King of Tyre Or Satan?

Q. Thank you for your web site. What a great ministry!  Would you comment on Eze 28:12 – 19? Is God speaking through the prophet to the king of Tyre or Satan?

A.  Ezekiel 28 begins with a prophecy against the Earthly ruler of Tyre (the Hebrew is nagid in verse 2, which means prince), then in verse 12 the prophet shifted his emphasis to the spiritual ruler of Tyre (melech in verse 12, which means king), the power behind the throne.  By the way Ezekiel is speaking, you can see he’s not talking to any human king.  No king of Tyre was in the Garden of Eden (verse 13) none was a guardian cherub (verse 14), and none was expelled from Heaven (verse 16)  or thrown down to Earth (verse 17).  From verse 12 through 19 Ezekiel was speaking to Satan.