Ezekiel 39 commentary

EZEKIEL 39 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1 “Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say:
‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am
against you, Gog, chief prince of[a] Meshek and
Tubal.
BARNES, "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.
GILL, "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.
HENRY 1-7, “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
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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
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it is in vain for the greatest potentates to contend with him; none ever hardened their
heart against him and prospered.
JAMISON, "Eze_39:1-29. Continuation of the prophecy against Gog.
Repeated from Eze_38:3, to impress the prophecy more on the mind.
K&D 1-8, “Further Description of the Judgment to Fall upon Gog and his Hosts
Eze_39:1-8. General announcement of his destruction. - Eze_39:1. And thou, son of
man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal
with thee, Gog, thou prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. Eze_39:2. I will mislead thee,
and conduct thee, and cause thee to come up from the uttermost north, and bring thee
to the mountains of Israel; Eze_39:3. And will smite thy bow from thy left hand, and
cause thine arrows to fall from thy right hand. Eze_39:4. Upon the mountains of Israel
wilt thou fall, thou and all thy hosts, and the peoples which are with thee: I give thee for
food to the birds of prey of every plumage, and to the beasts of the field. Eze_39:5.
Upon the open field shalt thou fall, for I have spoken it, is the saying of the Lord
Jehovah. Eze_39:6. And I will send fire in Magog, and among those who dwell in
security upon the islands, that they may know that I am Jehovah. Eze_39:7. I will
make known my holy name in the midst of my people Israel, and will not let my holy
name be profaned any more, that the nations may know that I am Jehovah, holy in
Israel. Eze_39:8. Behold, it comes and happens, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah; this
is the day of which I spoke. - The further description of the judgment with which Gog
and his hosts are threatened in Eze_38:21-23, commences with a repetition of the
command to the prophet to prophesy against Gog (Eze_39:1, cf. Eze_38:2-3). The
principal contents of Eze_38:4-15 are then briefly summed up in Eze_39:2. ‫י‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ב‬ ַ‫,שֹׁב‬ as
in Eze_38:4, is strengthened by ‫י‬ ִ‫ת‬ֵ‫שּׁ‬ ִ‫,שׁ‬ ‫,שׁשׁא‬ ἁπαχ λεγ.., is not connected with ‫שׁ‬ֵ‫שׁ‬ in
the sense of “I leave a sixth part of thee remaining,” or afflict thee with six punishments;
but in the Ethiopic it signifies to proceed, or to climb, and here, accordingly, it is used in
the sense of leading on (lxx καθοδηγήσω σε, or, according to another reading, κατάξω;
Vulg. educam). For Eze_39:2, compare Eze_38:15 and Eze_38:8. In the land of Israel,
God will strike his weapons out of his hands, i.e., make him incapable of fighting (for the
fact itself, compare the similar figures in Psa_37:15; Psa_46:10), and give him up with
all his army as a prey to death. ‫ט‬ִ‫י‬ַ‫,ע‬ a beast of prey, is more precisely defined by ‫ר‬ ‫פּ‬ ִ‫,צ‬
and still further strengthened by the genitive ‫ָף‬‫נ‬ָ‫ל־כּ‬ָ‫:כּ‬ birds of prey of every kind. The
judgment will not be confined to the destruction of the army of Gog, which has invaded
the land of Israel, but (Eze_39:6) will also extend to the land of Gog, and to all the
heathen nations that are dwelling in security. ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫,א‬ fire, primarily the fire of war; then, in
a further sense, a figure denoting destruction inflicted directly by God, as in Eze_38:22,
which is therefore represented in Rev_20:9 as fire falling from heaven. Magog is the
population of the land of Magog (Eze_38:2). With this the inhabitants of the distant
coastlands of the west (the ‫יּים‬ ִ‫)א‬ are associated, as representatives of the remotest
heathen nations. Eze_39:7, Eze_39:8. By this judgment the Lord will make known His
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holy name in Israel, and show the heathen that He will not let it be blasphemed by them
any more. For the fact itself, compare Eze_36:20. For Eze_39:8, compare Eze_21:12,
and for ‫ם‬ ‫יּ‬ ַ‫,ה‬ see Eze_38:18-19.
COFFMAN, “"And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the
Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and
Tubal: and I will turn thee about, and I will lead thee on, and will cause thee to
come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring thee upon the
mountains of Israel; and I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause
thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of
Israel, thou, and all thy hordes, and the peoples that are with thee: I will give thee
unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
Thou shalt fall upon the open field; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
And I will send a fire on Magog, and on them that dwell securely in the isles; and
they shall know that I am Jehovah. And my holy name will I make known in the
midst of my people Israel; neither will I suffer my holy name to be profaned any
more: and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel. Behold,
it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord Jehovah; this is the day whereof I
have spoken."
RECAPITULATION OF THE JUDGMENT OF GOG (Ezekiel 39:1-8)
Practically all of the previous chapter is repeated here, namely, Ezekiel 39:2-4,14-17,
and Ezekiel 18-22. "The writer is describing not a second invasion by Gog but the
same events from a different perspective. He especially elaborates the numbers of
the enemy, shown by the quantity of weapons left behind and the long time required
to bury the dead."
As Skinner stated it, "These chapters anticipate a world-judgment as the final scene
of history."[16] This obvious certainty relative to the meaning of these chapters
leads to the deductions that the mention of firewood for seven years and the
required time for burying the dead are both inert features of the prophecy, designed
to indicate the numbers of Gog's host and nothing else.
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"I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field
to be devoured ..." (Ezekiel 39:4). This corresponds to the judgment scene given in
Revelation 19:17,18, in which the mighty angel of God invites the birds and beasts to
the "Great Supper of God"!
"And my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will
I suffer my holy name to be profaned any more ..." (Ezekiel 39: 7). This is an
astounding statement, and it explains everything else in the prophecy. Why would it
be necessary for God to make his name known in the midst of his people Israel?
Simply because the Israel of that final period will no longer know the name of God
in any real understanding of it. They shall have ignored God's Word, contradicted
it, perverted it, mistranslated it, gone beyond it, forgotten and profaned it to the
extent that the Final Judgment itself would he necessary to make known to the
apostate Second Israel of that day even the holy Church of the Messiah, such an
elementary thing as the name of God.
It was impossible, really, that Ezekiel could have recognized the complete meaning
of such a prophecy as this.
ELLICOTT, “This chapter is a continuation of the preceding, and contains the two
latter parts of the prophecy (Ezekiel 39:1-29). It opens with a brief summary of the
earlier part of Ezekiel 38.
EXCURSUS G: ON CHAPTERS 38 AND 39.
Various indications of the nature and intent of this prophecy have been already
given in commenting upon its verses in detail, but it is desirable to gather up these
indications and combine them with others of a more general character.
It is not at all unlikely that the starting-point of the prophecy may have been in
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some recent events, such as the Scythian invasion already spoken of. It is also plain
that a prophecy of such a general character, concerning the struggle of worldliness
against the kingdom of God, and its final overthrow, may have had many partial
fulfilments of a literal kind, such as in the contest between the Maccabees and
Antiochus Epiphanes, because such struggles must always be incidents in the
greater and wider contest. It is further evident from the prophecy itself that the
restoration of the Jews to their own land, then not far distant, was constantly before
the mind of the prophet, and formed in some sort the point of view from which he
looked out upon the wider and more spiritual blessings of the distant future. But
these things being understood, there are several clear indications that he did not
confine his view in this prophecy to any literal event, but intended to set forth under
the figure of Gog and his armies all opposition of the world to the kingdom of God,
and to foretell, like his contemporary Daniel, the final and complete triumph of the
latter in the distant future.
The first thing that strikes one in reading the prophecy is the strange and
incongruous association of the nations in this attack. No nations near the land of
Israel are mentioned, and few of those who, either before or since, have been known
as its foes. On the contrary, the nations selected are all as distant from Palestine and
as distant from each other (living on the confines of the known world) as it was
possible to mention. The Scythians, the Persians, the Armenians, the Ethiopians and
Libyans, the tribes of Arabia, Dedan and Sheba, and the Tarshish probably of
Spain, form an alliance which it is impossible to conceive as ever being actually
formed among the nations of the earth. Then the object of this confederacy, the spoil
of Israel (Ezekiel 38:12-13; Ezekiel 39:10), would have been absurdly
incommensurate with the exertion; Palestine, with all it contained, would hardly
have been enough to furnish rations for the invaders for a day, far less to tempt
them to a march of many hundreds, or even thousands, of miles. Further, the mass
of the invaders, as described in Ezekiel 39:12-16, is more than fifty times greater
than any army that ever assembled upon earth, and great enough to make it
difficult for them to find even camping ground upon the whole territory of
Palestine. This multitude is so evidently ideal, and the circumstantial account of
their burial so plainly practically impossible, that it is unnecessary to add anything
farther to what has been said in the Notes to this passage. Finally, in the statement
(Ezekiel 38:17) that this prophecy was the same which had been spoken in old time
by the prophets of Israel, we have a direct assurance that it was not meant to be
literally understood, because no such prophecies are anywhere recorded; but
prophecies of what we conceive to be here pictorially represented, the struggle of the
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world with the kingdom of God and its final utter overthrow, do form the constant
burden of prophecy, and constitute one of the striking features of all Revelation.
To this is to be added the fact that, however the passage in Revelation 20:7-10 may
be interpreted, the author of the Apocalypse, by the use of the same names, and a
short summary of the same description, has shown that he regarded this vision of
Ezekiel as typical, and its fulfilment as in his time still future.
The prophecy, thus interpreted, falls naturally into the place it holds in the
collection of Ezekiel’s writings. There has been in the last few chapters, especially in
Ezekiel 37, an increasing fulness of Messianic promise; then follows, in the closing
section of the book, a remarkable setting forth of the perfected worship of God by a
purified people under the earthly figure of a greatly changed and purified temple-
worship, with a new apportionment of the land, a purified priesthood, and other
figures taken from the old dispensation. But these things are not to be attained
without trial and struggle; and, therefore, just here is placed this warning of the
putting forth of the whole power of the world against the kingdom of God under the
symbol of the gathering of the armies of Gog, with the comforting assurance, given
everywhere in Revelation, that in the ultimate issue every power which exalts itself
against God shall be utterly overthrown, and all things shall be subdued unto Him.
TRAPP, “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:
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
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they shall fall by the sword, lie unburied, &c.
PETT, “Verses 1-3
God’s Judgment on Gog.
“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Behold I am against you, O
Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and lead you on
(shshw), and will cause you to come from the uttermost parts of the north, and I will
bring you on the mountains of Israel. And I will smite your bow out of your left
hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand.”
For the name and description see on Ezekiel 38:2. Once again it is emphasised that
Gog is under Yahweh’s control. Nothing can happen outside God’s remit. The
meaning of the verb shshw is unknown. The versions support ‘lead on’ (Ezekiel 38:4
has instead ‘put hooks in your jaws’ which implies the same thing). Again ‘the
uttermost parts of the north’ are stressed (compare Ezekiel 38:6; Ezekiel 38:15), the
lands shrouded in mystery from which anything can come. And the mountains of
Israel are the backbone of Israel. So the picture is of the mysterious Gog, descending
from an equally mysterious region, at the instigation of Yahweh, onto the backbone
of Israel.
That is then followed by the shattering of his weapons, that is, his strength, by the
hand of Yahweh. He will be left helpless and defenceless, as he previously thought
that Israel was (Ezekiel 38:11). His bow and arrows will be smitten from his hands.
It is noteworthy that Gog is depicted as carrying a bow. The same was true of the
rider on the white horse in Revelation 6:2 who symbolised false religion and the
deceitfulness of Satan. In Psalms 120:4 lying lips and a deceitful tongue are likened
to ‘the sharp arrows of the mighty’, and both the psalmist and Hosea speak of ‘the
deceitful bow’ (Psalms 78:57; Hosea 7:16). Thus the bow, with which men are taken
by surprise and brought down, was seen as a weapon of deceit, carried by the great
deceiver.
8

