Ezekiel Thirty Nine

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

Ezekiel 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:

Ezekiel 39:2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:

Ezekiel 39:3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.

Ezekiel 39:4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

Ezekiel 39:5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 39:6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

a fire on Magog. The earthquake, evidently accompanied by volcanic eruptions and great fires set by violent electrical storms (note also Psalm 83:14, 15, which also speaks of judgment on the confederacy attacking Israel), will affect the country of Magog and other ungodly nations. In particular, the nations that have attacked Israel will be so devastated that they can never recover to be influential in world affairs again.

Ezekiel 39:7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

my holy name known. The nation of Israel will never henceforth be controlled by atheists or pantheists, even though not yet willing to accept Jesus as Messiah.

Ezekiel 39:8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

Ezekiel 39:9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:

cities of Israel. Remarkably, the earthquake and the storm will be so providentially controlled by the Lord that it will destroy Gog's armies while leaving the cities of Israel virtually unaffected. No wonder the people of Israel and the other nations recognize the hand of God.

seven years. The inhabitants of Israel will be able to use the burnable parts of the army's weapons as their fuel for seven years—possibly the same seven-year period as that described in Daniel 9:27, Revelation 11:3, see note; Revelation 13:5, see note.

Ezekiel 39:10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 39:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.

Ezekiel 39:12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.

Ezekiel 39:13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 39:14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.

Ezekiel 39:15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.

Ezekiel 39:16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.

Ezekiel 39:17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.

Ezekiel 39:18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

princes of the earth. Compare this passage (Ezekiel 39:17-20) with Revelation 19:17-21. The two “suppers” for the birds of the air are described in such similar terms as to suggest the same event. Both will involve not just the “northern confederacy” of Gog and Magog but “the princes of the earth.” However, the Armageddon slaughter described in Revelation will take place at the end of the seven-year tribulation period, which seems to indicate that the slaughter in this passage may follow the seven-year period mentioned in Ezekiel 39:9, being much greater than the destruction of Gog and Magog described in Ezekiel 38:18-39:4, which occurs at least seven years earlier. There is still another invasion by “Gog and Magog” that will take place a thousand years later (see Revelation 20:7-9), but this will terminate in the fiery disintegration of the earth itself.

Ezekiel 39:19 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.

Ezekiel 39:20 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.

Ezekiel 39:21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

Ezekiel 39:22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.

Ezekiel 39:23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.

Ezekiel 39:24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.

Ezekiel 39:25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;

Ezekiel 39:26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.

Ezekiel 39:27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;

Ezekiel 39:28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.

Ezekiel 39:29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

poured out my spirit. This long-promised regeneration of the nation of Israel by the Holy Spirit will take place only when the nation accepts Jesus as her Messiah, repenting and mourning over their twenty-century rejection of Him (Zechariah 12:10; 13:1). This will follow the defeat of Gog (Ezekiel 38:18-39:8), then seven years of belief by Israel in the God of creation while still rejecting Christ (Ezekiel 39:9-16), finally by the great Armageddon slaughter of “the princes of the earth” (Ezekiel 39:17-24) and the full return and salvation of Israel when Christ descends to the earth in triumph (Ezekiel 39:25-29; Zechariah 14:4, 9; Romans 11:26-27; Matthew 24:27-31; Revelation 19:11-21).