In general, we notice that when The Holy Spirit mentions a glorious matter in a special way, then He uses the occasion to speak of the most glorified, our Lord Jesus Christ (such as in the Messianic Psalms).  Also, when He speaks of an evil and hated matter in a special way, or when He speaks of falling from good to evil, He adjoins it with speaking about the Devil or Antichrist, or both(3), as we see in many of the biblical depictions.

He is not only The Enemy of man in a general sense, but he is also the enemy of nation of Israel in particular, as we understand from Rev. 12.

In one chapter, namely ch. 25, Ezekiel had prophesied about four nations: Children of Ammon, Moab, Seir or Edom and The Philistines.  In the following two chapters, 26, 27, he elaborated voluminously, to speak not of entire population but rather of one city, namely Tyre, the seaside city that is the capital of the world of trade at that time.  This leads us to think that he indeed was speaking of Tyre as a picture to the whole World.

Three reasons to justify this:
a) There has never been a perfect man, since his creation except Adam.  All are born with sin.
b) Adam did not wear or groomed himself with precious stones.
c) He tells him, explicitly, “You are the cherub.”

We will explain this matter in chapter 12.

This Darby’s translation (NT) points out that he resembled a complete musical band.  He was capable of composing fine music and charming hymns.  His beauty enabled him to do what a musical instrument would do in the hands of a gifted player, offering wonderful musical pieces chanting the glory of God.  This creature did not need any other person to play music so he would sing, but he himself was but a song of praise(4).

The cherubims are the first order of angels mentioned in Scripture, in Genesis 3:24, where we find them representing God’s final and eternal judgment.
The cherubims are mentioned again to be on the Mercy Seat of the Arc of The Covenant in the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:18).  This cover of the Arc represented the throne of God on earth (compare to II Sam 6:2 and Psalms 80:1; 99:1).  Because justice and truth are the base of the throne of God, it was not possible for a righteous God to dwell amid sinful people and accepts them had it not for the blood sprinkled every year on the Mercy Seat by the high priest in the great day of Atonement.  Hence the two cherubims, resembling the righteousness of God, looked downward, to the cover, where blood was shed.
The cherubims were mentioned in the Scripture more than 90 times, all of which indicate the stately nature of this order of angels.  Comparing to Ezekiel 1 and 10, we notice that they are “burning coals of fire” (1:13), and “flash of lightening” (1:14); they walk amidst fire (10:20), the sound of their wings resembled the voice of the Almighty God if He speaks (10:6), and the throne of God is above their heads (1:22-26; 10:1, 20).

In his book “Lectures on The Tabernacle” S. Redout(6) lists a compilation of meanings given to the word, but there was no agreement about any of them.  He said that it is thought the word is derived from a word meaning “to shun the use of”, therefore the meaning “venerate” which leads to propose, “to cherub,” is to guard or preserve.   It may also mean a person who is  “allowed to approach.”  It may also mean the person who protects, and, in this interpretation he had the agreement of some encyclopedias and dictionaries(7) considering that the word may have been derived from an Acadian origin “chrubu” meaning a guard or intercessor.  It may also mean “to ride” (See Psalm 18:10, 11), or it might have been derived from a word “to draw.”  This meaning is mentioned by Fausset in his “Bible Encyclopedia.”(8). Lastly, it means adversaries or antagonists according to the Dictionary of Jackson(9). 

Even Michael, the only angel called as Archangel by Scripture, did not dare to bring a railing judgment against [the Devil considered as one who owns glories], so, he delegated the Lord to rebuke him (Jude 9).  That is because to accuse someone, as we know, require that the accuser be in a higher position than the accused one.  What supports this deduction (that no one was higher than the Devil except God), is the fact that  the Devil, be as the highest ranks of angels, did not aspire to be one of God’s stars, but to parallel God himself, above all orders of angels, as we shall clarify in the next chapter. 

