17 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Art thou he of whom I spake in former days, By the hand of My servants, prophets of Israel, Who are prophesying in those days -- years, To bring thee in against them?
Come near, ye nations, to hear, And ye peoples, give attention, Hear doth the earth and its fulness, The world, and all its productions. For wrath `is' to Jehovah against all the nations, And fury against all their host, He hath devoted them to destruction, He hath given them to slaughter. And their wounded are cast out, And their carcases cause their stench to ascend, And melted have been mountains from their blood. And consumed have been all the host of the heavens, And rolled together as a book have been the heavens, And all their hosts do fade, As the fading of a leaf of a vine, And as the fading one of a fig-tree. For soaked in the heavens was My sword, Lo, on Edom it cometh down, On the people of My curse for judgment. A sword `is' to Jehovah -- it hath been full of blood, It hath been made fat with fatness, With blood of lambs and he-goats. With fat of kidneys of rams, For a sacrifice `is' to Jehovah in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
`Who `is' this coming from Edom? With dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is honourable in his clothing, Travelling in the abundance of his power?' -- `I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.' `Wherefore `is' thy clothing red? And thy garments as treading in a wine fat?' -- `A wine-press I have trodden by myself, And of the peoples there is no one with me, And I tread them in mine anger, And I trample them in my fury, Sprinkled is their strength on my garments, And all my clothing I have polluted. For the day of vengeance `is' in my heart, And the year of my redeemed hath come. And I look attentively, and there is none helping, And I am astonished that there is none supporting, And give salvation to me doth mine own arm. And my wrath -- it hath supported me. And I tread down peoples in mine anger, And I make them drunk in my fury, And I bring down to earth their strength.
Proclaim ye this among nations, Sanctify a war, stir up the mighty ones, Come nigh, come up, let all the men of war. Beat your ploughshares to swords, And your pruning-hooks to javelins, Let the weak say, `I `am' mighty.' Haste, and come in, all ye nations round, And be gathered together, Thither cause to come down, O Jehovah, Thy mighty ones. Wake and come up let the nations unto the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I sit to judge all the nations around. Send ye forth a sickle, For ripened hath harvest, Come in, come down, for filled hath been the press, Overflowed hath wine-presses, For great `is' their wickedness. Multitudes, multitudes `are' in the valley of decision, For near `is' the day of Jehovah in the valley of decision.
The Lord on thy right hand smote kings In the day of His anger. He doth judge among the nations, He hath completed the carcases, Hath smitten the head over the mighty earth.
Thus said the Lord Jehovah: And it hath come to pass in that day, Come up do things on thy heart, And thou hast thought an evil thought, And thou hast said: I go up against a land of unwalled villages, I go in to those at rest, dwelling confidently, All of them are dwelling without walls, And bar and doors they have not.
`And at the time of the end, push himself forward with him doth a king of the south, and storm against him doth a king of the north, with chariot, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he hath come in to the lands, and hath overflowed, and passed over, and hath come into the desirable land, and many do stumble, and these escape from his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon. `And he sendeth forth his hand upon the lands, and the land of Egypt is not for an escape; and he hath ruled over treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the desirable things of Egypt, and Lubim and Cushim `are' at his steps. `And reports trouble him out of the east and out of the north, and he hath gone forth in great fury to destroy, and to devote many to destruction; and he planteth the tents of his palace between the seas and the holy desirable mountain, and hath come unto his end, and there is no helper to him.
Lo, I am making Jerusalem a cup of reeling To all the peoples round about, And also against Judah it is, In the siege against Jerusalem. And it hath come to pass, in that day, I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all the peoples, All loading it are completely pressed down, And gathered against it have been all nations of the earth. In that day -- an affirmation of Jehovah, I do smite every horse with astonishment, And its rider with madness, And on the house of Judah I open My eyes, And every horse of the peoples I smite with blindness. And leaders of Judah have said in their heart, `Strength to me `are' the inhabitants of Jerusalem, In Jehovah of Hosts their God.' In that day I make the leaders of Judah As a hearth of fire among trees, And as a torch of fire in a sheaf, And they have consumed -- on the right and on the left -- all the peoples round about, And Jerusalem hath inhabited again her place in Jerusalem. And saved hath Jehovah the tents of Judah first, So that become not great against Judah Doth the beauty of the house of David, And the beauty of the inhabitant of Jerusalem. In that day cover over doth Jehovah the inhabitant of Jerusalem, And the stumbling among them hath been in that day as David, And the house of David as God -- As a messenger of Jehovah -- before them.
Lo, a day hath come to Jehovah, And divided hath been thy spoil in thy midst. And I have gathered all the nations unto Jerusalem to battle, And captured hath been the city, And spoiled have been the houses, And the women are lain with, Gone forth hath half the city in a removal, And the remnant of the people are not cut off from the city. And gone forth hath Jehovah, And He hath fought against those nations, As in the day of His fighting in a day of conflict. And stood have His feet, in that day, On the mount of Olives, That `is' before Jerusalem eastward, And cleft hath been the mount of Olives at its midst, To the east, and to the west, a very great valley, And removed hath the half of the mount towards the north. And its half towards the south. And ye have fled `to' the valley of My mountains, For join doth the valley of the mountains to Azal, And ye have fled as ye fled before the shaking, In the days of Uzziah king of Judah, And come in hath Jehovah my God, All holy ones `are' with Thee. And it hath come to pass, in that day, The precious light is not, it is dense darkness, And there hath been one day, It is known to Jehovah, not day nor night, And it hath been at evening-time -- there is light. And it hath come to pass, in that day, Go forth do living waters from Jerusalem, Half of them unto the eastern sea, And half of them unto the western sea, In summer and in winter it is. And Jehovah hath become king over all the land, In that day there is one Jehovah, and His name one. Changed is all the land as a plain, From Gebo to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, And she hath been high, and hath dwelt in her place, Even from the gate of Benjamin To the place of the first gate, unto the front gate, And from the tower of Hananeel, Unto the wine-vats of the king. And they have dwelt in her, And destruction is no more, And Jerusalem hath dwelt confidently. And this is the plague with which Jehovah Doth plague all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem, He hath consumed away its flesh, And it is standing on its feet, And its eyes are consumed in their holes, And its tongue is consumed in their mouth. And it hath come to pass, in that day, A great destruction `from' Jehovah is among them, And they have seized each the hand of his neighbour, And gone up hath his hand against the hand of his neighbour. And also Judah is fought with in Jerusalem, And gathered hath been the force of all the nations round about, Gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so is the plague of the horse, of the mule, Of the camel, and of the ass, And of all the cattle that are in these camps, As this plague. And it hath come to pass, Every one who hath been left of all the nations, Who are coming in against Jerusalem, They have also gone up from year to year, To bow themselves to the King, Jehovah of Hosts, And to celebrate the feast of the booths. And it hath come to pass, That he who doth not go up of the families of the land unto Jerusalem, To bow himself to the King, Jehovah of Hosts, Even on them there is no shower. And if the family of Egypt go not up, nor come in, Then not on them is the plague With which Jehovah doth plague the nations That go not up to celebrate the feast of booths. This is the punishment of the sin of Egypt, And the punishment of the sin of all the nations, That go not up to celebrate the feast of booths. In that day there is on bells of the horse, `Holy to Jehovah,' And the pots in the house of Jehovah Have been as bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem, and in Judah, Have been holy to Jehovah of Hosts, And all those sacrificing have come in, And have taken of them, and boiled in them, And there is no merchant any more in the house of Jehovah of Hosts in that day!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 38
Commentary on Ezekiel 38 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 38
Eze 38:1-23. The Assault of Gog, and God's Judgment on Him.
