“You, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
Parallel Translations
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“You, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
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Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
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And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal;
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 39:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 38:2-3 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
- Ezekiel 35:3 and tell it, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you. I will make you a desolation and an astonishment.
- Nahum 2:13 “Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
- Nahum 3:5 “Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 39:1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against…
Eze 39:1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
Ver. 1. Prophesy against Gog.] Prophesy again against him, for my people’s greater comfort. The Jews - noted ever to have been a light, serial, and fanatical nation, apt to work themselves into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage - expounding this prophecy according to the letter, conclude that Christ is not yet come, because these things here foretold are not yet fulfilled. When he doth come, they say, he shall set up his kingdom at Jerusalem, gather all Israel out of all coasts unto himself there, send each one to his own tribe, and that most certainly, by the operation of his Holy Spirit. There they shall be no sooner settled, and the kingdom not yet fully established, but Gog and Magog shall bring a huge army against Jerusalem, where they shall fall by the sword, lie unburied, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain This prophecy begins as that before (Eze 38:3, Eze…
This prophecy begins as that before (Eze 38:3, Eze 38:4, I am against thee, and I will turn thee back); for there is need of line upon line, both for the conviction of Israel's enemies and the comfort of Israel's friends. Here, as there, it is foretold that God will bring this enemy from the north parts, as formerly the Chaldeans were fetched from the north, Jer 1:14 (Omne malum ab aquilone - Every evil comes from the north), and, long after, the Roman empire was overrun by the northern nations, that he will bring him upon the mountains of Israel (Eze 39:2), first as a place of temptation, where the measures of his iniquity shall be filled up, and then as a place of execution, where his ruin shall be completed. And that is it which is here enlarged upon. 1. His soldiers shall be disarmed and so disabled to carry on their enterprise. Though the men of might may find their hands, yet to what purpose, when they find it is put out of their power to do mischief, when God shall smite their bow out of their left hand and their arrow out of their right? Eze 39:3. Note, The weapons formed against Zion shall not prosper. 2. He and the greatest part of his army shall be slain in the field of battle (Eze 39:4): Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel; there they sinned, and there they shall perish, even upon the holy mountains of Israel, for there broke he the arrows of the bow, Psa 76:3. The mountains of Israel shall be moistened, and fattened, and made fruitful, with the blood of the enemies. "Thou shalt fall upon the open field (Eze 39:5) and shalt not be able even there to make thy escape." Even upon the mountains he shall not find a pass that he shall be able to maintain, and upon the open field he shall not find a road that he shall be able to make his escape by. He and his bands; his regular troops, and the people that are with him that follow the camp to share in the plunder, shall all fall with him. Note, Those that cast in their lot among wicked people (Pro 1:14), that they may have one purse with them, must expect to take their lot with them, and fare as they fare, taking the worse with the better. There shall be such a general slaughter made that but a sixth part shall be left (Eze 39:2), the other five shall all be cut off. Never was army so totally routed as this. And, for its greater infamy and reproach, their bodies shall be a feast to the birds of prey, Eze 39:4. Compare Eze 39:17, Thou shalt fall, for I have spoken it. Note, Rather shall the most illustrious princes (Antiochus was called Epiphanes - the illustrious) and the most numerous armies fall to the ground than any word of God; for he that has spoken will make it good. 3. His country also shall be made desolate: I will send a fire on Magog (Eze 39:6) and among those that dwell carelessly, or confidently, in the isles, that is, the nations of the Gentiles. He designed to destroy the land of Israel, but shall not only be defeated in that design, but shall have his own destroyed by some fire, some consuming judgment or other. Note, Those who invade other people's rights justly lose their own. 4. God will by all this advance the honour of his own name, (1.) Among his people Israel; they shall hereby know more of God's name, of his power and goodness, his care of them, his faithfulness to them. His providence concerning them shall lead them into a better acquaintance with him; every providence should do so, as well as every ordinance: I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people. In Judah is God known; but those that know much of God should know more of him; we should especially increase in the knowledge of his name as a holy name. They shall know him as a God of perfect purity and rectitude and that hates all sin, and then it follows, I will not let them pollute my holy name any more. Note, Those that rightly know God's holy name will not dare to profane it; for it is through ignorance of it that men make light of it and make bold with it. And this is God's method of dealing with men, first to enlighten their understandings, and by that means to influence the whole man; he first makes us to know his holy name, and so keeps us from polluting it and engages us to honour it. And this is here the blessed effect of God's glorious appearances on the behalf of his people. Thus he completes his favours, thus he sanctifies them, thus he makes them blessings indeed; by them he instructs his people and reforms them. When the Almighty scattered kings for her she was white as snow in Salmon, Psa 68:14. (2.) Among the heathen; those that never knew it, or would not own it, shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. They shall be made to know by dear bought experience that he is a God of power, and his people's God and Saviour; and it is in vain for the greatest potentates to contend with him; none ever hardened their heart against him and prospered.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,.... As…
Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,.... As he had been ordered to do before, and must still continue to do it:
behold, I am against thee, O Gog; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to inject terror into him; for terrible it is to have God against any:
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the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; See Gill on Eze 38:2, the Septuagint version adds "Ros" here as there.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A prediction of the utter destruction of Gog and…
A prediction of the utter destruction of Gog and Magog, ver. 1-7. An illustration of the vastness of that destruction, ver. 8- 22. God's mercy to his people, ver. 23-29.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The prophet goes on to denounce the Divine judgments…
CHAPTER XXXIX
The prophet goes on to denounce the Divine judgments against
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Gog and his army, 1-7;
and describes their dreadful slaughter, 8-10,
and burial, 11-16,
in terms so very lofty and comprehensive, as must certainly
denote some very extraordinary interposition of Providence in
behalf of the Jews. And to amplify the matter still more, the
prophet, with peculiar art and propriety, delays the summoning
of all the birds and beasts of prey in nature to feast on the
slain, (in allusion to the custom of feasting on the remainder
of sacrifices,) till after the greater multitudes are buried;
to intimate that even the remainder, and as it were the
stragglers of such mighty hosts, would be more than sufficient
to satisfy their utmost rapacity, 17-20.
The remaining verses contain a prediction of the great
blessedness of the people of God in Gospel times, and of the
stability of the kingdom of Christ, 21-29.
It will be proper to remark that the great northern expedition
against the natural Israel, described in this and the preceding
chapter, is, from its striking resemblance in the main
particulars, put by the writer of the Apocalypse,
(Eze 20:7-10,)
for a much more formidable armament of a multitude of nations
in the four quarters of the earth against the pure Christian
Church, the MYSTICAL Israel; an event still extremely remote,
and which it is thought shall immediately precede the
destruction of the world by fire, and the general judgment.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXIX
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eze 39:1-2. Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy —…
Eze 39:1-2. Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy — Continue to prophesy; against Gog — That all these things concerning him may be remembered. The chief prince of Meshech, &c. — See note on Eze 38:2. And I will turn thee back — See ibid. Eze 39:4. I will lead thee and turn thee wheresoever I please: thou shalt not proceed any further than I shall permit thee, but shalt be driven back. And leave but a sixth part of thee — Or, as others render it, I will strike thee with six plagues, those mentioned Eze 38:22. And I will cause thee to come up, &c. — The words may be better rendered, After I have caused thee to come up from the north parts, and have brought thee upon the mountains of Israel — See a like construction Eze 38:4.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The present chapter describes the defeat of Evil and…
The present chapter describes the defeat of Evil and the triumph of God and His people. As the prophet predicted the advance of Evil under the figure of the invasion of an actual army; so he declares the overthrow of Evil by the figure of a host routed and slain, and the consequent purification of a land, partially overrun and disturbed. Some forgetting that this is a figure, have searched history to find out some campaign in the land of Israel, some overthrow of invaders, on which to fix this prophecy, and have assigned localities to the burial-place “Hamon-Gog” Eze 39:11.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 1And thou, Son of man, prophesy against Gog, and…
CHAPTER 39
1And thou, Son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against thee, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and 2Tubal; And I lead thee back, and drive thee on, and make thee come up from 3the farthest north, and make thee come to the mountains of Israel. And I dash thy bow out of thy left hand, and will make thy arrows fall out of thy right hand. 4On the mountains of Israel shalt thou fall, thou and all thy squadrons, and the nations that are with thee; to birds of prey of every kind, and to the beasts 5of the field I give thee for food. Upon the face [flat] of the field shalt thou 6fall, for I have spoken it: sentence of the Lord Jehovah.—And I send fire into Magog and into [among] those that dwell securely in the isles, and they 7know that I am Jehovah. And the name of My holiness will I make known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let the name of My holiness be profaned any more; and the heathen nations know that I am Jehovah, 8holy in Israel. Behold it came and was done,—sentence of the Lord Jehovah, 9—this is the day of which I spoke. And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel go out and set on fire and burn the armour, short shield and long shield, the bow and the arrows, and the hand-cane and the spear, and they 10keep a fire burning with them seven years. And they shall not carry [fetch] wood from the field, nor cut it out of the forests, for they shall keep a fire burning with the armour; and they spoil their spoilers and plunder their 11plunderers: sentence of the Lord Jehovah. And it comes to pass on that day, that I will give to Gog a place of burial in Israel, the valley of the passers-through east of the sea, and it stops the passers-through; and there they bury Gog and all his tumult, and they call it the valley of the tumult of 12Gog. And the house of Israel are seven months burying them, in order to 13cleanse the land. And the whole people of the land bury them, and it is to them for a name, on the day of My glorifying Myself: sentence of the Lord Jehovah.—14And they shall sever out [appoint] set men, who pass through in the land, who bury with the passers-through those that remain on the face of the land, to cleanse it; after the end of seven months they shall hold a search. 15And the passers-through in the land pass through, and he [one of them] sees a human skeleton, and sets up by it a mark, until the buriers bury it [theskeleton] in the valley of the tumult of Gog. 16And also the name of a city 17[is, shall be] “Hamonah” [tumult]. And they cleanse the land. And thou, Son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Say to birds of every kind, and to every beast of the field, Assemble and come, gather around over My sacrifice which I kill for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, and ye 18eat flesh and drink blood! Flesh of mighty men [heroes] shall ye eat, and blood of princes of the earth shall ye drink; rams, lambs, and he-goats, bullocks, 19fatlings of Bashan all of them. And ye eat fat to the full, and drink 20blood to drunkenness from My sacrifice which I have killed for you. And ye become full at My table, with horse and chariot, mighty man and every 21kind of soldier: sentence of the Lord Jehovah. And I give My glory [honour] among the heathen, and all the heathen see My judgment [justice] which 221 have executed, and My hand which I have laid upon them. And the house of Israel know that I am Jehovah, their God, from this day and henceforth. 23And the heathen know that the house of Israel wandered out [were carried away captive] for their iniquity, because they were unfaithful to Me; and I hid My face from them, and gave them into the hand of their oppressors, and they all fell by the sword. 24According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and I hid My face from them. 25Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Now will I turn the calamity of Jacob, and I have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I am jealous for the name 26of My holiness. And they bear their reproach, and all their unfaithfulness which they have unfaithfully done towards Me, when they dwell securely 27upon their land, and there is none that makes them afraid; When I bring them back from the nations, and gather them out of the lands of their enemies, and sanctify Myself on them before the eyes of many heathen. 28And they know that I, Jehovah, am their God, in that I led them captive to the heathen, and have gathered [gather] them to their own land, and I will 29leave no more of them there; And I will no more hide My face from them, because I poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel: sentence of the Lord Jehovah.
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Eze_39:2. Sept.: Κ. συνκξω σε κ. καθοδηγησω κ. ἀναβιβασω σε … κ. συναξω σε ἐπι—Vulg.: Et circumagam te et educam—(Another reading: אל הרי.)
Eze_39:3 Κ. ἀπολω … κ. … της δεξιας κ. καταβαλω σε (4) ἐπι τα ὀρη … Κ. πεση … εἰς πληθη ὀρνεων. ΙΙαντι πετεινω κ. πασ τ. θηριοις—Vulg.: Feris avibus omnique volatili. (Another reading: וכל חית,ועמים רבים.)
Eze_39:6. Sept.: ... κ. κατοικισθησονται αἱ νησοι ἐπ’ εἰρηνης.
Eze_39:7. ... παντα τ. ἐθνη—
Eze_39:8. ... κ. γνωση ὁτι ἐσται—
Eze_39:11. ... τοπον ὀνομαστον, μνημειον … το πολυανδριον των ἑπελθοντων προς τ. θαλασσαν· κ. περιοικοδομησουσιν το περιστομιον της φαραγγος κ. κατορυξουσιν ἐκει … κ. κληθησεται το Ταί̈ το πολυανδριον του Τωγ. Vulg.: … vallem viatorum … quæ obstupescere faciet prætereuntes,—
Eze_39:13. Sept.: ... εἱς ὀνομαστον.
Eze_39:14. ... πασαν τ. γην, θαψαι τ. καταλελειμμενους ἐπι … καθαρισαι … μετα την ἑπταμηνον.—Vulg.: qui sepeliant et requirant—
Eze_39:15. ... Κ. ἐσται, πασ ὁ διαπορευομενος πασαν τ. γην κ. ἰδων—
Eze_39:16. ... την πολεως ΙΙολυανδριον. Vulg.: Amona.
Eze_39:18. ... κριους κ. μοσχους κ. τραγους οἱ μοσχοι ἐστεατωμενοι παντες. Vulg.: … et altilium et pinguium omnium.
Eze_39:21. ... ἐν ὑμιν—
Eze_39:23. Sept.: ... πκντα τ. ἐθνη.
Eze_39:25. ... κ. ἐλεησω τ. οἰκον Ι.
Eze_39:26. Vulg.: … neminem formidantes. (Another reading: ונשאו.)
Eze_39:27. Sept.: ... ἐκ τ. χωρων τ. ἐ θνων—
Eze_39:28. ... ἑν τω ἐπιφανκναι με αὐτοις ἐν τ. ἐθνεσιν. (Another reading: על אד, etc.)
Eze_39:29. ... ἐξεχεα τον θυμον μου.
EXEGETICAL REMARKS
The further execution of the divine judgment, already announced at the close of Ezekiel 38, begins in Eze_39:1 with a repetition from Eze_38:2-3, of the most formal address to Gog.
Eze_39:2, comp. on Eze_38:4. If וְהַעֲלִיתִיךָ, etc., did not immediately follow,—and it could not follow after the execution of the judgment on Gog,—and if וְשִׁשֵׁאתִיךָ did not stand between וְשְׂבַּבְתִּיךָ and וְהַעֲלִיתִיךָ, whereby a signification not so very far removed from this connection is suggested, then we might listen to Hengstenberg’s translation (J. Kimchi): “and I six thee,”—by which he understands the infliction on Gog of the six plagues of Eze_38:22. Others, too, appealing to Eze_45:13 (שִׁשִּׁיתֶם), have interpreted from שֵׁשׁ: I leave a sixth part of thee. But the position of the word (which is Ezekiel’s own) here assigns to it most fittingly an intensifying sense, such as: drive, or the like (see Hävern. in loc.). Meier holds the Piel שִׁשֵּׁא to be an abbreviated form = שִׁאשֵׁא. Gesenius (שִׁשָּׁא) translates: “and lead thee forth.” It is said that the signification: “to walk along,” “to march,” is admissible from the Ethiopic, hence here conjugated only transitively. Following the Chaldee (“I lead thee astray”), Ewald renders it: “and entice thee away and keep thee in leading-strings,” which Hitzig finds good (!). Rashi: “deceive thee.”—Eze_38:9; Eze_38:16.—Eze_38:6; Eze_38:15.—Eze_38:16; Eze_38:8.
Eze_39:3. The left hand holds the bow, the right bends it and fits on the arrow. It does not even come to an attack, because, Eze_38:21 sq., a sword, etc. consumes Gog.
Eze_39:4. אַפִּיל of Eze_39:3 leads to תִּפּוֹל here.—On עַל הָרֵי׳, comp. Eze_38:6; Eze_38:9; Eze_38:22.—[עַיִט is: “animal of prey,” therefore more exactly described here by צִפּוֹר, “bird generally.”—Comp. Eze_17:23. Hengst.: “as many as have wings.”—Eze_29:5.
Eze_39:5. On account of the previous “beast of the field,” the “mountains of Israel” are changed for the face of the field.—Eze_23:34; Eze_26:5.
