Ezekiel 38

Eze 38:1-23.

THE

ASSAULT OF

GOG, AND

GOD'S

JUDGMENT ON

HIM.

The objections to a literal interpretation of the prophecy are--(1)

The ideal nature of the name Gog, which is the root of Magog, the only

kindred name found in Scripture or history. (2) The nations congregated

are selected from places most distant from Israel, and from one another,

and therefore most unlikely to act in concert (Persians and Libyans, &c.).

(3) The whole spoil of Israel could not have given a handful to

a tithe of their number, or maintained the myriads of invaders a single

day

(Eze 38:12, 13).

(4) The wood of their invaders' weapons was to serve for fuel to Israel

for seven years! And all Israel were to take seven months in

burying the dead! Supposing a million of Israelites to bury each two

corpses a day, the aggregate buried in the hundred eighty working days

of the seven months would be three hundred sixty millions of corpses!

Then the pestilential vapors from such masses of victims before they

were all buried! What Israelite could live in such an atmosphere? (5)

The scene of the Lord's controversy here is different from that in

Isa 34:6,

Edom, which creates a discrepancy. (But probably a different judgment

is alluded to). (6) The gross carnality of the representation of God's

dealings with His adversaries is inconsistent with Messianic times. It

therefore requires a non-literal interpretation. The prophetical

delineations of the divine principles of government are thrown into the

familiar forms of Old Testament relations. The final triumph of

Messiah's truth over the most distant and barbarous nations is

represented as a literal conflict on a gigantic scale, Israel being the

battlefield, ending in the complete triumph of Israel's anointed King,

the Saviour of the world. It is a prophetical parable [FAIRBAIRN]. However, though the details are not

literal, the distinctiveness in this picture, characterizing also

parallel descriptions in writers less ideally picturesque than Ezekiel,

gives probability to a more definite and generally literal

interpretation. The awful desolations caused in Judea by Antiochus

Epiphanes, of Syria (1 Maccabees; and PORPHYRY,

quoted by JEROME on Ezekiel), his defilement of

Jehovah's temple by sacrificing swine and sprinkling the altar with the

broth, and setting up the altar of Jupiter Olympius, seem to be an

earnest of the final desolations to be caused by Antichrist in Israel,

previous to His overthrow by the Lord Himself, coming to reign (compare

Da 8:10-26; 11:21-45; 12:1;

Zec 13:9; 14:2, 3).

GROTIUS explains Gog as a name taken from Gyges,

king of Lydia; and Magog as Syria, in which was a city called Magog

[PLINY, 5.28]. What Ezekiel stated more generally,

Re 20:7-9

states more definitely as to the anti-Christian confederacy which is to

assail the beloved city.

2. Gog--the prince of the land of Magog. The title was probably a

common one of the kings of the country, as "Pharaoh" in Egypt. Chakan

was the name given by the Northern Asiatics to their king, and is still

a title of the Turkish sultan: "Gog" may be a contraction of this. In

Ezekiel's time a horde of northern Asiatics, termed by the Greeks

"Scythians," and probably including the Moschi and Tibareni, near the

Caucasus, here ("Meshech . . . Tubal") undertook an expedition against

Egypt [HERODOTUS, 1.103-106]. These names might be adopted by Ezekiel

from the historical fact familiar to men at the time, as ideal titles

for the great last anti-Christian confederacy.

Magog--

(Ge 10:2;

1Ch 1:5).

The name of a land belonging to Japheth's posterity. Maha, in

Sanskrit, means "land." Gog is the ideal political head of the region.

In

Re 20:8,

Gog and Magog are two peoples.

the chief prince--rather, "prince of Rosh," or "Rhos"

[Septuagint]. The Scythian Tauri in the Crimea were so called. The

Araxes also was called "Rhos." The modern Russians may have hence

assumed their name, as Moscow and Tobolsk from Meshech and Tubal,

though their proper ancient name was Slavi, or Wends.

HENGSTENBERG supports English Version, as "Rosh" is not found in the

Bible. "Magog was Gog's original kingdom, though he acquired also

Meshech and Tubal, so as to be called their chief prince."

3. His high-sounding titles are repeated to imply the haughty

self-confidence of the invader as if invincible.

4. turn thee back--as a refractory wild beast, which thinks to take

its own way, but is bent by a superior power to turn on a course which

must end in its destruction. Satan shall be, by overruling Providence,

permitted to deceive them to their ruin

(Re 20:7, 8).

hooks into thy jaws--

(Eze 29:4;

2Ki 19:28).

5. Persia . . . Libya--expressly specified by

APPIAN as supplying the

ranks of Antiochus' army.