The objections to a literal interpretation of the prophecy are—(1) The ideal nature of the name Gog, which is the root of Magog, the only kindred name found in Scripture or history. (2) The nations congregated are selected from places most distant from Israel, and from one another, and therefore most unlikely to act in concert (Persians and Libyans, &c.). (3) The whole spoil of Israel could not have given a handful to a tithe of their number, or maintained the myriads of invaders a single day (Eze 38:12, 13). (4) The wood of their invaders' weapons was to serve for fuel to Israel for seven years! And all Israel were to take seven months in burying the dead! Supposing a million of Israelites to bury each two corpses a day, the aggregate buried in the hundred eighty working days of the seven months would be three hundred sixty millions of corpses! Then the pestilential vapors from such masses of victims before they were all buried! What Israelite could live in such an atmosphere? (5) The scene of the Lord's controversy here is different from that in Isa 34:6, Edom, which creates a discrepancy. (But probably a different judgment is alluded to). (6) The gross carnality of the representation of God's dealings with His adversaries is inconsistent with Messianic times. It therefore requires a non-literal interpretation. The prophetical delineations of the divine principles of government are thrown into the familiar forms of Old Testament relations. The final triumph of Messiah's truth over the most distant and barbarous nations is represented as a literal conflict on a gigantic scale, Israel being the battlefield, ending in the complete triumph of Israel's anointed King, the Saviour of the world. It is a prophetical parable [Fairbairn]. However, though the details are not literal, the distinctiveness in this picture, characterizing also parallel descriptions in writers less ideally picturesque than Ezekiel, gives probability to a more definite and generally literal interpretation. The awful desolations caused in Judea by Antiochus Epiphanes, of Syria (1 Maccabees; and Porphyry, quoted by Jerome on Ezekiel), his defilement of Jehovah's temple by sacrificing swine and sprinkling the altar with the broth, and setting up the altar of Jupiter Olympius, seem to be an earnest of the final desolations to be caused by Antichrist in Israel, previous to His overthrow by the Lord Himself, coming to reign (compare Da 8:10-26; 11:21-45; 12:1; Zec 13:9; 14:2, 3). Grotius explains Gog as a name taken from Gyges, king of Lydia; and Magog as Syria, in which was a city called Magog [Pliny, 5.28]. What Ezekiel stated more generally, Re 20:7-9 states more definitely as to the anti-Christian confederacy which is to assail the beloved city.
2. Gog—the prince of the land of Magog. The title was probably a common one of the kings of the country, as "Pharaoh" in Egypt. Chakan was the name given by the Northern Asiatics to their king, and is still a title of the Turkish sultan: "Gog" may be a contraction of this. In Ezekiel's time a horde of northern Asiatics, termed by the Greeks "Scythians," and probably including the Moschi and Tibareni, near the Caucasus, here ("Meshech … Tubal") undertook an expedition against Egypt [Herodotus, 1.103-106]. These names might be adopted by Ezekiel from the historical fact familiar to men at the time, as ideal titles for the great last anti-Christian confederacy.
Magog—(Ge 10:2; 1Ch 1:5). The name of a land belonging to Japheth's posterity. Maha, in Sanskrit, means "land." Gog is the ideal political head of the region. In Re 20:8, Gog and Magog are two peoples.
the chief prince—rather, "prince of Rosh," or "Rhos" [Septuagint]. The Scythian Tauri in the Crimea were so called. The Araxes also was called "Rhos." The modern Russians may have hence assumed their name, as Moscow and Tobolsk from Meshech and Tubal, though their proper ancient name was Slavi, or Wends. Hengstenberg supports English Version, as "Rosh" is not found in the Bible. "Magog was Gog's original kingdom, though he acquired also Meshech and Tubal, so as to be called their chief prince."
3. His high-sounding titles are repeated to imply the haughty self-confidence of the invader as if invincible.
4. turn thee back—as a refractory wild beast, which thinks to take its own way, but is bent by a superior power to turn on a course which must end in its destruction. Satan shall be, by overruling Providence, permitted to deceive them to their ruin (Re 20:7, 8).
hooks into thy jaws—(Eze 29:4; 2Ki 19:28).
5. Persia … Libya—expressly specified by Appian as supplying the ranks of Antiochus' army.
6. Gomer—the Celtic Cimmerians of Crim-Tartary.
Togarmah—the Armenians of the Caucasus, south of Iberia.
7. Irony. Prepare thee and all thine with all needful accoutrements for war—that ye may perish together.
be … a guard unto them—that is, if thou canst.
