Ezekiel 28:24

And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. THERE SHALL BE NO MORE A PRICKING BRIER UNTO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL - as the idolatrous nations left in Canaan THERE SHALL BE NO MORE A PRICKING BRIER UNTO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL - as the idolatrous nations left in Canaan (among which Zidon is expressly specified in the limits of Asher, Judges 1:31) had been (Numbers 33:55; Joshua 23:13). "A brier," first ensnaring the Israelites in sin (as a brier catches in one's garment), and then being made the instrument of punishing th...

20-26. The Zidonians were borderers upon the land of Israel, and they might have learned to glorify the Lord; but, instead of that, they seduced Israel to the worship of their idols. War and pestilence are God's messengers; but he will be glorified in the restoring his people to their former safety and prosperity. God will cure them of their sins, and ease them of their troubles. This promise will at length fully come to pass in the heavenly Canaan: when all the saints shall be gathered together, every thing that offends shall be removed, all griefs and fears for ever banished. Happy, then, is the church of God, and every living member of it, though poor, afflicted, and despised; for the Lord will display his truth, power, and mercy, in the salvation and happiness of his redeemed people....

Verse Ezekiel 28:24. _THERE SHALL BE NO MORE A PRICKING BRIER_] Nothing to excite Israel to idolatry when restored from their captivity. Perhaps there is an allusion to _Jezebel_, daughter of _Ethbaal_, king of Sidon, and wife to Ahab, king of Israel, who was the greatest curse to Israel, and the universal restorer of idolatry in the land, see 1 Kings 16:31. Sidon being destroyed, there would come no encourager of idolatry from that quarter....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 28:1 From the city the prophet passes to its ruler, who concentrated in himself whatever was most arrogant and boastful in the temper of his people. He is described here as a" prince," in Ezekiel 28:12 as "king," and the combination of the two words points probably to some peculiarity of the Tyrian constitution. "Prince" it will be remembered, is constantly used by Ezekiel of Zedekiah (Ezekiel 7:27; Ezekiel 12:20, _el al_.)._ _The King of Tyro at the time was Ithobal or Ethbaal III. (Josephus, 'Contra Apion,'...

AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE A PRICKING BRIER TO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL,.... To the church of God, Jews or Gentiles, particularly to the Jews, who will now be converted; all the enemies of Christ and his people will now be destroyed, who have been very grievous and distressing to them by their furious persecutions; the pope and Turk will be no more, nor any of the antichristian powers; the beast and false prophet will be taken and cast into the lake of fire; and there will be none to hurt and destroy in all the holy mountain, Revelation 19:20: NOR ANY GRIEVING THORN OF ALL THAT ARE ROUND ABOUT THEM THAT DESPISED THEM; the same thing in other words as before; wicked men, especially tyrannical princes, furious persecutors of the saints, are like thorns and briers, not only unfruitful, useless, and unprofitable, but pricking, grieving, and hurtful to good men

Ezekiel 28:1. The prince of Tyrus, or, as he is also called, the king, was, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, Ithobalus, known in the Phoenician annals as Ithobaal II. He was the consummation of the pride and wealth of Tyrus; the terrible pride of the city headed up in him. His heart was so lifted up that he claimed to be a god and that he occupied the very seat of God. He boasted of greater wisdom than the wisdom of Daniel. He is a type of the final Antichrist, the man of sin. Behind the wicked prince and king, there is seen another power, Satan. Satan was the power behind the throne of the Tyrian king, as Satan is still the god of this age, who controls the kingdoms of the world. Inasmuch, then, as Tyrus is a type of the commercial glory of the world, its wealth and pride, foreshadowing the final great world-city or world-system, Babylon, the ruler of Tyrus, spoken of as prin...

EZEKIEL 28. TYRE'S FALL FROM HEAVEN. In a remarkable passage, Ezekiel now conceives the pride of Tyre as incarnate in her king. The detail is often obscure and difficult, reminiscent of a mythological background similar to Genesis 3. The commercial genius and success of Tyre flushed her with impious pride: she fancied herself divine. But her marvellous wisdom was only commercial wisdom; she had no instinct for the worship of anything but herself and her abounding prosperity: so the terrible Babylonians must come and lay them low in an unhonoured death (Ezekiel 28:1). A dirge is then sung over the fallen genius of Tyre, impersonated by her king. Once he had walked in the garden of God, fair, wise, and resplendent, companion of the cherubs who guard the holy abode; but for his pride he was hurled out of Paradise symbol of the ruin to which Tyre's commercial pride will bring her. (In...

A PRICKING BRIER. Reference to Pentateuch (Numbers 33:55). THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. See note on Exodus 16:1....

AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE A PRICKLING BRIAR— _Nor shall the house of Israel have any more in all her neighbours who despise her, a pricking briar, or tormenting thorn._ Houbigant. That is to say, "My people shall dwell quietly and securely in their own land, when the rest of their wicked neighbours are destroyed, who continually vexed them, and were as so many thorns in their sides." The following verse shews, that this promise relates chiefly to the general restoration of the Jews, when all the enemies of truth and of the church of the Almighty are vanquished. See Lowth and Calmet. REFLECTIONS.—1st, The prince of Tyre is next the subject of the prophetic word. Distinct from the general ruin of his country, a particular warning is given to him. 1. His pride was excessive. _His heart was lifted up_ in high conceit of his own excellence, as if he could rival the monarch of the universe:...

IV. THE RIVAL OF TYRE 28:20-24 TRANSLATION (20) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (21) Son of man, set your face against Sidon, and prophesy against her, (22) and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold I am against you, O Sidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of You; and they shall know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her, and manifest My holiness in her; (23) for I shall send into her pestilence and blood in her streets; and the slain shall fall in the midst of her, by the sword upon her on every side. Then they shall know that I am the LORD. (24) And there shall be no more for the house of Israel a pricking brier nor a piercing thorn of any that are round about them, who treated them with contempt; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. COMMENTS Not only would Tyre experience the wrath of the living God, her rival to the north would fall as well....