Consequences of Rebellion: Cast Down to the Underworld

Ezekiel 28 casts a figure down to the ground, and Isaiah 14 brings a figure down to Sheol. The Hebrew word Ezekiel uses for ground, erets, is also one of the words for the underworld, the realm of the dead.
So the sentence passed on rebellion in these passages is not simply demotion. It is being sent down - to the very realm the rebel would end up ruling.
Two cautions, and both come from the sources themselves. Neither Ezekiel 28 nor Isaiah 14 gives you a chronology of events in Eden; they are backstory, not narration. And Ezekiel 28 is formally a lament over the prince of Tyre. Reading a divine rebel there is a position Heiser holds and openly calls a minority view.
Scripture links:
- Ezekiel 28:17 - I cast you to the ground.
- Isaiah 14:15 - brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.
The one who wanted the highest seat is given the lowest, and left to keep it.