EBC, “ Ezekiel 39:1-8.-Commencing afresh with a new apostrophe to Gog, Ezekiel
here recapitulates the substance of the previous chapter-the bringing up of Gog
from the farthest north, his destruction on the mountains of Israel, and the effect of
this on the surrounding nations. Mention is expressly made of the bow and arrows
which were the distinctive weapons of the Scythian horsemen. These are struck
from the grasp of Gog, and the mighty host falls on the open field to be devoured by
wild beasts and by ravenous birds of every feather. But the judgment is universal in
its extent; it reaches to Magog, the distant abode of Gog, and all the remote lands
whence his auxiliaries were drawn. This is the day whereof Jehovah has spoken by
His servants the prophets of Israel, the day which finally manifests His glory to all
the ends of the earth.
PULPIT, “Of the two main divisions of this chapter, the first (Ezekiel 39:1-20)
depicts the greatness of the overthrow of Gog; the second (Ezekiel 39:21-29) records
the impression made by it upon Both Israel and the heathen, and adds a closing
promise to the former.
Ezekiel 39:1-20
In the first main division Ezekiel repeats the substance of what has already been
advanced concerning the defeat of Gog (verses 1-8), after which he strives to
represent its completeness (verses 9-20), by setting forth
Ezekiel 39:1
The chief prime of Meshech and Tubal; or, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal (see
on Ezekiel 38:2).
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2 I will turn you around and drag you along. I
will bring you from the far north and send you
against the mountains of Israel.
BARNES, "The chief prince - Or, “prince of Rosh.”
And leave but the sixth part of thee - Or, and lead thee along (Septuagint and
Vulgate).
CLARKE, "And leave but the sixth part of thee - The margin has, strike thee
with six plagues; or, draw thee back with a hook of six teeth.
GILL, "And I will turn thee back,.... Not from the land of Israel; for thither it is said
in the latter part of the text he would bring him; but the meaning is, that he would "turn
him about", as the word (w) signifies, in his own land, and lead him about at his
pleasure, and bring him out of it, unto the land of Israel; signifying hereby that the
providence of God would be greatly concerned in this affair; and in which much glory
would be brought unto him by the destruction of such a potent enemy of his people;
which is the design of bringing him out; See Gill on Eze_38:4,
and leave but a sixth part of thee; meaning, not that a sixth part only should escape
the vengeance of God, and all but a sixth part be destroyed in the land of Israel; for it
looks as if the whole army would be utterly destroyed, and none left; but that, when he
should come out of his own country upon this expedition, a sixth part of his subjects
only should be left behind; five out of six should accompany him; so numerous should
his army be, and so drained his country by this enterprise of his. Some render the words,
"will draw thee out with an hook of six teeth" (x); that is, out of his own land; and this
clause stands in the same place and order as the phrase and "put hooks into thy jaws"
does in Eze_38:4 and so may be thought to explain one another, and agrees with what
follows: for, as for the sense of it given by Joseph Kimchi and others,
"I will judge thee with six judgments (y), Eze_38:12, pestilence, blood, an overflowing
rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone,''
10

it must be rejected; seeing as yet the account of his punishment is not come to; only an
account is given how and by what means he shall be drawn out of his own land;
wherefore much better is the Targum,
"I will persuade thee, and I will seduce thee;''
so Jarchi seems to understand it: and the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "I
will lead thee", agreeably to what follows:
and will cause thee to come up from the north parts; See Gill on Eze_38:15.
and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel; not to inherit them, but to fall
upon them, as in Eze_39:4.
JAMISON, "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].
ELLICOTT, “ (2) Leave but the sixth part of thee.—This word occurs only here,
and the translation is based on the supposition that it is derived from the word
meaning six; but even on this supposition the renderings in the margin are as likely
to be right as that of the text. This derivation, however, is probably wrong; all the
ancient versions give a sense corresponding to Ezekiel 38:4; Ezekiel 38:16, and also
to the clauses immediately before and after, “I will lead thee along.” The greater
part of the modern commentators concur in this view.
POOLE, “ Turn thee back: see Ezekiel 38:4: or else, when Gog or his assistants shall
go into their countries to compose disorders risen since this enterprise was set on
foot, they shall return to the rest of the confederates.
Leave but the sixth part of thee: some read, as our margin notes, I will draw thee
back with a hook of six teeth, alluding to the drawing fish out of the water; others, I
will strike thee with six plagues; others, I will kill five of six, and leave but the sixth
part of thee: let me conjecture too, I will leave in thy country but one in six, and I
11

will bring forth thy people with thee in so great numbers, that five of six shall march
on this expedition. This runs more compliant with what follows.
Will cause thee to come up; by his all wise providence God will dispose things so,
that Gog shall deliberately choose this expedition; so God will bring him, as Ezekiel
38:4. See Ezekiel 38:4,8,15,21.
TRAPP, “ 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:
Ver. 2. And I will turn thee back.] Convertam vel conteram te. (a) See Ezekiel 38:3.
And leave but the sixth part of thee.] Or, Strike thee with six plagues, or draw thee
back with a hook of six teeth. {as Ezekiel 38:4} Sextabo re.
And will cause thee to come.] This is much and often inculcated, that it is God who
brings in and drives out the Church’s enemies. This is a quieting consideration.
PULPIT, “Ezekiel 39:2
I will … leave but the sixth part of thee. The word ‫י‬ ִ‫את‬ ֵ‫שּׁ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ is derived either from the
numeral six, ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫,שׁ‬ or from the root ‫א‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫,שׁ‬ the import of which is uncertain, although a
cognate root in Ethiopic suggests the idea of "going on" or "proceeding"—a
meaning Havernick also finds in the Hebrew. The former derivation has been
followed by the Authorized Version, which renders in the margin, "I will strike thee
with six plagues," or "draw thee back with a hook of six teeth," and by
Hengstenberg, With whom Plumptre agrees, "1 will six thee," i.e. "afflict thee with
six plagues," viz. those mentioned in Ezekiel 38:22 . The latter derivation,
presumably the more correct, is adopted by the LXX. ( καθοδογήσω), the Vulgate
(educam), the Revised Version ("I will lead thee on"), and by modern expositors
12

generally. Hitzig and Smend approve of Ewald's translation, "I entice thee astray,
and lead thee with leading, strings."
3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand
and make your arrows drop from your right
hand.
CLARKE, "I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand - The Persians whom
Antiochus had in his army, Eze_38:5, were famous as archers, and they may be intended
here. The bow is held by the left hand; the arrow is pulled and discharged by the right.
GILL, "And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand,.... In which it is usually
held, to have the arrow fitted to it:
and I will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand; where they are
commonly held when put into the bow, and then the bow is drawn with it; signifying
hereby, that though he should come into the land of Israel, he should not succeed; he
would be stripped of his armour, and it would be useless to him: bows and arrows are
put for all kind of warlike instruments; and are particularly mentioned because they
were chiefly used in war when this prophecy was delivered.
POOLE, “ I will smite thy bow; make thy hand weak, not able to hold the bow, and
thy heart faint, not daring to take it up again. What is said of the bow rendered
useless, is to be understood of all other weapons of war. This one kind, the bow,
being most in use with these Scythians, is mentioned for all the rest.
13

