Oh my. I found the theological idea. And I haven’t seen a Bible interpretation this cranky since the bit about “the horseleech’s daughter” being a vampire instead of a vamping bad girl.
In Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel prophecies to the kings of Tyre and Sidon about their approaching doom. The way Ezekiel talks about the beautiful city of Tyre (one of the richest cities in the world, thanks to a great harbor, Phoenician traders, and Tyrian purple dye) has been traditionally interpreted as also applying to Satan, because Lucifer was originally the most beautiful of angels the way Tyre was the most beautiful of cities. (And there are other lines about enemy pagan kings and cities that are also applied to Satan as the Enemy.) The general idea is that Ezekiel is harking back to how splendid the king of Tyre looked at his coronation, among his royal gardens and in his beautiful city.
So here’s how Ezekiel 28:13 goes in the old Douay-Rheims-Challoner:
“Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle, and the emerald: gold the work of thy beauty: and thy pipes were prepared in the day that thou wast created.”
The word translated as “pipes” here is “foramina” (holes) in Latin. I don’t know what the Fathers thought it meant. Possibly a jewelry thing.
Here’s an old literal translation of the Septuagint version of Ezekiel 28:13 –
“Thou wast in the delight of the paradise of God; thou hast bound upon thee every precious stone, the sardius, and topaz, and emerald, and carbuncle, and sapphire, and jasper, and silver, and gold, and ligure, and agate, and amethyst, and chrysolite, and beryl, and onyx: and thou hast filled thy treasures and thy stores in thee with gold.”
This basically thinks the “holes” are treasure bins and storage pits.
But here’s the King James Version of Ezekiel 28:13 –
"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created."
Scholars today think that the Hebrew word “tuppeka” meant “settings” for the jewels, and that the “holes” were sockets to put the jewels into. But the King James Version translators thought that tuppeka were “tabrets,” small tabor drums, and that the holes were pipes as musical instruments. All this should just mean that the city of Tyre is sumptuous, either way.
But some people apparently took it to mean that Lucifer played pipes and tabor drums, and that maybe the pipes and tabor drums were actually installed INSIDE Lucifer, and yet that somehow something “prepared in thee on the day that thou wast created” must have become something evil instead of being a good gift from God.
Not really seeing this.
Anyway, here’s a modern translation from the NIV:
“You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.”
Also, there is a traditional “angel of music” name, but it’s “Sandalphon.”
