23 And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they were unfaithful against me; and I hid my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies, so that they fell all of them by the sword.
And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this great city? And they shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid [his] face from you, that he doth not hear.
And I will not hide my face any more from them, for I shall have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.
And I will bring a sword upon you that avengeth with the vengeance of the covenant, and ye shall be gathered together into your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
And the nations that shall be left round about you shall know that I Jehovah build the ruined places [and] plant that which was desolate: I Jehovah have spoken, and I will do [it].
And I poured out my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. And when they came to the nations whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when it was said of them, These are the people of Jehovah, and they are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations whither ye went. And I will hallow my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I [am] Jehovah, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I shall be hallowed in you before their eyes.
All that pass by clap [their] hands at thee; they hiss and shake their head at the daughter of Jerusalem: Is this the city which they called, The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? All thine enemies open their mouth against thee, they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed [her] up; this is forsooth the day that we looked for: we have found, we have seen [it]. Jehovah hath done what he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word which he had commanded from the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not spared, and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee; he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore is she removed as an impurity: all that honoured her despise her because they have seen her nakedness; and she sigheth, and turneth backward.
And the captain of the body-guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, Jehovah thy God pronounced this evil upon this place, and Jehovah hath brought [it about] and done according as he said; for ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not hearkened unto his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.
And my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, and they will say in that day, Have not these evils befallen me because my God is not in my midst? And I will entirely hide my face in that day for all the evils that they have wrought, because they turned unto other gods.
Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not Jehovah, he against whom we have sinned? And they would not walk in his ways, neither did they hearken unto his law.
And he gave them into the hand of the nations; and they that hated them ruled over them:
Jehovah, by thy favour thou hadst made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face; I was troubled.
And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passes by it; so that he shall say, Why has Jehovah done thus to this land and to this house? And they shall say, Because they forsook Jehovah the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and have attached themselves to other gods, and have worshipped them and served them; therefore he has brought upon them all this evil.
Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cu'shan-rishatha'im king of Mesopota'mia; and the people of Israel served Cu'shan-rishatha'im eight years.
How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Were it not that their Rock had sold them, And Jehovah had delivered them up?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 39
Commentary on Ezekiel 39 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 39
Eze 39:1-29. Continuation of the Prophecy against Gog.
1. Repeated from Eze 38:3, to impress the prophecy more on the mind.
2. leave but the sixth part of thee—Margin, "strike thee with six plagues" (namely, pestilence, blood, overflowing rain, hailstones, fire, brimstone, Eze 38:22); or, "draw thee back with an hook of six teeth" (Eze 38:4), the six teeth being those six plagues. Rather, "lead thee about" [Ludovicus De Dieu and Septuagint]. As Antiochus was led (to his ruin) to leave Egypt for an expedition against Palestine, so shall the last great enemy of God be.
north parts—from the extreme north [Fairbairn].
3. bow—in which the Scythians were most expert.
4, 5. (Compare Eze 39:17-20).
upon the mountains of Israel—The scene of Israel's preservation shall be that of the ungodly foe's destruction.
6. carelessly—in self-confident security.
the isles—Those dwelling in maritime regions, who had helped Gog with fleets and troops, shall be visited with the fire of God's wrath in their own lands.
7. not let them pollute my holy name—by their sins bringing down judgments which made the heathen think that I was unable or unwilling to save My people.
8. it is come … it is done—The prediction of the salvation of My people, and the ruin of their enemy, is come to pass—is done: expressing that the event foretold is as certain as if it were already accomplished.
