Wisdom of the Ancient Kings 2

In this series of historical investigations, looking at the wisdom and folly of rulers and potentates from the ancient past, I want you to discover what the leading minds and most powerful people of history have understood, or failed to understand. If you can glean wisdom from the wisest and most powerful you will be well placed to better understand what is going on in our day and with today’s rulers.

The Ancient Kingdom of Tyre

While Tyre (Tyrus) is an unknown empire to most people today it stands out on several significant accounts. This was a leading kingdom in its day, due to great commercial cunning. It was also a kingdom that at one time acknowledged the sovereignty of Almighty God (as Great Britain, Australia and the United States do). Its ruler became so evil that he was one of only two kings directly identified with Satan. The city of Tyre has suffered serious attack three times in its history: by Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar for 13 years from 585-572BC; by Alexander the Great in 332BC; and again by Muslim forces in 1291AD.

The Wisdom of Tyre

Tyrus is an ancient Phoenician city on the Mediterranean coast, to the north of Israel. The city came to great strength and prominence at the time of King David of Israel, through its godly leader, King Hiram, 980-947BC. Hiram traded with King David, being a near neighbour, and provided timber from the forests of Lebanon, which he controlled.

When King David died and Solomon took the throne of Israel, King Hiram acknowledged the goodness of God and willingly offered the service of his nation to help Solomon build the great Temple to Jehovah.

It seems that Tyre prospered in the centuries following Hiram, culminating in the reign of King Ittobaal II. This evil king was none-the-less gifted with great wisdom. He had commercial cunning which promoted his kingdom to impressive influence and wealth. The Jewish prophet, Ezekiel, said of Ittobaal II, “You are wiser than Daniel!” (Ezekiel 28:3), which is an outstanding claim.

It seems that Ittobaal was not only wise in human terms, but accessed spiritual wisdom, as Daniel received wisdom from God. Ittobaal used his wisdom to build a commercial empire.

With strength in shipping and trade, the coastal empire of Tyre was able to ship goods to and from many places. The island city was a treasure store of exotic goods from around the known world.

The Foolishness of Tyre

Tyre’s early king, Hiram, and Israel’s Kings David and Solomon were known for their great achievements. Yet they acknowledged their place of humility under God. They accepted God’s lordship. Thus their kingdoms were blessed by God.

Ittobaal II inherited the past successes of Tyre and used his own wisdom to conceive of commercial strategies which catapulted the kingdom to the lead in international trade. But Ittobaal II, unlike Hiram 300+ years before, did not acknowledge God. Instead, he communicated with evil spirits and sought to exalt himself against God.

This is where Ittobaal came into parallel with Satan. Satan had also been in a place of greatness, but he became corrupted and sought to exalt himself against God. Satan’s wisdom corrupted him, and so too did Ittobaal’s. Satan was lifted up with pride, and so too was Ittobaal.

Wisdom for commerce became the power to manipulate the markets, control the trade routes and exploit others. Violence and abject self-serving took over Ittobaal’s commercial activities. He did not use his resources for the purposes of God, as Hiram had done. He did not care for the needy and underprivileged, as Solomon taught man to do. He simply magnified his own place and power for more of the same, seeking to exalt himself to the highest place.

Commerce Gone Mad

We see in today’s global corporations and nations examples of people who have lost the plot. They have no idea of what ‘enough’ means, but are driven to excel beyond their previous wildest dreams, in a never ending quest to accumulate wealth and power. Instead of honouring God with it and for it, or using it for God’s kingdom and God’s prescribed purposes, these wealth and power mongers do as Ittobaal II did. They simply multiply their significance until all the world is dependent on them.

This is commerce gone mad. It is bigger and better just for the sake of it. It is commerce that has lost sight of moral responsibility and the very meaning of life. It is like the rich man in a parable given by Jesus. That man had a bumper harvest and could only think about storing it up as insurance for his future. Yet that very night he would die and leave it all behind. That rich man did not give his wealth to the poor, nor see it as a resource for God’s kingdom. So Jesus called him a “fool”!