Thy left hand; the hand for holding the bow, while the right fits the arrow to the
string, and draws to shoot.
Thine arrows to fall; thou shalt throw away thine arrows, that thou mayst the better
flee for escape.
TRAPP, “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.
Ver. 3. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand.] I will disarm thee. As
Herodotus (a) reporteth of Sennacherib and his Assyrians in Egypt, that their
quivers, bow strings, and targets were gnawn to pieces by mice and rats in one
night, so that they were forced to flee for their lives. And as our chroniclers (b) 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
unuseful.
4 On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you
and all your troops and the nations with you. I
will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds
and to the wild animals.
GILL, "Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel,.... Be slain, and his carcass
lie there; so the Targum,
14

"upon the mountains of the land of Israel thy carcass shall be cast:''
thou and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee; Gog and his army, auxiliaries
and allies:
I will give thee to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the
field to be devoured: a great part of his army being slain, should not be buried, but be
devoured by birds of prey, and savage beasts; such as eagles and vultures of the former
sort, and lions, bears, wolves, &c. of the latter. This was always reckoned a very sore
judgment and dreadful calamity, not to have a burial, but to be exposed to birds and
beasts of prey; this was threatened to the Israelites, in case of disobedience to the law of
God, Deu_28:26 and to the wicked Jews in the times of Jeremiah; and to that evil king
of Judah, Jehoiakim, Jer_16:4 and is lamented as one of the greatest evils that could
befall good men, Psa_79:2, and nothing was more dreadful among the Heathens
themselves; hence Homer (z), among the many calamities Achilles was the cause of to
the Grecians, mentions this as one, that he was the means of giving the bodies of a great
number of their heroes to the dogs, and to the fowls of the air; so Virgil (a) represents
the want of a burial, and being left to be fed upon by birds of prey, as severe a
punishment of a wicked man as can be wished for.
JAMISON, "(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.
POOLE, “ Thou shalt fall; thy army shall be overthrown and slain. Thou, Gog
himself the leader of this army, and all thy bands; thine own soldiers, the old trained
soldiers.
The people; the several nations that had joined in this enterprise with Gog. Their
unburied carcasses shall be torn and mangled by every ravenous bird of the air?
and the wild beasts, that range over the mountains for their prey, shall eat them; so
many of them shall be denied a burial. See a like place Ezekiel 32:4,5.
TRAPP, “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.
Ver. 4. Thou shalt fall upon, the mountains of Israel.] Thither thou shalt come
15

indeed, as Antiochus did into the temple, antichrist into the Church of God, [2
Thessalonians 2:4] but there thou shalt take thy end.
PETT, “Verse 4-5
“You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your hordes, and the peoples
who are with you, and I will give you to the ravenous birds of every kind, and to the
beasts of the field, to be devoured. You will fall on the open field, for I have spoken
it, says the Lord Yahweh.”
The mountains of Israel were the backbone of Israel. They were its strength, but
they were also the site of Israel’s abominations. Thus the hordes of darkness would
be broken on them, and it was fitting that those mountains that had been used for
idolatry and sinful abominations, should now be the recipient of the dead bodies of
those evil hordes, just as previously they had received the bodies of the slain when
God punished Israel (Ezekiel 6:5; Ezekiel 6:13).
‘And I will give you to the ravenous birds of every kind, and to the beasts of the
field, to be devoured.’ Compare Ezekiel 32:4; Ezekiel 29:5; Ezekiel 31:13; Jeremiah
7:33; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7; Jeremiah 34:20. See also Revelation 19:21. This
was considered to be an horrific death (see Psalms 79:2). Left unburied to have their
bodies mauled and their bones picked by scavenging bird and scavenging beast.
‘You will fall on the open field.’ The open field was the description given to areas
away from cities, outside in the open away from men’s dwellings (Ezekiel 16:5;
Ezekiel 29:5; Ezekiel 32:4; Ezekiel 33:27 (where it parallels ‘wastes’); see also
Leviticus 14:7; 2 Samuel 11:11; Numbers 19:16; Jeremiah 9:22). Their mission to
capture the cities of Israel will have proved a total failure. God’s people will be safe.
‘For I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.’ Their destruction will occur because
God has said it and determined it.
16

PULPIT, “Ezekiel 39:4-6
I will give thee unto ravenous birds of every sort; or, wing. The language depicts an
army on the march, followed by jackals, vultures, and other birds of prey, ready to
feast upon the corpses of slaughtered men (comp. Ezekiel 33:27; 1 Samuel 17:46;
and Homer's 'Iliad,' 1.4, 5). In addition to destroying Cog, causing him to fall upon
the mountains of Israel and upon the open field; literally, upon the face of the field,
Jehovah engages to carry the fire of war and generally of devastation (cf. Ezekiel
33:22; Amos 2:2, Amos 2:5; Revelation 20:1-15 :29) into Cog's own land, Magog (see
on Ezekiel 38:2), and among them that dwell carelessly (better, securely) in the isles;
or, coast-lands (Ezekiel 27:7); i.e. not merely the merchants of Tarshish or the
"isles" of the trading nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38:13, as Hengstenberg and
Plumptre prefer, but, as Smend, Schroder, and Keil explain, all the distant peoples
of the coast-lands from whom Gog's armies were drawn (Ezekiel 38:5, Ezekiel 38:6),
and in whom were many of Gog's sympathizers.
5 You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken,
declares the Sovereign Lord.
GILL, "Thou shalt fall upon the open field,.... Some part of his army should fall
upon the mountains, and others upon the plain; wherever they will be found, they will be
destroyed, either by the sword of the Jews and Christian princes, or by God's judgments
from heaven:
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God; and therefore it should surely come to
pass, since no word of his ever fails; this is added to assure of the truth of it, since it
might be thought incredible that so large an army should be destroyed.
17

6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who live
in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that
I am the Lord.
BARNES, "The judgment is extended to “the isles” (or, seacoast) to show that it
should fall not only on Gog and his land, but on those who share Gog’s feelings of hatred
and opposition to the kingdom of God.
CLARKE, "I will send a fire on Magog - On Syria. I will destroy the Syrian
troops.
And among them that dwell carelessly in the isles - The auxiliary troops that
came to Antiochus from the borders of the Euxine Sea. - Martin.
GILL, "And I will send a fire on Magog,.... On the land of Magog; see Eze_38:2,
while Gog is in the land of Israel, and he and his army perish there, his country shall be
destroyed by fire, or by some judgment or judgments of God, which shall consume like
fire. The Septuagint version renders it, "I will send a fire on Gog"; but he before is said to
fall upon the mountains of Israel; his country is meant; it designs the destruction of the
Ottoman empire:
and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: that belong to the Turkish
dominions; not only the habitants of the Continent shall be consumed, but those that
dwell in islands, and think themselves safe and secure, and so live carelessly; or such
who live on the sea coasts, it being usual in Scripture to call such places isles; and may
intend those who dwell near the Exine and Caspian seas:
and they shall know that I am the Lord: by his judgments executed upon them.
18

JAMISON, "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.
COKE, “Ezekiel 39:6. I will send a fire, &c.— That is, into the country of Gog. Gog
is supposed to dwell or to have dwelt between the Caspian and the Euxine sea;
which is referred to by the expression in the isles, or on the maritime coasts. This
fire seems to signify that the land, after the army of Gog had left it, should be laid
waste by the neighbouring people.
ELLICOTT, “ (6) A fire on Magog.—Magog is the country of Gog (Ezekiel 38:1),
and the Divine judgment is to fall therefore not only upon the army in the land of
Israel, but also upon the far-distant country of Gog. In Revelation 20:9 this fire is
represented as coming “down from God out of heaven.”
In the isles.—This common Scriptural expression for the remoter parts of the earth
is added here to show the universality of the judgment upon all that is hostile to the
kingdom of God.
POOLE, “ I will send, by an unusual judgment from God, a fire; either civil
dissensions, such as Egypt was consumed by, Ezekiel 30:16; or else the destroying
pestilence, which always carrieth with it a burning distemper or fever; or that fire
and brimstone mentioned Ezekiel 38:22. Or whatever this fire was, it should devour
and lay desolate.
Them that dwell carelessly; who perhaps thought their situation would be their
safety; though Gog fell on the land, the ships and isles might escape; not so, for the
same hand will send the fire on the isles and their inhabitants which sent it on Gag.
Possibly the Tyrians and Sidonians may be aimed at.
TRAPP, “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.
19

