John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 39:4

"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." — Ezekiel 39:4 (ASV)

You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel
Be slain, and his carcass lie there; so the Targum, "upon the mountains of the land of Israel your carcass shall be cast:" you and all your bands, and the people that are with you; Gog and his army, auxiliaries and allies:

I will give you 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 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, (Deuteronomy 28:26) and to the wicked Jews in the times of Jeremiah; and to that evil king of Judah, Jehoiakim, (Jeremiah 16:4) (Jeremiah 22:18Jeremiah 22:19) and is lamented as one of the greatest evils that could befall good men, (Psalms 79:2) ,

And nothing was more dreadful among the Heathens themselves; hence Homer ^F26 , 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 ^F1 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F26: Iliad. 1. l. 4, 5.
• F1: ----non te optima mater Condet humi, patriove onerrabit membra sepulchro Alitibus linquere feris". Aeneid. l. 10.