If we remember the word "holy" is allied with the word "whole" in its derivation, the

words "Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty" (Ezek. 28: 12)

take on a fresh significance. That the mighty being spoken of by Ezekiel had an office

intimately connected with holy things, is evident.

He was cast out as "profane", he was charged with "defiling" his "sanctuaries", He

was "the anointed cherub that covereth" and had been on "the holy mountain of God".

While the word translated "traffic" and "merchandise" retains its usual significance in

Ezek. 28: 5; when it is used of this anointed cherub (who can scarcely be conceived

of as a "merchant" in the ordinary sense of the word), when it is used of such a being, and

speaks of "traffic" in holy things, the word takes on a sinister meaning. Even among men

"traffic" in holy things is looked upon with horror and loathing. This feeling is supported

by the fact the Hebrew word rekullah is derived from the word ragal "to go about",

which word is translated "backbite" (Psa. 15: 3), "spy" (Gen. 42: 9) and to "slander"

(II Sam. 19: 27).

The LXX renders the words "he hath slandered" by methodeusen "to deal deceitfully",

a word which will call to mind in many readers the language of Eph. 6: 11 "the wiles

(methodias) of the devil (deabolou)", and this diabolos is rendered "slanderer"

(I Tim. 3: 11). This reference in I Tim. 3: is but an extension of verses 6 and 7 which

warn against the snare of the devil, in connection with the care of the Church of God.

To one entirely unacquainted with the original languages in which the scriptures are

written, such a long drawn out attempt to relate the Anointed Cherub, with traffic, which

in its turn lends itself to the names of Satan and Devil, and through the LXX, to the

"wiles" of the devil, and so back again to the emphasis upon "profane", "defile",

"sanctuary" and the like, may seem a trifle far-fetched, but were we all as acquainted

with the primary and derived meanings of words in the original language as we are,

without conscious effort with similar phenomena in our mother tongue, these lengthy

explanations would be unnecessary. This association of the word "to go about" with

Satanic characteristics, is repeated in the use of another word found in Job, where Satan

replied to the Lord's enquiry, that he had come "from going to and fro in the earth"

(Job 1: 7).  It should be remembered that this same word is used of the Lord when we

These same eyes are mentioned immediately after the scene which is introduced with

"Satan standing at His right hand to resist" (Zech. 3: 1).

Again, as it is impossible to imagine the "Anointed Cherub" of Ezek. 28:, running

a business and being a "merchant" in the ordinary sense of the term, so we suspect that

when Zechariah, speaking of the day of Israel's restoration, says "there shall be no more

the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts" (Zech 14: 21), he is but allying himself