Ver. 6. And I will send a fire on Magog.] So God will one day on Rome, that Radix
omnium malorum root of all evil things. [Revelation 18:18-19]
And among them that dwell carelessly in the isles.] Who must not think there to
moat up themselves against my fire.
PETT, “Verse 6
“And I will send a fire on Magog, and on those who dwell securely on the
isles/coastlands, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”
We note now an expansion of God’s judgments. The lands of those who attacked his
people will likewise suffer (compare the vivid picture in Judges 5:28-30). They
thought that they were safe because of their massive forces, and awaited the return
of the armies with great booty. But instead they will have to recognise the power of
Yahweh’s judgments. The furthest peoples will be involved. God’s judgments are
far reaching and total.
The isles and coastlands (the peoples across the seas) have not previously been
mentioned. Along with all previously mentioned the whole of Ezekiel’s distant world
has now been included in the catastrophe.
7 “‘I will make known my holy name among my
people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be
profaned, and the nations will know that I the
20

Lord am the Holy One in Israel.
CLARKE, "In the midst of my people Israel - This defeat of Gog is to be in
Israel: and it was there according to this prophecy, that the immense army of Antiochus
was so completely defeated.
Ands I will not let them pollute my holy name any more - See on 1 Maccabees
1:11, etc., how Antiochus had profaned the temple, insulted Jehovah and his worship,
etc. God permitted that as a scourge to his disobedient people; but now the scourger
shall be scourged, and he shall pollute the sanctuary no more.
GILL, "So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people
Israel,.... That is, his perfections; his holiness and justice in punishing their enemies;
his truth and faithfulness in fulfilling his promises to them; his power in inflicting
judgments on Gog and his army; and his goodness in their preservation and protection:
and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: either the Heathens
round about who before blasphemed it, saying that God was not able to deliver his
people from such a potent enemy; but now their mouth will be stopped, and they will not
dare to speak any more after this manner: or else the Israelites, who shall be so
influenced by the grace and goodness of God unto them, as to fear the Lord and his
goodness, and not dare to commit the sins they formerly did, whereby his name was
polluted and blasphemed among the Heathens:
and the Heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel; they
shall know, by these judgments and providences, that he is the true God, and they shall
acknowledge and confess it; and that he is a holy and just God, and dwells in Israel, and
grants his gracious as well as powerful presence to his people; nor shall they dare to
molest them any more.
JAMISON, "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.
POOLE, “ In Ezekiel 39:6, the judgments executed on Gog make God known in the
midst of the heathen, here they make him known among his own people; in both
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glorious.
My holy name; the destruction threatened against the wicked for their enmity
against holiness, being executed, manifest that God is holy, and the protection of
such. Or, holy name, for that he does in his oath swear by his holiness.
So his faithfulness is here commended and illustrated. I will not let them pollute my
holy name any more; will give them that new spirit, that due sense of my mercy;
they shall not, as formerly, profane my name among the heathen, Ezekiel 20:9. See
Ezekiel 38:23.
TRAPP, “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.
Ver. 7. I will not let them pollute my holy name.] As if I were less able to deliver my
people, or less mindful of my promises.
PETT, “ “And I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel,
nor will I allow my holy name to be profaned any more. And the nations will know
that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel.”
God’s holy name, that is His own righteousness, purity and ‘otherness’ will by all
this be made known to His people. They will recognise Him for what He is and that
the cry of their hearts has been fulfilled, and that evil has been destroyed (compare
Revelation 6:10 - which was not so much a cry for vengeance as a longing for God’s
righteous judgments to prevail). The nations brought to judgment will also
recognise Who and What He is, ‘the Holy One in Israel’.
‘The Holy One in Israel’. That is the One set apart from, and above and beyond all
others; unapproachable except to those He calls; unique, all-powerful, and
22

essentially righteous in all His dealings see Isaiah 57:15). And Israel is His
dwellingplace (compare Isaiah 60:14). They are His temple. We can compare here
‘the Holy One of Israel’ (2 Kings 19:22; Psalms 71:22; Psalms 78:41; Psalms 89:18;
Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 5:19; Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 10:20; Isaiah 12:6; Isaiah 17:7; Isaiah
29:19; Isaiah 30:11-12; Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 37:23; Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah
41:16; Isaiah 41:20; Isaiah 43:3; Isaiah 43:14; Isaiah 45:11; Isaiah 47:4; Isaiah
48:17; Isaiah 49:7; Isaiah 54:5; Isaiah 55:5; Isaiah 60:9; Isaiah 60:14; Jeremiah
50:29; Jeremiah 51:5) where the emphasis is on His might, His total superiority, and
His purity and righteousness as judge.
8 It is coming! It will surely take place, declares
the Sovereign Lord. This is the day I have spoken
of.
GILL, "Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God,.... That is, the
salvation of his people, and the destruction of their enemies; the prophecy concerning all
this is come to pass, and the whole is accomplished; thus, because of the certainty
thereof, it is represented as if the time was actually come, and the thing was really done;
for the event is as sure as if it was now fulfilled:
this is the day whereof I have spoken; by the Prophet Ezekiel and others; See Gill
on Eze_38:17.
JAMISON, "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.
POOLE, “ It, this prophecy, to be fulfilled in the destruction of Gog, the rescue of God’s
people, and magnifying the name of God, is come; as sure as if already come; or, as if
23

already done; nor shall it be too long ere, in effect, and fully, it shall be done.
The day; that notable day of recompences against the last great enemies of Christ and the
church.
I have spoken, by Ezekiel now, and by others see Ezekiel 38:17.
TRAPP, “Ezekiel 39:8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD this [is] the
day whereof I have spoken.
Ver. 8. Behold, it is come, and it is done.] It is as good as done. So, "Babylon is fallen" -
i.e., It will fall certainly, quickly, utterly.
This is the day.] O dieculam illam! O that short time. When shall it once be? O mora!
Christe veni. O delay! Christ, come.
PETT, “ “Behold it comes and it will be done,” says the Lord Yahweh. “This is the day of
which I have spoken.”
The uniqueness of this day comes out here. It is the final day of which Yahweh has
spoken (Isaiah 2:12; Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1; Joel 2:11; Joel 2:31; Joel 3:14; compare
Zechariah 14:1), in contrast with all the other ‘Days of Yahweh’ on different nations
occurring at different times, which are seen as foretastes of what is to come (Babylon-
Isaiah 13:1-22; Jeremiah 46:10; Lamentations 2:22; Zephaniah 1:1 to Zephaniah 2:3 in
context with Ezekiel 2:4-10.Edom- Isaiah 34:1-17.Israel- Ezekiel 13:1-7; Amos 5:18-20
with 27). And all are assured that it will assuredly come.
24

9 “‘Then those who live in the towns of Israel will
go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn
them up—the small and large shields, the bows
and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven
years they will use them for fuel.
BARNES 9-10, “Burn them with fire - Or, “kindle fire with them;” or, as in the
margin. The weapons of the army left on the field of battle shall be so numerous as to
supply fuel for the people of the land for seven years. Seven was a number connected
with cleansing after contact with the dead (Num_19:11 ff), and this purification of the
land by the clearance of paganish spoils was a holy work (compare Eze_39:12).
CLARKE, "And shall set on fire - the weapons - The Israelites shall make
bonfires and fuel of the weapons, tents, etc., which the defeated Syrians shall leave
behind them, as expressive of the joy which they shall feel for the destruction of their
enemies; and to keep up, in their culinary consumption, the memory of this great event.
They shall burn them with fire seven years - These may be figurative
expressions, after the manner of the Asiatics, whose language abounds with such
descriptions. They occur every where in the prophets. As to the number seven it is only a
certain for an indeterminate number. But as the slaughter was great, and the bows,
arrows, quivers, shields, bucklers, handstaves, and spears were in vast multitudes, it
must have taken a long time to gather them up in the different parts of the fields of
battle, and the roads in which the Syrians had retreated, throwing away their arms as
they proceeded; so there might have been a long time employed in collecting and
burning them. And as all seem to have been doomed to the fire, there might have been
some found at different intervals and burned, during the seven years here mentioned.
Mariana, in his History of Spain, lib. xi., c. 24, says, that after the Spaniards had given
that signal overthrow to the Saracens, a.d. 1212 they found such a vast quantity of lances,
javelins, and such like, that they served them for four years for fuel. And probably these
instruments obtained by the Israelites were used in general for culinary firewood, and
might literally have served them for seven years; so that during that time they should
take no wood out of the fields, nor out of the forests for the purpose of fuel, Eze_39:10.
25

GILL, "And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth,.... Out of their
houses into the streets, where Gog's soldiers will lie dead, and their armour by them; or
rather out of their cities, where they dwelt safely, and where they kept themselves, and
were secure from the enemy: these seem to be distinct from the militia of Israel, engaged
in battle with Gog; these were the inhabitants that will stay at home, and yet share in the
spoil and plunder; see Psa_68:12, these, after the battle is over, and the victory obtained,
of which they will have information, will then march out without fear into the open fields
and mountains, where the army of Gog will fall, Eze_39:4,
and shall set on fire and burn the weapons; the armour of Gog's army, which they
shall find lie by the dead, or upon them; or which they that flee will cast away; these they
shall gather together, and lay on a heap, and burn, as sometimes has been the practice of
conquerors; or rather they shall take them to their own houses, and make fuel of them,
and burn them, instead of wood out of the fields and forests, as the following verse
shows:
both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows; which were the
weapons that Gog and his associates used; see Eze_38:4,
and the handstaves, and the spears; the "handstaves" were either half pikes or
truncheons, as some think; or javelins, as others:
and they shall burn them with fire seven years; which some take to be a certain
number for an uncertain, and others an hyperbolical expression; but when it is
considered what a vast army this of Gog's will be, and what prodigious numbers of
weapons of all sorts must be carried by them, and the little use of fire in those hot
countries: it may be very well taken in a literal sense, and the meaning be, that so great
will be the quantity of warlike weapons that will be found and gathered, that they will
serve for fuel for the space of seven years.
JAMISON 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], (Jdg_1:27, Jdg_1:28; Jdg_2:2,
Jdg_2:3; Psa_106:34-36). The desolation by Antiochus began in the one hundred and
forty-first year of the Seleucidae. From this date to 148, a period of six years and four
months (“2300 days,” Dan_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
Encaenia, 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
26

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.
K&D, "Total Destruction of Gog and his Hosts
Eze_39:9. Then will the inhabitants of the cities of Israel go forth, and burn and heat
with armour and shield and target, with bow and arrows and hand-staves and spears,
and will burn fire with them for seven years; Eze_39:10. And will not fetch wood from
the field, nor cut wood out of the forests, but will burn fire with the armour, and will
spoil those who spoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them, is the saying of
the Lord Jehovah. Eze_39:11. And it will come to pass in that day, that I will give Gog a
place where his grave in Israel shall be, the valley of the travellers, and there will they
bury Gog and all his multitude, and will call it the valley of Gog's multitude. Eze_39:12.
They of the house of Israel will bury them, to purify the land for seven months. V.1 3.
And all the people of the land will bury, and it will be to them for a name on the day
when I glorify myself, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Eze_39:14. And they will set
apart constant men, such as rove about in the land, and such as bury with them that
rove about those who remain upon the surface of the ground, to cleanse it, after the
lapse of seven months will they search it through. Eze_39:15. And those who rove about
will pass through the land; and if one sees a man's bone, he will set up a sign by it, till
the buriers of the dead bury it in the valley of the multitude of Gog. Eze_39:16. The
name of a city shall also be called Hamonah (multitude). And thus will they cleanse the
land. Eze_39:17. And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Say to the birds of
every plumage, and to all the beasts of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come, gather
together from round about to my sacrifice, which I slaughter for you, to a great
sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, and eat flesh and drink blood. Eze_39:18. Flesh
of heroes shall ye eat, and drink blood of princes of the earth; rams, lambs, and he-
goats, bullocks, all fattened in Bashan. Eze_39:9. And ye shall eat fat to satiety, and
drink blood to intoxication, of my sacrifice which I have slaughtered for you. Eze_
39:20. And ye shall satiate yourselves at my table with horses and riders, heroes and
all kinds of men of war, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - To show how terrible the
judgment upon Gog will be, Ezekiel depicts in three special ways the total destruction of
his powerful forces. In the first place, the burning of all the weapons of the fallen foe will
furnish the inhabitants of the land of Israel with wood for firing for seven years, so that
there will be no necessity for them to fetch fuel from the field or from the forest (Eze_
39:9 and Eze_39:10). But Hävernick is wrong in supposing that the reason for burning
the weapons is that, according to Isa_9:5, weapons of war are irreconcilable with the
character of the Messianic times of peace. This is not referred to here; but the motive is
the complete annihilation of the enemy, the removal of every trace of him. The prophet
therefore crowds the words together for the purpose of enumerating every kind of
weapon that was combustible, even to the hand-staves which men were accustomed to
carry (cf. Num_22:27). The quantity of the weapons will be so great, that they will
supply the Israelites with all the fuel they need for seven years. The number seven in the
seven years as well as in the seven months of burying (Eze_39:11) is symbolical,
stamping the overthrow as a punishment inflicted by God, the completion of a divine
judgment.
COFFMAN, “"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall
27

make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the
bows and the arrows, and the handstaves and the spears, and they shall make fires
of them seven years; so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut
down any of the forest; for they shall make fires of the weapons; and they shall
plunder those that plundered them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord
Jehovah. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place for
burial in Israel, the valley of them that pass through on the east of the sea; and it
shall stop them that pass through: and there shall they bury Gog and all his
multitude; and they shall call it the valley of Hamon-god. And seven months shall
the house of Israel be in burying them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the
people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I
shall be glorified, saith the Lord Jehovah. And they shall set apart men of continual
employment, that shall pass through the land, and, with them that pass through,
those that bury them that remain upon the face of the land, to cleanse it; and after
the end of seven months shall they search. And they that pass through the land shall
pass through; and 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 Hamon-gog. And Hamonah shall also be
the name of a city. Thus shalt thou cleanse the land."
TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF GOG AND HIS HOSTS (Ezekiel 39:9-20)
We have already mentioned our conclusion that these rather long statements about
the firewood for seven years and the seven months period of burying the dead are
inert features of the prophecy designed merely to stress the great numbers of the
hosts of Gog. We have discovered no other meaningful interpretation.
"On the east side of the sea ..." (Ezekiel 39:11). Keil informs us that the Hebrew
from which this translation is taken literally means "on the front of the sea"[17]
which, of course, means "east of the sea." See our full discussion of this under
Genesis 2:14, where we have exactly the same Hebrew words (Vol. 1 of the
Pentateuchal Series, p. 51). The "sea" here "Undoubtedly means the Dead Sea."[18]
"And it shall stop them that pass through ..." (Ezekiel 39:11). This is another one of
the passages where translators thought they were improving upon the King James
28

Bible when they were not! The KJV has this, "It shall stop the noses of the
passengers." "This means that the strong odor of decay would arrest the attention
and impede the progress of all who passed by."[19] This same author also pointed
out that this burial place east of the Dead Sea was in the vicinity of the final resting
places of Sodom and Gomorrah, both of those having also received terminal
judgments from God because of their wickedness.
COKE, “Ezekiel 39:9. And they shall burn them, &c.— That is, for a long time; a
certain for an uncertain number. There shall be in the country so great a quantity of
military weapons, that they shall serve them for a long time for fuel. We should
remember, that they do not make very large fires in those hot countries. Mariana, in
his Spanish History, book 2: chap. 24 relates, that after the victory which the
Spaniards gained over the Saracens in 1212, they found so many spears, and other
warlike weapons of wood, as served them four years for fuel. See Calmet. Bishop
Lowth observes, on Isaiah 9:4-5 that some heathen nations burnt heaps of arms to
the supposed god of victory; and that among the Romans this act was an emblem of
peace. Among God's people it might shew trust in him as their defender.
Archbishop Newcombe observes on the present passage, "The victory shall be so
great, that, during this period of time [seven years], they shall suffice for fires on the
mountains, and in the open fields; where the rain shall fall, and whither the
inhabitants of the adjoining cities shall occasionally go forth."
ELLICOTT, “ (9) Shall burn them with fire seven years.—The representation of
this and the following verse, that the weapons of the army of Gog shall furnish the
whole nation of Israel with fuel for seven years, cannot, of course, be understood
literally, and seems to have been inserted by the prophet to show that we are to look
for the meaning of his prophecy beyond any literal event of earthly warfare.
Ezekiel 39:11-16 again present the magnitude of the attack upon the Church by
describing the burial of the host after it is slain. The language, if it could be
supposed it was meant to be literally understood, would be even more extravagant
than that of Ezekiel 39:9-10. The whole nation of Israel is represented as engaged
for seven months in burying the bodies (Ezekiel 39:12-13); after this an indefinite
time is to be occupied by one corps of men appointed to search the land for still
remaining bones, and by another who are to bury them.
29