Because the mountain rises above the surrounding valley, it is presented in the Bible as an allegory of the status of governments and its haughtiness over the people it reigns.  Hence, the mountain of God is a symbol of the government of God or his eternal throne.  (Compare with Psalm 48:1; 68:15 and Isaiah 2:2)

The expression “the stones of fire” in this lamentation is repeated twice (verses 14 and 16).  Once when that creature (the cherub) was in a state of flawlessness, he was able to uphold the holiness of God and live along with it in complete harmony, when God said to him: “walk up and down”; but when he sinned, he was “cast as profane,..(and was)..destroyed.”  We notice that the holiness of God itself is what destroyed him.

Naturally, the Devil did not create himself, but only made something different of himself (self-made).  God created him perfect and beautiful, but he corrupted his beauty and his wisdom.  That is why God says: “…. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it:” (John 8:44), i.e. he is the source of lying.

“has not stood in the truth” (John 8:44) meaning that he was created in the truth, but did not continue to stay in it.

Out of the statement concerning the dragon, i.e., the Devil in Rev 12:4, many interpreters concluded that fully one-third of the angels followed Satan in his sin and his rebellion.  Of the interpreters we mention: Newell - Pentecost - Pink - Hal Lindsey - Tatford - Willmington - Strauss - De Hahn - Billy Graham and others.

The word anointed is used in the Darby translation (NT), and it figuratively means the messiah, other translations, such as King James use the same word.

When Saul fell of the mount of Galboa, David lamented him with a tender lamentation in II Sam. 1:17-27.  It reminds us with the lamentation God raised over the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:12.  In David’s lamentation we see the phrase “how are  the  mighty fallen”, which reminds us of God’s words about the Devil in Isaiah 14:12 “How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!”