Eze_39:6. If we are not to extend the judgment “also over the land of Gog and all (?) the heathen who dwell securely” (Keil), which, however, is plainly expressed both by בְּמָגוֹג and by וּבְישִׁבֵי הָאִיִּים לבֶטַח, then we must, with Hensgt., take הָאִיִּים for “states and countries in general,” “islands in the sea of the world,” and understand the “security” to be such as “induces them to the expedition against the people of God” (!!); or we must, with Rosenm. at וּבְישְׁבֵי, etc., think of Eze_38:13. But the fire does not necessarily compel us to agree with either of these, for it does not stand here as in Eze_38:22, but apart by itself, so that we have to compare here, e.g. Eze_5:4, and the many similar passages in which it occurs as a symbol of the divine vengeance. Our chapter, while it carries into further detail, also supplements the picture given in Ezekiel 38. Thus the judgment extends from the mountains of Israel, as also שִׁלַּחְתִּי expresses, “to Magog,” the people concerned, in among them at home; while their collective character (comp. Eze_38:2) is then again depicted by the expression: those that dwell securely in the isles. Gog’s expedition is made by land, but has its sympathisers in islands and coast lands as well as at home—in fact, over sea and land (לָבֶטַח appears to be retaliation, with a reference to Eze_38:8; Eze_38:11; Eze_38:14). The return to the point of departure of this extension of judgment, as indicated in Eze_39:7, by the expression: in the midst of my people Israel, forms no argument against the so plain contents of Eze_39:6; for not only has the purposed knowledge of Jehovah (Eze_39:6) to be more closely defined, but preparation has also to be made for the execution, Eze_39:9 sq.—Comp. on Eze_36:20 sq. (Eze_38:23). Hengst. translates thus: “and I will not any more profane,” etc. אַחֵל is Hiphil. The revelation of holiness in Israel precludes further profanation of Jehovah in reference to Israel among the heathen; comp. in addition, Eze_37:28.
Eze_39:8. The fulfilment is assured to the prophet with as much certainty as if it were already an accomplished fact. That which came and was done is made abundantly plain by the day, etc., for which comp. Eze_38:18-19 (not Eze_39:17).
Eze_39:9. Israel, for whom the Lord has put an end to the fearful assault in a manner still more fearful, now takes a walk, as it were, out to the place of judgment. Everything by which the enemy could terrify,—in general: armour, properly: what is joined together (נֶשֶׁק), as distinguished from specialties which follow—wooden helmet and breastplate, probably covered with leather; then (comp. Eze_38:4) short shield, etc., and מַקֵּל, of uncertain derivation, “twig,” “cane,” “staff”—with יָד certainly not: “handstaff,” or “cudgel” (Num_22:27), or “baton of the commander,” but the riding-switch so suitable for bands of riders as here,—all these have so lost their terrors, that they now come into consideration only as firewood—for useful appliance, in direct contrast to the terror and injury they were meant to produce. For the weapons of the enemy are not here, as often elsewhere, burnt at once after the battle; and with this Hävernick connects Isa_9:4, and recognises in the destruction of the most diverse kinds of weapons, and the cleansing of the land in this (?) respect, the character of the Messianic times; while Hitzig brings out simply the thought that Israel under his protecting God, who has just now fought for His people, needs no weapons, but the inhabitants of the cities of Israel (ישְׁבֵי עָרֵי, etc., antithetic to ישְׁבֵי הָאיּים, Eze_39:6) make fires of and burn the wood in question seven years long. Hitzig makes בִּעֲרוּ inchoative (“to set on fire”), and הִשִּׂיקוּ “to make a fire.” The undoubtedly symbolic character of the number seven (symbol of the divine covenant) illustrates at the same time the very dramatic character of the whole of the rest of the account. Hengst.: “the word on which faith has to live puts on, as it were, flesh and blood, to gain an influence over the fancy, in which frightful forms so readily take their seat. It would be against the evidence to attribute a real import to the specialties, which are so obviously only means of representation.” “He who has seen the battle of nations at Leipzig,” observes Schmieder, “has a weak copy of Ezekiel’s sublime description of the days after the battle.”
Eze_39:10 strengthens what has been said positively by a corresponding negative description, and subjoins שָׁלְלוּ and בָּזְזוּ—not, however, in order to make the riches now, as the heaps of wood formerly, to fall into the hands of Israel, but simply to make manifest the retaliation (comp. Eze_38:12), and perhaps also to bring to remembrance the question (Eze_38:13), but how differently now over the dead bodies. For what the weapons as firewood for Israel, as well as the spoiling and robbing, declare is this, which consequently is meant as preparation for Eze_39:11, namely, that Gog and his bands are all dead corpses (Isa_37:36); comp. besides, Jer_30:16.
Eze_39:11. What Jehovah gives to Gog in Israel, how different from that which he intended to take to himself in Israel! מְקוֹם־שָׁם קֶבֶר, not so much: “a spot where he may be buried in Israel” (Hitzig), as: “a place where there is a grave in Israel,” to wit, nothing else is for him in Israel; Hävernick: “namely, a quite special one, like no other in Israel.” Thus will God settle accounts with the predatory and rapacious Gog. [The Sept. doubtless read שֵׁם.]—גֵּי הָעֹבְרִים Hitzig translates: “the valley of the opposite heights,” formed by mountains standing over against one another (1Sa_17:3); he reads גֵי־הָעֲבָיִם, and makes a very far-fetched reference to Zec_14:4-5! According to Hävernick, the passage reminds of Joel 3. (the valley of Jehoshaphat), but the name belongs purely to the idea, to which it entirely corresponds, for a “valley of the passers-through” is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament; but the prophet himself gives a threefold explanation of the name—in Eze_39:11, as an annoyance, an object of horror for the passers-by; in Eze_39:14 reminding of the men that pass through the land to cleanse it; and thirdly, of the hostile bands that formerly passed through here. Only the latter reference can come into consideration if the traditional punctuation is to be retained, and the appellation: “valley of the passers-through,” is, like the “valley of the multitude of Gog,” to be considered as given as a memorial of what had taken place. The text, however, seems rather to suppose a valley which can be designated as that “of the passers-through,” and, because it can be a valley for the passers-through, is fitted to be a burial-place for Gog and his followers; moreover, גֵּי, “low ground,” may remind us of יַעֲלוּ, etc. in Eze_38:10, אֶעֱלֶה in Eze_39:11, etc., as a contrast thereto. Gog and his bands can be beheld in their Scythian prototypes (as described by Herodotus), as well as with reference to “passing through” (passing by), because their whole appearance was to be merely that of a passing thunder-cloud (Eze_38:9; Eze_38:16); nothing was abiding except their grave. That which Jehovah will give to Gog as מְקוֹם־שָׁם קֶבֶר, is more exactly described by גֶּי הָעֹבְרִים; and “the valley of the passers-through,” again, is the one fitted to be “the valley of the tumult of Gog.” The situation of this is more exactly fixed, and consequently conceived of as an actual locality, by קִדְמַת הַיָּם, which (קִדְמַת, stat. constr. prefixed as a preposition) can yield no other meaning than: east of the sea. But the context tells nothing about what sea is spoken of, although in other instances it always fixes the particular sea, and indicates when it does not expressly mention the nearest. Hence, and so also with גֵּי הָעֹבְרִים, we are referred to the idea which upholds and animates the whole with its symbolic character. בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל excludes only the Red Sea. Ewald translates thus: “as a place where a grave in Israel is possible (!), the valley of the devourers opposite the sea, and which confines the breath of travellers;” and he understands thereby “the frightful, unhealthy valley opposite the Dead Sea (Eze_47:8), which covers the proud of old, the Sodomites, and still has its name from them, and the smell of which, even far off, stops up the nose of travellers (Rev_20:10; comp. with Eze_14:10).” There can be no doubt that when expositors understand here the Dead Sea, its designation as הַיָּם הַקַּדְמֹנִי is floating in their mind. Hitzig’s objection, that the valley did not as yet, and never did, generally bear the name, is of no weight, when the only thing that comes into consideration is, whether Jehovah in the prophet can say of it עֹבְרִים. The introduction of “proud” is far-fetched, unfounded. Keil, who makes the valley to be “without a doubt the valley of the Jordan above the Dead Sea” [so also Schmieder: “the valley of salt, on the extreme border of the land of Israel, near Mount Seir (comp. Eze_35:2), reminds us of a defeat of the Edomites (comp. Psalms 60, David’s psalm of victory), and of Chedorlaomer, Lot, and Abraham (Genesis 14); and the adjacent Dead Sea is the abiding type of all divine judgments”], denies, under appeal to Gen_2:14, that קִדְמַת הַיָּם can (?) mean “east of the sea,” and translates thus: “facing the sea.” But the Mediterranean Sea is by no means excluded by the fact that “the whole land of Israel lay east of the Mediterranean,” for קִדְמַת הַיָּם can very well be made parallel with בְּיִשׂרָאֵל, just to qualify the description, especially if we would reflect on the apocalyptic signification of the sea as the fluctuating life of nations! Keil’s exposition of the הָעֹבְרִים, as referring to the “travellers (?) who pass through the land, or more particularly those who pass over from Peræa to Canaan,” has no significance for the explanation from the type of the Scythians, or from Ezekiel’s description of Gog’s expedition (see above), and also very little significance in itself, as it is supported by no other passage of the Old Testament. What is affirmed by the expression regarding the valley: וְחֹםֶמֶת, etc., is made quite clear by the following phrase: וְקָבְרוּ שָׁם, etc., whether we assume a reference to Eze_39:14 sq., or infer from Eze_39:12 sq. who are the buriers as also the callers (וְקָרְאוּ), or simply render it: they bury and they call it. The עֹבְרִים are of course the same as those alluded to in גֵּי הָעֹבְרִים. By the valley in question they (Gog and his bands) are hemmed, shut up, enclosed, bridled in, which is the meaning of הָםַם (Deu_25:4); it is, as it were, their muzzle (מַהְםוֹם, Psa_39:2 [1]), after all their “words” which rose up, Eze_38:10. It cannot be a “blocking up of the way” that is spoken of, when it is plainly said: “the passers - through.” Their grave in the valley is the stopping and finishing of them and their going up. A blocking up of the way for travellers can hardly be thought of, since—and perhaps not without significance, as we shall see—the following representation in Eze_39:14 sq. supposes an unhindered passing through in the land. [The Sept. dreamt of a walling round of the unclean place. Hitzig, indeed, does the same.] Hengstenberg, too, removes the valley, on account of its name, to “the great commercial and military road,”—the one, namely, “between Egypt and the Euphrates,”—and seeks to show from Hergt (Palœstina, p. 77) that it is the valley of Megiddo, famed as a battlefield; the expression: “east of the sea,” implies that “a well-known and celebrated valley pretty near the sea” must be meant, such as Megiddo, a narrow pass or region abounding in ravines, which hinder the passers - through. Such passes, he observes, are found there. In this “dangerous locality the prophet makes Gog be overtaken by the divine judgment.” But where is that said in the text which simply makes Gog be buried there? In all probability, says Hengstenberg, Lejun (Legio), the later name of Megiddo, is derived from our passage, corresponding to the multitude here (tumult); and this is the more probable, as in Eze_39:16 the adjacent city also will receive the name “great multitude.” Since the prophecy regarding Gog (he goes on to say) was during the Roman rule certainly applied pre-eminently to it, men eagerly anticipated the time when the great heathen grave at Megiddo should receive the Roman legions. Hengstenberg further observes: “From גֵּיא הֲמוֹן (Eze_39:11) is formed the Κυαμων of Jdt_7:3, to which the camp of Holofernes extends; and so also Καμμωνα is, according to the Onom. of Eusebius, six Roman miles from Legio.” Rashi, following the Chaldee paraphrase, places the valley to the east of the Sea of Tiberias (Lake of Gennesaret), and Βαιθσαν (בֵּית שְׁאָן, “house of rest”), as named by the Greeks Σκυθοπολις, has been said to favour this. This latter name is certainly inconceivable from “Succothpolis” (as Grimm on 1Ma_5:52 still maintains), yet it requires no settlement of Scythians in the seventh century b.c.; but from the population, in great part heathen, which settled there during the Babylonian exile, the name may have become current in the post-Maccabæan age, while the exposition or application of our prophecy, particularly Eze_39:16, may also have had some influence in the matter (see Häv. p. 599 sq.). Comp. besides, Eze_31:18; Eze_32:31; on הֲמוֹן, Eze_23:42. A kind of pendant to this, Eze_26:13!
Eze_39:12. Since קֶבֶר בְּישׂרָאֵל (Eze_39:11) is the main element in the description, this קֶבֶר is repeated immediately, and again in Eze_39:13. First, the house of Israel is mentioned, and then the whole people of the land; neither of these have needed to fight. Their enemies fell by Jehovah, who has left nothing for them to do but to bury.—According to this parallelism of the two verses, the clause: in order to cleanse the land (the number seven, as in Eze_39:9), will have to be illustrated by the statement: and it is to them for a name; hence, that the cleansing of the land from the dead bodies, and the zeal displayed therein (Eze_39:14 sq.), will cause the people of the land to be named, to wit, a holy people, or will thereby make them a name. [Häv.: “As the people thoroughly separated from heathenism.” Hengst.: “That the house of Israel should bury the foe, not the reverse, serves them for fame; which, however, has its root not in themselves, but in their God, who can deliver from death, and send destruction on their enemies.”] Comp. moreover, Eze_34:29. As there: blessing instead of reproach, so here: holiness instead of the former uncleannesses of Israel. Those now cleanse the land with all diligence who formerly defiled it with all manner of abominations, etc. Perhaps there is also an allusion to the name Israel (בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, Eze_39:12), intimating that this people wrestles with God, and therefore prevails! יוֹם, on the day, accusative of the time of Jehovah’s glorification of Himself by the over throw of Gog, and, finally, by his grave in Israel.
Eze_39:14. To be understood in the sacred interest of the cleansing of the land.—“Men of constant continuance” (תָמִיד) are appointed to the office permanently, or at least for a lengthened period. There are two kinds of them: “the passers-through in the land” (antithetical to Gog’s “passing through”), and those who bury with the “passers-through,” i.e., as Eze_39:15 explains, with their help, and following the marks they set up.—הַנּוֹתָרִים (Niphal particip. from יָתַר) are those who, notwithstanding the seven months’ burying, still remain on the face of the land, forgotten, neglected corpses or skeletons. Therefore, after the expiration of the seven months, the appointed men that have been spoken of enter on their office.
Eze_39:15. It can hardly be without intention that the עָבַר is thus repeated, and so strongly emphasized: וְעָבְרוּ הַעֹבְרִים. These “passers-through” for the purpose of burying are set in characteristic contrast to the “passers-through” who passed through the land.—וְרָאָה, etc. explains, by way of example, the task of the “passers-through.” After seven months it must indeed be עֶצֶם.—צִיּוּן is a guide-post of stone—here as a mark for the buriers proper. But all comes finally into the one great grave of Gog.
Eze_39:16. The great burying still perpetuates itself in the name of a city: הֲמוֹנָה, an echo of הֲמוֹן. Thus what has taken place lives on with posterity. Comp. besides on Eze_39:11. [Schmieder: “There could not be an inhabited city in this valley of the dead; it must be a city which consists not of houses but of graves.”] The cleansing of the land, however, remains the chief thing; hence it is again added by way of conclusion.