POOLE, “ Shall go forth, out of their houses and out of the cities, with joy to see
and admire the great goodness of God towards them, and the greatness of his power
against their enemies. Shall set on fire: this expression seems to intimate that they
should burn these things in the open field or mountains, where they found them;
here is no mention made of the carrying any into city or houses, to burn in their
chimneys: it may be they should make those fires in token of joy.
The weapons; the warlike provision, instruments, engines, carriages, and waggons,
&c., as well as those recounted.
The shields: see Ezekiel 38:4.
The hand-staves, that either their leaders used, like our halfpikes, or perhaps such
as they cast like darts at the enemy.
They shall burn them with fire seven years: 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, on which they relied, and would ever since he had so wonderfully
delivered, We might read the words thus, they shall kindle with them a fire of seven
years, and then the sense would be plain, that there should be such store of weapons
and warlike utensils, that, heaped together, they would last so long, being cast into
the fire still by such as found them; for it is not unlike they gathered up the
weapons, as they did scattered bones, on their walks, as they lighted on them.
Others tell us it is a certain number for an uncertain; others, that it is somewhat a
proverbial speech, they shall have enough by the spoil of the enemy to make them
and keep them warm, much as we sometimes say of one well provided, He is a warm
gentleman; and some others tell us it is an expression of the Jews, who love to use
this number in extraordinary cases, though they intend not precisely the same, as we
say of a thing delayed, It will be seven years ere it come, or of a thing that will serve
us a good while, It will last seven years. Or else, since the Hebrew hath not a distinct
way of declaring what might be, or the potential mood, as the Latin, but they
30

express possible by future, and say, that shall be, which we express by that may be,
the meaning of these futures, they shall, in this and the next verse, is no more than,
they may or might burn for seven years; and so Kimchi glosseth it as to countenance
this last guess. They shall be sufficient; and in such a country, where the need of fire
is much less than with us, it will not seem very incredible that the warlike utensils of
so numerous an army might be enough to furnish them with fuel for so many years,
or more.
TRAPP, “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:
Ver. 9. And they that dwell.] Hyperbolical expressions; though the Jews hold
otherwise. See on Ezekiel 39:1.
Shall set on fire and burn the weapons.] Do not the Church’s champions so at this
day, ever since they proclaimed and proved the Pope to be that antichrist; burning
up his weapons - his false doctrines and heresies - by the fire of God’s Word, and
giving their bodies to be burned for the testimony of Jesus?
And they shall burn them with fire seven years,] i.e., Diutissime et saepissime! Most
long and most often. This seven years is not yet out. The Jesuits say Satan sent
Luther, and God sent them to withstand him. But there is a succession of Luthers to
find them work enough still, and to burn up their weapons that the churches may be
at rest.
PETT, “Verse 9-10
“And those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go forth, and will make fires of the
31

weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the
arrows, the handstaves and the spears. And they will make fires of them for seven
years, so that they will take no wood from the field, nor cut down any from the
forests. For they will make fires of the weapons, and they will spoil those who
spoiled them, and rob those who robbed them, says the Lord Yahweh.”
Note that Israel were all this time safe in theirunwalledcities (compare Psalms 31:21;
Psalms 127:1; Isaiah 26:1). Yahweh was their refuge (Jeremiah 16:19; Deuteronomy
33:27; 2 Samuel 22:3; Psalms 46:1; Psalms 57:1; Psalms 59:16 and often). The huge
forces had not been able to harm them. They were invulnerable. But now they can
safely go out and collect up the weapons, and there will be so many that it will take
seven years to burn them. We need not ask how many of the weapons would burn
(the inflammable ones, made largely of wood, are mentioned). The emphasis is on
the greatness of the victory, demonstrated by the huge quantity of weapons, the fact
that Israel now had no need for such weapons, and the fact that what their enemies
had intended to harm them with had become a blessing to them. The spoilers had
become the spoiled. God’s people have triumphed. As mentioned above seven years
is a God-ordained period and a picture of divine completeness. In the end it is the
people of God who will triumph.
PETT, “Verses 9-16
The Clearing Up Operation and the Cleansing Of The Land (Ezekiel 39:9-16).
Concentration on the detail here can obscure the significance of the whole. The main
points being brought out are the massiveness of what has to be dealt with, and the
importance of making the land totally ‘clean’. Attention is drawn to the vast
amounts of armour, the huge number of bodies picked clean by the scavengers
(Ezekiel 39:17-20), and the awful judgment that has come upon the nations because
they trifled with God and His people. Note the emphasis on the number seven, the
number of divine completeness (throughout the whole of the Near East) (Ezekiel
39:9; Ezekiel 39:12; Ezekiel 39:14). This brings out the idealistic nature of the
passage. The prophet’s aim is not to bring out how long it will take as a matter of
record, but the divine completeness of the judgment.
32

Another major point is that what is left of the nations will be buried. Not here dry
bones that will live after the battle (Ezekiel 37:1-14), but bones that will be buried
forever in the valley of Hamon-Gog, ‘the valley of the hordes of Gog’ (Ezekiel
39:11), which will ever bear witness to the fact that for these there will no
resurrection to life. Note the emphasis on the fact that all will be buried (Ezekiel
39:13-15), not one will be left uninterred. Then all that will be left is God’s people in
a pure land (Ezekiel 39:16). All will have been done away.
This was Ezekiel’s way of presenting the final triumph of the people of God and the
judgment of the nations opposed to God. From now on for ever the people of God
will rest in safety and purity. All tears will have ceased. The last enemy has been
destroyed.
EBC, “Ezekiel 39:9-16.-Here the prophet falls into a more prosaic strain, as he
proceeds to describe with characteristic fulness of detail the sequel of the great
invasion. As the English story of the Invincible Armada would be incomplete
without a reference to the treasures cast ashore from the wrecked galleons on the
Orkneys and the Hebrides, so the fate of Gog’s ill-starred enterprise is vividly set
forth by the minute description of the traces it left behind in the peaceful life of
Israel. The irony of the situation is unmistakable, and perhaps a touch of conscious
exaggeration is permissible in such a picture. In the first place the weapons of the
slain warriors furnish wood enough to serve for fuel to the Israelites for the space of
seven years. Then follows a picture of the process of cleansing the land from the
corpses of the fallen enemy. A burying-place is assigned to them in the valley of
Abarim on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, outside of the sacred territory. The
whole people of Israel will be engaged for seven months in the operation of burying
them; after this the mouth of the valley will be sealed, and it will be known ever
afterwards as the Valley of the Host of Gog. But even after the seven months have
expired the scrupulous care of the people for the purity of their land will be shown
by the precautions they take against its continued defilement by any fragment of a
skeleton that may have been overlooked. They will appoint permanent officials,
whose business wilt be to search for and remove relics of the dead bodies, that the
land may be restored to its purity. Whenever any passer-by lights on a bone he will
set up a mark beside it to attract the attention of the buriers. "Thus" (in course of
time) "they shall cleanse the land."
33

PULPIT, “Ezekiel 39:9, Ezekiel 39:10
set forth as the first proof of the greatness of Gog's overthrow the immense booty in
the shape of weapons of war which should be obtained by the inhabitants of the
cities of Israel. So huge should be the quantity of weapons left behind by the slain,
that the Israelites should burn them with fire seven years. This burning of the
weapons has been explained by Havernick, on the ground that weapons of war, as
incompatible with Messianic times, should be no more required (cf. Isaiah 2:4); by
Ewald, as in accordance with the custom of the Hebrews (Isaiah 9:5) and other
ancient peoples (Livy, 38.23; Virgil, 'AEneid,' 8.562); by Hitzig and Smend, as
prompted by the consideration that Israel, for whom Jehovah had fought, should
have no further need of weapons; by Schroder, as indicating that for Israel these
warlike instruments should then so completely lose their power to terrify that they
might be looked upon simply as so much firewood; and by Keil, as designed to
annihilate the enemy and remove every trace of him. Kliefoth appears nearest the
mark, in suggesting that the emphasis lies upon the length of time the burning
should continue; and that this was intended, by conveying an idea of the vastness of
the spoil, to represent the thoroughness of Gog's destruction and of Israel's
deliverance. That the whole delineation is symbolical appears from the number of
years the weapons are said to serve for fuel, viz. seven, and from the character of the
weapons themselves, which, if not entirely wooden, were at least all combustible. Of
the "armor" generally ( ‫ק‬ ֶ‫ֶשׁ‬‫נ‬, "something joined," from a root signifying "to join")
the pieces mentioned—the shields and the bucklers (see Ezekiel 38:4), the bows and
arrows (see Ezekiel 39:3), the hand-staves, or, javelins (margin), perhaps, as Hitzig
and Smend suggest, the staff with which a horseman strikes his beast (see Numbers
22:27), and the spears—were mostly composed of timber. When all should have
been given to the flames, it would then appear that on their late owners the lex
talionis had worked out its literal avengement, that they who had intended to
despoil Israel were themselves spoiled; and they who hoped to plunder Israel were
themselves plundered (comp. Isaiah 17:14).
10 They will not need to gather wood from the
34

fields or cut it from the forests, because they will
use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder
those who plundered them and loot those who
looted them, declares the Sovereign Lord.
GILL, "So that they shall take no wood out of the field,.... During that seven
years; or they shall have no need to do so, as the Syriac version; having a sufficiency of
armour:
neither cut down any out of the forest: out of the forest of Lebanon, or any other,
where they used to fetch wood for their necessary uses; but so great a quantity of armour
shall now be brought home by them to their houses, that they should have no need to be
at the trouble and expense of fetching wood from the forests:
for they shall burn the weapons with fire; the reason of which will be, because
they will have no occasion for them hereafter; for when this battle is over, which seems
to be the same with that at Armageddon, there will be an entire destruction of all the
enemies of Christ and his church; the world will be cleared of them, and there will be
war no more, and so no more use of weapons; this will be the last battle that will be
fought; see Isa_2:4,
and they shall spoil those that spoil them, and rob those that robbed them,
saith the Lord God: not only take their weapons and burn them, but strip them of
their garments, and take away their gold, and silver, and jewels, and everything of value
they shall find about them.
K&D, "With the gathering of the weapons for burning there is associated the
plundering of the fallen foe (Eze_39:10), by which the Israelites do to the enemy what he
intended to do to them (Eze_38:12), and the people of God obtain possession of the
wealth of their foes (cf. Jer_30:16). In the second place, God will assign a large burying-
place for the army of Gog in a valley of Israel, which is to be named in consequence “the
multitude of Gog;” just as a city in that region will also be called Hamonah from this
event. The Israelites will bury the fallen of Gog there for seven months long, and after
the expiration of that time they will have the land explored by men specially appointed
for the purpose, and bones that may still have been left unburied will be sought out, and
they will have them interred by buriers of the dead, that the land may be thoroughly
cleansed (Eze_39:11-16). ‫ם‬ ‫ק‬ ְ‫מ‬ ‫ם‬ ָ‫,שׁ‬ a place where there was a grave in Israel, i.e., a spot
in which he might be buried in Israel. There are different opinions as to both the
35

