iah says that he is “brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit” (14:15). Sheol was the place of the dead in the O.T. This verse describes Nebuchadnezzar’s death and the surprise of the dead kings in Sheol who greeted him, rather than Satan being brought down to earth. The same picture is given in the previous oracle, when the dead kings express surprise of Nebuchadnezzar becoming as weak as them (14:9-11).
He is described as, “he man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms?” (14:16). Nebuchadnezzar certainly did this through military conquest. It is difficult to see how Satan could be described as a man who shook kingdoms. He also, “made the world a desert and overthrew its cities” (14:17). Famine and starvation accompanied the invading armies of Nebuchadnezzar, when many cities through the Middle East, including Jerusalem, were overthrown. He was also the one, “who would not let his prisoners go home” (14:17). This fits the policy of Nebuchadnezzar who deported captured peoples and made them settle in camps outside the city of Babylon (Ezek 1:1).
Ezekiel chapters 25 to 32 are also prophecies against pagan nations. Chapters 26 to 28 are specifically against Tyre, a major city, important port and wealthy commercial centre at that time, under its ruler Ethbaal III (c.590 - c.573). Ezekiel described Tyre’s trading with other nations (27:12-25), and gave dramatic oracles about the ships and sailors of Tarshish wailing over the fall of Tyre (27:25-36).
The king of Tyre is described as, “the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (28:12). Many say only Satan could be this, not a king or a city. However, elsewhere in these same oracles against Tyre, Tyre claimed this for itself: "O Tyre, you have said, 'I am perfect in beauty'" (27:3), “Your heart is proud and you have said, ‘I am a god’” (28:2). The prince of Tyre's wisdom, trade and great wealth are described in (28:4-5). The prince of Tyre compared his mind with the mind of a god (28:6). The Hebrew here is “elohim”, which can either mean “God”, or pagan gods (plural), so translations vary. Ezekiel also prophesies that “the most terrible of the nations shall draw their swords against the beauty of your splendour” (28:7).
He was, “in Eden, the garden of God” (28:13). This probably does not refer to Satan's presence in the garden of Eden in the account of the fall in Genesis 3, as Eden is often used poetically in the scriptures to depict a fertile place of great plenty. Elsewhere in Ezekiel, Egypt was likened to a cedar of Lebanon: “the cedars in the garden of God could not rival it ... the envy of all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God” (Ezek 31:8-9). Ezekiel also predicts that when Israel is restored, people will say, “This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden.” (Ezek 36:35). Joel said this about the locust swarm, “Before them the land is like the garden of Eden and after them a desolate wilderness” (Joel 2:3), and in Genesis, “Lot ... saw that the plain of Jordan was well watered like the garden of the Lord” (Gen 13:10).
The description continues by saying that, “every precious stone was your covering” (28:13). This does not have to be a description of Satan, as throughout history kings have worn richly decorated garments. There is also a similarity with the list of precious stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Ex 28:17ff).
God says that, “With an anointed cherub as guardian I placed you” (28:14). The NRSV has a footnote saying that the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. The KJV has: “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so”. A cherub (plural - cherubim) is one of the 4 living creatures described in Ezekiel chapter 1 and Revelation chapter 4, whose job it is to guard the throne of God and to worship God. They are associated with God's glory and judgement. Other than this passage in the KJV, Satan is never described as a cherub in the Bible, neither are the archangels Michael or Gabriel, so this verse cannot be used to claim that Satan was once an angelic being.
The king