Chapter Thirty-Nine

The Destruction of Gog

It has already been predicted at the end of the preceding chapter; but wishing, because of its special importance for the glory of God’s name, to present it in an even more astounding form, the prophet repeats the entire prediction of Gog’s invasion in brief (v. 1–8), in order then to stop exclusively on his destruction; the great spoil obtained from the destruction of the enemy’s army by Israel is described (v. 9–11); since this spoil will be expressed in the multitude of combustible material, the use of it will be properly the purification of the land from the remains of the wicked army, which purification will require the burning of corpses (v. 12–16); after the spoil of Israel from Gog’s troops, the spoil taken from them by beasts of the earth is described (v. 17–20); the depiction of the entire horror of the catastrophe concludes with an indication of its purpose: for the pagans – the revelation of God’s glory (v. 21–24), for Israel – the final restoration of it (v. 25–29).

Ezekiel 39:1. “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! See explanation of Ezek 38:2, which is here shortened, as is natural in repetition.

Ezekiel 39:2. I will turn you around, drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. “I will turn you around” – see explanation of Ezek 38:4. – “I will drive you forward.” Hebrew shishshetikha – a strange form from a verb used nowhere else called shaa, in which is supposed the meaning “to lead by a halter”; the LXX καθοδηγησω, “I will guide,” Vulgate educam; others, supposing the root shesh, “six”: “I will punish you with 6 punishments” (enumerated in Ezek 38:22), or: “I will leave one-sixth of you.” Targ. “I will seduce.” Peshitto: “I will gather.” – “From the uttermost parts of the north” – see explanation of Ezek 38:6. – “Against the mountains of Israel” Ezek 38:8.

Ezekiel 39:3. Then I will knock your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. The Scythians were famous as archers, wherefore Herodotus calls them ἱπποτοξόται (IV, 46); cf. Jer 5:16. “The threat is very concrete: one holds the bow with the left hand and the arrow with the right” (Bertholet). “God will make Gog incapable of fighting” (Tr.).

Ezekiel 39:4. You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to the birds of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Ezekiel 39:5. You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken it, says the Lord God. It is necessary to remember what it meant for an ancient man to be deprived of burial. It is not so in Christianity: St. Nilus of Sorsk bequeathed to throw his body to beasts and birds to be devoured. – “In the open field” – see explanation of Ezek 26:5.

Ezekiel 39:6. And I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands; and they shall know that I am the Lord. The punishment will reach not only the army of Gog that came to the sacred land, but also his country and allies, however distant the lands of the latter might be, even if they were islands or seacoasts (perhaps the shores of the Black Sea, where the Scythians lived). Jehovah, like the pagan gods, is strong not only in his own land. Cf. Amos 1:4 and ff. On the other hand the LXX: “and the islands will be populated with peace,” i.e., the destruction of Gog will make peaceful the land to the most distant countries. – “Fire” must mean war, extermination. – “Dwelling securely,” as Israel dwelt when Gog attacked it: Ezek 38:8.

Ezekiel 39:7. And so I will make known my holy name in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. See explanation of Ezek 36:21. “The Holy One in Israel” – God is recognized and honored as holy by Israel, and in relation to it he chiefly manifests his holiness.

Ezekiel 39:8. Behold, it has come and it has happened, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken. “It has come and it has happened.” An assurance of the immutability of the prediction in view of its special importance and apparent improbability. The LXX more precisely: “behold it has approached (the prediction is so immutable that it may be considered as fulfilled – prophetic past) and you know that it will be” (are there signs of the approaching?). – “Day” in the eschatological sense acquired by the word from Amos 5:18 (see explanation of Ezek 13:5), – the day of God’s final judgment. – “Of which I have spoken” – and here, and earlier through the prophets (Ezek 38:17-18).

Ezekiel 39:9. Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons – shields and spears, bows and arrows, clubs and lances; and they will use them as fuel for seven years. Ezekiel 39:10. They will not need to bring in wood from the field or cut down any from the forests, for they will use the weapons as fuel. They will despoil those who despoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them, says the Lord God. “The immense magnitude of the catastrophe is vividly presented in the multitude of weapons that fell as spoil, compared with which the remaining spoil is thought to be merely accidental” (Smend). Weapons are ordinarily considered the most valuable military spoil, since they can be used in turn against an enemy. But here it is not so: what would Israel do with weapons, when in that glorious future he will not wage wars (see explanation of Ezek 38:11), just as generally on earth there will be no wars then: Isa 9:5), as indeed now the outcome of war was decided for him by God alone. Thus nothing better remains to be done with the weapons than to use them as fuel instead of searching for it in the field (from which they obtained more light material for fuel – “wood”) or in the forests (wood proper), “what is so opportune in a land poor in forests” (Kretschmar). To strengthen the impression the weapons are enumerated in detail, forming with their generic conception 7 (a symbolic number of fullness and infinity) members, corresponding to 7 years of burning it (such a huge amount of it for the whole country for 7 years!). This burning at the same time will also purify the country from the last remnants of the hostile, pagan defilement (cf. v. 14 and Num 31:20). “Coats of mail” – with considerable probability the supposed meaning of Hebrew tzinna, which the LXX and Vulgate transmit “spear,” due to which the latter is named twice (yet again at the end: “lance”). – “Clubs” – literally “sticks of hands,” shepherd’s staffs (Num 22:27), cudgels, which consequently also served as weapons, of course, among the more savage peoples (generally all the weapons here are presented as more wooden than metallic, if it is to serve as fuel). – “And plunder those who plundered them,” as at the exodus from Egypt. – “Says the Lord God,” whose justice requires this vengeance.