designation and the situation of this place. There is no foundation for the supposition
that ‫ֵי‬‫גּ‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ derives its name from the mountains of Abarim in Num_27:12 and Deu_
32:49 (Michaelis, Eichhorn), or that it signifies valley of the haughty ones (Ewald), or
that there is an allusion to the valley mentioned in Zec_14:4 (Hitzig), or the valley of
Jehoshaphat (Kliefoth). The valley cannot even have derived its name (‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ ָ‫)ה‬ from
the ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫,ע‬ who passed through the land to search out the bones of the dead that still
remained unburied, and have them interred (Eze_39:14, Eze_39:15). For ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬
cannot have any other meaning here than that which it has in the circumstantial clause
which follows, where those who explored the land cannot possibly be intended, although
even this clause is also obscure. The only other passage in which ‫ם‬ ַ‫ס‬ ָ‫ח‬ occurs is Deu_
25:4, where it signifies a muzzle, and in the Arabic it means to obstruct, or cut off; and
hence, in the passage before us, probably, to stop the way. ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ are not the Scythians
(Hitzig), for the word ‫ר‬ ַ‫ב‬ָ‫ע‬ is never applied to their invasion of the land, but generally the
travellers who pass through the land, or more especially those who cross from Peraea to
Canaan. The valley of ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ is no doubt the valley of the Jordan above the Dead Sea.
The definition indicates this, viz., ‫ת‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫ד‬ ִ‫,ק‬ on the front of the sea; not to the east of the
sea, as it is generally rendered, for ‫ת‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫ד‬ ִ‫ק‬ never has this meaning (see the comm. on
Gen_2:14). By ‫ָם‬‫יּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ we cannot understand “the Mediterranean,”as the majority of the
commentators have done, as there would then be no meaning in the words, since the
whole of the land of Israel was situated to the east of the Mediterranean Sea. ‫ָם‬‫יּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ is the
Dead Sea, generally called ‫ָם‬‫יּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ‫מ‬ ְ‫ד‬ ַ‫קּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ (Eze_47:18); and ‫ת‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫ד‬ ִ‫,ק‬ “on the front side of the
(Dead) Sea,” as looked at from Jerusalem, the central point of the land, is probably the
valley of the Jordan, the principal crossing place from Gilead into Canaan proper, and
the broadest part of the Jordan-valley, which was therefore well adapted to be the
burial-place for the multitude of slaughtered foes. But in consequence of the army of Gog
having there found its grave, this valley will in future block up the way to the travellers
who desire to pass to and fro. This appears to be the meaning of the circumstantial
clause.
POOLE, “ So, Heb. And, they shall not, &c.
They shall take: this, as noted before, taken potentially, or speaking what they
might, not what they eventually should do; such store of fuel from the weapons and
utensils of war left by these Gogites, that the Jews will not need to go to the forests
to cut down wood. Or else comparatively, as some will; what they shall need to fetch
from the forests shall be nothing in comparison to what they were wont to fetch.
They shall burn; they may if they will: it is not preceptive, to make it duty, nor doth
it necessarily determine that they must, but there were and would be for all that
36

time who would be burning these weapons, and save the labour and cost of buying
and fetching wood; and these who should do this I would look for among the poorer
sort.
They shall spoil; strip the dead, rifle their waggons and tents, searching what they
may find of value and use, in which it is likely the poor among the Jews would be
earliest and most diligent.
Those that spoiled them; the army of Gog, and his followers.
And rob: it was not theft or robbery in the Jews to do this, though it was robbery in
Gog and his company to spoil the Jews; but for decorum of the phrase, the prophet
useth the same word in both cases.
TRAPP, “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.
Ver. 10. So that they shall take no wood.] This must needs be hyperbolic, as are also
sundry other passages in Holy Scripture. When Luther burnt the Pope’s decrees
and decretals at Wittemberg, it was a fair fire doubtless, as Solon once said of the
fire he caused to be made at Athens of the bills and bonds of the Athenian usurers.
11 “‘On that day I will give Gog a burial place in
Israel, in the valley of those who travel east of the
Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because
37

Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it
will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.[b]
BARNES, "The prophet pictures to himself some imaginary valley (compare Zec_
14:5) at the “east of the sea,” the Dead Sea, a place frightful in its physical character, and
admonitory of past judgments. He calls it “the valley of the passengers” (or, passers-by),
because they who there lie buried were but as a passing cloud. In Eze_39:11-15 there is a
play upon words - there were “passengers” to be buried, “passengers” to walk over their
graves, “passengers” to bury them; (or, a play upon the treble meaning of passing in
(invading), passing by, and passing through.)
Stop the noses - The word thus rendered occurs only once more in Scripture Deu_
25:4 where it is rendered muzzle. See Isa_34:3.
Hamon-gog - See the margin, compare Eze_39:16.
CLARKE, "The valley of the passengers on the east of the sea - That is, of
Gennesareth, according to the Targum. The valley near this lake or sea is called the
Valley of the Passengers, because it was a great road by which the merchants and traders
from Syria and other eastern countries went into Egypt; see Gen_37:17, Gen_37:25. See
Calmet here.
There shall they bury Gog and all his multitude - Some read, “There shall they
bury Gog, that is, all his multitude.” Not Gog, or Antiochus himself, for he was not in
this battle; but his generals, captains, and soldiers, by whom he was represented. As to
Hamon-gog, we know no valley of this name but here. But we may understand the words
thus: the place where this great slaughter was, and where the multitudes of the slain
were buried, might be better called Hamon-gog, the valley of the multitude of God, than
the valley of passengers; for so great was the carnage there, that the way of the
passengers shall be stopped by it. See the text.
GILL, "And it shall come to pass in that day,.... When this destruction of the army
of Gog shall be made:
that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel; or, "a place there, a
grave in Israel" (b); he that thought to have subdued the whole land, and taken
possession of it, shall have no more of it than just a place for a grave, to be buried in; a
place fit for a grave, as the Targum; and where that will be is next observed: "the valley
of the passengers on the east of the sea"; a valley through which travellers used to pass
38

from Syria, Babylon, and other places, to Egypt and Arabia Felix, which lay east of the
sea; not the Mediterranean sea, which lies west of Judea; but either the Dead sea, the sea
of Sodom, a sulphurous lake, to which there may be an allusion, Rev_19:20 or the sea of
Chinnereth, or Genesareth, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi; the same with the sea or
lake of Tiberias and Galilee, mentioned in the New Testament; which sense is approved
of by Gussetius (c); where was a passage from the land of Canaan to the east of the same
sea. Calmet (d) thinks it stands for the great road at the foot of Mount Carmel, to go
from Judea, Egypt, and the country of the Philistines, into Phoenicia, which road was to
the east of the Mediterranean sea.
And it shall stop the noses of the passengers; or the passengers shall stop their
noses, because of the ill smell of the carcasses (e); or their mouths, the mouths of
blasphemers, who shall no more blaspheme the God of Israel, when they shall observe
this monument of his power, in the destruction of his and his people's enemies. It may
be rendered, "it shall stop the passengers (f); from passing that way, because of the
multitude of the carcasses that shall fall there", and which is the reason of their being
buried out of the way; this sense Jarchi takes notice of. The Targum is,
"and it is near to two mountains;''
as if this clause described the situation of the valley.
And there shall they bury Gog, and all his multitude; all his army, such of it as
the fowls and beasts had not devoured, and the bones they had left; not his army only,
but himself also, the Sultan or Grand Seignior of the Turks, the general of his mighty
army: this was not true of Antiochus; he died not, nor was he buried in the land of Israel.
And they shall call it the valley of Hamon-gog: Hamon signifies a multitude; and
this name will be imposed upon the place of Gog's sepulchre, because of the multitude
slain and buried here, and to perpetuate the memory of it: there never was yet a place of
this name in the land of Israel, which shows that this event is yet future. Calmet takes it
to be the valley of Jezreel, in which he thinks the army of Cambyses was defeated, after
the death of that prince; wrongly taking Cambyses and his army for Gog and Magog.
JAMISON, "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.
39