Eze_39:17, linking on to Eze_39:4, does not bring forward a parallel to the burying of Gog and his bands. We have rather to think of something that came in immediately after Gog’s fall on the mountains of Israel. A further carrying out of the statement: “to birds of prey,” etc. in Eze_39:4. But Gog’s grave in Israel is the divine monument, the actual token, that Jehovah is the Holy One in Israel (Eze_39:7); and this result, this old truth, Israel at the same time proves on his part with all zeal, through the repeated and finally emphasized burying in order to cleanse the land. Now, as the skeletons are buried in that valley, so, on the other hand, the flesh of them is immediately devoured on the mountains of Israel by the birds and beasts of prey. Not only is Israel to prove itself a holy nation, a nation of priests, but Jehovah will forthwith, on the fall of Gog, make known His holiness in the land, in the midst of Israel (Eze_37:26 sq.); and זִבְחִי, etc., the likewise repeatedly-mentioned “sacrifice,” will have to be taken in connection with this. It has been commonly observed that Ezekiel had in view only Jer_46:10; Isa_34:6; but comp. also Zep_1:7. Jehovah as Sacrificer. That “the Lord takes for Himself the sacrifice refused to Him,” whereby the idea of the cherem, the contrast of the sacrifice, is introduced, has been dragged into the text by Hengstenberg. The sacrifice (זֶבַח) is, however, expressly declared to be the “sacrifice which I have killed for you” (Eze_39:19). In this way the idea of sacrifice is essentially resolved into that of the sacrificial feast connected with the זֶבַח (Eze_29:5; Eze_31:13; Eze_32:4 sq.; Rev_19:17). Jehovah as Host, who sends forth the invitation by the prophets. There is no want of food or of drink. Eze_39:18 makes prominent, in this respect, גִּבּוֹרִים (Eze_32:12; Eze_32:27), captains, and נְשִׂיאֵי הָאָרֶץ (princes of the earth); comp. Rev_19:18; and also in the following figurative expression: פָּרֵים (bullocks), strengthened by מְרִיאֵי בָשָׁן כֻּלָּם, fatlings of Bashan all of them (since Bashan, renowned for its fat meadows, is often applied in the prophets to proud, despotic, wanton enemies of God and His people; comp. also Psa_22:13 [12]), enlarges upon those set forth at the beginning. There is, besides, a comparison with the small cattle fit for sacrifice, on which Schmieder observes: “for food to the beasts, as the flesh of the sacrificial animals for the priests.”
Eze_39:19 (Eze_16:28; Eze_23:33) describes a lavish sacrificial banquet. לְשָׂבְעָה, continued still more definitely by וּשְׂבַעְתֶּם, etc., in Eze_39:20.—Jehovah’s table is the battlefield.—If רֶכֶב alongside of םוּם “chariot,” then, of course, the fighters in chariots are meant. Hitzig will not admit the supposition of chariots of war in respect to the Scythians. Hence others think of “cavalry” (Gesen.) or “cart-horses.”—גִּבּוֹר, from Eze_39:18, whoever has proved himself brave, like the captains, as distinguished from whom אִישׁ מִלְחָמָהִ, the equipped and practised men of war individually.
Eze_39:21. On כְּבוֹדִי (My glory), comp. pp. 40, 52. Even until the final judgment over the world—yea, how significantly here!—does the leading thought of Ezekiel’s prophecy sound forth perceptibly; in respect to the heathen, explained by the clause: and all the heathen see, etc., it lies before their eyes (Eze_38:23); comp. Rev_16:7. יָדִי is inferred from עָשִׂיתִי.
Eze_39:22. The converse relation, to wit, to Israel. In this relation the text notes the knowledge of Jehovah as Israel’s God, the God of them who belong to Israel (אֱלֹהֵיהֶם ,וְיָדְעוּ), and that by His having manifested Himself as such in the final judgment and thenceforth; hence an abiding relation that can no more be disturbed. The יָדְעוּ (Eze_39:22) now leads over in Eze_39:23 to a corresponding knowledge, in addition to the וְרָאוּ, Eze_39:21, on the part of the heathen also. From the end Jehovah directs their regard back to their oppression of Israel, by carrying them away captive. The heathen now know that their power over Israel was Israel’s guilt, defined more particularly as מָעֲלוּ, etc. (comp. on Eze_14:13), their unfaithfulness to Jehovah, in consequence of which Jehovah hid His face from them (Deu_31:17), and abandoned them (comp. Eze_16:27). כֻּלָּם, in general, exceptis excipiendis.
Eze_39:24 (Eze_36:17 sq., Eze_14:11). Comp. Eze_7:27.
Hengstenberg sees in Eze_39:25-29 a “close of the whole system of prophecies of a predominantly comforting character, from Eze_33:21 (?) onward, as the prophet had already closed complete sections with a like finale.” After the heathen are pointed back to the past, the application is made with לָכֵן, therefore (because Jehovah has dealt with them as in Eze_39:24), to the present (עַתָּה) of Israel.—Comp. on Eze_16:53.—Jacob corresponding as much to “misery” as Israel to “pity;” a significant alternation. Comp. Eze_36:5-6; Eze_36:21 sq.; comp. first on Eze_39:7.
Eze_39:26. וְנָשׂוּ, etc. [Hengst.: “they take upon them, sq.”] is to be read: נָשְׂאוּ. Comp. Eze_16:54. Jehovah’s jealousy for His holy name (Eze_39:25) shows itself among Israel subjectively in, as well as objectively on them. Because their guilt against Jehovah (Eze_39:23 sq.) shall be known, as by the heathen so by themselves, and fully only by themselves, they bear their misery as their reproach (כְּלִמָּתָם); hence to reproach is added unfaithfulness, etc. (Eze_39:23). Only they appear miserable (Eze_39:21); only Jehovah appears glorious. Where deserved punishment comes over them, righteousness appears before Jehovah: they exhibit themselves as worthy of reproach, obliged to reproach themselves because of their faithlessness; Jehovah manifests Himself as holy, but, at the same time, as their God (Eze_39:22), faithful in pity as in judgment, who will turn aside their misery (Eze_39:25). Their reproach and all their unfaithfulness must burden them so much the more from the very fact that they dwell securely, etc. Comp. on Eze_28:25-26; Eze_34:28. This humbling grace is the objective practical proof of Jehovah’s jealousy over them, which Eze_39:27, stretching back beyond Eze_39:26 b, and casting a glance at their desire during the present state of exile, follows out farther. [Hitzig, who reads וּנָשׁוּ, translates: “and they shall forget their reproach,” which they have hitherto borne. It has also been proposed to translate: they shall “take away,” i.e. expiate, etc. Ewald would admit the rendering: “they bear,” if we were to read מִכֹּל for וְאֶת כָּל; and so he too translates: “that they may forget their shame,” etc., and assumes a play of words, because “in fact the whole is a play of words upon the Chaldeans.”—בְּשִׁבְתָּם has been understood by others, e.g. Grotius: “when they dwelt.”] For the rest, comp. as to Eze_39:27, Eze_38:8; Eze_37:21; Eze_36:23 sq., Eze_20:41.
Eze_39:28 (Eze_39:22).—Ewald wrests בְּהַגְלוֹתִי, etc. into its direct opposite, for, reading מִן instead of מֶל, he now finds the sense to be: “in that I caused them to return from among the heathen.” The context certainly does not compel him to this. On the contrary, it suggests the significant parallel: אֶל ,אֶל.—Eze_22:21.—אוֹתִיר, comp. Eze_6:8; Eze_12:16. Hengstenberg observes on this: “after the fall of the Chaldean monarchy, access to their native land was free to all Israel, and those who voluntarily remained yet had in Canaan their home, and in the temple at Jerusalem their spiritual dwelling-place.”
Eze_39:29. Comp. Eze_39:23-24. A promise of never-failing grace on account of (אֲשֶׁר, “because”) God’s having poured out His Spirit, where formerly His “fury,” e.g. Eze_14:19; Eze_22:22; comp. on Eze_36:27; but here more significant, as perhaps שָׁפַךְ indicates. Ewald remarks on the “ebullient language,” although he expounds the outpouring of the Spirit to this effect: that Israel, “just because including in it from of old the Divine Spirit, is the indefeasible foundation of the true Church.” Comp. Isa_32:15-16; Isa_44:3; Joe_2:28 (Eze_3:1 sq.). Schmieder: “Spoken in anticipation of the time which the Lord promises. And the Lord, through Jesus after His glorification, actually poured out the Spirit in Jerusalem, according to His promise. But the house of Israel would not; and is the spiritual Israel of Christendom more thankful to God?”
Additional Note on Ezekiel 38, 39
[Ezekiel’s object in the chapters before us was, “through the Spirit, to present a picture of what might be expected in the last scenes of the world’s history; and according to the native bent and constitution of his mind, the picture must be lifelike. Not only must it be formed of the materials of existing relations, but it must be formed into a perspective with manifold and intricate details; yet so constructed and arranged, that while nothing but the most superficial eye could look for a literal realization, the great truths and prospects embodied in it should be patent to the view of all. What, then, are these? Let it be remembered at what point it is in Ezekiel’s prospective exhibitions that this prophecy is brought in. He has already represented the covenant-people as recovered from all their existing troubles, and made victorious over all their surrounding enemies. The best in the past has again revived in their experience, freed even from its former imperfections, and secured against its ever-recurring evils. For the new David, the all-perfect and continually-abiding Shepherd, presides over them, and at once prevents the out-breaking of internal disorders, and shields them from the attacks of hostile neighbours. All around, therefore, is peace and quietness; the old enemies vanish from the field; Israel dwells securely in his habitation. But let it not be supposed that the conflict is over, and that the victory is finally won. It is a world-wide dominion which this David is destined to wield, and the kingdom of righteousness and peace established at the centre must expand and grow till it embrace the entire circumference of the globe. But will Satan yield his empire without a struggle? Will he not rather, when he sees the kingdom of God taking firmer root and rising to a higher elevation, seek to effect its dismemberment or its downfall, by stirring up in hostile array against it the multitudinous and gigantic forces that lie scattered in the extremities of the earth? Assuredly he will do so; and God also will direct events into this channel, in order to break effectually the power of the adversary, and secure the diffusion of Jehovah’s truth and the glory of His name to the remotest regions. A conflict, therefore, must ensue between the embattled forces of heathenism, gathered out of their far-distant territories, and the nation that holds the truth of God. But the issue is certain. For God’s people being now holiness to Him, He cannot but fight with them and give success to their endeavours. So that the arm of heathenism shall be completely broken. Its mightiest efforts only end in the more signal display of its own weakness, as compared with the truth and cause of God; and the name of God as the Holy One of Israel is magnified and feared to the utmost bounds of the earth.
“Such is the general course and issue of things as marked out in this prophecy, under the form and aspect of what belonged to the Old Covenant, and its relation to the world as then existing. But stripping the vision of this merely temporary and imperfect exterior, since now the higher objects and relations of the New Covenant have come, we find in the prophecy the following series of important and salutary truths. 1. In the first place, while the appearance of the new David to take the rule and presidency over God’s heritage would have the effect of setting His people free from the old troubles and dangers which had hitherto assailed them, and laying sure and broad the foundations of their peace, it should be very far from securing them against all future conflicts with evil. It would rather tend to call up other adversaries, and enlarge the field of conflict, so as to make it embrace the most distant and barbarous regions of the earth. For the whole earth is Christ’s heritage, and sooner or later it must come to an issue between the adherents of His cause and the children of error and corruption. Though the latter might have no thought of interfering with the affairs of Christ’s kingdom, and would rather wish to pursue their own courses undisturbed (see on Eze_38:4), yet the Lord will not permit them to do so. He must bring the light of heaven into contact with their darkness; so as to necessitate a trial of strength between the powers of evil working in them, and the truth and grace of God as displayed in the kingdom of Christ. 2. From the very nature of the case, this trial would fall to be made on a very large scale, and with most gigantic resources; for the battlefield now is the world to its farthest extremities, and the question to be practically determined is, whether God’s truth or man’s sin is to have possession of the field. So that all preceding contests should appear small, and vanish out of sight, in comparison of this last great struggle, in which the world’s destiny was to be decided for good or evil. Hence it seemed, in the distance, as if not thousands, as formerly, but myriads upon myriads, numbers without number, were to stand here in battle array. 3. Though the odds in this conflict could not but appear beforehand very great against the people and cause of Christ, yet the result should be entirely on their side; and simply because with them is the truth and the might of Jehovah. Had it been only carnal resources that were to be brought into play on either side, victory must inevitably have been with those whose numbers were so overwhelmingly great. But these being only flesh, and not spirit; they must fall before the omnipotent energy of the living God, who can make His people more than conquerors over all that is against them. And so in this mighty conflict, in which all that the powers of darkness could muster from the world was to stand, as it were, front to front with the people of God, there were to be found remaining only, on the part of the adversaries, the signs of defeat and ruin. 4. Lastly, as all originated in the claim of Messiah and His truth to the entire possession of the world, so the whole is represented as ending in the complete establishment of the claim. The kingdom through every region of the earth becomes the Lord’s. He is now universally known and sanctified as the God of truth and holiness. It is understood at last, that it was His zeal for the interests of righteousness which led Him to chastise in former times His own professing people; and that the same now has induced Him to render them triumphant over every form and agency of evil. And now, all counter rule and authority being put down, all disturbing elements finally hushed to rest, the prospect stretches out before the Church of eternal peace and blessedness, in what have at length become the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
“It may still, perhaps, seem strange to some, if this be the real meaning and import of the vision, that the prophet should have presented it under the aspect of a single individual gathering immense forces from particular regions, and at the head of these fighting in single conflict, and falling on the land of Israel. They may feel it difficult to believe that a form so concrete and fully developed should have been adopted, if nothing more local and specific had been intended. But let such persons look back to other portions of this book, especially to what is written of the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28. (which in form, perhaps, most nearly resembles the prophecy before us), and judge from the shape and aspect there given to the past, whether it is not in perfect accordance with the ascertained characteristics of Ezekiel’s style to find him giving here such a detailed and fleshly appearance to the future. There Tyre is not only viewed as personified in her political head, but that head is represented as passing through all the experiences of the best and highest of humanity. It is, as we showed, a historical parable, in which every feature is admirably chosen, and pregnant with meaning, but all of an ideal and not a literal or prosaic kind. And what is the present vision, as now explained, but a prophetical parable, in which, again, every trait in the delineation is full of important meaning, only couched in the language of a symbolical representation? Surely we must concede to the prophet, what we would never think of withholding from a mere literary author, that he has a right to employ his own method; and that the surest way of ascertaining this is to compare one part of his writings with another, so as to make the better known reflect light upon the less known—the delineations of the past upon the visions of the future.
“At the same time, let us not be understood as declaring for certain that the delineation in this prophecy must have nothing to do with any particular crisis or decisive moment in the Church’s history. It is perfectly possible that in this case, as in most others, there may be a culminating point, at which the spiritual controversy is to rise to a gigantic magnitude, and virtually range on either side all that is good and all that is evil in the world. It may be so; I see nothing against such a supposition in the nature of the prophecy; but I must add, I see nothing conclusively for it. For when we look back to the other prophecy just referred to, we find the work of judgment represented as taking effect upon Tyre, precisely as if it were one individual that was concerned, and one brief period of his history; while still we know blow after blow was required, and even age after age, to carry forward and consummate the process. Perfectly similar, too, was the case of Babylon, as described in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Isaiah; it seems as if almost one act were to do the whole, yet how many instruments had a hand in it, and over how many centuries was the work of destruction spread! We see no necessity in the form of the representation, or in the nature of things, why it should be otherwise here; none, at least, why a different mode of reaching the result should be expected as certain. We believe that as the judgment of Tyre began when the first breach was made in the walls by Nebuchadnezzar, and as the judgment of Babylon began when the Medes and Persians entered her two-leaved gates, so the controversy with Gog and his heathenish forces has been proceeding since Christ, the new David, came to lay the everlasting foundations of His kingdom, and asserted His claim to the dominion of the earth as His purchased possession. Every stroke that has been dealt since against the idolatry and corruption of the world is a part of that great conflict which the prophet in vision saw collected as into a single locality, and accomplished in a moment of time. He would thus more clearly assure us of the certainty of the result. And though, from the vast extent of the field, and the many imperfections that still cleave to the Church, there may be much delay and many partial reverses experienced in the process; though there may, too, at particular times, be more desperate struggles than usual between the powers of evil in the world and the confessors of the truth, when the controversy assumes a gigantic aspect, yet the prophecy is at all times proceeding onwards in its accomplishment. Let the Church therefore do her part, and be faithful to her calling. Let her grasp with a firm hand the banner of truth, and in all lands display it in the name of her risen Lord. And whichever way He may choose to finish and consummate the process,—whether by giving fresh impulses to the hearts of His people, and more signally blessing the work of their hands, or by shining forth in visible manifestations of His power and glory, such as may at once and for ever shame into confusion the adversaries of His cause and kingdom,—leaving this to Himself, to whom it properly belongs, let the blessed hope of a triumphant issue animate every Christian bosom, and nerve every Christian arm to maintain the conflict, and do all that zeal and love can accomplish to hasten forward the final result.”—Fairbairn’s Ezekiel, pp. 425–430.—W. F.]