Ezekiel 39:11. On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers on the east of the Sea, and it will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried; it shall be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. Gog will find himself a grave in the land where he sought plunder; but this grave will not be sacred like all others, but a place of special abomination. – “A place for a grave in Israel” literally “a place where a grave” (where one could be for him); “where” Hebrew sham, the LXX read shem, name, hence they have “a place specially designated,” “renowned” or more naturally, as we will see immediately, – “so-called,” “named.” – “A grave in Israel” in Hebrew kever-be-Israel. Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky in the work “Megalithic monuments of the Holy Land” (Orthodox Palestine Miscellany, vol. XIV, no. 2, St. Petersburg 1895, p. 281 ff.) draws attention to the coincidence with these words of that name which the dolmens of the northern Transjordan in Palestine have: Qubur beni-Isra’il. In this name beni (“sons”) is a corrupted be (“in”). This place was apparently so called because it served as a cemetery for foreigners on Israelite soil, namely, for those foreigners who died in merchant caravans, passing exactly in those places where these dolmens are located. “The Valley of the Travelers on the east of the Sea.” A locality with such a name “valley of travelers” is unknown. If by the sea one understands the Mediterranean, then such a valley could have been Megiddo, through which passed the main military and trade route between Egypt and the Euphrates; this valley was famous in history as a place of battles (Josiah fell here); but by the sea one cannot understand the Mediterranean, because in that case the land to the east of it would be all Palestine. More naturally by the sea one understands the Dead Sea; and if further one reads “Travelers” as Abarim, then we would receive here an indication of the mountainous region of Abarim with the mountain so dear to the Jews, Nebo (Deut 32:49), lying indeed to the east of the Dead Sea; but that was a mountainous region, not a valley (ge), which is required here. Therefore it is most probable that by the sea one understands with the Targum the Sea of Galilee, and the valley (LXX: πολυανδρίον, Slavonic “multitude-burial,” according to Blessed Jerome a large cemetery) of travelers (otherwise: strangers, caravans) to seek in that part of the adjoining Transjordan, where are located the graves-dolmens, bearing the aforesaid name Qubur-beni-Isra’il. This identification gains still greater strength from the circumstance that it was precisely in these places that most of the Scythians settled, with which there are some grounds to compare Gog, so that around this lake itself a whole city, ancient Bethshan, was renamed Scythopolis. This locality is suitable for Gog’s burial also in that it lies outside the sacred land of the future (which according to chapters XLVII and XLVIII extends only to the Jordan), so that the grave of Gog would not at all defile the sacred land, of which the prophet is so concerned here. The LXX have: “multitude-burial (see above) of those coming on the east of the sea,” i.e., according to Blessed Theodoret: where is buried a multitude of those who attacked the land from the east, i.e., the Assyrians. “And it shall block the travelers.” Prof. Olesnitsky draws attention (cit. work p. 283) to the fact that on the main caravan road of Transjordan, the so-called “royal road,” going from the Sea of Galilee to Damascus, at the place where this road crosses the bridge of the stream er-Rukad, and where this already obstructs the path of passing caravans, we encounter a huge field of dolmen-tombs, stretching for many miles on either side of the road, protruding to the very road and in the literal sense blocking it. Less probable is such an explanation: “to block” Hebrew hosemeth is used in Deut 25:4 of preventing a threshing ox from using grain, i.e., of muzzling him; on this basis the word is here given the meaning of stopping the breath and nose; the valley will cause travelers to stop their breath from the stench. The LXX, reading somewhat differently, have: “and they will block the entrance to the ravine,” i.e., “in order to make this valley more like a tomb and separate it from the sacred land” (Hitzig). – “The Valley of Hamon-gog” the LXX: “multitude-burial” (a large cemetery) πολυανδρίον of Gog; Hebrew gey-hamon-Gog. In Latin, the multitude could be transmitted “legio” (Hengstenberg); but more precisely it is transmitted as Russian “horde” (Olesnitsky, ibid.).

Ezekiel 39:12. “For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. A corpse defiles (Ezek 44:25), much more the corpse of an unclean heathen. The sole purpose of this burial thus is the cleansing of the land. And the latter is necessary for the possibility of performing on the future sacred land a godly worship and the preservation of God’s blessing upon it. Here again appears the number “7”: v. 9, but already months, not years: 7 months of burial indicates a sufficiently horrible quantity of corpses.

Ezekiel 39:13. All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day when I show my glory, says the Lord God. The work of burying the corpses, more precisely – their removal from the earth’s surface – is entrusted, of course, not to priests, whom the law carefully preserves from the defilement obtained in this way (Ezek 44:25), but to the “common people” (“the people of the land” – see explanation of Ezek 7:27) of the theocratic state of the end times. The people will have to engage in this work. Since the people accomplish by this the cleansing of the sacred land (see explanation of the preceding verse), the work will constitute a means of glorification for its performers (“and it will bring them renown on the day,” Slavonic “and it will be memorable for them”); it will make the people partakers in the glory of the victory over Gog, which will be the work properly only of God himself.

Ezekiel 39:14. They will set apart men regularly employed to pass through the land and, with the help of those who pass by, to bury any travelers’ bones remaining on the surface of the ground, so as to cleanse it; at the end of seven months they will make their search. And “all the people of the land” even in 7 months will not be able to manage such an enormous task (so many will have fallen). Therefore it is necessary to appoint (literally “separate”) a kind of special “commission” (Kretschmar; anoshei tamid, “men constantly”) for the final cleansing of the land from all dead remains of unclean heathen. – “With the help of those who pass by” – not those mentioned in v. 11, but those of whom there will be speech in v. 15 under the name “those passing through the land,” i.e., men specially appointed to search for corpses and bones; wherefore one should translate not “those who pass by,” but “those passing through,” “searchers,” “scouts.” The LXX do not read this at all.

Ezekiel 39:15. When any of those who pass through the land see a human bone, they shall set up a sign by it till the burriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. And after 7 months – matters, if not with the corpses of enemies, then already with dried-up skeletons (“bones”) of them, will be so abundant that the work will have to be divided among people, who would only search for bones, and such who would bury, inter them. This is because it is necessary to remove all unclean remains from the land, striving, lest somewhere a hidden bone defile the sacred land, as leavened bread during Passover defiles a house. “Sign” – translated according to the LXX (“sign”) and the Vulgate (titulus), the later Hebrew tziun, found also in 2 Sam 23:17; Jer 31:21. “Now in the deserts of Syria and Arabia, where sand covers road paths, small road-indicating piles of stones are heaped,” probably in ancient Palestine special constructions of stones “marked suspicious places requiring attention and care” (Olesnitsky A. A. cit. work 109); – in the present case the indicative stone could warn of possible defilement. – “In the Valley of Hamon-gog” – see explanation of v. 11.

Ezekiel 39:16. And the name of the city shall be Hamona [a multitude]. So they shall cleanse the land. From the place of burying the army of Gog, a city in that location or rather neighboring it will be named (cf. Isa 19:18). “Hamona” from Hebrew hamon, multitude (“legion” see explanation of v. 11) with the addition of a feminine ending. It is possible that under the influence of this passage of Ezekiel, Bethshan (to the west, indeed, of the Jordan, not to the east, as would be needed here based on v. 11) was called Scythopolis in memory of a Scythian attack in the 7th century B.C. LXX: “a burial place of many corpses” (a free translation). Thanks to the combination of all unclean remains in one Hamona, the entire holy land of the future will become pure.

Ezekiel 39:17. And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, tell every kind of bird and all the beasts of the field: gather and come, from all sides assemble to My sacrifice, which I will slay for you, to the great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel; and you will eat flesh and drink blood. The magnitude of the catastrophe is depicted now in a different image—in the picture of corpses being devoured by birds of prey and beasts. Such devouring, of course, may occur before the burial described earlier and the removal from the holy land, which would require considerable time. This eating of corpses by animals is presented in the form of a sacrificial feast (“My sacrifice”), because originally in ancient times each sacrifice was accompanied by a feast from its remains (1 Sam 9:13; 2 Sam 6:19; Nehem 8:10), by which the closest union between the one making the sacrifice and the Godhead was expressed. To this feast Jehovah himself, as his guests (collaborators in the work of destroying enemies), summons the birds and beasts, now summoning them through the prophet: so this is undoubtedly still a rather distant event. The sacrifice with its feast will take place in the mountainous land of Israel, “upon the mountains of Israel,” as in ancient times sacrifices were offered especially on mountains (“high places”). Perhaps in memory of ancient sacrificial customs is also the invitation to “drink blood” of the sacrifice (not only to eat its meat), as the Godhead was represented as tasting the blood of the sacrifice through its necessary shedding upon the earth or stone. The image of a sacrificial feast with such significance is beloved and frequent in the Old Testament: Ezek 21:15; Isa 34:6; Zeph 1:7; Jer 12:9; Cf. Mark 9:44; Rev 19:17 and so on.

