Ezekiel 28:6-10: a reflection

6“‘therefore the Lord GOD says: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of God, 7therefore, behold, I will bring strangers on you, the terrible of the nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom. They will defile your brightness. 8They will bring you down to the pit. You will die the death of those who are slain in the heart of the seas. 9Will you yet say before him who kills you, ‘I am God’? But you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you. 10You will die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers; for I have spoken it,” says the Lord GOD.’”

This oracle is directed against the ruler of Tyre, who in his pride had exalted himself as if he were divine. Because you have set your heart as the heart of God, God says; and then he punctures the pride with a plain reminder of reality: Will you still say, I am God, before those who kill you? You are a man, and not God, in the hand of those who wound you. However high the ruler had exalted himself in his own mind, he was only a mortal man, and death would prove it.

Notice the pride God confronts, and the truth he sets against it: you are a man, and not God. The ruler had let his pride swell until he thought of himself as more than human, as if he were a god; but he was a mortal creature, subject to death like everyone else. His pride had made him forget the most basic truth about himself: that he was a man, and not God. And death would strip away the illusion.

That is a warning against the pride that forgets our creatureliness. We may not claim outright to be gods; but pride can make us forget that we are mortal creatures, dependent, limited, subject to death, and instead think of ourselves as more than we are, self-sufficient, in control, answerable to no one. But we are men and women, not God; creatures, not the Creator. Remember what you are: a mortal creature, made by God, dependent on him, and subject to death. Do not let pride swell your sense of yourself until you forget your creatureliness. Humble yourself before God, giving him his place as God and taking your own as a creature; for you are a man or woman, and not God, and the humble remembrance of that truth is the beginning of wisdom.

Lord, this oracle confronts the ruler of Tyre, who had set his heart as the heart of God, with a plain truth: you are a man, and not God, in the hand of those who wound you. Warn me against the pride that forgets my creatureliness. I may not claim outright to be a god; but pride can make me forget that I am a mortal creature, dependent, limited, subject to death, and instead think of myself as more than I am, self-sufficient, in control, answerable to no one. But I am a man, not God; a creature, not the Creator. Help me remember what I am: a mortal creature, made by you, dependent on you, and subject to death. Do not let pride swell my sense of myself until I forget my creatureliness. Help me humble myself before you, giving you your place as God and taking my own as a creature; for I am not God, and the humble remembrance of that truth is the beginning of wisdom. Keep me humble before you, my Maker.