9, 10. The burning of the foe's weapons implies that nothing belonging to them should be left to pollute the land. The seven years (seven being the sacred number) spent on this work, implies the completeness of the cleansing, and the people's zeal for purity. How different from the ancient Israelites, who left not merely the arms, but the heathen themselves, to remain among them [Fairbairn], (Jud 1:27, 28; 2:2, 3; Ps 106:34-36). The desolation by Antiochus began in the one hundred and forty-first year of the Seleucidæ. From this date to 148, a period of six years and four months ("2300 days," Da 8:14), when the temple-worship was restored (1 Maccabees 4:52), God vouchsafed many triumphs to His people; from this time to the death of Antiochus, early in 149, a period of seven months, the Jews had rest from Antiochus, and purified their land, and on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month celebrated the Encænia, or feast of dedication (Joh 10:22) and purification of the temple. The whole period, in round numbers, was seven years. Mattathias was the patriotic Jewish leader, and his third son, Judas, the military commander under whom the Syrian generals were defeated. He retook Jerusalem and purified the temple. Simon and Jonathan, his brothers, succeeded him: the independence of the Jews was secured, and the crown vested in the Asmonean family, in which it continued till Herod the Great.
11. place … of graves—Gog found only a grave where he had expected the spoils of conquest.
valley—So vast were to be the masses that nothing but a deep valley would suffice for their corpses.
the passengers on the east of the sea—those travelling on the high road, east of the Dead Sea, from Syria to Petra and Egypt. The publicity of the road would cause many to observe God's judgments, as the stench (as English Version translates) or the multitude of graves (as Henderson translates, "it shall stop the passengers") would arrest the attention of passers-by. Their grave would be close to that of their ancient prototypes, Sodom and Gomorrah in the Dead Sea, both alike being signal instances of God's judgments.
13. I … glorified—in destroying the foe (Eze 28:22).
14. with the passengers—The men employed continually in the burying were to be helped by those happening to pass by; all were to combine.
after the end of seven months shall they search—to see if the work was complete [Munster].
15. First "all the people of the land" engaged in the burying for seven months; then special men were employed, at the end of the seven months, to search for any still left unburied. The passers-by helped them by setting up a mark near any such bones, in order to keep others from being defiled by casually touching them, and that the buriers might come and remove them. Denoting the minute care to put away every relic of heathen pollution from the Holy Land.
16. A city in the neighborhood was to receive the name Hamonah, "multitude," to commemorate the overthrow of the multitudes of the foe [Henderson]. The multitude of the slain shall give a name to the city of Jerusalem after the land shall have been cleansed [Grotius]. Jerusalem shall be famed as the conqueror of multitudes.
17. (Re 19:17).
sacrifice—Anciently worshippers feasted on the sacrifices. The birds and beasts of prey are invited to the sacrificial feast provided by God (compare Isa 18:6; 34:6; Zep 1:7; Mr 9:49). Here this sacrifice holds only a subordinate place in the picture, and so is put last. Not only shall their bones lie long unburied, but they shall be stripped of the flesh by beasts and birds of prey.
18. rams … lambs … goats—By these various animal victims used in sacrifices are meant various ranks of men, princes, generals, and soldiers (compare Isa 34:6).
fatlings of Bashan—ungodly men of might (Ps 22:12). Bashan, beyond Jordan, was famed for its fat cattle. Fat implies prosperity which often makes men refractory towards God (De 32:14, 15).
20. my table—the field of battle on the mountains of Israel (Eze 38:8, 20).
chariots—that is, charioteers.
22. So the house of Israel shall know … Lord—by My interposition for them. So, too, the heathen shall be led to fear the name of the Lord (Ps 102:15).
23. hid I my face—(De 31:17; Isa 59:2).
25. bring again the captivity—restore from calamity to prosperity.
the whole house of Israel—so "all Israel" (Ro 11:26). The restorations of Israel heretofore have been partial; there must be one yet future that is to be universal (Ho 1:11).
26. After that they have borne their shame—the punishment of their sin: after they have become sensible of their guilt, and ashamed of it (Eze 20:43; 36:31).
27. sanctified in them—vindicated as holy in My dealings with them.
28. The Jews, having no dominion, settled country, or fixed property to detain them, may return at any time without difficulty (compare Ho 3:4, 5).
29. poured out my Spirit upon … Israel—the sure forerunner of their conversion (Joe 2:28; Zec 12:10). The pouring out of His Spirit is a pledge that He will hide His face no more (2Co 1:22; Eph 1:14; Php 1:6).