Satan’s Fall

 “How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!” (Isaiah 14:12)
We have demonstrated, in Chapter 2, that God did not create the Devil as such.  But rather, God had created a virtuous person, and, as he conceited, he fell.  As high as he was, his fall was enormous.
This great creature did not only bring destruction to himself, when he fell, nor even to those angels who deceived him and were deceived by him, who followed and thus fell with him, but he also brought destruction and chaos over everywhere he had authority and wherever he had influence.
As we can understand from the Word of God, we estimate the time in which
this rebellion took place to be before the creation of man.  It is obvious that this
had taken place in the period elapsed between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis 1. 
The first verse says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth .”  Before God created the earth, He had created the angelic orders.  They are witnessed the rigor and wonder in God’s creation, and they expressed their awe for it.  They expressed their awe by chanting and singing as we see God’s word to Job: “Where wast thou when I founded the earth?… When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7).
Notice the two expressions “together” and “all”, …. leading to the understanding that none of the morning stars or the sons of God failed to rejoice .  It may not be so far fetched to assume that the subject cherub was the most rejoiced of all of them, being so ready to chant with his cymbals and flutes.  Perhaps he led his band in chanting and aggrandizing God.  At the appearance of the earth in the universe, God’s interest in it was so great, in spite of it’s being so small compared to other planets and galaxies.  It is conceivable at that point that God had delegated the throne of the earth to the subject cherub!!
But suddenly, the second verse of Genesis 1 turns out to say, without prefacing “And the earth was waste (In Hebrew: Tohu; figuratively a worthless thing) and empty”. Is it possible that God, the maker of wisdom, creates something that is worthless and empty?  “Does the fountain, o547 ut of the same opening, pour forth sweet and bitter?” (James 3:11).
Isaiah gives us the answer in no uncertain terms: “For thus saith Jehovah who created the heavens, God himself who formed the earth and made it, he who established it,—not as waste (the same Hebrew word Tohu) did he create it: he formed it to be inhabited:” (Isa. 45:18).
If God did not create the earth as waste, who is it, then, that introduced destruction and chaos to it?  The enlightened answer, emanating from the word of God, is the created cherub who fell, just as the prophet Isaiah tells us in his lamentation, which we are about to ponder, from the fourteenth chapter of his prophecy: “They that see thee shall narrowly l77ook upon thee; they shall consider thee, [saying,] Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that shook kingdoms; [that] made the world as a wilderness” (Isa 14:16,17).
Ezekiel 28, the chapter we studied in the last part, concentrated on describing the glory of this creature before his fall.  Isaiah, on the other hand, sheds the light on the reason of his fall.
It was the king of Tyre that Ezekiel depicted as the Devil.  Isaiah, on the other hand, speaks of him allegorically as the king of Babel.  We have shown that Tyre symbolizes the commercial and material world, while Babel resembles the spiritual and religious realm.  In Babel the first pagan religion in the world began, related to the first kingdom (Genesis 10,11).  It is therefore adequate to depict Satan here as the king of Babel, hence his significant influence on the religious word.
In Isaiah 13:19-21 we read, “And Babylon,…… shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in, even to generation and generation……. But beasts of the desert shall lie there,…….. and wild goats (symbols of evil spirits) shall dance there.” (See also Lev. 17:4 and II Ch. 11:15).  It is no wonder then that the prophet points out here to the king of Babel, not merely as a king but rather as Satan himself, the god of this age (II Cor 4:4)..
Is it not an indication of perfection in the Scripture, that when it speaks of the glorious state of that cherub, before his fall, it refers to the rich city Tyre, and its wise king (Eze. 28:3,4,5,7 and 12,17), but when it speaks of his fall (caused by pride as we will see), it refers to Babel (or Babylon), the kingdom that inclined to arrogance since its inception, and wanted to build a tower as high as clouds (Gen 11).  Interestingly we notice that the king of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar was dismissed from his noble rank one day, as a result of arrogance and pride (Dan 4).
Let us now review what the Scripture states in this lamentation:
“How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! Thou art cut down to the ground, that didst prostrate the nations! And thou that didst say in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High: nonetheless art thou brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee; they shall consider thee, [saying,] Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that shook kingdoms; [that] made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof; [that] dismissed not his prisoners homewards?”
The word “Lucifer” in the beginning of the lamentation is translated from the Hebrew word “haylale” that means bright or shinning.  The expression “son of the morning” is a poetic expression similar to morning star.   That is what this creature was previously, a bright morning star .
He continued to be a “son of the morning” until sin was found in him.  Isaiah sheds some light over that sin when he says: “And thou that didst say in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”
Here we find the latent motives behind this terrible rebellion that ruined the serenity of heavens before the creation of man.  The Lord God, who knows the hearts of His creation, saw what this “son of the morning” had in his heart.  Everything is naked and overt before the eyes of God.  So, the Almighty saw in the heart of the “son of the morning” arrogance and desire to liberate from God, which was expressed in this evil pentacle he uttered in his heart:
I will ascend… I will exalt… I will sit… I will ascend… I will be
In this pentacle, the chant of evil resounds, and the level of sin keeps climbing, with every one of the five pillars, more and more.

• I will ascend into the heavens:  He had the privilege of ascending to heaven and behold the face of God.  But he wanted to promote into it permanently, so that it becomes his permanent dwelling, even though  “The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah” (Psalm 115:16)

I willexalt my throne above the stars of God :  He is not preoccupied with guarding the throne of God, as he was assigned anymore, but became consumed with ambitions for a throne of his own.  He was not satisfied to be one of the stars of God but he was eager to be above all of them and rule over them.
I willsit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north ; the mount or mountain is a symbol of the throne, the ruling center.  The mount of assembly is where the distinct angels present themselves to the Lord and submit their reports to Him. (Job 1:6).  We see here that it did not suffice this creature to be one of the angels in the assembly, who presents himself to God and submits his reports, but, in rebellion and revolt against God, he wanted the reports to be submitted to him!
I willascend above the heights of the clouds:  It appears that pride, narcissism, self-admiration and excessive pleasure of oneself, were emotions that prevailed over the fantasy of that creature, and totally captured his senses. So that His conceit did not stop at any limit, so, he aspired to embezzle the personal glory of God, since clouds, in the Bible, links to the presence and glory of God .
I will be like the Most High:  Among all of God’s titles, he admired the name “The Most High” - which expresses loftiness, and distinguishes God as the owner of heavens and earth (See Gen 14:18,19 where this title is mentioned for the first time).  :Undoubtedly he knew that he has no way of being like the Lord, Jehovah, which means in Hebrew: Self Sustaining. God is also a synonym for Elohim, meaning the one that must exist.  But this creature was consumed with greed, to own heavens and earth.  From that moment on, the name “Most High ” continued to appeal to Satan like no other title.
What then had happened to him?  The Scripture gives a vivid answer: “nonetheless art thou brought down to Sheol, to the “lowest depths” of the pit.”  He had the desire to ascend, so he descended to Sheol.  He longed to soar, so he was brought down to the “lowest depths” of the pit.  Because: “Pride [goes] before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Pr 16:18).

A BIBLICAL PORTRAIT: ABSALOM

There is a Biblical portrait depicting this rebellion in Absalom, the son of David, whose story is told in II Samuel. 13:18.  The first similarity between Absalom and Satan is his handsomeness, since there was no one in all of Israel as comely and as much praised as Absalom (II Sam. 14:25).  The most appealing feature of Absalom was his hair, which was the source of his pride.  But it was his very hair that caused his destruction, when it turned out to be a trap for him (II Sam. 14:26; 18:9)
Chapters 13 and 15 of II Samuel depict Absalom as a liar and murderer.  In that too, he was a portrayal of the Devil. (See John 8:44).
Absalom aspired for a higher position than there was for him.  It did not satisfy him to be a prince, just like any other son of the king, and the one commissioned to submit the reports to the king , but rather he stood beside the way of the gate (II Sam 15:2), meaning the court, and said: “Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any controversy and cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!”
This gives us a picture of rebellion, which polluted the serenity of the heavens in that distant past, when the “son of the morning” said in his heart: “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly.”
In order to realize his aspiration, Absalom was a betrayer to his own father.  When a complainer comes to the king asking justice, Absalom would say: “See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man to hear thee [appointed] by the king” (II Sam 15:3). Through hypocrisy and slander deceit and underhandedness he was able to win the hearts of his father’s subjects to buy their loyalty to him.  This was the exact same theme of Satan’s work with the angels who followed him.  And it is the same plot he rendered to Adam and eve.
The sin of pride, is the root of the Devil’s fall, as we understand from I Tim. 3:6.  The same sin had engulfed Absalom when he made a statue for himself, just as King Saul has done, which God hates. (Deut. 16:22).  That is the same action committed by the subject cherub, when his heart was lifted up because of his beauty, and he corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness.(Eze. 28:17).
But, did Absalom accomplish what he aimed for?  No, in fact he was destroyed in a dramatic way when his hair was caught in the thick boughs of the great terebinth when he was riding upon a mule, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away. Absalom’s body, while he was yet alive in the midst of the terebinth, ten young men that bore Joab’s armour surrounded and smote him, and killed him. And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab kept back the people. And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and raised a very great heap of stones upon him. This is the sad fate of every one who follows Satan, and adopts him as a leader and guide. (Compare to Isa. 14:18-20).
*   *   *
The lessons we learn from this dramatic story are plentiful. Yet, we limit ourselves to one important lesson:  How could Absalom deceive the subjects of the beloved king David, and entice his people to revolt against him?  The answer is that he was able to fill their hearts with the seeds of complaint and dissatisfaction toward the deeds and actions of his father.  As Absalom accomplished his first goal of diverting the people away from their previous fondness of David, this was the first and essential step on their road to be attached to someone else.
Let us then, dear reader; beware of the deceitful kisses of the enemy and of his wicked murmur, by which he decorates the way for us to abandon our first love to our beloved Lord.  This is a terrible fall, which leads to evil results.  Let us be loyal to our Lord, and be assured that the bitter He chooses for us is sweeter than the sweet, which others offer to us.