Hezekiel 39:21 Yorum

This chapter continues and concludes the prophecy against Gog and Magog, in whose destruction God crowns his favour to his people Israel, which shines very brightly after the scattering of that black cloud in the close of this chapter. Here is, I. An express prediction of the utter destruction of Gog and Magog, agreeing with what we had before (Eze 39:1-7). II. An illustration of the vastness of that destruction, in three consequences of it: the burning of their weapons (Eze 39:8-10), the burning of their slain (Eze 39:11-16), and the feasting of the fowls with the dead bodies of those that were unburied (Eze 39:17-22). III. A declaration of God's gracious purposes concerning his people Israel, in this and his other providences concerning them, and a promise of further mercy that he had yet in store for them (Eze 39:23-29).

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 39 This chapter is a continuation of the prophecy of the destruction of Gog, which is both repeated, and more largely described, Eze 39:1, then follows an account of the burning of his weapons of war, which will last seven years in burning, during which time there will be no need of the use of wood, Eze 39:9, and of the burial of him, and many of his army; the place where, and the time that will be taken up in doing this, even seven months, are observed, Eze 39:11, and every feathered fowl and beast of the field are called upon to feed on the flesh of those that are left unburied, Eze 39:17 and by all this the glory of the Lord will be seen, known, and acknowledged, both by the Heathens, and by the house of Israel, Eze 39:21, and the former will also be informed that the present captivity of the Jews has been for their sins and transgressions, Eze 39:23, and the chapter is concluded with a promise of their return from captivity, when they shall know the Lord, and their interest in him; who will after this no more hide his face from them, but pour out his Spirit upon them, under whose influence they shall ever continue, Eze 39:25.

And I will set my glory among the Heathen,.... The glory of his divine perfections, particularly his power and his goodness, in destroying the enemies of his people, and saving them; which will be set in a clear point of view to the Heathen, that they cannot but observe it; and this is the ultimate end of this strange event, as it is of all that the Lord does, even his own glory, subordinate to which is his people's good: and all the Heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them; his vengeance and power, as the Targum; the punishment inflicted by his mighty hand on Gog and his army: these Heathens are the Pagan kingdoms of China, &c. and of Tartary, Persia, and the whole Turkish dominions, being Mahometan, which are no better than Heathen; these will be converted to the Christian religion, in consequence of this event; for this will be the passing away of the Turkish woe, which will make way for the sounding of the seventh trumpet; and when these kingdoms will become Christ's, and way be made for the kings of the east to come over to him, Rev 11:14.

(Verse 17 and following) 'Therefore, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Speak to every winged creature, to all the birds, and to all the beasts of the field or the countryside: Come together and hasten, gather from all around to my sacrifice that I have offered to you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the meat of the mighty or giants, and you shall drink the blood of the rulers of the land: of rams, lambs, goats, and of bulls, as well as of all the fatted ones.' And you shall eat the fat in abundance, and drink the blood to the full, of the offering that I have sacrificed for you. And you shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors, says the Lord God. And I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. And the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. And all the nations shall know that the house of Israel were taken captive because of their iniquities, because they had forsaken me and I had hidden my face from them and given them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. According to their uncleanness and their transgressions, I dealt with them and hid my face from them. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel: and I will be zealous for my holy name. And they shall bear their confusion (or disgrace), and all their transgressions, whereby they have transgressed against me, when they dwelt confidently (or securely) in their own land, fearing no one. And I will bring them back from the peoples (or nations), and gather them out of the countries of their enemies (or from the regions of the nations), and I will be sanctified in them in the sight (or presence) of many nations. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, when I have caused them to be carried away among the nations (or when I have appeared to them in the Gentiles), and have gathered them together upon their own land, and have not left any one of them there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them, for I have poured out my spirit (or fury) upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.' This which we have translated according to the Hebrew, and I will gather them together upon their own land, and will not leave any one of them there, is not found in the LXX. And again, what is placed at the end according to the Hebrews for a blessing, because I have poured out my spirit, the Septuagint translated as fury, which pertains to anger, especially since in Hebrew it is written as Ruhi, which properly means my spirit, and by no means my fury. However, everything up to that point, where the construction of the temple follows, those whom we have mentioned above, the Jews, and our Judaizing brethren, refer to the ultimate time: that Gog and all his army may be fattened like the choicest sacrifices of birds and beasts, and that Israel may be restored to its former state, and no longer be conquered by the nations, but that God may pour out his spirit upon them, so that they may dwell in their land: not all nations, but specifically the house of Israel. But following the initiated tropology, we will say this, that the Lord summons all birds and all beasts to devour the leaders of heretics as the fattest victims. Birds and beasts, however, are called so either because of their swiftness in running everywhere or because of their fierceness and cruelty, to which adversaries are handed over to be destroyed in the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved and they may learn not to blaspheme (I Tim. I). However, they will eat a large and fattest victim; not elsewhere, but on the mountains of Israel, which we ought to understand as the prophets and apostles, and holy men. For in them the teachers of contrary doctrines fall, and they perish wounded by themselves, upon whom the Church is built: and to speak more truly, upon the mountain of mountains, about which Isaiah and Micah speak: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will show us his ways (Isa. II, 3; Mic. IV, 2). But those birds and those animals, swift and cruel, will eat flesh and drink blood, which cannot possess the kingdom of God: the flesh of the mighty, or giants, who rebelled against the knowledge of God, and the blood of princes, not of heaven, but of the earth, they will drink, who have savored all earthly things: the blood of rams, and lambs, and goats, or according to the Septuagint, the blood of rams, calves, and goats, to signify the three animals that are sacrificed in the offerings to God. For heretics imitate the gentleness of the Church, but their offering does not profit for the worship of God, but for the food of demons, which is their fattest host, and they are satisfied with fatness and drink the blood of deceivers to the point of drunkenness. But God sacrifices this victim through ecclesiastical men, so that the guests of the worst kind may be satisfied with the multitude of deceivers, and they may drink to the point of vomiting and drunkenness. When you see holy men, instructed in divine Scriptures, cut down the horses of heretics and charioteers, of whom it is written: He threw the horse and its rider into the sea (Exodus XV, 1), and cut down all rebels and giants with his sword, and shed the blood of all warriors of false-named knowledge, then know that the table of the Lord has been prepared, that he may put his glory in all nations that believe in his name, and that they may understand the judgment of the Church of his holy ones, which they have performed against their adversaries, and the strong hand with which they have struck them; and let the house of Israel know and understand that he is their Lord God, who spoke: I am your Lord God, from the day of the Lord's victory until eternity; and let them recall that the house of Israel was once captured by heretics and scattered throughout the entire world of perverse doctrines, because they had abandoned him who had hidden momentarily or turned his face away from them, and delivered them into the hands of heretics, and they fell, pierced by their swords, because of their impurities and iniquities; and this was the reason why he hid and turned his face away from them. But after presenting the arguments, according to what is written: There must be heresies so that those who are approved may become manifest (I Cor. XI, 19), the captivity of Israel, namely the Church, in which those who see God dwell: now it promises that it will restore the captivity of Jacob to the Church, who had supplanted the Jewish people, and was later supplanted by the tricks of the heretics: and it will have mercy on the whole house of Israel, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. And I will take up my zeal for my holy name, which was blasphemed among the nations because of heretics: so that once I have delivered them, they may be ashamed and confounded, for why have they forsaken the faith of the Church, and transgressed against me. But let them be confounded and ashamed very quickly, when they have dwelt in their land, the land of the meek, and the land of the saints, and have dwelt confidently, whether in peace, not fearing the snares of heretics. Then they will be brought back from the peoples, and will be gathered from the lands of their enemies into their own land. And the Lord will be sanctified in them in the sight of many nations, who themselves will also believe in the Lord. And the end of blessedness will be to know and recognize that he is their Lord God, because he has appeared to them among the nations, or has brought them over from the nations, and has gathered them onto his own land, the land of Judah, the land of confession, the land of gentleness, and the land of the living, and he will not even leave a trace of heretical wickedness. And he will no longer hide his face from them, nor turn away from them, because he has poured out the spirit of his grace, of which the prophet Joel also speaks: 'In the last days, I will pour out from my spirit upon all flesh' (Joel 2:28), and he will pour it out upon all the house of Israel. But if we read 'fury' according to the Septuagint, which is not found in the Hebrew, it should be understood that he will no longer hide his face from those on whom he had previously poured out his fury. Up to this point in the prophet Ezekiel, with God aiding and opening our mouth, we have spoken: not destroying the opinion of others, if anyone has written, or in the future, if they are to write, but asserting whatever is ours. But in the construction of the temple, and the order of the priests, and the division of the holy land, and the river flowing out of the temple, and the trees on both banks always green, and the fruit brought forth every month, and all the rest that is contained in the prophetic volume until the end, we frankly confess our ignorance, deeming it better to say nothing than to say too little.

