Глава 28

Ezek.28:1–2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: and you are the son of man, the prince of Tyre; This says Adonai the Lord: because your heart was lifted up, and you said, “I am God, I moved into the village of God in my heart, but you are a man, and not God, and you have set your heart as the heart of God.” Sin of every kind is vile, but pride is the most vile of all sins. For it is said: everything that is high “is an abomination to the Lord” (Luke 16:15); and: “The Lord opposes the proud” (James 4:6). And the divine Apostle says: “Do not let the newly baptized woman, lest the devil become proud, fall into judgment” (1 Tim. 3:6). The prince of Tyre, both visible and invisible, had this illness within himself. For the God of all reigns over us who are pious in the proper and true sense, but people adorned with piety also reign. Therefore, Tire now, like us, has God as king and those whom God has appointed to reign over it, but in ancient times, suffering from ignorance of God and serving wickedness, it had as prince and king the inventor and at the same time the teacher of evil and wickedness, the devil, and also had a visible prince, controlled by the devil and enslaved to wickedness. Therefore, the prophetic word applies to both, but not everything is appropriate for one, and not everything for the other; but one is different for one and the other, and another for one of the two, but what has now been read is appropriate for both. For the devil crawled towards this madness, in his fury he called himself God and convinced people to give him divine honor; and the visible prince of Tyre, sick with this arrogance and looking at his great prosperity, dreamed of being God. Therefore, God says to him: “You are a man, and not God,” and comparatively speaking, Ezek.28:3. Food is wiser than Daniel! Wisdom did not punish you with her cunning. You are so far from putting yourself on an equal footing with the nature of God that, as I will show you, in many ways you are inferior to sensible people. For Daniel had divine wisdom, and added Chaldean cunning, but you are deprived of the grace of God and did not borrow cunning from wise people. Then comes reproof for the deeds. Ezek.28:4. Didst thou, by thy cunning or by thy sense, create strength for thee, and havest thou acquired silver and gold from thy treasures? Ezek.28:5. Or hast thou multiplied thy strength in the abundance of thy cunning, and hast thou multiplied thy strength in thy purchase, and hast thou lifted up thy heart in thy strength? Find out from the deeds themselves that it is not because of your wisdom, but because of My generosity that you have this trade and this abundance of benefits. For if I ascend, I will immediately deprive you of all this, and I will make real experience your teacher. If you had acquired this through your wisdom, then, guided by the same wisdom, you would not have lost what you acquired. But deprived, when you have lost all this, put aside crazy thoughts and know that I both gave it to you and took it back from you. And since you did not know Me when you received it, you will know it when you are deprived. Ezek.28:6. For this reason says the Lord Adonai: for thou hast given thy heart as the heart of God, Ezek.28:7. instead of this, I will bring against you foreign destroyers from the tongue, and they will draw their swords against you, and against your kindness, and your cunning, and will lay down your kindness for destruction, Ezek.28:8. and they will bring you down, and you will die the death of the wounded in your heart. Ezek.28:9–10. Did you say before those who kill you, “I am God?” You are a man, and not God, in the hands of those who scour you. You will die the death of the uncircumcised in the hands of strangers: for I have spoken, says the Lord Adonai. When the enemies I have sent against you deprive you of your royal power and, killing you, put you to death, will we really begin to call ourselves God in arrogance and arrogance, as if frightening them with the divine name? But this is impossible. For a change in circumstances will produce a change in the way of thinking. And being wounded, tempered, killed, like your uncircumcised subjects, you learn that you are a man and not a god. For My determination is strong and indisputable. God expressed this, saying: “As I have spoken, says Adonai the Lord.” This also applies to the destructive demon, who inspired this deceit in the visible prince of Tyre. Why does God threaten him with death from strangers, destroyers, and nations. Such were the ancients, from the preaching of the Gospel, who applied themselves and accepted the knowledge of God. Why does the divine Apostle say: “for sometimes we are foolish and disobedient and seduced, working with lusts and various pleasures, living in malice and envy, being abominations, and hating one another” (Tit. 3, 3); and God himself, through the mouth of the great Moses, said: “I have provoked Me not because of God, but I have provoked Me with my idols; Therefore, through these ancient foolish, foolish, deceived, vile destroyers, aliens and pagans, the prophetic word predicts contrition for the devil. But you can find that the name of strangers is given to the pious who believe. For it is said: “you who were sometimes far off are now near” (Eph. 2:13). God says about them that with their swords they will destroy and turn to dust the “kindness of the cunning” of the devil, that is, they will destroy your intrigues, put an end to evil deeds against people, destroy the churches they built for you with their foundations, and, as if by some kind of death, they will consign you to oblivion, having received “the power to tread on the serpent and the scorpion, and on all your strength.” (Luke 10:19). And in fact you realize that it was in vain that you assured people that you were a god. You will endure this, because your wisdom has not been cut off and you have not cut off the heavy passion of arrogance. Ezek.28:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Ezek.28:12. Son of man, take up lamentation against the prince of Tire, and say to him: This says Adonai the Lord: You are a seal of likeness, filled with wisdom, and a crown of kindness. Ezek.28:13. You were in the sweetness of God's paradise, you were adorned with every precious stone, sardium and topazium, and emerald and jacinthos, and anfrax, and sapphire, and jaspis, and silver, and gold, and ligirium, and achatus, and amephistus, and chrysolifus, and virillium, and onych, and gold filled Thou art thy treasures; and your barns, from whom were you created. This, not without exaggeration, can be attributed by others to the visible prince of Tyre; in its own sense and in truth, it befits the destructive demon operating in him. Therefore, referring this to the visible Tyrian prince, we will understand this: “you are the seal of likeness,” because man was created in the image of God; “full of wisdom” because you are intelligent and have the gift of speech; "crown" of kindness, because it is superior to all dumb things, walking and flying, living in water and amphibians. “You were in the sweetness of the paradise of God,” because you are descended from the forefather, who immediately after creation was introduced into the paradise of sweetness, “to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). He rightly calls Jerusalem paradise, which is called a holy and divine city, having the plantings of God, containing life and salvation, prophecy and the high priesthood. And in ancient times there was friendship between the king of Tyre and the king of Israel, and they had mutual relations. And this is not difficult to find out from the books of Kings. What was said: “thou art adorned with every precious stone,” as is obvious, must be taken literally and applied to the king. I adorned you with thousands of blessings, brought to you from everywhere all kinds of substances, from which, having prepared for yourself diadems and crowns, cufflinks, belts and rings, and filling the treasuries, with such abundance and splendor, you did not stop thinking the opposite. Regarding the devil, let us understand this not in this way, but in a different way, and what is said: “You are the seal of likeness” will be attributed to the leadership and power given to him in ancient times. For the divine Apostle says: “according to the prince of the power of the air: the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2); from which it is clear that from ancient times he was entrusted with overseeing this air, but, for arrogance, deprived of the right to rule, he exerts his activity in those who do not believe the word of the sermon. “Filled with wisdom, and a crown of kindness, you were in the sweetness of paradise.” By this God makes clear his former virtue. For it is said: “God saw all the things that were created, and behold all the good things” (Gen. 1:31), and he was one of the created things that had not yet accepted an arbitrary change for the worse. By numbering the stones God signifies his wisdom and knowledge of all kinds. For the high priest also entered into the Holy of Holies, wearing on his breasts the word of judgment, on which were these very stones, and the breasts serve as a kind of treasury and storehouse of the heart. And everything that follows befits not the visible prince of Tyre, but the invisible prince. For it is said: Ezek.28:14. You are with Cherub was prepared, anointed by God who dwells in the tabernacle, because with the holy and venerable powers he was vouchsafed both creation and anointing. Anointing here refers to the sanctification given by the Spirit of God to the incorporeal and holy powers. and having placed you in the mountain of the saints of God, you were among the stones of fire. He calls the height of knowledge “the Holy Mountain of God”, and the most holy powers “firestones”, because they have both value and luminosity. Divine Scripture usually calls pious men holy stones. For it is said: “there is no holy grave lying on the ground” (Zechariah 9:16). But these stones are holy, not fiery. About the powers above, as we hear, the divine David says: “make your angels spirits, and your servants a fiery flame (Psalm 103:4). All this is in no way befitting of the visible prince of Tyre, even if some of the lovers of debate ten thousand times began to call the Jews and the intercourse with them the Tyrians stones of fire. For the Jews are not stones of fire. Even if someone calls the Jewish prophets stones of fire, then such an understanding will not be valid, because the Tyrians, living wickedly, had no communication with the prophets, but had trade relations with the Jews, partial to earthly and base things, whom, as transgressing the divine law and contrary to it, entering into conferences with the pagans, no one sane will dare to call stones of fire. But it is not difficult to see that this “committing you to the mountain of God’s saints” does not befit a visible prince. For he did not have a stay in Jerusalem, even if we assume that this is said about Mount Zion. And what follows clearly proves this. For it is said: Ezek.28:15. You walked blameless in your days, from the same day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you. For such was the devil before the fall. About people we hear: “no one is clean from filth, even if he lived one day on earth” (Job 14:4-5). But the devil, being incorporeal, was blameless in the beginning, and since he gave himself room for an inclination towards the worse, he took the exact opposite path. Ezek.28:16. Because of the multitude of your walks, you have filled your treasures with iniquity, and you have sinned, and you have been wounded. For, not being content with the wisdom and power given to you, and desiring more, you became filled with iniquity and took upon yourself the plagues of sin. This is what the Prophet Isaiah says about him: “How the morning star has fallen from heaven! Cripple upon the earth and send out your tongue to everyone” (Isaiah 14:12). For, having everyone under his control, through the saving cross he is deprived of self-government. Then he describes his previous madness and excessive arrogance: “You said in your mind: I will ascend to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, I will sit on the highest mountain, on the high mountains even to the north. I will ascend above the clouds, I will be like the Most High” (Is. 13:14), and the mountains “even to the north” are the reasons for sin, because from the “north”, according to the Prophet, “evil will kindle against all who dwell on the earth” (Jer. 1:17). So Isaiah reveals his arrogance, but also foreshadows his contrition: “now you will descend into hell, and into the foundation of the earth” (Is. 14:15). God teaches the divine Ezekiel to say this. For he says: And the Cherub overshadowed you from the midst of the fiery Kamyks. Therefore, then the Cherub, who was worthy to bear the glory of God, separated him from the holy powers, which are called fiery, and now, by the purity of their souls, worthy of the divine ascent, and in which, according to the word of the divine Prophet, in the hearts of the ascension of God (Ps. 83:6), they received the power to trample him underfoot. Ezek.28:17. Your heart is lifted up in your kindness, that is, you began to think highly of yourself, seeing the blessings that I have communicated to you. Your cunning has perished with your kindness, that is, you lost everything by leaving the rank given to you. for the sake of the multitude of your sins, I brought you down to earth, and gave you before the kings as a reproof. Having used great deceit, you have fallen from the high rank and are cast down to the ridicule of those who preserve the rank given to them and reign beautifully over the passions that rise up in them. Ezek.28:18. Because of the multitude of your sins and the unrighteousness of your purchases, you have desecrated your holy one, Let those who argue say: what shrine did the wicked king of Tyre have? But they won't indicate anything. And the one about whom the word is now written, when he was one of the holy Archangels, was involved in every holy thing. But he himself desecrated the shrine, making a bad purchase and lusting for more, lost what was given, and led a person to suffer the same thing. For he, created in the image of God, being deceived by his deceptive words, and desiring to be God, destroyed that which he would have to be the image of God. and I will cause fire from among you, This befits both - both the one who inspired the evil and the one who accepted this suggestion to the king of Tyre, because both themselves gave the reason to subject them to punishment. Similar to this is what the Prophet Isaiah said to the Jews: “You all kindle a fire, and strengthen the flame: walk in the light of your fire, and with the flame you kindle it” (Is. 50:11). Therefore, here he says: “And I will bring fire out from your midst, this will destroy you,” that is, I will use your iniquities into the substance from which I will prepare punishment for you. and I will give you to dust on the earth before all who see you. And this befits both. For man, having fallen on his earth, became dust, and the devil, thinking to be in charge of the universe, deposed by God and our Savior, like dust, is trampled underfoot by the pious. Ezek.28:19. And all those who speak against you will groan for you: For those who still remain in your slavery, seeing the end of the idols and the complete overthrow of their churches, spend their lives in despondency, lost in spirit and grieving incessantly. You have wrought destruction, and you will never live again. Sim depicted, of course, his deposition. Having completed his lamentation about Tyre, he moves on to Sidon, adjacent to it, and in brief words predicts that the same thing will happen to him. Ezek.28:20. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Ezek.28:21. O son of man, set your face against Sidon, and the prophets and prophets about him: Ezek.28:22. This says Adonai the Lord: Behold, I am upon you, Sidon, and I will be glorified in you, and you will understand that I am the Lord, when I will execute judgment in you and will be sanctified in you. Ezek.28:23. And I will send death upon you, and blood in your heaps, and the plagues will fall in your midst with the sword, in you and around you, and they will take you away, for I am the Lord. Because you did not call Me in your prosperity, Sidon, says God, I will bring upon you many and various disasters, famine, beating by enemies, so that through these troubles you will know My sovereignty. He also tells the reasons for his death. Ezek.28:24. And the house of Israel will not have the wall of grief or the thorn of disease from all those around it that have dishonored them, and they will understand that I am Adonai the Lord. I will bring this, says God, on Tire and on the Philistines, and on everyone living in the neighborhood, so that My people will not have in you a model of wickedness, nor enemies who often attack them and constantly grieve them. Thus, having foreshadowed the sorrowful, he foreshadows the beneficial for Israel, thereby increasing their sorrow, because, out of hostile disposition, they turned the well-being of Israel into a reason for torment for themselves. Ezek.28:25–26. Thus says the Lord Adonai: And I will gather the house of Israel from the tongues where they were scattered there, and I will sanctify the tongues in them before the people: and they shall dwell in the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, and they shall dwell therein in hope, and they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and they shall dwell in hope, when I have brought judgment upon all that I have reproached those around them, and they will understand that I am the Lord their God, and the God of their fathers. God does not admonish all sinners equally, but those close to Him, as a doctor, and others, as a judge. Why did the Prophet, praying, say: “Lord, punish us, both in judgment and not in rage” (Jer. 10:24). Blessed David also asked for the same thing: “Lord, do not reprove me with Your wrath, nor punish me with Your wrath” (Psalm 6:2). This difference can also be seen in what we are explaining now. For while God does not promise others anything good, He promises Israel a return from captivity, a population on its land, the building of houses, agriculture, gardening, the hope of blessings, and the most important of all blessings, the knowledge of God. For he says: when this is done, “they will understand that I am their Lord and the God of their fathers.” Oh, if only we could always have this knowledge of God, so that we could love Him “with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our strength” (Deut. 6:5; Luke 10:27), not sharing love, but dedicating it entirely to God, so that we could breathe through Him and keep an indelible remembrance of Him in ourselves, both sitting, and standing, and lying down, and walking the path. For then we ourselves will always use His providence for us, and we will be worthy of the promised benefits in Christ Jesus our Lord. With Him glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto ages of ages! Amen.