DOCTRINAL REFLECTIONS
1. With our two chapters the prophecy of Ezekiel passes over to the apocalyptic (comp. Introd. pp. 19, 20. Comp. in general what is said by Lange in the introduction to the Revelation of St. John, p. 2 sq.). Characteristic apocalyptic features as to form and contents are perceptible, just as the very circumstance that the New Testament Apocalypse begins with the transition of Ezekiel 37 to Ezekiel 38, to borrow important (eschatological) elements for its closing visions, must suggest something apocalyptic. The prophetic element, the element of doctrine and of application, still pervades Ezekiel 38, 39, but this element will subside, Ezekiel 40 sq.; and our chapters, too, present to us and delineate a tableau of unity,—the impressive picture of a national expedition, a migration of nations, a battle of nations, and still more of God. Although contained in the word of prophecy (“Thus saith the Lord”), yet the description of the march of the army (Ezekiel 38.), and of its fearful over-throw in Israel (Ezekiel 39), assumes, as elsewhere, the appearance of a vision. Scene succeeds scene. The style is typical to such a degree, that what of historical from the past or present may here form the basis, assumes at once the form of pure symbols, whose idea stretches far beyond the Old Testament theocracy, and on to the end of time. The consummation of Israel shows itself as the consummation of the world. The contrast of the world to Israel is in our chapters not so much the traditional one of the heathen as opposed to the people of God, as coarse callousness, resembling insensibility, in relation to the peace in which the royal priesthood, the people of the possession of an eternal covenant of Jehovah (Eze_37:26), delight themselves. Compare the impressions and utterances of Balaam in Num_23:9-10, so very different from Eze_38:11 sq.! On the other hand, the impelling force to the savage irruption into the quietness of such a people in the land is appropriately conceived, viz. on the one part, as divine compulsion of the Judge overruling to the end in view, it is high as heaven (but comp. Eze_38:4 with Eze_38:10 sq.); on the other part, as demoniac selfishness and worldly-mindedness, it is deep as hell. Considering the apocalyptic character of our two chapters, with which the remainder of the book of Ezekiel announces itself, the suddenness of Gog’s appearance on the scene and also of his overthrow is worthy of observation, reminding us of the ἐν ταχει (Luk_18:8), and of the oft-repeated ταχυ of the Revelation of St. John, and also of the final completeness of the judgment and its execution.
2. Hengstenberg has very justly observed: “We have here a good preparation for the exposition of the vision of the new temple.” But what he pronounces a specialty of Ezekiel,—how “wide a space” is given by him to “painting,” how “attentive” he is “to fill the imagination with holy figures,”—depends rather on the apocalyptic character of the prophecy regarding Gog. Moreover, to confront the imagination of timidity with the imagination of faith, to pour forth light and comfort in opposition to thoughts despairing of the future, is precisely a mark of all apocalypse proper. Lange says beautifully and strikingly of apocalypses in this respect: “As they have proceeded from the divine quieting and comforting of a longing of the hearts of elect prophets, which flamed aloft in times of great oppression of the kingdom of God, so they are also designed to direct and guide, to comfort and calm, in the first place, the servants of God, and through them the Church, in times of similar and fresh oppression in the future—nay, even to change for them all tokens of terror into tokens of hope and promise.”
3. In Hengstenberg’s interpretation, at all events, not only does the “so-called biblical realism” entirely disappear, to which, as he says, it so often happens to take the garb for the man, but, as the exposition has already incidentally indicated, the nations named in Ezekiel 38 although in themselves historical, appear in the connection here as elements of an idea which is summed up in the symbolic Gog of the land of Magog, namely, as the last outbreak of enmity against the kingdom of God. This symbolized idea is at all events also historical—nay, even world-historical in the highest sense, or pertaining to the universal judgment. The world’s history is theocratically determined by it, determined by the kingdom of God finally developing itself into the consummation of humanity and the world. But Magog, Gomer, Meshech, Tubal, Sheba, Dedan, and Phut are as such no longer historically to be found. Of Cush Hengstenberg asserts: that it is “a Christian people, and such a one as, according to recent experience, will scarcely again attain to world-wide influence.”
4. As Grotius and others, e.g. Jahn (Introd. 2), interpret of the days of the Maccabees and Antiochus Epiphanes, so Luther found in our chapters the Turk, who, even in the hymns and prayers of the Church, was for a long time firmly held to be, together with the Pope, the chief enemy of German Christianity. While individual Jewish expositors apply what is said sometimes to Rome, and sometimes interpret it of the Crusades, yet we find also in Shabb. 118:1; Berach. Eze_7:2; the Jerusalem Targum on Num_11:25; Deu_34:2, Gog shifted into the times previous to the Messiah, and the battle, in which the Messiah annihilates Gog, discoursed of. Likewise, in reference to the Messianic kingdom, the Sibylline books speak of Gog and Magog, placing him in the farthest south of Egypt (see Hävernick, p. 602). In the notices which the Koran makes of Dzu-Ikarnayn, i.e. Alexander the Great and his adventurous warlike expeditions (Sur. 18 and 21), Yagug and Magug are designated as mischief-makers on earth, and enclosed by an iron wall; which, however, will be at last turned to dust, whereupon Gog and Magog break forth, and the universal judgment ensues. (Sprenger: Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, ii. p. 474 sq.) “The fear of these northern nations,” says W. Menzel, “is very ancient, and has been justified by the Scythian, and afterwards by the Hunnish-Mongolian warlike expeditions, which have already often overrun both Europe and Asia; and this Oriental popular tradition coincides (?) with the widespread German tradition of the armies of Charlemagne or Barbarossa sleeping in the mountain, which will burst forth at the end of the world, and conquer a new golden age.”
5. Hävernick adduces the following reasons for the interpretation of the time as the time of the completion of the kingdom of God. (1) The names, which do not so much indicate single nations then existing, as that we have to do with a “view of future new relations only starting from the present.” “Whatever far remote, more or less known, national names can be named, the prophet collects here; and specially important is the free formation of the name Gog.” (2) The connection with Ezekiel 36, 37 represents the way prepared for the glorification and completion of the theocracy; the judgment over Edom (Ezekiel 35) is regarded as having taken place, in which old hereditary enemy, the enemies hitherto of the covenant-people appear judged in their immediate neighbourhood. It still remains, however, “to marshal the entire (?) world-power in its sinful insurrection against God (?), and thus to perfect the salvation,” just as this idea lies at the foundation of the fourth, the Roman empire, prophesied by Daniel, the contemporary of Ezekiel (Euseb. Demonstr. Ev. Eze_9:3). (3) The prophetic denunciation of heathen nations always regards them as representatives and supporters of definite ideas,—in Edom the hitherto antitheocratic tendency, in our prophecy the idea of future enmity as experienced by Israel in the completion of its salvation. (4) The fulfilment is, in Eze_38:8; Eze_38:16, expressly placed in the latter days. (5) The announcements of former prophets, referred to in Eze_38:17, point to the judgment of the last day, just as also the prophet’s picture is made to conform with those models. (6) Lastly, the resumption of the subject in Revelation 20.—It tells particularly for the apocalyptic character of the representation given by Gog, that it is pervaded not only by reminiscences of Assyrians and Chaldeans—of Edom only locally, indeed (“on the mountains of Israel,” comp. on this point Ezekiel 35. with Ezekiel 36.)—but also by presentiments of much later heathen powers. For it is quite in the apocalyptic way and manner always to present to us types stamped anew from history as it gravitates towards the end of the world.
6. In the Introduction, p. 19, the importance of Ezekiel’s position in the midst of the Babylonian world, and with that his acquaintance with foreign nations and their relations, have been adverted to. In Babylon, if anywhere, there was a standing-place for surveying the rolling waves of the sea of nations. The prediction regarding Gog, peculiar to our prophet, will have to be conceived of as to its human side from his peculiar abode on such a watch-tower in the midst of the heathen-. Philippson justly observes: “We must remember that Ezekiel was placed in the midst of the inner-Asiatic world, and hence had opportunity of observing the great movements therein. Here, in the bosom of the national movements of Asia, it must have been clear to the prophet that these movements were far from having reached their end, that the dynasties would still change often, and that these concussions could not fail to affect also the countries on the Mediterranean.” At all events, although our prophecy is not the result of the incidental observations, the far-sighted political reflections, etc., of a gifted man, yet, as the magnificent architecture of Nebuchadnezzar might furnish Ezekiel with views for Ezekiel 40. sq., so the fluctuating sea of nations, which he saw and heard of in Babylonia, may perhaps have furnished him with the colours in which he paints the figure of Gog and his bands.
7. Our prophecy has been explained from the very natural question after Ezekiel 37.—will this peace of Israel continue always undisturbed? will the relations of the rest of the world take such a shape that Israel can remain in peace? So Philippson. “The dogmatic idea of the prophecy,” says Hengstenberg, “is very simple: the community of God, renewed by His grace, will victoriously resist all the assaults of the world. This idea the prophet has here clothed with flesh and blood,” etc. The prophecy, then, is more or less a parable. We come back to this. “The starting-point,” continues Hengstenberg, “is the fear which penetrates the sick heart. What avails it, is the question that met the prophet, even if we recover, according to thy announcement, from the present catastrophe? The predominance of the heathen still remains. Soon shall we sink under another attack into permanent ruin. Against such desponding thoughts the prophet here offers comfort. He unites all the battles which the restored community has in future still to endure into one great battle, and makes this be decided by one glorious victory of the Lord and His people.” The latter is as arbitrary as what has been said regarding the idea of the prophecy is general and superficial. Hävernick, connecting with Ezekiel 37, says: “How powerful that protection is which the Lord accords to the new glorified theocracy, is shown by its new relation to the heathen world and its power. The holy people are truly an unassailable, inviolable possession of their God. As such, Israel in its glory is the grandest, the most thorough victory over the heathen world. Hence the future of Israel stands in the most striking contrast to its present. While heathendom is now an instrument in the hand of Jehovah for the chastisement and purification of Israel, then comes the time when Israel’s destiny is fulfilled, namely, to execute the final judgment on heathendom. In it is then revealed the completion of the victory of the kingdom of God over the heathen world-power.” However much of what has been said is right and proper, yet the reason assigned by Hävernick for “this fundamental idea” is not quite satisfactory as he puts it, namely, that “God Himself occasions the battle (the last rallying of the power of heathendom to annihilate the king of God), that His judgment may in it be revealed.” God, however, will judge only that which, whether in self-righteousness (Pharisaism), or in worldliness (Sadducism), has, by the rejection of His counsel of salvation in Christ, shown itself ripe for judgment. In. connection with this subjective ripeness for judgment, we are reminded of the deceiving by Satan, Revelation 20. World, or heathendom without further qualification, is not the idea of this so individual prophecy regarding Gog. Lange is entirely in the right when he doubts (Pos. Dogm. p. 1280) whether Gog and Magog represent generally all the future enemies of the kingdom of God; and he gives the hint to the understanding of the chapters before us when he declares: “We must, however, think chiefly of the obscure residue of nations which has not come under the full operation of the kingdom of Christ, of barbarous and haughty tribes.”
[On the whole of this 7th section, compare the above Additional Note at the close of the Exegetical Remarks.—W. F.]
8. For the explanation of the prophecy before us we have not to search after questions of this or that kind put by Israel, which the prophet was bound to answer, as, indeed, nothing like this is intimated in the text (comp. in opposition on Ezekiel 37); but Jehovah, in Ezekiel 38, 39, simply sets the end clearly and truly before His people, at that time in Israel, and in this sense we have here ἀποκαλυψις before us. If we want an inscription on the double picture in Ezekiel, Ezekiel 38, 39, there is no more appropriate one than the saying of Christ in Mat_16:18 : και πυλαι ἁδου οὐ κατισχυσουσιν αὐτης—a saying not understood in its apocalyptic significance. If we have to understand Ezekiel 37 in Christ, how much more free from doubt will the proper understanding be when the subject is again referred to in such a manner at the end of Ezekiel 39 And so Gog, etc. cannot mean heathenism, or heathenism in the last effects which it may produce, but must mean the obdurate world as opposed to Christianity, the world which has remained farthest away from the spirit and frame of Christianity as we find it described in Ezekiel; the most remote north as opposed to the central in this world (Eze_38:6; Eze_38:15; comp. on Eze_39:12). That which has been maintained regarding the final stiffening down of our planet into ice, has its apocalyptic truth rather in respect of the definitive position of the human heart to Christianity, as possibly our Lord also intimates when He says, Mat_24:12 : δια το πληθυνθηναι την ἀνομιαν ψυγησεται ἡ ἀγαπη των πολλων. To a finally developed egoism and worldliness, to a materialism ripe for judgment which can no longer think of anything except plunder and robbery, the μαμωνας της ἀδιχιας, as opposed to the ideal powers which go to make up Christianity (righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, Rom_14:17), the community of God, the Lord’s people, appear—and this Ezekiel plainly pictures out (comp. Eze_38:12 with Eze_39:11)—in its meaning and essence a high-flown ideal, which men, after having at least ceased to persecute it, partly because they purely ignore it, and partly because they expect with scientific certitude its collapse, its death, after the manner of the old heathen religions (the πυλαι ἁδου), will have to take down from its height and simply crush with force. This, according to Ezekiel 38, is the position of the world in the time of Gog. If the “millennial kingdom” is to approximate to the picture with which Ezekiel 37. closes, the conception of it will necessarily be very different from what the imagination of many apocalypticists, still adhering to the old Jewish sensuous tradition, dreams it to be. But even in the locus classicus of the millennium, Revelation 20, the putting of Satan in chains is mentioned as the main point for the symbolical thousand years. The binding of him is the necessary preliminary of the millennial kingdom. If he is not to deceive the nations during this time, but after this does so again, then it is clear, even from that to which he afterwards deceives them, that his confinement is above all the cessation of war with violence, of violent combating of the community of God, just as also the immediately following vision of the witnesses unto blood (Rev_20:4) seems particularly to point in the same direction. Regarding the “fair reality of the kingdom in its glorious manifestation,” the ἐζησαν, certainly distinct from the ἀνεζησαν (Eze_39:5), only tells us forcibly thus much in relation to a certain number, that they, given over, indeed, to death by the world, are in reality alive (comp. also Joh_11:25 sq. with Rev_20:6); the “thrones,” however, and the “judgment,” already express virtually the “reigning as kings,” which is only more exactly defined by the expression: “with Christ,” and that as a reigning in heaven without any express reference to earth, to which the only reference mentioned is the binding of Satan. But this heavenly vision (Eze_39:4 sq.) is assuredly meant for comfort, as is the certainty of final victory (comp. moreover, μικρον χρονον, Eze_39:3), when Gog and Magog (Rev_20:8) march to battle upon the centre of the earth (Eze_39:9).
