The concern of most of chapter 28 is an individual identified in verse 12 as the king of Tyre. There are two clear parts to this unit. The first is verses 1–10, an oracle of judgment. Verses 11–19, on the other hand, are a lament. Verses 1–10 perpetuate the maritime connections of Tyre that chapters 26 and 27 emphasize, but verses 11–19 do not. The city is ruled by a monarch who fancies himself a god. Again the point is made, as in chapters 26 and 27, that Tyre’s location confers on it an almost superhuman exemption from the vicissitudes most cities face and draws legendary wealth to it.

This feeling of “nobody can interfere with us” has infected the king with a noxious egocentrism. Note how “pride” and “proud” ring in verses 2–5. Possessions have become the yardstick by which the Tyrian…