Ezekiel 28:11-12

Ezekiel received instruction from the Lord to lament the king (Heb. melek) of Tyre. Evidently the same person addressed in the previous speech (Ezekiel 28:1-10) is in view in this lament. The writer’s use of a different title from the one in Ezekiel 28:1 has led some scholars to conclude that a different person is in view, possibly the patron god of the city, Melkart. Others believe the Antichrist is in view in Ezekiel 28:1-10 and Satan in Ezekiel 28:11-19. [Note: See L. S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, 2:40; and The New Scofield . . ., p. 869.] But "king" elsewhere in Ezekiel describes a human ruler. He had been the model of perfection in the sense that he was full of wisdom and beauty (cf. Ezekiel 28:2-5; Ezekiel 27:3). "The seal of perfection" is literally "the one sealing a plan." He had been the leader responsible for affixing his seal to the plans that resulted in Tyre’s maritime glory.