9. The misconceptions of the traditional exegesis in respect of the chapters before us, and the corresponding passages in the Revelation of John, thus relate on the one hand to the appearance of Gog, and on the other to the position and state of the true Israel, the Church of Christ, in the last days. With respect to the latter, we have remarked on the idyllic picture in Ezekiel 38.; comp. also the exposition. Rev_20:9, by means of το πλατος της γης (Eze_38:12) belonging here, points with παρεμβολη των ἁγιων and πολις ἡ ἠγαπημενη rather to Ezekiel 40-48 (at least more to them than to Zec_12:7-8), if these two Old Testament theocratic designations of Israel are not meant simply to denote the Church, the people of God, without any special reference. Yet, considering the reciprocal action between the unseen world and the seen, especially in the last days, when the transformation of the world is at hand and everything is prepared for it, any reflex whatever of the Church triumphant in heaven will unquestionably affect its earthly compeer, the Church on earth, during the thousand years. If it holds true for this time also that ἡμων γαρ το πολιτευμα ἐν οὐρανοις ὑπαρχει, ἐζ οὑ sq., according to Php_3:20 sq., then something corresponding in the Church on earth of the last days must run parallel to the life, the enthronement, the reigning with Christ of them who have overcome,—a “time of great peace and festivity,” as Lange expresses it, an ideality of life, shining so much the more brightly as the rest of mankind are under the sway of materialism, have become the slaves of enjoyment, and serve Mammon; and if the judgment on the world will be realized in presence of the latter-day community, yet on the other hand a time of final, and perhaps “most successful activity” previous to that may be reckoned upon; comp. in our prophet Eze_37:28; Eze_36:36. As the Chaldean world-power of Ezekiel’s time, with its “many nations” (עַמִּים), out of which, in the first place, Israel is gathered, Ezekiel 38-39 (Eze_39:12, גּוֹיִם), is reproduced as Βαβυλων (Rev_14:8; Rev_17:5; Rev_18:2), so also, as in Ezekiel from the passages cited, not only will “many nations” (Eze_38:16; Eze_38:23) besides Gog and Magog have to be supposed in the Revelation of John, but the binding also of Satan, “that he should deceive the nations no more” (Rev_20:3), suggests the operation of the community of God upon them to bring them to the knowledge of Him. Nay, since Gog, brought up by Jehovah, like Balaam formerly, is in a position to view the people of peace assembled and encamped upon their hills—this view, which can scarcely entice a nation supposed to be rude and barbarous but still simple, may symbolize to us a virtual mission, the latest missionary activity which the community of God on earth, as such, puts forth; so that, alongside of the temptation which leads to being deceived by Satan through the besetting sin of Gog (Eze_38:10 sq.), who is perfectly conscious of what his heart purposes and expresses in Eze_39:11-12, we not only hear the ironical incitements of Eze_39:13, but above all the aspect of the community of God, virtually giving testimony everywhere of salvation and peace upon this earth, as it lives securely solely by faith in its King, without worldly protection or power, is to be looked upon as a last dispensation and expression of God’s long-suffering and grace in relation to Gog, which he in his ripeness for judgment despises (comp. the exposition). That Gog’s purpose and expedition are to be aimed directly against God is a feature at least foreign to Gog as drawn by Ezekiel, and has to be inferred even in Rev_20:9; for the final attack is rather directly against the people of the Lord, and only indirectly against Himself, who, however, manifests Himself from heaven in behalf of His people.
10. Although the Reformation regained the knowledge of the truth, both as respects the supreme authority, the word of God, and the foundation laid, namely, Christ, yet church life as church life was not reformed, but only the Cæsar Pope succeeded to the Pope Pope. The episcopal power was given over to the hands of the State, and thereby the Church only sank into a new servitude, which was a purely secular one. This may well be called the “Babylonish captivity” of the community of God. Pietism, however much it emphasized life in opposition to creed, furnished the theory for this, since its method is solely to influence and form the individual. Thus the Reformation made no breach with Byzantinism—it may be said that that was not the antithesis of the Reformers; but they left it possible for the State also to become evangelical. As since the Reformation—i.e., the attempt of ecclesiastical reconstruction upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, in which Christ is the corner-stone—the modern sovereign-powers have come forward politically, as Ranke says, so since then, under the title of the gospel, a State-churchism has been more and more developed, which, when compared with the fundamental declaration of Christ regarding His kingdom (Joh_18:36), is no less a caricature of the holy than is the Church-state. If the whore become wife (Revelation 17.), who formerly rode upon the beast, is finally to be destroyed by the beast, perhaps we are near to this point of time. The complete apocalyptic history of Antichristianism, however (Revelation 13.), sets also in prospect the case that the spirit of a fallen Christianity, the false prophet, can be active, in the service of the political world-power, to bring about something of the form of a universal world-church, with legally social exclusiveness. The judgment of Antichristianism, as of pseudo-Christianity (Rev_19:17 sq.), appears in relation to their adherents as a spiritual, moral destruction, namely, by the sword of Him who sits upon the white horse, and which goes out from His mouth; so that the Antichristian world, slain as with a sword by the word of Christ, which should have rescued them to life, now affords room for the enjoyment of peace and dominion to the quiet community of the latter days. If the description of the closing battle against Christ in the Apocalypse of John, borrowed from Ezekiel 39. sq., consciously conforms itself to the description given there, that will intimate that it has an affinity with Gog’s final war against the Christian Church, that what begins with the Head has to be completed with the members, but that the victory of the King with His army contains in it the assurance of victory for His people to the end. But does not the very fact that rude force like that of Gog and his bands will bring about the conclusion of the development of Christian salvation for this world, also imply the corresponding recompense for the being sunk in materialism, in the common mock-reality of earthly things? And how, then, accordingly do the first heavens and the first earth pass away? It may farther be worth observing, for the social form of the world during the time previous to Gog’s making his appearance, that after the judgment in Rev_19:17 sq. no “kings of the earth” figure any more, that the Revelation of John significantly renews “Gog and Magog” solely as national titles. The “social democracy” threatened for the future discuss only materialistic themes, just as the science destitute of philosophy labours in a similar sphere. But the victory of Christianity, the absolutely religious truth, will always be on this earth only a spiritual victory. The victory that overcame the world is our faith, 1Jn_5:4. Comp. besides, Joh_18:36, which is called, in 1Ti_6:13, the χαλη ὁμολογια της πιστεως (Eze_39:12). The idea of a preliminary transformation of the world, even when put into a more real shape, as a mediating transition-period, conformable to the laws of life and to the development of life, remains, however, affected with a certain show, a mere display, the necessity of which is so much the more difficult to see, as Gog, notwithstanding, again comes up over it; and it would be much more in accordance with the moralo-theocratic law of the ripening of mankind for final judgment, that this ripening for judgment should fill up its measure on the quiet community of God, which presents in opposition to the materialistic world and its spirit of the times nothing but its unique ideality in Christ and with Christ—this indeed in a purity and sanctity unsullied by any secularity and worldliness. Comp. Eze_36:38; Eze_37:28, and the burying of Gog’s dead recorded afterwards, Ezekiel 39, in a way that tells for such a character. The church-idyl of Ezekiel in the chapters before us may be compared with the apostolic church of primitive Christianity. The first period and the last, when thus laid together, form a circle.
11. “Neither as to letter or spirit was this prophecy fulfilled under the Old Covenant, and, moreover, many single passages of it are incapable of being understood in the literal sense. For example, when at the end of Ezekiel 39. the Israelites are to be brought back from the lands of their enemies without a single one of them remaining behind, and that God poured out His Spirit on the house of Israel. As the kingdom promised in Ezekiel 36. is in this world, indeed, but not of this world, so the resurrection of the dead in Ezekiel 37. places itself under the saying of Christ, Joh_5:25,” etc. (Cocceius).
12. “The enemies of the Old Covenant were curbed; and those of the New, who will once more rise up against the kingdom of the Messiah, are, to the terror of the world, overthrown on the day of judgment, and the New Covenant solemnizes its final victory” (Umbreit).
13. The appearance of Gog shall be liable to no contingency, and its necessity for the consummation of things is apparent, Eze_38:4; Eze_38:8; Eze_38:16, etc. That even evil intent only serves the cause of God’s kingdom is a fundamental view of Holy Scripture.
14. From the symbolical style and character which pervades the chapters before us, a geographical inquiry respecting the burial-place of Gog (Ezekiel 39.) will be of little use. All the more, however, may such thoughts suggest themselves as the contrast generally of the low ground, where Gog’s lofty purpose makes a grave for himself, with his going up on the mountains of Israel, and then also the contrast of these heights with their security and his grave, which secures against him, confines him. Gog’s grave in Israel, lying east of the sea, makes significant allusion to the sea, the apocalyptic term for the birthplace and cradle of the heathen nations; who, moreover, ought not to have found downfall and destruction in Israel, but, on the contrary, sunrise, to which they are described as coming virtually out of darkness and the shadow of death, from the farthest north. That Gog finds his grave in Israel is so much the more striking as Israel himself comes out of his grave in Ezekiel 37.
15. But still more significant is the closing verse of Ezekiel 39, which refers back to Ezekiel 37, 36. What Israel is to be or to signify according to his idea, he becomes only through divine sanctification in the Spirit, whose final and full impartation, in contradistinction to all occasional and partial givings, is made plain, as pouring out upon the house of Israel. “As the outpouring of the Spirit, according to the earlier announcements of the prophet himself and his predecessors, bears an essentially Messianic character, and is connected with the coming of the Good Shepherd of David’s line, on whom (Isa_11:1) the whole fulness of the Spirit rests” (Hengst.), so the predictions of the chapters before us point to the course in the world of the Christian Church, which was founded by the outpouring of the Divine Spirit, and may live in the certainty that not one soul destined to be gathered into it shall remain behind in the world, as its faith, its confession, is to rely with confidence on a grace which is eternal.
HOMILETIC HINTS
On Ch. 38
Eze_38:1 sq. “The prophet evidently speaks of the last times. A good part of his sayings are riddles, which the fulfilment alone must solve and explain” (Berl. Bib.).—“The enemies of the Church are great, strong, and many; but however great their strength may be, it can effect nothing against the community of the Lord, for the Lord is its protection, 2Ch_32:7-8” (Tüb. Bib.).—“The Christian Church never remains unmolested, but is always persecuted by internal and external enemies, or otherwise plagued with crosses, tribulations, and adversities of all kinds, 2Ti_3:12; 1Co_11:19” (W.).—“The adversity which befalls the Church of God does not befall her accidentally, but according to the divine counsel and will, Rev_2:9-10” (Starke).—“Gog is so briefly mentioned in Revelation 20. according to the economy of Holy Scripture, because here so fully” (Richter).—Gog is not the Antichrist (the beast), nor yet the pseudo-Christ (the false prophet), but the anti-Israel of the latter days. The last attack on the community of God, in contempt of its mission of peace and salvation, from self-confidence and worldliness.
Eze_38:3. “He will, however, be of kindred disposition with Antichrist, a circumstance which is to be observed, and which at the same time explains why the Lord is so angry at him” (Berl. Bib.).
Eze_38:4. “He means to march against Jehovah, but in reality Jehovah has him in tow: he must march whither He wills to his own destruction, as Pharaoh of old did not set aside the purposes of the God of Israel when he refused to let His people go, but acted so because Jehovah Himself had hardened his heart in order to hurl him to destruction” (Hengst.).
Eze_38:5 sq. “It is, however, of little moment to know whether the present nations and which of them are to be understood under those designations; for those ancient nations no longer exist separately, and the Holy Spirit intended to designate under this name generally only such peoples and nations as in the latter days lie outside of the sphere of the civilisation of the Church of Christ” (Heim-Hoffmann).
Eze_38:7. The equipment even of His enemies is subject to God’s word.—“The ungodly are bound with and to one another by the cord of malice” (Starck).
Eze_38:8. A glance into the latter days of the Church of God and of the world.—“Gog meant to visit the people of God, but in reality he is himself visited. It is very consolatory to the Church, that God not merely conquers her enemies, but that even their hostile undertaking is under His guidance, that they move neither hand nor foot except at His command” (Hengst.).—“Thus God visits in grace and also in wrath” (Starck).—“The Church is thus described: from her persecutions, according to her calling, as the fulfilment of Israel, from her devastation by Antichrist, because of her separation from the world, according to her rest in God” (Cocc).
Ver 9. In the world we have anguish to the end; before we expect it, a tempest arises, and heaven and earth appear to be hid from our eyes. Our security is peace with God: Christians wish, indeed, peace with all men, but the world keeps no peace with them. Such is its turbulence that it has no rest, such its darkness that it would like to shut out all light; even God is not to be our lamp.—“If great armies resemble clouds, how soon can a wind disperse them! 2Ki_19:35” (Starke).
Eze_38:10. “Thus God is a heart-searcher, He knows the evil purpose in the man himself”—(Starck).
Eze_38:11. What a confession from the mouth of an enemy! for the Church and against himself.
Eze_38:12. How good it is to possess the goods which cannot be stolen,—the joy, for example, which no one shall take from us!—To the end the world seeks only the temporal, the earthly.
Eze_38:14. It is bad when we observe only when it is too late.
Eze_38:15 sq. That is already the victory when God says, It is My people that ye seek to injure.—“Yea, all things revolve around the community of God on earth; hell must assail it, and yet suffer shipwreck on the faith of the true confessors. Therefore we ought simply to keep God’s word pure, and not to care about the great multitude” (Diedrich).
Eze_38:17. Everything has been told before; they who hold to the word have to fear no surprises.
Eze_38:18 sq. “Fury is the glow which bursts forth in the breathing of wrath. The wrath of God is the holy jealousy with which He, for the protection of His kingdom, the kingdom of peace, dashes down the wicked; and this wrath of eternal protecting love is fearful” (Schmieder).
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando Judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus.
“Even the saints will tremble, but with adoration and hope. Comp. Psalms 46.” (Schmieder).
Eze_38:21. Even the sword is the Lord’s servant, which He needs only to call for and it comes at His word.—How one may become the sword of another!—“When God determines to inflict His judgments, the best friends must become the worst enemies, that one may receive from the other the merited reward, Jdg_7:22” (Starke).
Eze_38:23. The conclusion is, that the result of everything is to magnify and sanctify God. We ought, therefore, to begin all our affairs with God.
On Ch. 39
Eze_39:1 sq. God does not mislay the address of His enemies. As Jerusalem, so also Gog and his company stand always before Him.—Him whom God makes to go up, He is also able in due time to make come down.
Eze_39:4 sq. “By the mountains of Israel, where Gog is to be slain, we must not understand the mountains near Jerusalem, but the Christian churches in various lands; he shall fall under the Christians” (Heim-Hoff.).
Eze_39:6. The fire of God upon sympathies with evil.—The far-reaching effect of divine judgment.
Eze_39:9 sq. “We see from this that outward force, whether rude or refined, does not furnish the measure for great and little with regard to religion” (Luther).—God prepares a way of escape for His own people from even the most terrible terrors.—All things must serve the God of love.—The fire of Christianity at last comes over all the weapons of this world. They then warn instead of injuring.—“These weapons are an appropriate figure of earthly things, of which the enemies of the kingdom of God boast as of their weapons” (Starck).—If God is our shield, then it is seen what becomes of all the shields of men, long and short. Let not yourself be covered and screened by the world! Happy is he who enjoys and confides in the protection of God.—See there what is the value of human armour, what trust is to be put in it, what fear we are to have or rather not to have for it.—The world with its pomp and power after all exists only to furnish fuel for the children of God.—Thus the godly man finally gains the upper hand, however long and strongly the ungodly have behaved proudly.
Eze_39:11. Like Gog, many a one finds his grave where he least expected it.—Gog thought of obtaining prey, but by no means a grave.—The grave, a quiet answer to so many loud questions, the echo to so many and various forms of: I will!—Here the proudest and most foaming waves will subside.—Masters cease at the brink of the grave; the continuation follows—that is to say, rottenness, horror, judgment of survivors on the dead, to say nothing of the judgment of God, who has from the beginning had the same decision regarding them.
Eze_39:12 sq. The burial of the world, daily to carry out denial of self and the world.—“Men often take great pains to put away bodily uncleanness: would that they were equally careful to purge themselves from all pollution of spirit! 2Co_5:17-18” (Starke).—“Teacher and preacher are for this purpose, that they may point out what sin and uncleanness is to be found in a church and in every individual member of it. Oh that so many would not so much forget their office! Isa_58:1” (Starke).
Eze_39:16 sq. The world, the city of the dead, Hamonah.—What a stillness of death after the bustle of so many departing things and departed men!—“The enemies of the Church leave after their death a shameful name behind them, Acts 12” (O.)
Eze_39:17 sq. “A communion; the communicants are here the wild beasts and birds” (Hengst.).—The fearful irony of the service of the sanctuary on every worldly interest, even the highest.—What an end, after such a beginning! The beginning was, Israel should fall a prey to Gog; now the end is, that Gog lies there a prey to the very beasts of the field.
Eze_39:21. “Let us not be blind and stupid spectators of the acts of God, but let us lift up our hearts, and celebrate the goodness and power of God” (Starck).—The punishing hand of God on others is, in a certain sense, laid on us also; He takes hold of us when He crushes others.
Eze_39:22. God for us and with us, God our God! the blessed knowledge in Israel henceforth and for ever, Psa_144:15.—The doxology of the Lord’s Prayer.
Eze_39:23 sq. Our transgressions, the key to our frequently so dark experience on earth.—Our acts of unfaithfulness bring us into manifold miseries, but God is faithful.—By the punishment of God’s people the world shall know the misery of sin as well as the righteousness—so much the more threatening for it—of the Holy One of Israel.—“The beginning is made with the house of God, the end with the world” (Häv.).—The apostasy in Christendom makes the world apparently so powerful.