Ittobaal II the Fool

By his self-serving ambitions and wrong use of wisdom Ittobaal II made great gains in human terms, but brought his entire kingdom under God’s judgement. Thus his trading empire was brought down, his kingdom besieged by Babylon and then the city of his pride scraped into the sea by Alexander the Great.

Tyre is no more. The great trading kingdom which controlled the seas and led international commerce is not even known by most people today. What Hiram and succeeding kings of Tyre had built up over centuries was torn down and dumped in the sea, because of Ittobaal the fool. The master of dark arts, user of wisdom for selfish gain, and master manipulator of global markets brought divine wrath upon his kingdom. The once favourite ally of Israel became the target of God’s judgement.

Ittobaal’s Slavery to Satan

In Ezekiel’s prophetic description of God’s judgement on Tyre we find a mixed description of the ruler (Ittobaal II) and satan. The two personalities have become entwined and are spoken of interchangeably. This signifies how Ittobaal had come under the power of satan and was a slave to the devil.

In Ezekiel 28 we have pronouncements against the human ruler of Tyre and the spiritual ruler as well. The Hebrew language gives a real clue to what had happened to Ittobaal in the process of his journey into the dark arts of his satanic wisdom. He had come under the power of the devil, who was his ruler.

In Ezekiel 28:2 Ittobaal II is identified as the “prince of Tyrus”. Prince means commander, such as a military commander leading his section of troops in a battle. Then, in Ezekiel 28:12 a new section starts, speaking about things which Ittobaal could not identify with, such as being in Eden and being an anointed cherub. The personality addressed in this section is called the “king of Tyrus”.

“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyrus, 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 God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are a man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God….” Ezekiel 28:2

“Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD; You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. You have been in Eden the garden of God ….. You are the anointed cherub that covers” Ezekiel 28:12-14

While Ittobaal was the human and visible ruler of Tyre, he was only a prince under the real king, who was satan. Ittobaal had lost his personal sovereignty, in a deal with the devil which gave him access to devilish wisdom, which ultimately brought him down. (Here we have echoes of Faust.)

Lessons for Us

Greatness in responsibility and power, wisdom and success is a gift which we need to hold in humility before God. No matter how great our own grand achievements we are still subject to God’s moral sovereignty over us and our kingdom.

When we acknowledge and serve God we are blessed. When we make our own aggrandizement and success more important than our humility before God we come under His judgement and stand to lose all that we have.

There are dark forces that are full of pride, devilish wisdom, violence and self-exaltation. When people tap into those same values they come under the power of those forces. Whatever benefit the person may think they have received from that connection the person will be undone and destroyed for their rebellion against God, just as the devil and his hoards will also be in due time.

The best place for anyone to stand is in the fear of God.

Ancient wisdom holds a mystique and allure for many today. Some people seek to explore ancient wisdom and ancient arts in their quest for enlightenment and personal benefit. In view of that fascination I have often thought of compiling a summary of the Wisdom of the Ancient Kings.

If you have any observations or information on this point that might assist me in this project please let me know. I have noted several expressions of ancient wisdom in my own reading and research and I’ll share some of them is posts on ancient wisdom from time to time.

Wisdom and Folly

Neither wisdom nor folly is a new invention. Kings, rulers and potentates have shown great wisdom and great folly at times throughout history. As I review ancient wisdom I will also take note at times of the folly evidenced in the lives of ancient kings. Folly, as an inverse of wisdom, can also be instructive when it is observed as something to be avoided.

So if you are aware of evidences of folly in the leaders from antiquity please also advise me of your observations.

Kings and Kingdoms

History provides us a diverse set of kings and kingdoms to observe. Some have maintained their leadership by ruthless and violent punishments. Ruling by fear was evident in King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over ancient Babylon. The Romans employed fear and the iron rule in their dominance of the first century world.

