Ezekiel 38:1-13

Chapter Seventeen

FINAL DELIVERANCE FOR GOD'S PEOPLE
38:1-39:29

Chapter s 38-39 deal with the efforts of some arch-enemy of God's people to invade and devastate the land of Israel. The tranquil scene with which the previous chapter closed would not go unchallenged. The new Israel of God would undergo testing as did the nation Israel of Old Testament times. These Chapter s are apocalyptic in nature. The language is highly symbolical and at times deliberately shadowy and even cryptic.[462] The time frame is the final age the age of the Messiah as is indicated by the recurring phrase the end of days. The author of the Book of Revelation seems to allude to this same event, the last battle between the powers of evil and the church of God. He placed this battle immediately before the final judgment and the emergence of the new heavens and the new earth (Revelation 20:8).

[462] Taylor, TOTC. p. 243.

These two Chapter s consist of seven oracles, each introduced with the formula, Thus says the Lord God.[463] For the purpose of this discussion the material can be divided into four major units: (1) the invasion by God (Ezekiel 38:1-13); (2) the overthrow of God (Ezekiel 38:14-23); (3) the destruction of God (Ezekiel 39:1-20); and (4) the results of God's destruction (Ezekiel 39:21-24). To this is appended a note of consolation for the exiles in Babylon (Ezekiel 39:25-29).

[463] Ezekiel 38:3-16; Ezekiel 17-23; Ezekiel 39:1-24; Ezekiel 25-29

I. THE INVASION BY GOD 38:1-13

TRANSLATION

(1) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, set your face toward God from the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, (3) and say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O God, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal; (4) and I will turn you about, and put hooks in your jaws and bring you and your army out horses and horsemen, all of them clothed gorgeously, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling the sword: (5) Persia, Cush and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; (6) Comer, and all her bands; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, all his bands; even many people with you. (7) Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your congregation who have congregated about you, and for whom you are a guard. (8) After many days you shall be mustered for service, in the latter years you shall come against the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, against the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it has been brought forth from peoples, and they dwell safely all of them. (9) And you shall go up, you shall come like a Storm, you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all of your bands, and many people with you. (10) Thus says the Lord GOD: It shall come to pass in that day, that things shall come up upon your heart, and you will devise an evil plot. (11) And you will say, I will go up against the land of unwalled villages, I will come upon those who are quiet, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, having neither bars nor gates; (12) to take spoil and seize prey; to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people that arc gathered from the nations, that have acquired cattle and goods, that dwell in the middle of the earth. (13) Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its powerful ones, shall say to you: Have you come to take spoil? have you assembled a congregation to seize prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take cattle and goods, to take great spoil?

COMMENTS

Ezekiel is to address an oracle to God. Who is God? From this text all that can be deduced is that (1) he is from the land of Magog; and (2) he was prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. Scholars have wrestled with the etymology of the name God. Among the more interesting suggestions are the following: (1) God is derived from the Sumerian gug which means darkness. God would then be a personification of all that is dark and evil.[464] (2) God is the exact equivalent of the Assyrian name Gugu who was king of Lydia in Asia Minor from 685-652 B.C.[465] (3) God is a name artificially constructed from Magog, the land over which this anonymous ruler is said to have ruled.[466]

[464] Rowley, RA, p. 32.

[465] Pfeiffer. IOT, p. 562.

[466] Keil, BCOT, 11, 159.

In truth there probably never will be general acceptance of any etymology for the name God. But more important is this question: Who is it that is given the name God? Almost every character of note in the Hellenistic period has been nominated.[467] The position taken here is that God should not be identified with any figure of history, but rather should be regarded as an apocalyptic figure of the end-time.

[467] Alexander the Great (Winckler); Antiochus the Great (Grotius). Antiochus Epiphanes (Seinecke), Antiochus Eupator (Berry); Mithridates VI king of Pontus (Schmidt).

God is said to be from the land of Magog. Magog, along with Meshech and Tubal, is mentioned in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 as being among the sons of Japheth. Many scholars follow Josephus (Ant. I. vi. 1) in identifying the Magogites as the ruthless Scythians. These warriors were infamous in the ancient world for their practice of pausing to drink the blood of the first enemy soldier killed in battle.

A more positive identification can be made for Meshech and Tubal, two other lands said to be ruled by God. In Assyrian literature these peoples were known as Mushki and Tabal.[468] They inhabited the region of central and eastern Anatolia near the headwaters of the Tigris. The Mushki entered the Near East in the twelfth century B.C. During the time of Sargon II the Mushki were ruled by the famous King Mita, Midas of classical and mythical fame.[469]

[468] Texts mentioning one or both of these people are found in Luckenbill, ARAB, I, 74, 138.44; II, 4, 12, 21-23, 46-48, 61.

[469] Herodotus 1.14 has Midas as king of the Phrygians Mita (Midas) must have been a dynastic title preserved by the Phrygians from the Mushki who apparently earlier had occupied parts of Asia Minor.

The identification of Rosh is more problematical. A country called Rashu is mentioned in one Assyrian text which mentions Mushki and Tubal.[470] This identification is likely. On the other hand, some scholars believe that Rosh is a general designation for all northern territories.

[470] Luckenbill, ARAB II, 48.

Ezekiel is using the thought-forms of his day as vehicles for this eschatological prophecy. Throughout Old Testament history prophets warned of an attack upon God's people from the north (cf. Jeremiah 4:5 to Jeremiah 6:26). What Ezekiel says here is that God's people would face one last dreadful onslaught by the forces of evil out of the north, the traditional region of Israel's enemies.

The evil designs of God against God's people cannot succeed because the Lord is against him (Ezekiel 38:3). Like a wild beast captured and led about by hooks in the jaws, God would be forcefully turned back. His handsome and well-equipped troops (Ezekiel 38:4) would be comprised of people of many nations (Ezekiel 38:5-6). Ezekiel enumerates five allies of God:

1. Persia. The Persians were an Indo-European people who entered the Iranian plateau late in the second millennium B.C. They were located east of the Persian Gulf.

2. Cush. The Cushites were a Hamitic nation (Genesis 10:6-8; 1 Chronicles 1:8-10) residing south of Egypt. Cush is equivalent to Ethiopia.

3. Put. The war-like inhabitants of Put were a Hamitic people (Genesis 10:6; 1 Chronicles 1:8). They are mentioned elsewhere as allies of Egypt (Nab. Ezekiel 3:9; Jeremiah 46:9; Ezekiel 30:5) and warriors of Tyre (Ezekiel 27:10). Put was certainly an African nation, but its location is disputed. Probably Put is Libya in North Africa.[471]

[471] Kitchen, NBD, p. 1066

4. Gomer. Gomer was a Japhethic people (Genesis 10:2-3) probably to be identified with the ancient Gimirrai (Cimmerians)[472] who invaded the Fertile Crescent from their Ukrainian homeland some time before the eighth century B.C.

[472] This identification is made on the basis of statements made by Herodotus (1.6, 15, 103; IV, I, 11, 12).

5. The house of Togarmah. These Japhethic peoples (Genesis 10:3; 1 Chronicles 1:6) were mentioned earlier by Ezekiel as trading partners with Tyre (Ezekiel 27:14). In the fourteenth century Tegarama is described as lying between Carchemish and Harran on a main trade route through southwest Armenia. Some com mentators refer to them as Armenians.

In Ezekiel 38:7 God exhorts God to prepare himself for the invasion of Israel and to assume the guardianship or command of the various people who had assembled about him (Ezekiel 38:7).

Ezekiel 38:8 serves to underscore the time-frame of the entire prophecy. The attack will take place (1) after many days. This phrase suggests that for a long period of time God and his confederates would be dormant. But at the appropriate time they would be mustered for service, i.e., they would reappear on the stage of history. (2) The attack would transpire in the latter years, a phrase which may point to the eschaton the final end-time period. (3) The attack would occur after the restoration of the people of God.

Ezekiel 38:8 also serves to underscore the enormity of God's crime. He would attack a people which had been rescued from the sword of national death by being gathered out of all peoples where they had been held captive. Furthermore, the attack would be against a land which had already suffered immeasurably having been waste a long time. And finally, the attack would be against a land which enjoyed security and peace (Ezekiel 38:8). Yet like a terrible storm cloud the awesome armies of God would come up against the land of Canaan (Ezekiel 38:9).

In Ezekiel 38:10 Ezekiel shifts back in time to the point where God first hatched the plot to attack Israel. In that day when Israel was dwelling safely in Canaan God would devise an evil plan against the people of God (Ezekiel 38:10). The peace and security of God's people is such that they would not have made any preparation to meet such an onslaught. The defenseless, unwalled villages would be an open invitation to tyrants like God to invade the land (Ezekiel 38:11).

Even before the attack, God could count the spoil and captives he would take. He would turn his hand, i.e., take strong measures, in this campaign. Yet those who are the objects of his wrath God's people certainly had done nothing to raise the ire of God. He came from the distant north; they lived in the center (lit., navel) of the earth.[473] Certainly a people so far removed from Magog could pose no threat. The attack of God would be an act of naked aggression.

[473] All the international highways converged in Canaan. The phrase is also used in Judges 9:37.

In his evil scheme God is encouraged by neighboring merchant nations Sheba, Dedan, Tarshish (cf. Ezekiel 27:12; Ezekiel 27:15; Ezekiel 27:22). They hoped to enrich themselves by purchasing and reselling the plunder of Israel (Ezekiel 38:13).