Eze_39:25 sq. “After chastisement, believers again find grace—not, however, because of their goodness, but for the sake of Christ, Psa_106:47” (W.).—The jealousy of God in His compassion.—“When sin is rightly acknowledged, it brings men to shame and repentance, Luk_18:13” (Starke).—The knowledge of sin makes heavy laden sinners; but grace experienced humbles still more than punishment can do.—The security of the humbled; the security of those who think that they stand; the security of the children of this world.—We men are well able to bring ourselves into distress and sorrow of heart, but only God’s love is able to bring us out again.—“There is, however, no sorrow which God could not prevent” (Starck).—The salvation of Israel, a sermon to the heathen of God’s compassion and holiness alike. Hallowed be Thy name, and Thy kingdom come, stand side by side in the Lord’s Prayer.
Eze_39:28. Not one of the elect shall remain behind in the world.
Eze_39:29. Grace as eternal grace and grace for me is the seal of the Holy Spirit.—Thus believers are kept by the power of God to a salvation which is ready to be revealed in the last time, 1Pe_1:5.—Israel, the true, the people of the Spirit.—The outpouring of the Spirit of Jehovah is the end of all the ways which He has gone with Israel in anger and compassion, and the consummation of Israel in the Christian Church.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1-5. The prophecy continues against Gog, who is still…
1-5. The prophecy continues against Gog, who is still represented as the leader of the heathen hordes who occupy “the uttermost parts of the north” (Eze_39:2, R.V.), and who in the far distant future will rise up against the new Israel (see notes Eze_28:2-3). He comes with a vast army (Eze_39:9; Eze_38:15), and supposes himself to be able to fulfill his will against Israel without any reference whatever to an overruling Providence; but Jehovah says, “I will turn thee about, and will lead thee on” (Eze_39:2, R.V.; see notes Eze_38:4; Eze_38:14-16). God never interferes with a man’s free choice of good or evil, but he is able in his wisdom to so “turn” and “lead” the evil-wisher that even the wrath of man is made to serve a divine purpose. He smites the invaders with death (Eze_38:21-22), and the weapons drop from the hands of the fierce warriors (Eze_39:3), and they fall upon the mountains and the open fields which they expected to be such an easy prey (xxxviii, 11, 12), and their dead bodies become the spoil of the vultures and jackals (Eze_39:4-5). As John Wesley says: “Gog came to take possession, and so he shall, but not as he purposed and hoped. He shall possess the house of darkness in the land which he invaded.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. Cf. Eze_38:2-3.
1. Cf. Eze_38:2-3.
chief prince] prince of Rosh, Meshech, &c., Eze_38:2.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Of the two main divisions of this chapter, the…
Of the two main divisions of this chapter, the first (vers. 1-20) depicts the greatness of the overthrow of Gog; the second (vers. 21-29) records the impression made by it upon Both Israel and the heathen, and adds a closing promise to the former.
Vers. 1-20. In the first main division Ezekiel repeats the substance of what has already been advanced concerning the defeat of Gog (vers. 1-8), after which he strives to represent its completeness (vers. 9-20), by setting forth
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(1) the immense quantity of spoil Israel should obtain from the fallen foe (vers. 9, 10).
(2) the length of time it should take Israel to bury the dead and cleanse the land from defilement (vers. 11-16, and
(3) the horrible carnage which should ensue on Gog"s destruction, symbolized by a vast sacrificial feast prepared by Jehovah for the beasts and birds (vers. 17-20).
The chief prime of Meshech and Tubal; or, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. (see on Eze_38:2)
HOMILIES BY J.D. DAVIES Vers. 1-21. The terrible doom of rebels.
We may regard it as certain that this prophecy has in view the final conflict between good and evil in this world. Already, in the preceding prophecies, Ezekiel has been portraying the prosperous times of Messiah s reign; and now he has a vision of an age still more remote, when shall come the final clash of arms between God and a rebel world. We may take it that Satan, or Apollyon, will be the real leader in this final onset. All the forces of infidelity, and superstition, and v?, and earthly pomp, and carnal force will be led against the kingdom of Emmanuel. The conflict will be terrible, and defeat of the world-power will be complete and irreparable. The description of Ezekiel is most vivid and impressive. It was thrown in this parabolic form in order to meet the exigencies of that particular age.
I MARTIAL AGGRESSION IS GOD"S SNARE FOR DESTRUCTION. When a man resists every friendly counsel of God, God allows him to pursue his own way, and removes even the restraints which before impeded his ruin. In a similar way he deals with kings and with nations. "Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone!" Thus God dealt with Pharaoh. In the first stages of Moses" intercourse with Pharaoh, we read, "And Pharaoh hardened his heart." But as the negotiation proceeded, and the proud king grew more obstinate, we read, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh"s heart." It is true that "God tempteth no man," that is, allures no man into sin. Yet, by taking out of the way former barriers or ceasing to remonstrate, God helps on the final catastrophe. There is no advantage in prolonging the crisis. There is great disadvantage. Give a bad man full scope for his vile passions, and he soon rushes into the pit of ruin. In this way God purposes to deal with Gog: "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee." Nevertheless, God continues to say, "I will cause thee to come up and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel." Worldly success is only a covered snare.
II HUMAN WEAPONS ARE POWERLESS AGAINST GOD"S KINGDOM. "I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand." Neither material instruments of assault nor human violence of any kind can injure the kingdom of Christ. That kingdom is spiritual, and has its foundations in the spiritual natures of men, so that ordinary weapons of war are pointless. The Jewish rulers imagined that they had uprooted the cause of Jesus when they nailed him with iron spikes to the tree; but three days later they discovered how powerless they were, and how deathless his kingdom was. If falsehood shall prove itself mightier than truth; if rebellion shall show itself mightier than loyalty; if wrong can develop a greater power than right; then, and then alone, will God"s kingdom succumb. In this great contest weapons must be suitable, or they will break in the warrior"s hand and leave him dismayed and defeated.
III WAR MATERIAL CONVERTED INTO BLESSING. "The shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the handstaves and the spears," served as household fuel for seven years. The period mentioned is intended to denote a sacred completeness. Not once merely, but often, the weapons of infidelity have been changed into instruments of righteousness. The devil"s artillery has been turned against himself. Lord Lyttelton and Mr. West undertook to explode Christianity, and sat down to prepare their weapons; but they came from the armory with a splendid defense of the Christian faith. Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to assail the infant Church; but on the way he changed sides, and sharpened all his weapons for the defense of the gospel. The death-bed of Voltaire was enough to drive all his followers into the ranks of King Jesus. Tom Paine"s writings were so coarse and scurrilous that present-day infidels am put to shame by them. The faggots of martyr-fires have kindled a light which has led many into heaven.
IV GOD"S FOES ARE DOOMED TO A TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION. The prophet"s delineation of the overthrow of proud antagonists is graphic and harrowing. The keen sword of death is used with terrific force. The numbers of the dead become a peril to health and to life. A considerable valley is set apart as a necropolis. Seven months, i.e. a whole cycle of time, is required for the sickening work of sepulture. So terrible and. complete is the carnage that the whole population of the land employs itself in burying the dead. Not a single soldier among the foe survives to tell to posterity the tale of woe. It is an unsparing slaughter. Thus shall perish all who refuse to serve their Maker and to work righteousness. Obedience is life; rebellion is death death without alleviation.
V BASEST DISHONOR IS ADDED TO DESTRUCTION. With the eye of a prophet Ezekiel foresees the contempt and dishonor in store for the slain. Their dead bodies shall become a banquet for the brutes. Birds of prey shall feed upon human flesh. Wild beasts from the forest shall quench their thirst in the blood of warrior-kings. The doom, though severe, is equitable. These slaves of wickedness braggarts it crime had degenerated to a level lower than the beasts of the field, and lower than the beasts shall be their final portion. As men fear dishonor more than they fear death, so, with thoughtful kindness, God would deter them from sin by the prospect of coming shame.
VI GOD"S TERRITORY SHALL BE PURIFIED. "That they may cleanse the land." Whatever measures are required to purge God"s universe from sin, these measures shall, sooner or later, be employed. Our God has transcendent patience with men; but no advantage can accrue to an undue prolonging of probation. When measures of restoration to virtue have been well tried, then the earth shall be swept of its impurities with the besom of death. The God of holiness will not allow his house to be defiled forever.
The evil of sin shall cease. God shall be "all in all." The final triumph of God is certain. As surely as this globe was created this globe shall be purified. The same voice that said, "Let there be light," has said also, "There shall be no more death." To the eye of the inspired prophet this grand terminus of evil was visible. "It is done! saith the Lord God;" and Gods promise is as sure as its performance. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain THE DESTRUCTION OF GOG AND HIS VAST ARMIES. (Chap.…
THE DESTRUCTION OF GOG AND HIS VAST ARMIES. (Chap. 39)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Eze_39:2. “I will leave but the sixth part of thee”—I will six thee; i.e., afflict thee with six plagues—pestilence, blood, overflowing rain, hailstones, fire, brimstone (chap. Eze_38:22). Or, draw thee back with a hook of six teeth (chap. Eze_38:4)—the six teeth being those six plagues. The rendering in the text supposes that the verb is derived from the Hebrew numeral six; but this rendering is not recognised by the LXX. or the Vulgate. The verb has an Ethiopic root, and the passage should be rendered—I will lead thee along—to thy ruin.
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Eze_39:3. “I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand.” The Scythians were renowned as archers. The left hand holds the bow, the right bends it and fits on the arrow. God will strike the weapons out of his hand, so that he shall be incapable of fighting. “Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel.” The scene of Israel’s preservation shall be that of Gog’s destruction.
Eze_39:6. “I will send a fire among them that dwell in the isles.” The judgment described in chap. Eze_38:20 as universal is here extended to the isles to show that it should fall not only on Gog and his land, but on those who share his feelings of hatred and opposition to the kingdom of God, and who had perhaps helped Gog with fleets and troops.
Eze_39:7. “I will not let them pollute My holy name”—by seeming to desert My people. He would profane His name if He were to abandon His people continually to the heathen world. The revelation of holiness in Israel precludes further profanation of Jehovah in reference to Israel among the heathen.
Eze_39:8. “Behold it is come, it is done”—very expressive, denoting the absolute certainty of the event. The prophet sets it down as already past, as it is the nature of faith to see that which is not as if it already existed.
Eze_39:9. “They shall burn them with fire seven years.” The weapons of the army left on the battlefield shall be so numerous as to supply fuel for the people of the land for seven years. Seven years is a hyperbolical term derived from the intensive significancy of the number in Hebrew usage and designed to express a very long time. Seven was the number connected with the cleansing after contact with the dead (Num_19:11), and this purification of the land by the clearance of the heathenish spoils was a holy work, and indicated how thorough would be the judgment of God upon His enemies.
Eze_39:11. “I will give unto Gog a place of graves.” Gog meant to bury the people of God and appropriate their land; but he is buried by them, and receives only so much of the land as suffices for a grave. “The valley of the passengers on the east”—referring to its position on the east side of the Dead Sea, along which lay the highroad for traffic to Petra and Eziongeber. It would thus be notoriously public, and, arresting travellers in their progress, would compel them to reflect on the signal judgment inflicted on the enemies of the covenant-people. There is also, as is common in Hebrew, a play upon words—there were passengers to be buried, passengers to walk over their graves, passengers to bury them (Eze_39:15). “It shall stop the noses of the passengers”—arrest the attention and impede the progress of the passers by the multitude of graves and the strong odour of decay. Their graves would be close to those of their ancient prototypes, Sodom and Gomorrah in the Dead Sea, both alike being signal instances of God’s judgments.
Eze_39:14. “Men of continual employment.” Literally, men of continuance, men regularly appointed to this business, to express the magnitude of the work and the systematic way in which it is performed. “After the end of seven months shall they search”—to see if the work was complete.
Eze_39:16. “Thus shall they cleanse the land.” According to the Mosaic law, a dead body caused a peculiar defilement to all with which it came in contact. So that, as the land of Israel represents figuratively the Church of Christ, the purification of that land is a proper part of the figure to indicate such a sanctification and cleansing of His Church as St. Paul describes in Eph_5:26-27.
Eze_39:17. “Speak to every feathered fowl and every beast: gather yourselves to My sacrifice.” This bold imagery is quite in the style of Ezekiel’s poetic genius. The invited guests are represented as being filled not only with the flesh of the victims in general, but with that of the horses and the charioteers. The entire passage is strikingly parallel with Rev_19:17; Rev_19:19. Compare also Isa_18:6; Isa_34:6; Zep_1:7; Mar_9:49.
Eze_39:18. “Fatlings of Bashan”—often applied in the prophets to proud, despotic, wanton enemies of God and His people, Bashan being renowned for its fat meadows. Fatness implies prosperity, which often makes men refractory towards God (Deu_32:14-15).
Eze_39:22-23. “The house of Israel shall know; and the heathen shall know.” The terrible judgment upon Gog will have this twofold effect as a revelation of the glory of God—Israel will know that the Lord is, and will continue to be, its God; and the heathen will know that He gave Israel into their power and thrust it out of its own land, not from weakness, but to punish it for its faithless apostasy.
Eze_39:25. “And have mercy on the whole house of Israel.” The restorations of Israel heretofore have been partial; there must be one yet future that is to be universal (Hos_1:11; Rom_11:26).
Eze_39:26. “After they have borne their shame”—after they shall have borne in full the punishment of their sin: after they have become sensible of their guilt and ashamed of it (chaps. Eze_20:43; Eze_36:31).
Eze_39:28. “And have left none of them any more there.” After the fall of the Chaldean monarchy, access to their native land was free to all Israel; and those who voluntarily remained had yet in Canaan their home and in the Temple at Jerusalem their spiritual dwelling-place.
Eze_39:29. “I have poured out My Spirit.” Comp. Joe_2:28; Zec_12:10; Act_2:17. There St. Peter distinctly appropriates these prophecies to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and the inauguration of the Church of Christ by that miraculous event. But this was the beginning of the fulfilment of these verses of the prophets. They shall find their consummation when time shall be no more.
HOMILETICS
THE SIGNAL DEFEAT OF THE ENEMIES OF GOD’S PEOPLE
(Eze_39:1-29.)
In this chapter we have a prophetic description of the ultimate fate of Gog, the ideal impersonation of the power of evil, and the utter destruction of his vast armies. The embattled hosts march to the conflict with proud ostentation and confident of victory. Their swords shall soon provide a banquet for the birds of prey that hover over them, and for the wild beasts whose hungry growls are heard around them, little dreaming that the stricken bodies of the invaders must furnish the feast. An unseen and irresistible power lures them on to their ruin; they are smitten with paralysis, their weapons drop from their hands and cover the ground like corn newly cut with the reaper; they perish in myriads on the mountains and the open fields, the birds and beasts are summoned to gorge themselves on the human carrion, and the only remnants of the once formidable warriors of Gog are found in innumerable graves. In this boldly conceived vision we have a realistic picture of the final and utter destruction of all the enemies of God’s people.
I. This defeat will be an act of Divine judgment (Eze_39:1-7). The champions of evil do not sufficiently consider what is involved in the fact that God is against them. Little do they know about the infinite resources of the power they have to reckon with. They see in the people of God only the apparently helpless victims of their hatred and fury: they know not, nor do they care to know, the real character of their Almighty Defender. The silence of God they mistake for indifference; the patience of God they misconstrue into weakness; the threatenings of God are meaningless vauntings, or if they mean anything, they apply to every one else but themselves; their attitude and spirit is a combination of blasphemous and reckless defiance. God is slow to punish, full of long-suffering and mercy, careful to afford ample space for repentance; and yet all the time a finely attuned ear may detect the Divine refrain rising on the air, already palpitating with the breath of coming vengeance—“Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord; and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” (Jer_5:9; Jer_5:29; Jer_9:9). At last the thunderbolt crashes out of the gathering clouds, the enemies of God are stricken with fear, their forces routed, and all are involved in terrible and irrevocable destruction.
II. This defeat will be on a scale of unexampled vastness. This is evident—
1. From the number of weapons strewn on the battlefield (Eze_39:8-10).
2. From the time and space occupied in burying the slain (Eze_39:11-16).
3. From the greatness of the feast provided for the birds and beasts of prey (Eze_39:17-22). Many of the wars of history were waged on a gigantic scale, and the wars of the Jews were often attended with great slaughter. The two rival kingdoms of Judah and Israel were in perpetual feud with each other, and there were few wars in the history of the world marked with greater ferocity and destruction. It is computed that in one battle the number of the slain amounted to no less than 500,000 Israelites. But the greatest battle of the ages will not exceed in calamity and carnage the final overthrow of the enemies of God’s people. Their widespread combinations, their vast hosts cleverly marshalled in battle array, their compacted unity, will make their defeat the easier, the more direct and complete. They will be allured to gather into a mass, that in a mass they may perish.
III. This defeat will make clear to the nations the unchanging equity of the Divine procedure.
1. That the people of God, like all other peoples, are punished because of their iniquities (Eze_39:23-24). The Israelites wilfully and stubbornly trespassed against God; therefore He hid His face, withdrew His protection, and abandoned them to the cruelty of their enemies. They could not complain that they were unjustly or harshly treated. “According to their uncleanness and their transgressions” they were dealt with. They deserved all they got, and when they came to themselves, they would be the first to acknowledge it. It was not God’s vindictiveness but their own iniquities that plunged them into misery. He simply deals with them as with all other offenders, of whatever nationality. God is the implacable foe of sin wherever and in whomsoever found (Rom_2:6-11). He is unchangeably faithful in justice, mercy, and truth.
2. That all who faithfully respond to the teaching of the Divine Spirit shall enjoy the protection and favour of God (Eze_39:25-29). While God will punish evil-doers, He does not overlook the least symptoms of repentance, and is eager to make known His clemency. Those who have injured Him the most are assured of His mercy. It is said the Emperor Adrian, meeting a man who had insulted him before he came to the throne, said to him, “Approach; you have nothing to fear; I am an emperor.” It is God-like to be free from resentment. The Spirit is given to convince of sin, to melt the soul into contrition, to direct it to the great source of help, and to bring it face to face with God, where all is light and peace and safety. God hides His face from the incorrigible sinner, but reveals it to the truly penitent.
LESSONS.—
1. The most powerful combinations of the wicked are impotent when in conflict with Jehovah.
2. The Divine honour is pledged to ensure the ultimate triumph of righteousness.
3. Disobedience to the Divine law in individuals or in nations will be visited with terrible punishment.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Eze_39:1-29. “The present chapter proceeds to describe the defeat of evil and the triumph of God and His people. We must bear in mind that Ezekiel is not predicting the invasion of an actual army, but the advance of evil under that figure. So he declares the overthrow of evil by the figure of a host routed and slain, and the consequent purification of a land partially overrun and disturbed. It is the manner of Ezekiel to dwell upon the details of the figurative acts which he portrays, bringing them before the mind as vivid pictures, and employing, so to speak, the strongest colouring. This has led some so to rest on the picture as to forget that it is a figure. Thus they have searched history to find out some campaign in the land of Israel, some overthrow of invaders, on which to fix this prophecy, and have assigned localities to the burial-place, and even thought to discover the spot to which belongs the appellation, Hamon-Gog. But in truth the details are set forth in order to carry out the allegory, and their very extravagance, so to speak, points out that we have but the shadow of a great spiritual reality, which man can only faintly represent and feebly grasp in a figure.”—Speaker’s Commentary.
—“We find in the prophecy the following important and salutary truths:—
1. While the appearance of the new David to take the rule and presidency over God’s heritage would have the effect of setting His people free from the old troubles and dangers which had hitherto assailed them, it should be far from securing them against all future conflicts with evil. It would rather tend to call up other adversaries and enlarge the field of conflict, so as to make it embrace the most distant and barbarous regions of the earth. For the whole earth is Christ’s heritage, and sooner or later it must come to an issue between the adherents of His cause and the children of error and corruption.
2. From the very nature of the case, this trial would fall to be made on a very large scale and with most gigantic resources, so that all preceding contests should appear small and vanish out of sight, in comparison of this last great struggle in which the world’s destiny was to be decided for good or evil.
3. Though the odds in this conflict could not but appear beforehand very great against the people and cause of Christ, yet the result should be certainly on their side, and simply because with them is the truth and the might of Jehovah.
4. As all originated in the claim of Messiah and His truth to the entire possession of the world, so the whole is represented as ending in the complete establishment of the claim. It is understood at last that it was His zeal for the interests of righteousness which led Him to chastise, in former times, His own professing people, and that the same now has induced Him to render them triumphant over every form and agency of evil. And now, all counter rule and authority being put down, the prospect stretches out before the Church of eternal peace and blessedness in what at length become the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”—Fairbairn.
Eze_39:1-7. God’s Dealings with His Enemies. “
1. Those who are enemies unto the Church, God is an enemy unto them.
2. Wicked men may be in great honour and have great power.
3. There are seeming contradictions in Holy Scripture. God was with Gog and against Gog: with him by His providence to bring him forth to manifest his spleen and gall against the laud of Israel; and against him by His power and justice to destroy him for his cruelty and bloodiness. There are many scriptures seeming to destroy one another; but if rightly understood do sweetly comply and shake hands together.
4. God’s hand is in the undertakings of enemies against the Church. 5. It is in the Lord to disable and disappoint warriors when they are ready for battle.
6. That in the same place where God shows rich mercy to the godly, there He executes severe judgments upon the enemies.
7. That armies and others are exposed to public shame and miserable ends is of God.
8. What the Lord speaks, that shall certainly take place.
9. When God begins to visit the enemies of His Church, He makes progress therein.
10. When God shows mercy to His Church and destroys the enemies of it, He provides for His own honour, sanctifies His name, and makes Himself to be known distinct from all other gods.”—Greenhill.
—The Infatuation of the Wicked—
1. Renders them reckless in their attack upon a superior Power (Eze_39:1).
2. Blinds them to the fact that they are being led to destruction by the Power they defy (Eze_39:2).
3. Knows not the moment they may be suddenly reduced to helplessness (Eze_39:3).
4. Involves them in terrible and universal destruction (Eze_39:4-6).
5. Makes their punishment a means of exalting the justice and holiness of the Being they madly opposed (Eze_39:7).
Eze_39:2-5. “As the land of Israel shall be the scene of Gog’s wicked attack on the people of God, so shall it be the scene of the awful punishment inflicted upon Gog and of the deliverance of Israel. How often God thus marks the retributive justice of His dealings (as in the case of Ahab’s and Jezebel’s obtaining possession of Naboth’s vineyard through false accusation, murder, and robbery) by visiting the transgressor with judgment on the very scene of his guilt! (1Ki_21:19; 1Ki_22:38; 2Ki_9:21; 2Ki_9:25-26; 2Ki_9:36).”—Fausset.
Eze_39:3. The Man of War—
1. An imposing figure when fully armed for battle.
2. Should carefully weigh the merits of the cause he espouses.
3. Exposes his folly when he proudly boasts about his individual prowess.
4. May in a moment be deprived of both strength and weapons.
—“I will disarm thee. As Herodotus reports of Sennacherib and his Assyrians in Egypt, that their quivers, bow-strings, and targets were gnawed to pieces by mice and rats in one night, so that they were forced to fly for their lives. And as our chroniclers tell us that in the battle between Edward III. of England and Philip of France there fell such a piercing shower of rain as dissolved their strings and made their bows useless.”—Trapp.
Eze_39:6. “Those who shall abet Gog, virtually though not actively joining him in the invasion, shall, be taught by bitter experience to know that their fancied security in their sea-girt or sea-washed and distant lands is a self-deceit; a fire from the Lord shall consume them, so that they shall know, to their cost, the God of power, whom they refused to know as the God of grace and love. Self-confidence and careless living, under the mistaken notion of security, have proved the ruin of millions of immortal souls.”—Fausset.
—“The fire of God upon sympathies with evil.—The far-reaching effect of Divine judgment.”—Lange.
Eze_39:7. “Israel hereafter shall, by the special grace of God, be kept from dishonouring the holy name of their God by their sins and the consequent judgments which made the heathen think that Jehovah was unable or unwilling to save His people. How joyful is the prospect to the people of God that the time is ere long coming when they shall be placed under the blessed necessity of uninterrupted obedience to God’s will! Temptations from the flesh, the world, and Satan, which now harass them, shall then be at an end. Sin, which is now their greatest sorrow because it most dishonours the name of their Lord, shall be no more; and the Lord shall make known His holy name with such attractive power that He will not let them pollute it any more.”—Fausset.
Eze_39:8. The Infallible Certitude of the Divine Word.
1. Notwithstanding that all natural appearances are against it.
2. Though its fulfilment is in the future.
3. Notwithstanding the most desperate opposition.
4. Confirmed by many notable examples.
5. Because the Lord hath spoken it.
6. Should induce an unfaltering confidence.
—Fulfilled Prophecy. “
1. There is a certain time determined for the destruction of the Church’s enemies, which God looks upon as present and done.
2. The particular time is hidden from men and known only unto God.”—Greenhill.
Eze_39:9-10. The Spoils of a Great Victory. “
1. God will give victories to His Church and people which seem incredible.
2. The Lord makes that advantageous to His people which their enemies intended to damnify and ruin them by.
3. After the overthrow of Gog and Magog, Antichrist and his adherents, the Church of God shall have great peace.
4. The people of God shall have a day of recompense for the wrongs and injuries they have sustained.”—Greenhill.
—“It may be wondered they burn these weapons which might be of use to them for defence and safety; but it was done partly because they were weapons of the uncircumcised, partly because they were anathemata, as all Jericho was, but chiefly in testimony that God was their safety and defence.”—Pool.
—Mariana in his History of Spain says, that after the Spaniards had given that signal overthrow to the Saracens in 1212, they found such a vast quantity of lances, javelins, and such-like that they served them for four years for fuel.
—“The fire of Christianity comes at last over all the weapons of this world. They then warn instead of injuring. If God is our shield, then it is seen what becomes of all the shields of men, long and short. Let not yourself be covered and screened by the world. The world, with its pomp and power, after all exists only to furnish fuel for the children of God. Thus the godly man finally gains the upper hand, however long and strongly the ungodly have behaved proudly.”—Lange.
Eze_39:11-16. The Burial of the Slain. “
1. God disappoints the expectation of the wicked while living, yet sometimes affords favour when they are dead.
2. After great victories wherein many are slain people should, for public good, be careful to bury the dead, though it require time, be troublesome and chargeable.
3. By great victories over enemies God honours His own name and makes His people to have a name.
4. After conquering there ought to be cleansing.”—Greenhill.
—“Where Gog shall expect to find a spoil and a possession, he shall only find a grave; and that a grave near the sea that entombs his ancient prototypes, the fire-blasted cities of Sodom and Gomorrah—the Dead Sea. The publicity of this place of burial will arrest the attention of the many that pass that way. These shall recognise the righteous judgment of the Lord in the destruction of Gog. How often are the transgressor’s deeply-laid plans brought to nothing in a moment, and the mischief which he prepares for others recoils on himself! Those who have experienced great deliverances should be thoroughly zealous in promoting a complete and radical reformation. Every man should render the utmost help he can towards furthering the good work. Sin, the polluting thing, needs to be searched out in its most secret recesses. Let not the casual passer-by think that he is exempt from the duty of exerting himself in word and deed for the glory of God and the good of the Church, any more than the stationary dweller in his own home. All have their place and work to do; and it is only by general co-operation that the work of the Lord can be most completely effected.”—Fausset.
Eze_39:11. The Fate of the Proud.
1. A defeat where they expected victory.
2. Execration and disgust where they expected applause.
3. Oblivion where they expected fame.
4. A grave where they expected riches.
5. It is a testimony to the sacredness of the human body that even the proud and cruel are honoured with a grave.
6. Justice leaves its dead victim at the grave’s mouth: Mercy tenderly buries it.
—“Besides many other reasons for burying these slaughtered multitudes, the humanity that religion is full of would guide the Jews to it, and God tells us that Gog shall have a grave in Israel. He came to take possession, and so he shall, but not as he purposed and hoped, but as God intended: Gog shall possess his house of darkness in that land which he invaded to make a prey of. He shall have one place there—a grave.”—Pool.
—“Like Gog, many a one finds a grave where he least expccted it. The grave, a quiet answer to so many loud questions, the echo to so many and various forms of ‘I will!’ Here the proudest and most foaming waves will subside. Masters cease at the brink of the grave; the continuation follows—i.e., rottenness, horror, judgment of survivors on the dead, to say nothing of the judgment of God, who has from the beginning had the same decision regarding them.”—Lange.
Eze_39:13. “It shall be to the house of Israel a renown, a commendation, matter of praise, that they did, like men, bury the dead, who otherwise must have been all dung on the face of the earth, and the swelling hill rising from their buried bones shall be a monument to the praise of Israel’s courtesy. Or else thus, the day of My being glorified shall be a renown to Israel. As it is an honour to be owned of God, so when God shows He owneth such, He gives them honour among all that observe it.”—Pool.
Eze_39:15. The Sacredness of the Human Body.
1. It is designed to be the temple of the Divine (1Co_7:19).
2. Shall ultimately be raised from the dead (Rom_8:23; 1Co_15:35).
3. Should ensure it reverent burial.
4. Not a single bone to be treated with indignity.
Eze_39:16. “The world, the city of the dead—Hamonah. What a stillness of death after the bustle of so many departing things and departed men!—The enemies of the Church leave after their death a shameful name behind them (Act_12:20-23).”—Lange.
Eze_39:17-29. “The destruction of the enemy, viewed as to its results with reference to the people of God. The purposes of the past dispensation shall be made clear to God’s people themselves and to the heathen. All shall see that the judgments which have fallen upon the chosen race were no sign of any change of purpose of the Almighty, but the consequence of their sins, and that, these sins once abandoned, the favour of their God will return in yet more abundance.”—Speaker’s Commentary.
Eze_39:17-20. Evidences of Divine Judgment. “
1. That all creatures are at the command of God, and ordered to do this or that according to His wise providence (Eze_39:17).
2. That God doth execute some great and signal judgment when He summons the creatures to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the slain (Eze_39:18-19)
3. It is matter of delight and pleasure unto God to destroy the enemies of His Church and people (Eze_39:17).
4. God is impartial in His judicial dispensations; He punisheth the great delinquents as well as the lesser (Eze_39:18; Eze_39:20).
5. Great men and vulgar ones also may be a prey to the creatures, and lie without burial for a season.
6. God provides for the brute and dumb creatures, and that abundantly (Eze_39:17).”—Greenhill.
—A Strange Banquet.
1. If we consider the guests invited—the birds and beasts of prey (Eze_39:17).
2. If we consider the kind of food provided—the flesh of princes and mighty men (Eze_39:18).
3. If we consider the horrible surfeiting of the wild revellers (Eze_39:19-20).
4. A revolting spectacle of humbled pride.
Eze_39:17. “What an end after such a beginning! The beginning was, Israel shall fall a prey to Gog; now the end is, that Gog lies there a prey to the very beasts of the field.”—Lange.
Eze_39:21-24. The Final Issue of Divine Punishment. “
1. The great end of God’s judgments upon sinful men is His glory (Eze_39:21).
2. Dreadful judgments upon the wicked are engaging mercies unto the godly (Eze_39:22).
3. God doth withhold mercies from His people and lay sad judgments upon them for their sins (Eze_39:23).
4. God will convince His enemies of the true cause of His executing dreadful judgments upon His people (Eze_39:23).
5. None have just ground of complaint whatsoever judgments are upon them, howsoever God deal by them (Eze_39:24).”—Greenhill.
Eze_39:23-29. The Hidden and the Open Face of God.
1. That human sin obscures the vision of God’s face (Eze_39:23-24).
2. That when God hides His face His people are exposed to the ravages of the enemy (Eze_39:23).
3. That while God hides His face His hand is employed in promoting the interests of His people (Eze_39:25; Eze_39:27-28).
4. That when suffering humbles the soul into genuine repentance the face of God reappears. Repentance is the soul coming to the knowledge of God (Eze_39:26; Eze_39:28).
5. The work of the Divine Spirit upon the soul prepares it for the everlasting vision of the open face of God (Eze_39:29; comp. 2Co_3:18).