8. thou shall be visited—in wrath, by God (Isa 29:6). Probably there is allusion to Isa 24:21, 22, "The host of the high ones … shall be gathered … as prisoners … in the pit … and after many days shall they be visited." I therefore prefer English Version to Grotius rendering, "Thou shalt get the command" of the expedition. The "after many days" is defined by "in the latter years," that is, in the times just before the coming of Messiah, namely, under Antiochus, before His first coming; under Antichrist, before His second coming.
the mountains of Israel … always waste—that is, waste during the long period of the captivity, the earnest of the much longer period of Judea's present desolation (to which the language "always waste" more fully applies). This marks the impious atrocity of the act, to assail God's people, who had only begun to recover from their protracted calamities.
but it is brought … and they shall dwell—rather, "And they (the Israelites) were brought … dwelt safely" [Fairbairn]. English Version means, "Against Israel, which has been waste, but which (that is, whose people) is now (at the time of the invasion) brought forth out of the nations where they were dispersed, and shall be found by the invader dwelling securely, so as to seem an easy prey to him."
9. cloud to cover the land—with the multitude of thy forces.
10. an evil thought—as to attacking God's people in their defenseless state.
11. dwell safely—that is, securely, without fear of danger (compare Es 9:19). Antiochus, the type of Antichrist, took Jerusalem without a blow.
12. midst of the land—literally, "the navel" of the land (Jud 9:37, Margin). So, in Eze 5:5, Israel is said to be set "in the midst of the nations"; not physically, but morally, a central position for being a blessing to the world: so (as the favored or "beloved city," Re 20:9) an object of envy. Grotius translates, "In the height of the land" (so Eze 38:8), "the mountains of Israel," Israel being morally elevated above the rest of the world.
13. Sheba, &c.—These mercantile peoples, though not taking an active part against the cause of God, are well pleased to see others do it. Worldliness makes them ready to deal in the ill-gotten spoil of the invaders of God's people. Gain is before godliness with them (1 Maccabees 3:41).
young lions—daring princes and leaders.
14. shalt thou not know it?—to thy cost, being visited with punishment, while Israel dwells safely.
16. I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me—So in Ex 9:16, God tells Pharaoh, "For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee My power; and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth."
17. thou he of whom I have spoken in old time—Gog, &c. are here identified with the enemies spoken of in other prophecies (Nu 24:17-24; Isa 27:1; compare Isa 26:20, 21; Jer 30:23, 24; Joe 3:1; Mic 5:5, 6; Isa 14:12-14; 59:19). God is represented as addressing Gog at the time of his assault; therefore, the "old time" is the time long prior, when Ezekiel uttered these prophecies; so, he also, as well as Daniel (Da 11:1-45) and Zechariah (Zec 14:1-21) are included among "the prophets of Israel" here.
many years—ago.
18. fury shall come up in my face—literally, "nose"; in Hebrew, the idiomatic expression for anger, as men in anger breathe strongly through the nostrils. Anthropopathy: God stooping to human modes of thought (Ps 18:8).
19. great shaking—an earthquake: physical agitations after accompanying social and moral revolutions. Foretold also in Joe 3:16; (compare Hag 2:6, 7; Mt 24:7, 29; Re 16:18).
20. fishes—disturbed by the fleets which I will bring.
fowls, &c.—frightened at the sight of so many men: an ideal picture.
mountains—that is, the fortresses on the mountains.
steep places—literally, "stairs" (So 2:14); steep terraces for vines on the sides of hills, to prevent the earth being washed down by the rains.
every wall—of towns.
21. every man's sword … against his brother—I will destroy them partly by My people's sword, partly by their swords being turned against one another (compare 2Ch 20:23).
22. plead—a forensic term; because God in His inflictions acts on the principles of His own immutable justice, not by arbitrary impulse (Isa 66:16; Jer 25:31).
blood … hailstones, fire—(Re 8:7; 16:21). The imagery is taken from the destruction of Sodom and the plagues of Egypt (compare Ps 11:6). Antiochus died by "pestilence" (2 Maccabees 9:5).