In the book of Ezekiel 28:13, what is the meaning of “pipes prepared in thee”? Did Satan have musical instruments as part of him? Did he have a harp as part of his body?<\/p>\n\t
“Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created<\/em>” (Ezekiel 28:13 KJV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God had made the King of Tyre and Satan both beautiful, wise and powerful. “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty<\/em>“‘” (Ezekiel 28:12). But they both became prideful, thinking their wisdom, beauty, and splendor would outshine the splendor of God. “Therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon you, the most ruthless of the nations. And they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. … Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you<\/em>” (Ezekiel 29:7,17).<\/p>\n
In a figure of speech, physical ideas, such as the beauty of stones, are used to symbolize what they had and what will be taken away. The king of Tyre was not made of various stones. Neither was Satan, as he is a spiritual being and not a physical one (Ezekiel 28:13). For Satan to be made of a physical harp or pipes would be impossible.<\/p>\n
This verse is translated in two ways:<\/p>\n
“The workmanship of\u00a0your timbrels and pipes<\/strong>\u00a0was prepared for you on the day you were created<\/em>” (Ezekiel 28:13 NKJV).<\/p>\n
“and crafted in gold were\u00a0your settings and your engravings<\/strong>. On the day that you were created they were prepared<\/em>” (Ezekiel 28:13 ESV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The difference comes from how to translate\u00a0neqev<\/em> in Hebrew. Most believe that it refers to a jeweler’s work based on a related word,\u00a0naqav<\/em>\u00a0which means “to pierce.”\u00a0Neqev<\/em> only appears in this one verse and the King James translators thought it was related to timbrels, so they translated it as “pipes.” Most other translations translate it as settings or engravings, but this leads to a problem with the word for timbrels,\u00a0tuppekha<\/em>. It appears that those leaning toward the engraving meaning, assume that timbrels are another jeweler term, even though this would be the only instance of it being translated this way in the Bible.<\/p>\n
A second problem arises in the King James Version. They translated the Hebrew word\u00a0bakh<\/em>, which is a generic preposition, as “in thee.” Perhaps it made sense in older English, but in modern English, “on you” or “for you” is a better translation.<\/p>\n
The idea is that on the days the King of Tyre and Satan were created they were both given wisdom, power, beauty, perfection, and splendor by God. These gifts should have been used to praise the God who gave them and not themselves. If instruments were intended, then they represent giving praise to God. If it is jeweler terms, then it just further emphasizes the beauty of the gifts God gave each of them.<\/p>\n
A similar idea is presented about the King of Babylon and comparing him to Satan. “Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol; maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you and worms are your covering<\/em>” (Isaiah 14:11).<\/p>\n
God gives positions of power to people. He clothes them in wisdom, beauty, and splendor. And He gives them charge and authority over people and the things of His creation. However, many people use these gifts to glorify themselves instead of the Giver.<\/p>\n
by Alan Feaster and Jeff Hamilton<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: In the book of Ezekiel 28:13, what is the meaning of “pipes prepared in thee”? Did Satan have musical instruments as part of him? Did he have a harp as part of his body? Answer: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[852,76,311],"class_list":["post-54237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-ezekiel","tag-terminology","tag-translations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27151,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-know-that-musical-instruments-are-bad\/","url_meta":{"origin":54237,"position":0},"title":"How do you know that musical instruments are bad?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Music instruments. Psalms 33:2-3 \"Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.\" Lucifer was highly gifted with musical talent before he rebelled. Ezekiel 28:13 (Speaking of Lucifer) \"the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47985,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-was-the-king-of-tyre-in-ezekiel-28\/","url_meta":{"origin":54237,"position":1},"title":"Who was the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who was the King of Tyre in Ezekiel chapter 28? Thank you for maintaining your site it has been most helpful to me. God bless. Answer: The king of Tyre at the time Ezekiel was written was Ithobaal III (sometimes spelled Ethbaal III) who reigned from 591-573 BC. His\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7929,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-people-call-satan-a-fallen-angel\/","url_meta":{"origin":54237,"position":2},"title":"Why do people call Satan a fallen angel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where in the Bible does the idea come that Satan is a fallen angel? It cannot be Isaiah 14:12 or Ezekiel 28:13-15; these refer to the kings of Babylon and Tyre. Doesn't the dragon in Revelation refer to the future? Also what is meant by \"spirits in prison?\" Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59931,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-temptation\/","url_meta":{"origin":54237,"position":3},"title":"The Temptation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob Waldron via\u00a0Truth Magazine\u00a0XXIII (Part 1: 31, pp. 504-505, August 9, 1979; Part 2: 32, pp. 520-521, August 16, 1979; Part 3: 33, p. 533, August 23, 1979) After Jesus was baptized, He was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-jerusalem-compared-to-sodom\/","url_meta":{"origin":54237,"position":4},"title":"Why was Jerusalem compared to Sodom?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have questions about the book of Ezekiel. Why does God refer to Jerusalem as Sodom in various verses in Ezekiel 16? Did Jerusalem become as bad or worse than Sodom was, but God did not destroy them because of his promise to Abraham? Homosexual activists always cite this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34724,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-covetousness\/","url_meta":{"origin":54237,"position":5},"title":"Notes on Covetousness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Prohibition Exodus 20:17, \"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.\" Psalms 10:3, \"For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, And the covetous renounceth, yea,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}