When Bible Literalists Aren't So Literal - Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the Devil

What is this blog post about? And what do I mean by "Bible literalist"?

For our purposes, there isn't a hard and fast definition. Some people take things in the Bible more literally than others. There isn’t necessarily a specific, concrete point where someone gets to the point of being a literalist. You just kind of know it when you see it.

As for me, I do think I probably am more on the literal side of the spectrum. However, I do think that things like genre, use of Old Testament language and imagery, and historical context can, in various contexts, make the right interpretation one that differs from what one reads at face value. So in practice, I leave a lot more room for idiom, figures of speech, metaphor, and complexities than do some other students of scripture within evangelicalism. Whether you think that is a good thing or not will probably depend on whether or not you agree with me, lol.

The thing is, almost no one takes everything absolutely literally. Even Bible skeptics and atheists, who tend to take the Bible more woodenly and simplistically than anyone else (including fundamentalists), don't take everything literally. There is always some point where pretty much everyone steps back and admits that something is a metaphor or imagery. Of course, this has nothing to do with the accuracy of scripture; throughout our lives, in all sorts of contexts, we recognize metaphor, idiom, imagery etc. The idea that suddenly the Bible cannot do that and still be completely true in everything it teaches is counter to human experience. But the point is, no one takes everything literally.

Ezekiel 28, Isaiah 14, and the Devil

Things can get interesting when we arrive at situations in scripture where, if everything was taken literally, we would end up with contradictory or absurd conclusions. We can find two key examples in the Old Testament, in passages that are somewhat commonly thought to be speaking of the devil. These passages are Isaiah 14:1-23 and Ezekiel 28:11-19 (full text in the notes at the bottom). What we find here is some interpreters striving to take the passages literally, but in doing so, they end up being anything but literal in how they handle the most important parts of the passages.

In a nutshell, both of these passages start out with God saying to the prophet that the following excerpt is about a human king. In Ezekiel, God even tells Ezekiel to give this message to the king of Tyre, to whom it is addressed. In Isaiah, the passage ends with a reminder that this is about the king of Babylon. However, as I pointed out before, these passages are sometimes believed to be about the devil. Now, when I say they think it is about the devil, I don't just mean that they think these two passages about two kings also have secondary, latent hints about the devil. I don't mean that the whole thing is about an earthly king, but some parts that describe the king also cleverly speak of the devil, the way that a Psalm about king David can have lines that still speak of David but also, at the same time, are fulfilled in Jesus (e.g. Psalm 41:9 which Jesus quotes in John 13:18). I am referring to the belief that some or all of the passages are not about the kings of Tyre and Babylon at all, but are instead about the devil. Basically, the text is either all about the devil or, more commonly, it is believed to switch back and forth between describing the king mentioned at the start and the devil. This belief exists in various circles, and those who hold it usually do so because, as they argue, it is the only reasonable conclusion if you interpret the passage literally.

In the case of Isaiah 14, usually only a part of the overall passage is honed in on as evidence that it isn't really about a human king (or at least only parts of it are). The most key verses are 13 and 14:

But you said in your heart,‘I will ascend to heaven;I will raise my throne above the stars of God,And I will sit on the mount of assemblyIn the recesses of the north.‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;I will make myself like the Most High.’

Wayne Grudem, observing these verses, comments as follows: "As Isaiah is describing the judgment of God on the king of babylon (an earthly, human king), he then comes to a section where he begins to use language that seems too strong to refer to any merely human king" (413). Robert Lightner of Dallas Theological Seminary, in the book Sin, Savior, and Salvation, says of this passage: 

What of Isaiah 14:12-17 with its five 'I wills'? Does this refer to Satan and his sin, or simply to the king of Babylon mentioned in verse 4? Ryrie claims, 'the fall of the king of Babylon is an antitype of the previous fall of Satan and a type of the future fall of AntiChrist.' This is the view of Hebrew scholar Franz Delitzch. I agree, primarily because there is too much in the passage which is impossible to apply to any human king" (24). 

John R. Cross, author of The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, wrote a substantial blogpost on these two passages. Regarding Isaiah 14, he cites numerous element of the passage that, if taken literally, could not apply to a human king. He then concludes, "Unless you also take the passage in Isaiah figuratively you are forced to consider the application of the principle of double reference." By "principle of double reference,” at least in this context, he is saying the same thing as Grudem and Lightner. He is saying that because some of the verses in this passage cannot literally be applied to human king, the conclusion is reached that certain parts of the passage do not apply to the king of Babylon at all, but instead apply to the devil.

Similar things can be said of Ezekiel 28. A number of evangelical authors simply cite Ezekiel 28:11-19 (or a similar chunk of Ezekiel 28) as referring to the devil without much explanation (e.g. Wiese 152, Driscoll & Breshears 158, MacArthur 8).Those that do address it give similar reasons for their view as those for Isaiah 14:1-23. For example, according to John Lightner, "there are simply too many superlatives and figures - 'seal of perfection,' 'perfect in beauty,' in Eden, the Garden of God,' 'annointed cherub,' perfect,' - to be literally true of any human leader" (24)

Why This "Literal" Interpretation Isn't So Literal 

I wouldn't be surprised if some of you reading are scratching your heads at these claims of being literal, and are already thinking what I am thinking.

It is true, as Lightner said, that in Ezekiel 28 “there are simply too many superlatives...to be true literally true of any human leader." However, I could just as easily point out that there are simply too many references to it being about the king of Tyre (1), and simply too few references to some of the passage being about the devil (0), to be literally true of anyone but a human leader...