The prophet goes on to denounce the Divine judgments against Gog and his army, Eze 39:1-7; and describes their dreadful slaughter, Eze 39:8-10, and burial, Eze 39:11-16, in terms so very lofty and comprehensive, as must certainly denote some very extraordinary interposition of Providence in behalf of the Jews. And to amplify the matter still more, the prophet, with peculiar art and propriety, delays the summoning of all the birds and beasts of prey in nature to feast on the slain, (in allusion to the custom of feasting on the remainder of sacrifices), till after the greater multitudes are buried; to intimate that even the remainder, and as it were the stragglers of such mighty hosts, would be more than sufficient to satisfy their utmost rapacity, Eze 39:17-20. The remaining verses contain a prediction of the great blessedness of the people of God in Gospel times, and of the stability of the kingdom of Christ, Eze 39:21-29. It will be proper to remark that the great northern expedition against the natural Israel, described in this and the preceding chapter, is, from its striking resemblance in the main particulars, put by the writer of the Apocalypse, (Eze 20:7-10), for a much more formidable armament of a multitude of nations in the four quarters of the earth against the pure Christian Church, the Mystical Israel; an event still extremely remote, and which it is thought shall immediately precede the destruction of the world by fire, and the general judgment.

CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY AGAINST GOG. (Eze. 39:1-29) Repeated from Eze 38:3, to impress the prophecy more on the mind.

