Mike,
   It still seems a stretch to me.  I have no problem with this passage 
being a picture (even on a small scale) of future destruction/judgment. 
  But to use this passage to say that what is said about the King of 
Tyre can also be equally said about Satan is not good exegesis.  We 
can't re-create Satan's history with passages that are at best vaguely 
representative of Satan.  There is a lot we don't know about Satan - He 
was an Angel who rebelled against got - we don't have descriptions, we 
don't know when this happened and we don't know much about Satan at all 
- other than he is real and someone to be resisted.  Here is what I 
found in the Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (p. 279).

"As for a relationship with Satan, there does not seem to be any 
decisive evidence in the tex that the Prince of Hell is being indirectly 
addressed through the prince of Tyre.  There is hardly a verse to be 
found that could be applied to the Devil alone rather than to the human 
rulers of the city itself.  Certainly the theory advanced by some 
writers that this chapter contains a flashback to Satan's personal 
career prior to his rebellion and expulsion from heaven is at best an 
unsupported conjecture.  All the hyperbolic language employed in the 
verses discussed above cna best be understood as the flattering 
self-delusion of the Tyrian millionaires and their money-loving leaders, 
wose concept of heaven rose no higher than their treasures of rubies and 
gold, and whose yardstick for virtue consisted of material wealth.  Yet 
it should be clearly understood that in a very real sense every culture 
that has sold out to materialistic values is under the domination of 
Satan and is influential in promoting his cause.  It will also share in 
his ultimate judgment and eternal destruction (Rev. 20:10)."

This sums it up well for me - certainly there is something satanly 
related here but we can't then take from this passage that Satan was the 
most beautiful, brightest and best of God's angels - That is pure 
speculation.

Peace,
Steve

Mike Tittle wrote:
> Hi Steve
> 
> Many commentaries see the king of Tyre as satan, because satan is the 
> power behind this evil king.  Much like when Christ called Peter by the 
> name satan.  You know, "Get the behind me satan."
> 
> The idea is that satan is the power or the driving force behind these men.
> 
> The historic fall of Satan, otherwise not directly described in the 
> Bible but alluded to in a number of passages, supplied the background 
> terminology and metaphor for this text, just as it did for Isaiah 14. 
> His fall from heaven back, apparently, before time began will supply the 
> model for the fall of the king of Tyre, as it had for the king of Babylon.
> 
> But in keeping with the concept of inaugurated eschatology, in which 
> both the near and the distant future are brought together in one 
> horizon, the fall of the king of Tyre will be but a small indication of 
> what the fall of Satan will be like in the final day.
> 
> The king of Tyre was compared to the Evil One himself, who was in the 
> Garden of Eden, the garden of God. But this exalted one became corrupt 
> and lost his position in heaven. Similarly, the king of Tyre is about to 
> lose his position for the same reasons: he exalted himself above God. 
> Thus the description seems to shift back and forth from the king of Tyre 
> to Satan himself, but that fluidity of language can be seen elsewhere as 
> the near fulfillments of many prophecies do not embrace the totality of 
> the language as the final fulfillment does.
> 
> Taken from "Hard Sayings of the Bible"
> 
> 
> Mike T
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steven G. Rockhill" 
> <revrock@...>
> To: <pastorsforum@...>
> Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 8:20 AM
> Subject: Re: [PastorsForum] Satan Beauty & Wisdom
>