Posting an excerpt from a resource in Logos I came across today which I think hits on the head the hermeneutical issue that pertains to Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14:
"Another obvious similarity between the canonical Apocalypse and its uninspired counterparts is the use of vivid images and symbols (monsters and dragons, symbolic numbers and names, etc.) in depicting the conflict between good and evil. A failure to take full account of this feature has led to some of the most outlandish teachings on this book by some whose rule of interpretation is “literal, unless absurd.” Though this is a good rule when dealing with literature written in a literal genre, it is the exact opposite in the case of apocalyptic literature, where symbolism is the rule, and literalism the exception.
A very good illustration of this is seen in the following apocryphal additions to the biblical Book of Esther, added to the book centuries after its composition, in the guise of a prelude and postscript written by Mordecai. It is typical of the apocalyptic style of the period that produced it. At the beginning of the book, an apocalypticist has created this prelude containing an alleged dream of Mordecai:
Behold, noise and confusion, thunders and earthquake, tumult upon the earth! And behold, two great dragons came forward, both ready to fight, and they roared terribly. And at their roaring every nation prepared for war, to fight against the nation of the righteous. And behold, a day of darkness and gloom, tribulation and distress, affliction and great tumult upon the earth! And the whole righteous nation was troubled, they feared the evils that threatened them, and were ready to perish. Then they cried to God and from their cry, as though from a tiny spring, there came a great river, with abundant water, light came, and the sun rose, and the lowly were exalted and consumed those held in honor (A:3–10).
Then follows the Book of Esther, after which Mordecai sums up as follows:
I remember the dream that I had concerning these matters, and none of them has failed to be fulfilled. The tiny stream which became a river, and there was light and the sun and abundant water—the river is Esther, whom the king married and made queen. The two dragons are Haman and myself. The nations are those gathered to destroy the name of the Jews. And my nation, this is Israel, who cried out to God and were saved (F:2–6)."
Steve Gregg, Revelation, Four Views: A Parallel Commentary (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers, 1997), 11.
The example above is really helpful because the imagery is actually explicitely interpreted but often the symbols in prophetic oracles are not but considered to be communicative enough. Indeed, it only takes a bit of digging around to find out how common certain tropes are and how they are used in prophecy.