The Anointed Cherub of Ezekiel 28.

Ezekiel 28:14 “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I HAVE SET THEE SO: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.”

“Anointed cherub”

This was from the Hebrew root; “The cherub consecrated to the Lord by the anointing oil” which in this case is consecrated to the kingly office, of which anointing was the sign as seen in 1 Samuel 10:1; 16:13.

This was not an angelic consecration as you don’t use oil to consecrate spirit beings, but this is simply an appointment to the office of KING LIKE Cyrus was in the hand of the Lord.

“Thus saith the LORD to his ANOINTED, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;” Isaiah 45:1.

Secondly, king Tyrus was called a Cherub in respect to the fullness of the gifts which God bestowed upon him just like the living creatures in Ezekiel 1:10. They had the four faces of a man which to the right was the lion’s face; on the left the ox’s, at the back from above was the eagle’ and these were all called “cherub,” in Ezekiel 10:14-16.

What is it that is being described here? “MAN” and in each face compared to what is most excellent in its kind, man excels in wisdom, lions in strength, the ox in patience and constancy of labour, the eagle in speed and high flight. These are the qualities and gifts of the cherub.

So basically, you found that the four faces of the cherub in Ezekiel 1 & 10 corresponds to the four principal divisions of living creatures among the Hebrews. The House of Israel is being represented not necessarily angelic creatures which can be seen in their encampment in the wilderness (Number 2:3,10,18,25) which also represents the fullness of their endowments as tribes.

So, the “Anointed cherub that covereth”; was simply the allusion to the cherubim that covered the mercy-seat with their wings on top the Ark in the Temple (Exodus 25:20). This therefore is an imagery employed here by Ezekiel as a priest from the Jewish temple, wherein the cherubim overshadowed the mercy seat, as the king of Tyre, a demi-god in his own thought, was supposed to have extended his protection over the interests of Tyre.

The word is “I have set thee”, not you have set yourself.

For “¹⁵By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. ¹⁶By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth” Proverbs 8:15-16. (See Romans 13:1)

“The cherub” – an ideal compound of the highest kinds of animal existence and the type of the redeemed man in his ultimate state of perfection–is made the image here of the king of Tyre, and a composite picture of an ideal- redeemed humanity.

The point then is, King Tyrus as an anointed Cherub was full of wisdom, power, and excellency, like a cherub, or angel; being set apart for the purpose of service in a kingly office as the anointed of God; an office, for the exercise of his power, as a shield, a protector of the weak, which was now his state, the kingdom of Tyre and of all such that the lord brought under his control as a reigning king. Being called a Cherub was not because he was an angel or Adam in the Garden, but rather in reference to his stately dominion and service in the hands of God Just like King Cyrus was the Anointed one in the hands of God.

Next will be “The Holy Mountain” (Ezekiel 28).

To be continued…