There is such an insistence on being literal in these two passages. We must be literal! These statements cannot be true of a human king! Well, that is all true; they would not literally be true of human king. But those who say the passages are about the devil aren't being literal either! If they were, they would say that all of these statements apply to the kings of Tyre and Babylon...

That’s just it: at the end of the day, the literal interpretation would be that the King of Tyre is actually a cherub in the Garden of Eden, and that the king of Babylon intended to become God Himself. This is the literal interpretation. This is taking the scripture at face value.

So much emphasis is on taking these descriptions of both kings literally. But why is it so crazy to believe that they are figures of speech? Why would this be an inappropriate place for hyperbole? It's not even like we have a blank slate here. Instead, we have a reason to think that it is about a human king (and therefore the statements are not literal). The reason to think it is about a human king is because  the text says "this a about a human king." Not only does the text say that, but in the case of Ezekiel, God is even saying "go to this human king and say these things" (Verse 12). Again, if we are to take the text literally, what is Ezekiel supposed to do, travel to the abyss and talk to the devil?

John Cross is right: you have to take the passage figuratively to say that the passage is, in its entirety, about human kings. I don't think that the king of Tyre was literally a cherub or was without sin. I don't think that the king of Babylon literally planned on trying to ascend to the heavens and sit on God's throne. I think this is hyperbole and metaphor, something that isn't exactly uncommon in the writings of the prophets. But at the end of the day, what I don't have to take figuratively is God saying at the start "this is what this prophecy is about."

Simply put, the passages both say "this is about a human king," If we read that, and interpret that as "this is about the devil," or maybe "this is about a human king in some parts, but some parts are not about the human king and instead are about the devil," that is not taking the text literally by any stretch of the imagination.

Now, of course, this isn't meant to necessarily be a refutation of the claims that these passages are about the devil. I do not think that they are about the devil, except perhaps in a secondary sense in which they give hints about the devil while being, in their entirety, fully about human kings. But that isn't the point. All I am really pointing out here is that the "literal" interpretation requires one to take very key parts of the passage (namely where God says what the passage is about) in a completely non-literal manner. Those who, like me, think that these passages are about human kings, and are therefore not appropriate to cite as biblical evidence for any particular belief about Satan, do not have to justify our taking the passage figuratively while those who disagree with us can take it literally and simply and at face value. At the end of the day, none of us take it fully literally. It is just a matter of which part makes more sense as being figurative and which part makes more sense taken literally.

Works Cited

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Cross, John. "Do Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 speak of Satan?" Blog. The Goodseed Blog. N.p., 16 Nov 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. <http://www.goodseed.com/blog/2012/11/16/do-isaiah-14-and-ezekiel-28-speak-of-satan/>

Driscoll, Mark and Gary Breshears. Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe. Wheaton, IL: 

Crossway, 2010. Print.

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995. Print.

Lightner, Robert. Sin, the Savior, and Salvation. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1991. Print. 

MacArthur, John. Revelation 12-22. Chicago: Moody, 2000. Print.

New American Standard Bible (NASB). N.p.: Lockman Foundation, 1995. Biblegateway.com. Web. 6 Jun. 2011. <http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-American-Standard-Bible-NASB/>

Wiese, Bill. 23 Minutes in Hell. Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2006. Print

Isaiah 14:1-23

When the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors. And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,

“How the oppressor has ceased,
And how fury has ceased!

“The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers

Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.

“The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They break forth into shouts of joy.

“Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’

“Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;
It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.

“They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.

‘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.’

“How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!

“But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.

‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’

“Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.

“Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will ponder over you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,

Who made the world like a wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’

“All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own tomb.

“But you have been cast out of your tomb
Like a rejected branch,
Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit
Like a trampled corpse.

“You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have slain your people.
May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever.

“Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter
Because of the iniquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth
And fill the face of the world with cities.”

“I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the Lord.

“I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

Ezekiel 28:1-19

The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, “Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God, 

“Because your heart is lifted up
And you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of gods
In the heart of the seas’;
Yet you are a man and not God,
Although you make your heart like the heart of God— 

Behold, you are wiser than Daniel;
There is no secret that is a match for you. 

“By your wisdom and understanding
You have acquired riches for yourself
And have acquired gold and silver for your treasuries.  

“By your great wisdom, by your trade
You have increased your riches
And your heart is lifted up because of your riches— 

Therefore thus says the Lord God,   

‘Because you have made your heart
Like the heart 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.  

‘They will bring you down to the pit,
And you will die the death of those who are slain
In the heart of the seas.  

‘Will you still say, “I am a god,”
In the presence of your slayer,
Though you are a man and not God,
In the hands of those who wound you? 

‘You will die the death of the uncircumcised
By the hand of strangers,
For I have spoken!’ declares the Lord God!”’” 

Again the word of the Lord came to me saying, “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.  

“You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
The beryl, the onyx and the jasper;
The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;
And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,
Was in you.
On the day that you were created
They were prepared.  

“You were the anointed cherub who covers,
And I placed you there.
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.  

“You were blameless in your ways
From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.  

“By the abundance of your trade
You were internally filled with violence,
And you sinned;
Therefore I have cast you as profane
From the mountain of God.
And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.  

“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.  

“By the multitude of your iniquities,
In the unrighteousness of your trade
You profaned your sanctuaries.
Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you;
It has consumed you,
And I have turned you to ashes on the earth
In the eyes of all who see you.  

“All who know you among the peoples
Are appalled at you;
You have become terrified
And you will cease to be forever.”