Albert Barnes Commentary Ezekiel 39
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ezekiel 39
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ezekiel 39
"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:" — Ezekiel 39:1 (ASV)
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 figurative, have searched history to find some campaign in the land of Israel, some overthrow of invaders, to which this prophecy refers, and have assigned locations to the burial-place “Hamon-Gog” (Ezekiel 39:11).
"and I will turn thee about, and 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;" — Ezekiel 39:2 (ASV)
The chief prince - Or, “prince of Rosh.”
And leave but the sixth part of you - Or, and lead you along (Septuagint and Vulgate).
"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." — Ezekiel 39:6 (ASV)
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.
"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall 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 out of the forests; 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." — Ezekiel 39:9-10 (ASV)
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 will 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 (Numbers 19:11 and following), and this purification of the land by the clearance of pagan spoils was a holy work .
"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-gog." — Ezekiel 39:11 (ASV)
The prophet pictures to himself some imaginary valley at the “east of the sea,” the Dead Sea—a place frightful in its physical character and serving as a warning of past judgments. He calls it “the valley of the passengers” (or, passers-by), because those who lie buried there were merely like a passing cloud. In Ezekiel 39:11-15, there is a play on words: there were “passengers” to be buried, “passengers” to walk over their graves, and “passengers” to bury them; (or, a play upon the triple meaning of passing in (invading), passing by, and passing through).
Stop the noses - The word rendered this way occurs only once more in Scripture (Deuteronomy 25:4), where it is rendered muzzle. .
Hamon-gog - See the margin; compare Ezekiel 39:16.
Jump to: