ITHOBAL, King of Tyre. We do not meet with this name in the Sacred Books of the Old Testament. We read of Ethbaal, who was father to Jezebel, and father -in-law to Ahab. Josephus calls him Joseph. Antiq. l. 9. c. 6. p. 311, compare 1 Kings xvi. 31. Lib. i. contra Appion. p. 1043. Philostrat. apud Joseph. Antiq. l. x c. ii. & contra Appion. l. i. p. 1046. Ezek. xxviii.Ithobal. He says in another place, that one Ithobal Priest of Astarte, having killed Phelletes King of Tyre, reigned two and thirty years in his room.
We are of opinion, that the invectives and menaces of the Prophet Ezekiel are directed to this Prince. The old Phœnician Historians call the King of Tyre Ithobal, in whose reign Nebuchadnezzar besieged that city. Ezekiel speaks to him in the following manner. “Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, and in the midst of the Seas; yet thou art a man and not God, tho’ thou set thine heart as the heart of God. Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel, there is no secret that they can hide from thee. With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. Behold therefore, saith the Lord, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations, and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man and no God in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers, for I have spoken saith the Lord.”
The Lord said afterwards to Ezekiel: “Take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyrus, and say unto him, thus saith the Lord God, Thou seelest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 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 most excellent instruments of musick were prepar’d for the day on which thou wast created. 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. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandize they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. For their heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground.——I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee, thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”
Habak. ii. 12, 13, 14.We believe likewise that the following words of Habakkuk have a regard to the same Prince. Woe to him who buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity. The wealth which thou abusest, the city which thou buildest, does not all this come from the Lord? All the labours of the people shall be consumed with fire, and the endeavours of the nations shall be reduced to nothing, because the earth shall be filled with enemies, as the bottom of the sea is filled with its waters, that the glory and justice of the Lord may be known by all the world.