of Eden just described in verse 13. “Every precious stone was thy covering.” Of course, “the King of Tyre” (5:12) is the “anointed cherub” in question (5:14) and not the imaginary Satan of a paganised theology, as is sometimes asserted in interpretations of this passage. He is “a man and no god” (5:9), and the place of his mercantile glory is “the holy mountain of God,” that is the Holy Land, and neither heaven nor the “hell” of popular superstition. The phrase, “stones of fire” has a double figurative significance. It stands first for the material wealth and splendour of the Tyrian and Israelitish powers at their zenith, and secondly for the personification thereof in the “brightness” of the “kings” and “princes” of these powers (verses 1, 17, etc.). Ezekiel’s opening vision of the cherubim introduces the elements of “stones of fire” (“sapphire stone,” “throne,” “man,” “fire”—1:26, 27). See also ch. 10:1, 9. Christ is substance of it all, typified by the glory of David and Solomon, with whom the King of Tyre was contemporary and in alliance. There is a Tyrian power of the latter days, contemporary with the restoration of Israel, of which Ezekiel speaks in the conclusion of ch. 28. (vv. 24–26). So we read in Psa. 45:12: “The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift,” in the day of Messiah’s glory, when he makes his children “princes in all the earth.” In that day there will be “stones of fire” of an immortal order in the land. “For they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land” (Zech. 9:16). Compare also Rev. 21:11, 19, 21.
. Vol. 57: The Christadelphian: Volume 57. 1920 (electronic ed.) (216). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.