Ezekiel 39:9-20

B. The Completeness of the Destruction 39:9-20

TRANSLATION

(9) And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel shall go out, and they shall burn the weapons and make fuel of them, even the shields, bucklers, bows, arrows, hand staves, and spears; and they shall make fires of them seven years. (10) And they shall not take wood from the field, nor shall they cut down any out of the woods, for they shall make fires of the weapons; and they shall take spoil of those who spoiled them, and they shall plunder those who plundered them (oracle of the Lord GOD). (11) And it shall come to pass in that day I will give to God a place there for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it shall stop those who pass through; and they shall bury there God and all his multitude; and they shall call it the valley of Hamon-gog. (12) In order to cleanse the land, the house of Israel shall bury there seven months. (13) Yea, all the people of the land shall bury there, and it shall acquire for them a reputation, in the day when I am glorified (oracle of the Lord GOD). (14) And they shall set apart men of continual employment who shall pass through the land burying with those who pass through those who remain upon the face of the ground to cleanse it; at the end of the seven months they shall search. (15) When they that pass through have passed through the land and see the human bones, then a sign shall be erected beside it until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. (16) And Hamonah shall be the name of a city. Thus they shall cleanse the land. (17) And as for you son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: Say to the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the field: Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to MY feast which I am preparing for you, even a great feast, upon the mountains of Israel, that you may eat meat and drink blood. (18) The flesh of the mighty you shall eat, and the blood of the princes of the earth you shall drink; rams, lambs, goats, bullocks, fatlings of Bashan are all of them. (19) And you shall eat fat until you are full, and you shall drink blood until you are intoxicated because of My feast which I have prepared for you. (20) And you shall be filled at My table with horses and horsemen, with mighty men, and with all men of war, (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

In stressing the completeness of the destruction of God Ezekiel flashes three somewhat gruesome pictures before his readers.

1. He points out the immense quantity of spoil which God's people would obtain from the fallen foe. So vast would be the multitude of the enemies slain that the wood of their weapons would serve God's people as fuel for seven years (Ezekiel 39:9). During that period it would not be necessary for men to resort to their usual sources of fire wood. The tables would be turned in that day. God's people would take spoil from those powerful enemies who had previously plundered Israel (Ezekiel 39:10).

2. Ezekiel describes the length of time which it would take Israel to bury the dead and cleanse the land from defilement. In Ezekiel 39:11 God seems to take pity on the fallen multitude of God in that He provides a burial place for them. That spot is identified as the valley of them that pass by. This may be taken as a reference to the valley through which one might pass from the west to the east side of the Dead Sea. The multitude of bodies there would block that thoroughfare. The valley would receive the name Hamon-gog, i.e., the multitude of God (Ezekiel 39:11). For seven months the house of Israel would transport dead bodies to this remote burial spot. An unburied corpse was a defilement of the land (Deuteronomy 21:23) which had to be removed (Ezekiel 39:12). The whole population would take part in this mass burial. They would be famous for this noble and horrendous effort. They would share the glory of their God in that day of victory (Ezekiel 39:13).

After the seven-month period a permanent burial committee would be appointed. They would scour the land looking for unburied bones (Ezekiel 39:14). Travelers would aid the committee by marking any spot where they noticed bones (Ezekiel 39:15). Near that valley of Hamon-gog a city would be built to commemorate the victory over Cog. That city would be called Hamonah, multitude (Ezekiel 39:16).

3. Ezekiel depicts the horrible carnage which would result from the overthrow of Cog. The slaughter of the multitude is regarded as a sacrificial feast to which the birds and beasts are the invited guests. The flesh and blood of the fallen men of God would serve as the sacramental elements (Ezekiel 39:17). The victims of this sacrificial feast are described as rams, Iambs, goats and the like (Ezekiel 39:18) which are figures for the mighty warriors of God (Ezekiel 39:20). The birds and beasts of prey would eat of God's sacrificial feast, God's table (Ezekiel 39:19).