The Inscrutable Question: The “Stones of Fire” Refer to the Throne & Its Foundation in the 3rd Heaven, Ezk 28:14d; Ezk 28:15 Intro
19)	The accouterments of the throne room are mentioned in the final sentence of the verse, “You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.”
20)	Most commentators slide past this but there is a biblical explanation and we may as well note it.  The principle of hermeneutics that helps us bring clarity to this sentence is “Scripture interprets Scripture,” which is amplified by:
Ramm, Bernard.  Protestant Biblical Interpretation: A Textbook of Hermeneutics.  3d rev. ed.  (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1970), 104-105:
Certain very general theological assumptions govern the exegesis of Scripture and one of these guiding assumptions is:
(iv).	Scripture interprets Scripture (or, “obscure passages in Scripture must give way to clear passages”).   There is no question that there are passages in Holy Scripture that are very obscure for modern man which may have been very clear to the authors of the passages.  The Roman Catholic Church claimed that it possessed the mind of Christ and the mind of the Spirit in its teaching magisterium (meaning the pope and the bishops) so that it could render obscure doctrines clear.  The Reformers rejected the claim of the Roman Catholic Church that it had the gift of grace and illumination to know what the Holy Scripture taught.  In place of an appeal to the teaching magisterium of the Church, the reformers proclaimed that Scripture interprets Scripture.
In this expression the word “Scripture” is used in a double sense.  As the first word of the formula, Scripture means the total Scripture; in the second occurrence it means a part of Scripture, either a verse or passage.  Restated the principle would read: “The entire Holy Scripture is the context and guide for understanding the particular passages of Scripture.”  
In the concrete task of writing Christian theology this principle means that the theologian must basically rest his theology on those passages that are clear and not upon those that are obscure.
21)	Consequently, understanding of the phrase “stones of fire” requires us to go to other passages of Scripture for our interpretation.  First we note Moses and the priests on Mount Sinai:
Exodus 24:9 -	Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel,
v 10 -	and they saw the God of Israel and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky itself.
22)	The word “pavement” is lebena / lib-NAH and means “brick.”  In Exodus 24:10 it refers to the surface beneath the Lord’s throne.  In Ezekiel 1:22 a synonym is used to describe the foundation of the throne, raqia / ra‑KEE‑ah /.
Ezekiel 1:22 -	Over the heads of the living beings there was something like an expanse [ raqia / ra‑KEE‑ah /: foundation, floor, base ], like the awesome gleam of crystal [ qerah / KO‑rach /: ice ], extended over their heads.
23)	Exodus 24:10 tells us that the “pavement” (lebena) was sapphire “as clear as the sky itself,” while Ezekiel 1:22 says the “expanse” (raqia) had the appearance of ice.
24)	A description of the Lord’s throne appears in:
Ezekiel 1:26 -	Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance …
25)	The Hebrew word for “lapis lazuli” in Ezekiel 1:26 and “sapphire” in Exodus 24:10 is the same, sappir / sap-PEER.  The definition of this word is provided by:
Harris, R. Laird.  Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament.  Vol. 2.  (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), 1538:
The people of biblical times probably did not understand the word to be the sapphire, but lapis lazuli, the rich, azure gem so common to the ancient world.  This beautiful gem was costly.  It adorned the breastplate of the high priest (as well as that of Lucifer).  It is found in the throne of God (Ezekiel 1:26) and is the pavement under his feet (Exodus 24:10).  It is found in the very foundation of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:19).
26)	The Encyclopaedia Britannica provides us with further information on the lapis lazuli that will help in our evaluation:
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., s.v. “lapis lazuli”:
Ornamental material valued for its deep blue colour.  It is not a mineral but a rock coloured by lazurite and sodalite with small amounts of pyrite, which give it goldlike flecks.
27)	The foundation of the throne was made up of a transparent or translucent substance that could best be described as lapis lazuli, an icy-blue, gold-flecked crystalline rock.
28)	Now let’s go back to our passage in:
Ezekiel 28:14 –	[CTL] You were the cherub anointed to proclaim and protect divine integrity, the one who covers.  I have by means of grace placed you in the ultimate position of responsibility and authority.  You resided in the throne room, my holy mountain.
29)	Again, the last sentence to this verse reads in the NASV, “You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.”
30)	The word for “stones” is ‘eben / EH-ben / and is the general term for precious stones.  This word actually appears in Ezekiel 1:26 
Ezekiel 1:26 -	Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli stone in appearance …
31)	The word “fire” is ‘esh / aysh / and is correctly translated.  In the Old Testament, fire refers to the Shekinah Glory as the guidon for the Israelites in the Jornada.  The pillar of fire led them by night while the cloud led them by day.
32)	And Moses’ first encounter with the Shekinah Glory was on Mount Horeb where the Lord appeared in a theophany as a Burning Bush.
33)	In Ezekiel 1:26-28 we learn that the person who sits upon the throne in Ezekiel’s vision is the Lord Jesus Christ and His presence is identified as the Shekinah Glory.
Ezekiel 1:26 -	Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli stone in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne was a figure with the appearance of a man [ a theophany ].
Ezekiel 1:27 -	Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal [ gold ] that looked like fire all around within it, and from His loins downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance about Him.
v 28 -		As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance.  Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
34)	The Holy of Holies in the third heaven is the throne room of God and in it is the seat of divine government.  The essence of God is manifest to the human eye by the Shekinah Glory.
35)	The Shekinah Glory’s resplendence glowed forth from His throne.  It and its foundation appeared as ice-like crystals that reflected and refracted the light of the Shekinah Glory in a manner that reminded Moses, Ezekiel, and the Apostle John of lapis lazuli.
36)	In our definition of this mineral we have learned that it has a deep blue color interspersed with flickers of gold caused by the presence of pyrite.
37)	Also we have learned that no gemstone has an intrinsic source of light and therefore can only reflect or refract light from an outside source.
38)	The science of gemology uses the term “fire” to describe the brilliance and luminosity of a gem.  A stone said to have good “fire” is one that has the capacity to disperse white light into component colors.  If properly cut, white light entering through its crown will be reflected and returned through the crown as colored light.
39)	Our Lord’s throne and its foundation were made of a substance that appeared as clear as crystal and smooth as ice.  It reflected the Glory of the Lord in such a fashion that it blazed with the deep blue of the lapis lazuli speckled with flecks of gold.
40)	Ezekiel describes this heavenly phenomenon as the “stones of fire.”  The color blue is significant.  Its figurative meanings in Scripture are discussed by:
Unger, Merrill F.  Unger’s Bible Dictionary.  3d ed.  (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966), 214:
Blue … points to heaven and is the symbol of revelation.  Among the Hebrews it was the Jehovah color, the symbol of the revealed God (comp. Exodus 24:10 and Ezekiel 1:26).
41)	I recently saw an ice sculpture that reminded me of this phrase, the “stones of fire.”  It was the centerpiece of a buffet table at a local restaurant and was sculpted in the shape of a ram, the mascot of St. Louis’ Super Bowl Champions.  From above, hidden from view, a light with a blue filter was focused down on it.  The ice caught the light and refracted it throughout the sculpture.  The ice was smooth and clear as crystal but appeared to flicker with a deep blue fire as you walked past and the patterns changed with the angle of your view.  Incidentally, the ram is a type of Christ in resurrection body, Who sits on His throne in the third heaven; the Shekinah Glory in the Tabernacle built without hands.
Ezekiel 28:14 –	[CTL] “You were the cherub anointed to proclaim and protect divine integrity, the one who covers.  I have by means of grace placed you in the ultimate position of responsibility and authority.  You resided in the throne room, My holy mountain.  You walked in the glow of its foundation that reflected the light of the Shekinah Glory with the brilliance of lapis lazuli.
Ezekiel 28:15 -	“You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.”
1)	The first words we must examine in this verse are, “You were blameless [NASV & NIV] or, perfect [KJV] in your ways.”  The word for “blameless” or, “perfect” is tamim / ta‑MEEM / and the word for “ways” is the plural of an old friend, derek. 
2)	As you will recall, derek refers to behavior patterns, character traits, and a lifestyle based on wheel-tracks of righteousness or wheel-tracks of wickedness.
3)	The wheel-tracks here are the former since they are said to be the result of tamim, blamelessness or perfection.
4)	A precise translation of the word tamim is critical to our proper understanding of this verse.  It is only through an explicit and definitive translation that we will be able to understand the background of the fall of Lucifer and realize the all-important application to us as believers in Jesus Christ.
5)	Arriving at this correct translation and application will require us to study the etymology of tamim.  We will base our ultimate translation on information derived from three major lexicons:
Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, & Charles A. Briggs.  The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon.  (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979), 1071;
Harris, R. Laird (ed.).  Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament.  (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), 2:973-74;
Jenni, Ernst and Claus Westermann.  Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament.  Trans by Mark E. Biddle.  (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997), 3:1424-28:
6)	Let’s start with the standard definitions from Heinrich Wilhelm Gesenius /Gay-ZAY-nee-us/, the German biblical scholar who inaugurated a modern philological approach in Semitic language studies.  His Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, published in 1813, is the basis for the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon, first published in 1906.  Here are the definitions of tamim from Gesenius: Complete, whole, entire; being entirely in accord with truth and fact; having integrity.
7)	We must remember that the subject being described here is Lucifer, who is an angel.  Absolute perfection is an attribute of God.  Divine perfection is eternal, and there is no possibility of God’s perfection ever being defiled.
8)	Therefore, to assign perfection to a created being requires us to examine this concept in a great bit of detail.  Lucifer’s perfection was obviously not the same as divine perfection.  Lucifer’s so-called “perfection” was a combination of accurate thought in conjunction with positive volition that resulted in right behavior.
9)	The one English word that best encompasses these concepts is “integrity.”