The Result of this Judgment, and the Concluding Promise Eze 39:21. Then will I display my glory among the nations, and all nations shall see my judgment which I shall execute, and my hand which I shall lay upon them. Eze 39:22. And the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God from this day and forward. Eze 39:23. And the nations shall know that because of their wickedness the house of Israel went into captivity; because they have been unfaithful toward me, I hid my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their oppressors, so that they all fell by the sword. Eze 39:24. According to their uncleanness, and according to their transgressions, I dealt with them, and hid my face from them. Eze 39:25. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have pity upon all the house of Israel, and be jealous for my holy name. Eze 39:26. Then will they bear their reproach and all their faithlessness which they have committed toward me when they dwell in their land in security, and no one alarms them; Eze 39:27. When I bring them back out of the nations, and gather them out of the lands of their enemies, and sanctify myself upon them before the eyes of the many nations. Eze 39:28. And they will know that I, Jehovah, am their God, when I have driven them out to the nations, and then bring them together again into their land, and leave none of them there any more. Eze 39:29. And I will not hide my face from them any more, because I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - The terrible judgment upon Gog will have this twofold effect as a revelation of the glory of God - first, Israel will know that the Lord is, and will always continue to be, its God (Eze 39:22); secondly, the heathen will know that He gave Israel into their power, and thrust it out of its own land, not from weakness, but to punish it for its faithless apostasy (Eze 39:23 and Eze 39:24; compare Eze 36:17.). עשׂה אתם (Eze 39:24), as in Eze 7:27, etc. But because this was the purpose of the Lord with His judgments, He will now bring back the captives of Israel, and have compassion upon all His people. This turn of the prophecy in Eze 39:25 serves to introduce the promise to Israel with which the prophecy concerning Gog and the whole series of prophecies, contained in Eze 35:1 onwards, are brought to a close (Eze 39:25-29). This promise reverts in 'עתּה אשׁיב וגו to the prophet's own time, to which Ezekiel had already gone back by mentioning the carrying away of Israel in Eze 39:23 and Eze 39:24. The restoration of the captives of Jacob commences with the liberation of Israel from the Babylonian exile, but is not to be restricted to this. It embraces all the deliverances which Israel will experience from the termination of the Babylonian exile till its final gathering out of the nations on the conversion of the remnant which is still hardened and scattered. לכן, therefore, sc. because God will prove Himself to be holy in the sight of the heathen nations by means of the judgment, and will make known to them that He has punished Israel solely on account of its sins, and therefore will He restore His people and renew it by His Spirit (Eze 39:29). - In what the jealousy of God for His holy name consists is evident from v.7, and still more plainly from Eze 36:22-23, namely, in the fact that by means of the judgment He manifests Himself as the holy God. ונשׂוּ is not to be altered into ונשׁוּ, "they will forget," as Dathe and Hitzig propose, but is a defective spelling for ונשׂאוּ (like מלוּ for מלאוּ in Eze 28:16): they will bear their reproach. The thought is the same as in Eze 16:54 and Eze 16:61, where the bearing of reproach is explained as signifying their being ashamed of their sins and their consequences, and feeling disgust thereat. They will feel this shame when the Lord grants them lasting peace in their own land. Raschi has correctly explained it thus: "When I shall have done them good, and not rewarded them as their iniquity deserved, they will be filled with shame, so that they will not dare to lift up their face." - Eze 39:27 is only a further expansion of Eze 39:26. For the fact itself, compare Eze 36:23-24; Eze 20:41, etc. And not only will Israel then be ashamed of its sins, but (Eze 39:28, Eze 39:29) it will also know that Jehovah is its God from henceforth and for ever, as was affirmed in Eze 39:22, when He shall fully restore to their own land the people that was thrust into exile, and withdraw His favour from it no more, because He has poured out His Spirit upon it, and thereby perfectly sanctified it as His own people (cf. Eze 36:27). The promise with which the prophecy concerning the destruction of Gog is brought to a close, namely, that in this judgment all nations shall see the glory of God, and all Israel shall know that henceforth Jehovah will be their God, and will no more hide His face from them, serves to confirm the substance of the threat of punishment; inasmuch as it also teaches that, in the destruction of Gog and his gathering of peoples, the last attack of the heathen world-power upon the kingdom of God will be judged and overthrown, so that from that time forth the people of God will no more have to fear a foe who can disturb its peace and its blessedness in the everlasting possession of the inheritance given to it by the Lord. Gog is not only depicted as the last foe, whom the Lord Himself entices for the purpose of destroying him by miracles of His almighty power (Eze 38:3-4, Eze 38:19-22), by the fact that his appearance is assigned to the end of the times, when all Israel is gathered out of the nations and brought back out of the lands, and dwells in secure repose in the open and unfortified towns of its own land (Eze 38:8, Eze 38:11-12); but this may also be inferred from the fact that the gathering of peoples led by Gog against Israel belongs to the heathen nations living on the borders of the known world,since this points to a time when not only will the ancient foes of the kingdom of God, whose destruction was predicted in Ezekiel 25-32, have departed from the stage of history and perished, but the boundaries of Israel will also stretch far beyond the limits of Palestine, to the vicinity of these hordes of peoples at the remotest extremities on the north, the east, and the south of the globe. - So much may be gathered from the contents of our prophecy in relation to its historical fulfilment. But in order to determine with greater precision what is the heathen power thus rising up in Gog of Magog against the kingdom of God, we mut take into consideration the passage in the Apocalypse (Rev 20:8 and Rev 20:9), where our prophecy is resumed. Into this, however, we will not further enter till after the exposition of Ezekiel 40-48, when we shall take up the question as to the historical realization of the new temple and kingdom of God which Ezekiel saw.