COKE, “Ezekiel 39:11. At place there of graves— An illustrious place for sepulchre;
the valley of passengers, opposite to the sea; through which the travellers shall pass
stopping their noses. Houbigant. According to the Chaldee, the sea here spoken of
was that of Gennezareth. The valley near this lake or sea is called the valley of the
passengers, because it was a great road, by which the merchants and traders from
Syria, and other eastern countries, went into Egypt. See Genesis 37:17; Genesis
37:25 and Calmet.
ELLICOTT, “11) The valley of the passengers.—The name cannot be derived from
the Scythians, as if they were spoken of “as a cloud passing over and gone,” because
the same word is used again in this verse, and also in Ezekiel 39:14-15, evidently in a
different sense. It simply denotes some (probably imaginary) thoroughfare, which is
to be blocked up by the buried bodies of the slain. No definite locality is assigned to
it, except that it is “on the east of the sea,” meaning the Dead Sea. It was to be,
therefore, on the extreme south-eastern outskirts of the land. This is another of the
features of the description which indicate some other than a literal interpretation;
for how should such a host, invading the land from the north for purposes of
plunder, be found in that locality, and how could such vast numbers of dead bodies
be transported thither?
Stop the noses.—The word “noses” is not in the original, and should be omitted. The
meaning is simply that the bodies of the host shall so fill up the valley as to stop the
way of travellers.
The valley of Hamon-gog.—It is better to translate the word Hamon, as in the
margin: The valley of the multitude of Gog. So also in Ezekiel 39:15.
POOLE, “ At that day; when God shall have destroyed this prince, and his
formidable army.
Give unto Gog; and to many of those who were with him, for some were given to the
birds and beasts to be devoured, Ezekiel 39:4.
40

A place there of graves: beside 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, as the Hebrew.
The valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: this valley hath here its name and
situation; the name from the frequent travels of passengers through it from Egypt
and Arabia Felix into the more northern parts, and from these again into Egypt and
Arabia. By its situation it is on the east side of the Dead Sea, to distinguish it from
the valley that is on this side Jordan westward, in which is Dothan. Now in this
valley did the Jews discomfit the Ammonites, Moabites, Tyrians, and Sidonians,
/APC 1Ma 5. This might be a type, or firstfruits, and assurance of this great victory,
but no more; for this was of a few against a few, and in this fight of some but few
fell, &c.
It shall stop the noses; the stink of the putrefying carcasses should make travellers
stop their noses, offended with the ill smells.
There shall they bury; partly in doing the office of humanity, though to dead
enemies; and let their enemies live, who would not (for want of others) be so civil to
them when dead; but chiefly to remove the nuisance of eye and nose, and to prevent
diseases, that rise many times from such smells.
Gog: this prince, whoever it is, shall there fall, and be buried with
his multitude. They shall call it: this shall give name to the valley, which is to be
called
41

The valley of Hamon-gog: which appellation I do not know to be given to any valley
as yet, probably because this prophecy is not yet fully accomplished.
TRAPP, “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.
Ver. 11. I will give unto Gog a place there of graves.] That is all the portion or
possession he gets in the Holy Land.
On the east of the sea.] The Dead Sea, or the lake of Sodom - a fit place for
antichrist to be buried in: he shall at last be cast alive into a worse lake. [Revelation
19:20]
And it shall stop the noses of passengers.] By reason of stench, or the mouths of
passengers from speaking evil of God’s people.
And they shall call it.] For a lasting monument of God’s great mercy, in ridding the
country of such pests.
PULPIT, “Gog, who should invade Israel in the hope of acquiring the entire
mastery of her land, would obtain at Jehovah's hands only a place there of graves,
i.e. either, as Hitzig, Ewald, Keil, and Smend suggest, a place where a grave might
be possible—a place large enough to receive his slaughtered carcasses; or as
Havernick proposes, "an altogether special grave as no other in Israel;" or as
Schroder interprets, "a place where there is a grave for him and nothing else."
Concerning both the designation and the site of this divinely provided sepulcher
controversy has arisen.
42

In the present verse ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ָ‫ה‬ may signify either
12 “‘For seven months the Israelites will be
burying them in order to cleanse the land.
CLARKE, "And seven months - It shall require a long time to bury the dead. This
is another figurative expression; which, however, may admit of a good deal of literal
meaning. Many of the Syrian soldiers had secreted themselves in different places during
the pursuit after the battle, where they died of their wounds, of hunger, and of fatigue; so
that they were not all found and buried till seven months after the defeat of the Syrian
army. This slow process of burying is distinctly related in the three following verses, and
extended even to a bone, Eze_39:15; which, when it was found by a passenger, the place
was marked, that the buriers might see and inter it. Seven months was little time enough
for all this work; and in that country putrescency does not easily take place: the
scorching winds serving to desiccate the flesh, and preserve it from decomposition.
GILL, "And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them,.... So
long time will the burial of Gog's army take up, because of the multitude of it, and by
reason their bones will be scattered here and there; which will require time to gather
them together, and bring them to one place: the reason of the burial of them will be,
partly out of humanity, which the Christian religion, which will then be embraced by the
Jews, teaches and encourages; and partly because of the disagreeable sight and ill smell
of the carcasses of the slain, and to prevent the air being infected therewith, which might
cause noxious diseases. Jarchi gives the reason of it, because Gog is of the seed of
Japheth, who covered his father's nakedness, and therefore worthy of a funeral: but a
better reason follows,
that they may cleanse the land: not from ceremonial uncleanness, a place being
unclean, by the ceremonial law, where dead carcasses, or the bones of dead men, lay; for
the ceremonial law, as it is abrogated, will now be disused by the Jews themselves, when
converted; but from natural pollution, before mentioned.
K&D 12-20, “From the fact that Gog's multitude is buried there, the valley itself will
43

receive the name of Hamon-Gog. The Israelites will occupy seven months in burying
them, so enormously great will be the number of the dead to be buried (Eze_39:12), and
this labour will be for a name, i.e., for renown, to the whole nation. This does not mean,
of course, “that it will be a source of honour to them to assist in this work;” nor is the
renown to be sought in the fact, that as a privileged people, protected by God, they can
possess the grave of Gog in their land (Hitzig), - a thought which is altogether remote,
and perfectly foreign to Israelitish views; but the burying of Gog's multitude of troops
will be for a name to the people of Israel, inasmuch as they thereby cleanse the land and
manifest their zeal to show themselves a holy people by sweeping all uncleanness away.
‫ם‬ ‫י‬ is an accusative of time: on the day when I glorify myself. - Eze_39:14, Eze_39:15.
The effort made to cleanse the land perfectly from the uncleanness arising from the
bones of the dead will be so great, that after the great mass of the slain have been buried
in seven months, there will be men specially appointed to bury the bones of the dead
that still lie scattered here and there about the land. ‫י‬ֵ‫שׁ‬ְ‫נ‬ ַ‫א‬ ‫יד‬ ִ‫מ‬ ָ‫תּ‬ are people who have a
permanent duty to discharge. The participles ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ and ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫בּ‬ ַ‫ק‬ ְ‫מ‬ are co-ordinate, and
are written together asyndetos, men who go about the land, and men who bury with
those who go about. That the words are to be understood in this sense is evident from
Eze_39:15, according to which those who go about do not perform the task of burying,
but simply search for bones that have been left, and put up a sign for the buriers of the
dead. ‫ה‬ ָ‫א‬ ָ‫,ר‬ with the subject indefinite; if one sees a human bone, he builds (erects) a
‫יּוּן‬ ִ‫,צ‬ or stone, by the side of it (cf. 2Ki_23:17). - Eze_39:16. A city shall also receive the
name of Hamonah, i.e., multitude or tumult. To ‫יר‬ ִ‫ם־ע‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ we may easily supply ‫ֶה‬‫י‬ ְ‫ה‬ִ‫י‬ from
the context, since this puts in the future the statement, “the name of the city is,” for
which no verb was required in Hebrew. In the last words, ‫ֲרוּ‬‫ה‬ ִ‫ט‬ ְ‫ו‬ ‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ָ‫א‬ ָ‫,ה‬ the main thought
is finally repeated and the picture brought to a close. - Eze_39:17-20. In the third place,
God will provide the birds of prey and beasts of prey with an abundant meal from this
slaughter. This cannot be understood as signifying that only what remain of the corpses,
and have not been cleared away in the manner depicted in Eze_39:11-16, will become the
prey of wild beasts; but the beasts of prey will make their meal of the corpses before it is
possible to bury them, since the burying cannot be effected immediately or all at once. -
The several features in the picture, of the manner in which the enemies are to be
destroyed till the last trace of them is gone, are not arranged in chronological order, but
according to the subject-matter; and the thought that the slaughtered foes are to become
the prey of wild beasts is mentioned last as being the more striking, because it is in this
that their ignominious destruction culminates. To give due prominence to this thought,
the birds and beasts of prey are summoned by God to gather together to the meal
prepared for them. The picture given of it as a sacrificial meal is based upon Isa_34:6
and Jer_46:10. In harmony with this picture the slaughtered foes are designated as
fattened sacrificial beasts, rams, lambs, he-goats, bullocks; on which Grotius has
correctly remarked, that “these names of animals, which were generally employed in the
sacrifices, are to be understood as signifying different orders of men, chiefs, generals,
soldiers, as the Chaldee also observes.”
POOLE, “ Seven months shall the house of Israel, many of the house of Israel, some
44

Ezekiel 39 commentary

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Ezekiel 39 commentary