Eze_39:23. “The heathen thought meanly of the God of Israel, and reckoned they came into captivity because the people of some greater god had by the power of their god prevailed against Israel’s God and His people; but by this overthrow given to Gog they shall see it was not impotence in Israel’s God, but iniquity in Israel’s people, that brought them into captivity. When God withdrew His defence, as fenceless, they fell under the sword of the enemy, for it is He that subdueth enemies and giveth victory.”—Pool.
Eze_39:25-29. God’s Goodness a Motive for His Activity. “
1. The afflictions of God’s people may be long and sharp, yet they shall not be always; they shall have an end.
2. There is a day of mercy to come for the Jews, even all of them (Eze_39:25).
3. The great things God doth for His people are not done for their worth or merits, but for His holy name’s sake (Eze_39:25).
4. Sin brings men to shame and punishment, which they must undergo somewhere or other (Eze_39:26).
5. In times of peace and safety usually men forget God and sin against Him (Eze_39:26).
6. The Lord by openly delivering His people from an afflicted condition doth sanctify His own name and hath it sanctified by others (Eze_39:27-28).
7. There is a time when the Jews shall not only have mercy, but abundant and lasting mercy (Eze_39:29). Now they are like dead trees without any sap in them; but then they will be like trees well-rooted, full of sap, and in their greatest glory—full of branches, leaves, blossoms, fruit, and the sun shining upon them (Rom_11:15).”—Greenhill.
Eze_39:25. “This restoring captive Jews is mere mercy. It is very true by sin they deserved to be made captives, and it is as true they never did or could deserve a deliverance from captivity. It was not extremity of justice that so punished, but it was the riches of mercy that so pardoned and redeemed.”—Pool.
Eze_39:27. “Sanctified by their accepting punishment, repenting for sin, loathing their former ways and themselves for them, acknowledging God to be holy, engaging themselves in covenant of perpetual obedience to God and keeping it; by these things God will be sanctified among the Israelites and in sight of the nations, when they see the furnace hath purified them.”—Pool.
Eze_39:29. The Promise of the Spirit.
1. The constant theme of Old Testament prophets.
2. Blessedly realised in the history of the Church in all ages.
3. Fulfilled in the remarkable advances of the Gospel in the present day.
4. The guarantee of future universal victory.
—“It is the Spirit of the Lord, which, when poured out, inclines the heart to appreciate aright God’s marvellous grace, and so produces repentance. The same Spirit in the heart is also the earnest to assure the children of God that their now reconciled Father will hide His face from them no more. May the promise of the full outpouring of the blessed Spirit in the latter days on both Israel and the Church be soon realised; and for this end may the spirit of prayer more and more pervade all the professing disciples of the Lord Jesus!”—Fausset.
—“Which as a Spirit of truth shall enlighten their minds, and make them wise unto salvation; as a Spirit of grace shall regenerate and create them anew; as a Spirit of power shall strengthen them for every duty and enable them to withstand and conquer every temptation; as a Spirit of holiness shall cleanse them from sin, sanctify their souls, and stamp them with Mine image; and as a Spirit of adoption and consolation shall inspire them with confidence and hope, and render every branch of obedience and every exercise of piety and virtue sweet and delightful to them.”—Benson.
—“The true Israel, the people of the Spirit. The outpouring of the Spirit of Jehovah is the end of all the ways which He has gone with Israel in anger and compassion, and the consummation of Israel in the Christian Church.”—Lange.
“The deliverance of the Hebrews was wrought out in a most remarkable manner. Mattathias, raising the standard of patriotism, called around him the pious portion of his countrymen. His party increased rapidly till they became a considerable army. He appointed his third and bravest son Judas military commander, by whom the Syrian generals that were sent against him were defeated. In battle after battle he proved victorious. Even the army which Lysias sent into Judea could not stand before him. Though composed of thirty thousand foot and seven thousand cavalry, and increased by auxiliaries from the provinces, it proved powerless before him. Putting the enemy to flight, he secured immense booty. The like success attended him the following year, when he defeated an army of sixty thousand men, made himself master of several strong cities, and, retaking Jerusalem, purified the Temple and restored its solemn services. His brothers, Simon and Jonathan, proved themselves worthy successors of this devoted patriot; the independence of the Jews was finally secured, and the royal dignity vested in the Asmonæan family, in which it continued till the time of Herod the Great.”—Henderson.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain Section 4 (Eze 39:1-7).
Section 4 (Eze 39:1-7).
Creature impotence: the overthrow of the proud foe.
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We return to the announcement with which we began, so that by reiteration emphasis is given to what Jehovah declares. His unalterable "I will" assures complete accomplishment. Added to the repetition of Jehovah’s purpose we now have location specified -"from the uttermost (or farthest) north." This helps to identify Gog with whatever power may occupy Russian territory at this time, while the similarity of detail in many prophecies leads us also to link him with the Assyrian, or King of the North.
As Jehovah has told of Gog’s coming and purpose, also revealing His own relation and purpose now He shows Gog’s impotence to accomplish his plan -he is only a creature, vanity. The bow and arrows are smitten from his hands -at the very moment they are drawn ready for the attack, bow in left hand, arrows in right, the blow falls. How often the attainment of some self-cherished object or wilful plans seems within the grasp, and sudden blight comes. Instead of vanquishing, we are vanquished. The self-chosen way or plan is suddenly turned to our destruction. Why? God has been left out of the carefully devised arrangements. Sensual wisdom has ruled instead of that wisdom which is from above which is first pure; and God must sanctify Himself in relation to us by showing Himself in opposition. "With the froward, Thou wilt show Thyself froward." And here we must mark a distinction, for the Hebrew words for "froward" are different. The first means perverse, crafty, false, and "is said only of the mind falling from rectitude" (Gog’s sin, Eze 38:10); while the second speaks of the wrestling of one opposed, who strives until he overcomes. These chapters illustrate this text. But are there not chapters in our individual lives which convey the same lesson? How slow we are to learn! Yet God has given many warning lessons in His holy Word.
Gog then is permitted to reach the mountains he has lusted after, only to be given a prey to the ravenous bird and beast. "Lust when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is completed, bringeth forth death" (Jas 1:15). How often the grave is the answer to the heart’s folly! Instead of taking a spoil, proud Gog falls a prey. "Extension" he did not find, nor "the topmost" place, for which he strove in pride and self-sufficiency; instead, he ignominiously falls without striking a blow to advance his selfish interests, and finds a grave in the valley.
The results of this overthrow shall be as a fire on Magog, reaching to the distant isles where they had thought to dwell securely, secure, perhaps, from the disastrous judgments that had fallen in rapid succession in the land at the time of the Lord’s appearing in glory. In this Jehovah lets the nations know that His judgment can reach to the uttermost bounds, and so "they shall know that I am the Lord." Their security must be found in knowing Him, and this at once destroys every other fancied safety, opening the only true sanctuary to them.
In all this a threefold purpose finds accomplishment. Jehovah is manifest as dwelling in the midst of Israel. He is there in holy, preserving, delivering power. This will make true in the fullest way the desire expressed by Moses: "Wherein shall it be known that I have found grace in Thine eyes, I and Thy people, except in that Thou goest with us? and we shall be distinguished, I and Thy people, from all the people which are on the face of the earth." Then, "Neither will I suffer My holy name to be profaned anymore." This had taken place in the past. Though Jehovah had humbled and stricken Israel in judgment, using the nations as the rod of His anger, they whom He used had not considered; mocking and boasting, they had blasphemed Jehovah’s name. Surely He was of less account than their own idol-gods. He could not defend nor save His professed people! They gloried in wasting the land and the people that bore that name. Israel had made Jehovah to serve with their sins, so that His name was dishonored among the Gentiles. The very judgments His holiness must visit upon His sinful people resulted to His dishonor in the eyes of the nations. The overwhelming judgment of Gog will cause this reproach to pass away, for it will demonstrate His power over the mightiest of earth. Furthermore, all that profaned that holy name in Israel will also have been purged out, and the nation will be holiness unto the Lord. Finally, through this consummation of judgment "the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel."
There is a voice in this for us. We, too, individually or collectively, stand identified with the holy name of Christ. Is that name sullied because of our failure? Do we commend Him before the eyes of the world? Or does our carelessness, our indifference, make Him serve with our sins in the world’s eyes because His name is named upon us? He is not visible; we are to be His living representatives, His ambassadors. May the impress of His image be upon us! For this we must be much in the secret place of communion, learning from Him, sitting at His blessed feet.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain 2. Leave but the sixth part of thee] RV…
2. Leave but the sixth part of thee] RV 'lead thee on.'
6. Isles] RM 'coastlands.' God will not only destroy the army of Gog in Palestine, but will extend His judgments into the lands from which Gog and his allies have come.
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8. It is come.. it is done] RV 'it cometh.. it shall be done.'
9. Set on fire] RV 'make fires of.' Burn them with fire] RV 'make fires of them': so in Eze_39:10.
11. There of graves] RV 'for burial.'
Valley of the passengers] RV 'valley of them that pass through.' Others read, 'a valley of Abarim,' Abarim being the region E. of the Dead Sea. The sea] the Dead Sea.
Stop the noses, etc.] RV 'stop them that pass through.' The valley, formerly a roadway, will be blocked by corpses. Hamon-gog] means 'the multitude of Gog.'
14. With the passengers] should probably be omitted, and bury should perhaps be 'search out.' There were to be two classes of officials, the searchers and the buriers, and this v. deals with the former. The duties of both are described in v.
15. Earth] RV 'land.'
15. And the passengers, etc.] RV 'and they that pass through the land shall pass through.' When the searchers found any human remains they were to set up a mark to attract the attention of the buriers, who followed them.
16. And.. Hamonah] RV 'and Hamonah shall also be the name of a city.' The reference seems to be to a city to be built near the valley of Hamon-gog, in commemoration of God's victory over Gog and his 'multitude.'
18. Bashan] a district E. of the Jordan, famous for its cattle: see Deu_32:14; Psa_22:12.
24. Have I done] RV 'did I'
26. After that they have borne] RV 'and they shall bear'; more probably, 'and they shall forget.'
Dwelt safely.. made them afraid] RV 'shall dwell securely.. shall make them afraid.'
28. Have left] RV 'I will leave.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Eze 38:2").
Gog
(See Scofield "Eze 38:2").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Destruction of Gog and his Hosts
The Destruction of Gog and his Hosts
v. 1. Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, in a further statement concerning the Lord’s vengeance upon him, and say, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, rather, "the prince of Rosh, Mesheeh, and. Tubal," Eze 38:2-3,
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v. 2. and I will turn thee back, leading him back from his projected attack on the children of the Lord, and leave but the sixth part of thee, literally, "lead thee about," or "drive thee on," and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, to the attack against the people of God which led to Gog’s destruction, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel, apparently for a successful assault upon the Church of the Lord, an expectation, however, in which he would be sorely disappointed;
v. 3. and I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, which held the bow, while the right hand bent it, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand, as they were fitted in place to be sent to their mark.
v. 4. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, in the very place where the enemy hoped to gain a victory, thou and all thy bands, the hosts which had joined him for the attack upon the Lord’s people, and the people that is with thee. I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, the feathered or winged beasts of prey, from the great vultures down to the tiny parasite, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured, in a most ignominious death.
v. 5. Thou shalt fall upon the open field, literally, "the face of the field"; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God, who carries out His threats, like His promises, with unfailing accuracy and telling effect.
v. 6. And I will send a fire on Magog, that of warfare and of divine destruction, and among them that dwell carelessly, in a self-confident, fancied security, in the isles; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
v. 7. So will I make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, for the destruction of the enemies would be to the people of God a proof of His almighty power and would therefore serve to enhance the glory of His Name; and I will not let them pollute My holy name any more, literally, "I will not permit the name of My holiness to be polluted any more," namely, by such blasphemous attacks on the part of the heathen, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel, set apart for exclusive veneration on the part of all men, whether by willing reverence or by cringing deference.
v. 8. Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God, the fulfillment being assured with a definiteness of an accomplished fact; this is the day whereof I have spoken, the final overthrow of the enemy signifying the definite deliverance of the Lord’s people.
v. 9. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel. shall go forth, the Lord’s children taking a walk, as it were, to take a look at the fallen enemies, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, the armor of the enemies, both the shields and the bucklers, the enemies weapons of defense, the bows and the arrows, the weapons of offense, and the band-staves, which some commentators think were the riding-switches of the invaders, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years, this number being used as the holy number of the Bible.
v. 10. so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests, that is, there was no need for them to get fuel in the usual way and from the usual places; for they shall burn the weapons with fire, this being sufficient for all their needs; and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, the wealth of the enemies, all the treasures in which they trusted, thus becoming the property of the children of God, saith the Lord God.
v. 11. And it shall come to pass in that day, the time of the great Judgment at the latter end, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, where this arch-enemy could be buried, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea, literally, "the valley of the passers-through," a place which was much frequented, the picture being that of a valley extending toward the Dead Sea; and it shall stop the noses of the passengers, literally, "it stops the passers-through," arresting their attention, almost compelling them to take notice of this instance of God’s judgment; and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude, the enemy fallen in the very sight of the Lord’s city which he had intended to take by storm; and they shall call it The Valley of Hamon-gog, of the great multitude of Gog.
v. 12. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, engaged in this task of disposing of the corpses of the enemies, that they may cleanse the land, for the presence of dead bodies polluted the land.
v. 13. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them, in willing zeal to cleanse the land of corruption; and it shall be to them a renown, it will give them a name before men, as being anxious to appear as a people consecrated to the Lord, the day that I shall be glorified, by the overthrow of the enemies, saith the Lord God.
v. 14. And they shall sever out men of continual employment, delegating them for just this task, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, some of the men making the search for dead bodies and others attending to their burial, to cleanse it, so that the land would no longer he polluted; after the end of seven months shall they search, to complete the work begun by the entire multitude of people.
v. 15. And the passengers that pass through the land, those delegated to search for dead bodies, when any seeth a man’s bone, the skeleton of one of the slain enemies, then shall he set up a sign by it, a mark or guide-post of stone, till the hurlers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.
v. 16. And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah, that is, "great multitude," or "tumult. " Thus shall they cleanse the land. All these descriptive details are added in order to bring out the complete defeat of the Lord’s enemies in a most vivid manner.
v. 17. And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God, Speak unto every feathered fowl, Cf v. 4, and to every beast of the field, the beasts of prey that follow armies on their campaigns, Assemble yourselves and come; gather yourselves on every side to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, in slaughtering the enemies by this shameful defeat and overthrow, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, the rapacious birds and beasts being invited to the gruesome sacrificial feast, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood.
v. 18. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, for it is in this class of people that the Lord’s enemies are most numerous, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, literally, "great goats," or "he-goats," of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan, this name being applied to the ungodly men of might because the province of Bashan, beyond Jordan, was famed for its fat and strong cattle. Cf Psa 22:12. It is evident that the various animals named represent the various ranks among the hosts of the Lord’s enemies, rulers, leaders of men, as well as common soldiers, those of a lower station in life.
v. 19. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full and drink blood till ye be drunken, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you, the sacrificial feast of God’s fury prepared by the overthrow of His enemies.
v. 20. Thus ye shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God. No matter what means the enemies use in trying to overcome the Church of God, no matter what form their hostility takes, they are powerless before His almighty arm. The vividness of the presentation and the detailed manner of description serve to emphasize the complete overthrow of all those who presume to attack the City of God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh gives Ezekiel his message to Gog.
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son of man
"son of a human being" or "son of humanity." God calls Ezekiel this to emphasize that Ezekiel is only a human being. God is eternal and powerful, but humans are not. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 2:1. AT: "mortal person" or "human"
Behold!
This tells the reader to pay special attention to what follows. AT: "Look!" or "Listen!" or "Pay attention to what I am about to tell you!"
I am against you
"I am your enemy"
chief of Meshech and Tubal
Some modern versions interpret the Hebrew expression as "prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal." This is another title for Gog. See how you translated these names in Ezekiel 38:2-3. AT: "who is the prince of Meshech and Tubal" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
I will turn you and lead you on
God speaks of leading Gog as if Gog was an animal. (See: Metaphor)
bring you up
God speaks of bringing Gog "up" to Israel because it was located in the mountains.
I will knock your bow out of your left hand and make the arrows fall from your right hand.
Knocking Gog's bow and arrows out of his hands is spoken of as if God is destroying Gog's military power. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Son of Man
prophet
Lord Yahweh
Meshech
Tubal
Israel
bow and arrow
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.