6. Gomer--the Celtic Cimmerians of Crim-Tartary.

Togarmah--the Armenians of the Caucasus, south of Iberia.

7. Irony. Prepare thee and all thine with all needful accoutrements

for war--that ye may perish together.

be . . . a guard unto them--that is, if thou canst.

8. thou shall be visited--in wrath, by God

(Isa 29:6).

Probably there is allusion to

Isa 24:21, 22,

"The host of the high ones . . . shall be gathered

. . . as prisoners . . . in the pit . . .

and after many days shall they be visited." I therefore prefer

English Version to GROTIUS rendering, "Thou

shalt get the command" of the expedition. The "after many days"

is defined by "in the latter years," that is, in the times just before

the coming of Messiah, namely, under Antiochus, before His first

coming; under Antichrist, before His second coming.

the mountains of Israel . . . always waste--that is, waste during the

long period of the captivity, the earnest of the much longer period of

Judea's present desolation (to which the language "always waste" more

fully applies). This marks the impious atrocity of the act, to assail

God's people, who had only begun to recover from their protracted

calamities.

but it is brought . . . and they shall dwell--rather, "And they (the

Israelites) were brought . . . dwelt safely"

[FAIRBAIRN].

English Version means, "Against Israel, which has been waste, but

which (that is, whose people) is now (at the time of the invasion)

brought forth out of the nations where they were dispersed, and shall be

found by the invader dwelling securely, so as to seem an easy prey to

him."

9. cloud to cover the land--with the multitude of thy forces.

10. an evil thought--as to attacking God's people in their defenseless

state.

11. dwell safely--that is, securely, without fear of danger (compare

Es 9:19).

Antiochus, the type of Antichrist, took Jerusalem without a blow.

12. midst of the land--literally, "the navel" of the land

(Jud 9:37,

Margin). So, in

Eze 5:5,

Israel is said to be set "in the midst of the nations"; not physically,

but morally, a central position for being a blessing to the world: so

(as the favored or "beloved city,"

Re 20:9)

an object of envy. GROTIUS translates, "In the

height of the land" (so

Eze 38:8),

"the mountains of Israel," Israel being morally elevated above the rest

of the world.

13. Sheba, &c.--These mercantile peoples, though not taking an active

part against the cause of God, are well pleased to see others do it.

Worldliness makes them ready to deal in the ill-gotten spoil of the

invaders of God's people. Gain is before godliness with them

(1 Maccabees 3:41).

young lions--daring princes and leaders.

14. shalt thou not know it?--to thy cost, being visited with

punishment, while Israel dwells safely.

16. I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know

me--So in

Ex 9:16,

God tells Pharaoh, "For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show

in thee My power; and that My name may be declared throughout all the

earth."

17. thou he of whom I have spoken in old time--Gog, &c. are here

identified with the enemies spoken of in other prophecies

(Nu 24:17-24;

Isa 27:1;

compare

Isa 26:20, 21;

Jer 30:23, 24;

Joe 3:1;

Mic 5:5, 6;

Isa 14:12-14; 59:19).

God is represented as addressing Gog at the time of his assault;

therefore, the "old time" is the time long prior, when Ezekiel uttered

these prophecies; so, he also, as well as Daniel

(Da 11:1-45)

and Zechariah

(Zec 14:1-21)

are included among "the prophets of Israel" here.

many years--ago.

18. fury shall come up in my face--literally, "nose"; in Hebrew, the idiomatic expression for anger, as men in anger breathe strongly

through the nostrils. Anthropopathy: God stooping to human modes of

thought

(Ps 18:8).

19. great shaking--an earthquake: physical agitations after

accompanying social and moral revolutions. Foretold also in

Joe 3:16;

(compare

Hag 2:6, 7;

Mt 24:7, 29;

Re 16:18).

20. fishes--disturbed by the fleets which I will bring.

fowls, &c.--frightened at the sight of so many men: an ideal picture.

mountains--that is, the fortresses on the mountains.

steep places--literally, "stairs"

(So 2:14);

steep terraces for vines on the sides of hills, to prevent the earth

being washed down by the rains.

every wall--of towns.

21. every man's sword . . . against his brother--I

will destroy them partly by My people's sword, partly by their swords

being turned against one another (compare

2Ch 20:23).

22. plead--a forensic term; because God in His inflictions acts on

the principles of His own immutable justice, not by arbitrary impulse

(Isa 66:16;

Jer 25:31).

blood . . . hailstones, fire--

(Re 8:7; 16:21).

The imagery is taken from the destruction of Sodom and the plagues of

Egypt (compare

Ps 11:6).

Antiochus died by "pestilence" (2 Maccabees 9:5).