Context No. 3854 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 28:11-19: in context

11Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, 12“Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and tell him, ‘The Lord GOD says: “You were the seal of full measure, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. They were prepared in the day that you were created. 14You were the anointed cherub who covers. Then I set you up on the holy mountain of God. You have walked up and down in the middle of the stones of fire. 15You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you. 16By the abundance of your commerce, your insides were filled with violence, and you have sinned. Therefore I have cast you as profane out of God’s mountain. I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the middle of the stones of fire. 17Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I have cast you to the ground. I have laid you before kings, that they may see you. 18By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your commerce, you have profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought out a fire from the middle of you. It has devoured you. I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you. 19All those who know you among the peoples will be astonished at you. You have become a terror, and you will exist no more.”’”

This lament over the king of Tyre describes a figure of dazzling beauty, wisdom, and splendor, adorned with every precious stone, who fell through pride. The turning point is named exactly: your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

The very gifts that should have led to gratitude, beauty, wisdom, wealth, became instead the occasion of a self-exalting pride that brought him down. Many readers have seen in this fallen figure a picture of pride itself, the way that great gifts, when they feed self-glory rather than gratitude, lead to ruin. There is a warning here for anyone blessed with beauty, ability, wisdom, or wealth. These are gifts, meant to point us to the Giver, but they carry a peculiar danger: the temptation to be proud of them, to let them lift up our hearts, and so to corrupt the very gifts we were given. The higher the gift, the greater the fall when pride takes hold. The safeguard is to receive every gift as a trust from God, holding it with gratitude and humility rather than letting it swell the heart.

Do I receive my gifts of beauty, ability, or wealth with humility and gratitude to the Giver, guarding against the pride that turned the king of Tyre's splendor into the occasion of his fall?

Sources

Ezekiel 28:17: "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor."
Ezekiel 28:15: "You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you."
Proverbs 16:18: "Pride goes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall."