05-18-2010, 04:40 PM
I agree with you about what is written being important, and that we should try and find out why, but we shouldn't go overboard, reading spiritual meaning into simple orthographic variances like this.
While there is danger in taking things at face value, in this case there is no reason to take the text at its word, that this refers to the king of Tyre, and that the hyperbolic description of his position is simply meant to convey the idea that he was in good stead with God before, and is no longer. This is more understandable if we read this not as referring to a specific king of Tyre, but to the position in general. Then it makes more sense to say that he was a seraph, and in the Garden, since the king of Tyre helped Solomon build the Temple and was in a very close relationship with David and Solomon, and much later at the time of Ezekiel was in opposition to Israel.
While there is danger in taking things at face value, in this case there is no reason to take the text at its word, that this refers to the king of Tyre, and that the hyperbolic description of his position is simply meant to convey the idea that he was in good stead with God before, and is no longer. This is more understandable if we read this not as referring to a specific king of Tyre, but to the position in general. Then it makes more sense to say that he was a seraph, and in the Garden, since the king of Tyre helped Solomon build the Temple and was in a very close relationship with David and Solomon, and much later at the time of Ezekiel was in opposition to Israel.