Other rulers asserted their divinity as just cause for their leadership. The Pharaohs of Egypt portrayed themselves as deities. The Roman leaders projected the notion of their divine authority. Even the Emperors of Japan asserted that they were divine, until the middle of last century, following Japan’s crushing defeat in World War 2.

Some kingdoms were strong because of wise strategies, such as the commercial aspirations of Tyre which gave them ability to dominate in their day. Genghis Khan and the Chinese Emperors had various strengths and weaknesses in their governments through the centuries.

Entire kingdoms have been wiped out, such as the Incas of South America and the Hittites of the Middle East. We have bare traces of some civilisations and much of what we know is anecdotal or fanciful, rather than factual.

The Hindu Vedas represent writings which carry a mixture of historical reference mingled with mythical aggrandisement of the characters. Greek mythology carries elements of the same phenomenon.

Modern History

Monarchs from the British Empire, the establishment of the American nation and the modern history of nationalisation of former colonies give us up-to-date examples of wisdom and folly in the actions of kings and rulers. While these modern examples will not be the direct interest of this theme, they do provide an interesting reference point, especially where parallels with ancient kings and kingdoms are evident.

An Ancient Fool

I recently read the account of Belshazzar, the last king of Bablyon, who was killed on the night of October 12, 539BC. He was the effective ruler of Babylon on the night it fell to the invading Medes. The city had been under a long siege, but with 20 years supplies stored in the city everyone felt quite capable of resisting indefinitely.

King Nebuchadnezzar had built up a glorious city in Babylon, with its famous hanging gardens. Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom had been described as the greatest of kingdoms, with only lesser kingdoms following through human history.

Belshazzar had inherited this glorious heritage and all that had been built up by his predecessors. But he had fallen into self-confidence against the invading army and he also gave himself to an indulgent lifestyle. He had many concubines and he threw lavish parties, even in the face of the siege.

Belshazzar was the king who was shocked by the appearance of fingers which wrote on his palace wall. The man just about fell apart, with his knees knocking in distress.

When Daniel, the old man of God, was called to interpret the divine message written on the wall Belshazzar was advised that he had been weighed in God’s scales and found to be deficient. Thus he would lose his kingdom that very night.

This event gave rise to the saying “the writing is on the wall”, meaning that the outcome is fully predictable. The outcome for Belshazzar was already set and it was written on the wall.

The City Falls

The magnificent city of Babylon had the Euphrates River running right through it, guaranteeing a continuous water supply. But the invading Medes went to the extensive effort of diverting the river flow, into a lake. When the river level dropped, the invading army was able to enter the city under the gates. These events are recorded by two ancient historians, Herodotus and Xenophon.

The Bible account of these events simply states that, “That night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was slain. And Darius the Mede took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” Daniel 5:30,31

Folly after Wisdom

Despite the various expressions of wisdom on the part of Nebuchadnezzar, this descendent, Belshazzar, was a self-indulgent, overly confident, God-mocking ruler. His reward for that folly was that he lost his kingdom overnight.

This sad pattern is oft repeated, where one wise person builds something for the future, but a descendent becomes a fool, maybe buoyed up by the benefits they have been raised with, and loses it all.

The wisdom to draw from this example is to remain humble. In the face of great advantage and all the evidences of security, it is vital that we all remain humble and diligent in our protection of ourselves and our assets.

This wisdom is proving its worth today, in the face of the Crash of 2008. Many people who enjoyed the high life of income, prosperity, assets, security and so on are now facing uncertainty, loss, limitation and insecurity.

God rewards the humble, but pride and a haughty spirit come before a fall. Many today have been weighed in God’s balance and have proven themselves to have nothing to protect them from the collapse of their personal kingdom. Thankfully today’s generation can cry out to God for mercy and grace. I encourage you to humbly do so.