Ezekiel 39:18. The flesh of mighty men you shall eat, and you shall drink the blood of princes of the earth, of rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all fattened on Bashan; The bloody feast appears all the more honorable and pleasant because, besides common people, the great and princes (kings) will be slain for it. All kinds of sacrificial animals are enumerated to depict the various classes of society from which Gog’s army consisted. “Rams” are placed apart from lambs and in the first place, as leaders of the flock. The LXX do not mention sheep twice, but bulls three times: “rams and bulls and goats and bulls” (in Greek both times μοσχοι). “Fattened on Bashan”—see explanation Ezek 27:6—rich and mighty. The LXX do not read Bashan.

Ezekiel 39:19. and you shall eat fat to satiety and drink blood to drunkenness from My sacrifice, which I will slay for you. The luxury of the feast, which here equals its horror, is depicted with special force by the fact that the guests will be drunk from blood. That at sacrificial feasts people came to excess is witnessed by 1 Sam 1:13; Isa 28:8.

Ezekiel 39:20. And you shall be satisfied at My table with horses and riders, mighty men and all the men of war, says the Lord God. The mountains filled with the corpses of the defeated army are represented as a banqueting table. The prophet, as it were, cannot part with the image, introducing final additions to it here.

Ezekiel 39:21. And I will set My glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid upon them. “Among the nations”—is more in accord with the context than “in you” of the LXX. “All the nations”—In the person of Gog, judgment (and destruction) was carried out upon all heathen nations, since he is their representative. “My hand, which I have laid”—destruction.

Ezekiel 39:22. And the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from this day forward. “And shall know,” thanks to the intercession on its behalf.

Ezekiel 39:23. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel was taken into captivity for their iniquity; because they dealt faithlessly with Me, therefore I hid My face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. “For their iniquity,” not due to the weakness of Jehovah to deliver Israel from enemies. “I hid My face from them.” Deut 31:18.

Ezekiel 39:24. According to their uncleanness and their transgressions I did this to them, and I hid My face from them. “Uncleanness” and “transgressions” probably, as everywhere in Ezekiel, represent two kinds of sins: religious (idolatry) and moral; see explanation Ezek 36:17 and others.

Ezekiel 39:25. Therefore thus says the Lord God: now I will restore the captivity of Jacob, and will have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be zealous for My holy name. The significance of Gog’s defeat for Israel is described, which speech returns to the main subject of this part of the book—the restoration of Israel and makes the transition to chapters XL-XLVIII. “Will be zealous for My holy name”—see explanation Ezek 36:21.

Ezekiel 39:26. And they shall bear their shame and all the transgressions which they have committed against Me, when they dwell in their land in security, and no one makes them afraid, See explanation Ezek 16:63.

Ezekiel 39:27. when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the lands of their enemies, and have shown My holiness in them before the eyes of many nations. Israel, like the heathen, could doubt the power of Jehovah in view of its captivity and dispersion: the return from this captivity will finally restore in Israel a correct and firm understanding of God, the honor (holiness) of His name.

Ezekiel 39:28. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, when, after scattering them among the nations, I gather them again into their own land and leave none of them there anymore; “The trials of Israel, as also the benefits received by it from God, will raise its thought to God and will show it that everything happening to it occurs according to God’s will” (Thr.). “After scattering them among the nations.” LXX: “when I appear to them among the nations.” “And leave none of them there anymore.” “After the fall of Babylon all Israelites could return to their country, and those who voluntarily remained in exile had, at least in Canaan, their fatherland, and in the temple of Jerusalem a place for their worship” (Heng.).

Ezekiel 39:29. and I will not hide My face from them anymore, for I will pour out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God. Through the influence of God’s Spirit upon Israel, the latter will gain the ability to live in strict accordance with God’s will (Ezek 11:19-20), sin will have no more place, so God will not need to turn His angry face away from Israel. Thus this verse is a good transition to chapters XL-XLVIII, which lay out precisely those demands of God’s will in which Israel will walk in the theocracy of the end of times and which will make it inviolably blessed. “For I will pour out My Spirit.” LXX: “for I poured out My wrath”—apparently should be according to Lam 4:22; Isa 40:2, but against the context.