EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 39:1-29
Ezekiel: “They shall know that I am God”
God’s Plans for *Israel and the Nations
Ezekiel Chapter s 25 to 39
Ian Mackervoy
Chapter 39
How the *Lord will punish Gog – Ezekiel 39:1-10
v1 ‘*Son of man, *prophesy against Gog. “The *LORD the King says this: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal. v2 I will turn you about and I will lead you. I will bring you from the far north. I will send you to attack the mountains of *Israel. v3 There I will knock your bow out of your left hand. I will make your arrows drop from your right hand. v4 You will fall dead on the mountains of *Israel. So will all your army and the nations that are with you. I will give you as food for every bird that eats meat. The wild animals will eat your dead bodies. v5 You will all fall down dead in the open field. I, the *LORD the King, have spoken. v6 I will send a fire on Magog. Also, I will send fire on those people who live in safety along the coasts. And they will know that I am the *LORD.
v7 I will cause my people called *Israel to know me. I will not allow them to insult my holy name again. Then the nations will know that I am the *LORD, the holy God of *Israel. v8 That day is coming and it will happen. This is what the *LORD your King declares. I have spoken about that day and it will happen.
v9 Then those people who live in the cities of *Israel will come out. They will light fires. The *weapons of the enemy will be their fuel. They will burn both small and large *shields. They will burn bows and arrows. And they will burn military sticks and *spears. For 7 years, they will use them for fuel. v10 They will not need to gather wood from the fields. They will not chop wood from the forests for their fires. They will have enough *weapons to use as fuel. And the *Israelites will take wealth from those people who stole from them. The *Israelites will rob those people who robbed them. So says the *LORD your King.” ’
Verses 1-8 The *Lord tells again how he will kill Gog and his armies. The *Lord will cause Gog to come from the far north. Gog will try to attack *Israel. But the *Israelites will not need to defend themselves. Without the help of men, the *Lord will fight against Gog. Gog will be like a soldier with no bow and no arrows. Such a soldier cannot fight. He cannot shoot at his enemies. So, Gog and his armies will not be able to fight against the *Lord.
The *Lord will strike Gog and his armies in the country called *Israel. The phrase ‘mountains of *Israel’ means the country called *Israel. The *Lord will kill Gog and he will *destroy all who are with him. Their dead bodies will lie in the fields. There will be a vast number of dead bodies. So, there will be no time to bury them. They will lie all over the mountains and fields. There the birds and wild animals will eat them.
The *Lord will send a fire on Magog and on the coasts. This means that he will *destroy *Israel’s enemies. This includes those enemies who have not come to the battle in *Israel.
Those people who are against *Israel are enemies of the *Lord God. The *Lord will defeat them. Then all nations will know that he is the *Lord of all people.
The *Israelites will know that the *Lord is the only God. All the nations will know that he is the God of *Israel. They will know that the *Lord is holy. And all that he says is true. He will do what he says. These things will happen.
Verses 9-10 There will be a vast number of *weapons where the soldiers *fell. The people will come from the cities to collect them. They will burn all these *weapons. But there will be so many *weapons that it will take 7 years to burn them. The people will need no other fuel for their fires.
Gog and his armies intended to rob *Israel of its wealth. Instead, the *Israelites will take all that Gog’s armies had brought with them.
The task to clear the dead bodies from the country called *Israel – Ezekiel 39:11-20
v11 ‘ “At that time, I will give a place in *Israel to Gog, as his grave. It will be in the valley where people travel east toward the Sea. There the people will bury Gog. And there they will bury all who followed him. This will close that route. Nobody will be able to go that way. So, the name of that valley will be Hamon-Gog.
v12 It will take the *Israelites 7 months to bury all the bodies. Then the country will be *clean again. v13 All the people in the country will bury the bodies. This will be to their honour on the day that I show my *glory. The *LORD your King declares that this will be so.
v14 The *Israelites will employ men to work through the country. These men will make the country *clean again. They will bury the dead bodies that remain on the ground. At the end of the 7 months, they will continue to search. v15 As they go through the country, they will look for human bones. When they find one, they will mark the place. Those people who dig the graves will then bury the bones in the valley called Hamon-Gog. v16 The name of the city near there will be Hamonah. So, they will make the country *clean again.”
v17 *Son of man, the *LORD your King says this: Speak to all kinds of birds and all the wild animals. “Come together, all of you! Come from all the country round about. Come to the *sacrifice that I will prepare for you. It will be a great *sacrifice on the mountains of *Israel. There you will eat bodies and you will drink blood. v18 You will eat the bodies of powerful people. You will drink the blood of the rulers of the earth. They will be to you as if they were fat animals from Bashan. They will be like male sheep, young sheep, goats, and *bulls. v19 At the *sacrifice, which I will prepare, you will eat. You will eat fat until you are full. You will drink blood until you are like drunks. v20 You will eat as guests at my table. You will eat until you are full. You will eat horses and riders. You will eat great men and all kinds of soldiers,” says the *LORD your King.’
Verses 11-16 Gog’s armies will be very large. So, there will be a real problem. The *Israelites will have to bury all those dead bodies. The *Lord told them where to bury the bodies. The graves will be in the valley where people travel east toward the Sea. The ‘Sea’ probably means the Dead Sea. There will be so many graves in the valley that it will no longer be a route to the sea. They will give the valley a new name. They will call it Hamon-Gog, which means ‘Gog’s vast crowd.’
It will take more than 7 months to bury all the bodies. Even after that time, men will search the country. Where they find human bones, they will mark the place. Other men will collect the bones and they will bury them in the valley.
They will call the city near the valley Hamonah, which means ‘vast crowd.’
Verses 17-20 The men will search for bones after the great meal of the birds and animals. The *Lord will kill the great armies on the mountains of *Israel. He will invite the birds and the animals to come and to eat. They will eat the bodies and drink the blood. All that will remain of the armies will be the bones.
The description here is similar to the one in Revelation 19:17-21. That event seems to be at the end of the time of the great trouble. It seems to be before the rule of the *Messiah on the earth. But it could be after the 1000 years of the rule of the *Messiah (Revelation 20:8-9).
The main purpose of God – Ezekiel 39:21-29
v21 ‘I will show my *glory among the nations. All the nations will see my power when I punish them. v22 From that day the *Israelites will know that I am the *LORD their God. v23 And the nations will know that the *Israelites went into *exile because of their *sin. Because they were not loyal to me, I turned away from them. I gave them into the power of their enemies and they died in war. v24 Because they were not *clean and because of their *sins, I punished them. I turned away from them.
v25 The *LORD your King says this: Now I will bring Jacob’s people back from *exile. I will pity all the *Israelites. And I will protect my holy name. v26 The people will live in safety in their country. Nobody will make them afraid. Then they will forget their awful shame. They will forget the evil things that they did against me. v27 I will bring the people back from other countries. I will rescue them from the countries of their enemies. So, by my people, I will show many nations that I am holy. v28 Then my people will know that I am the *LORD their God. I sent them into *exile among the nations. But then I brought them all back to their own country. I did not leave any of them in *exile. v29 I will not hide myself from them. I will pour out my Spirit on the *Israelites. That is what the *LORD your King declares.’
Verses 21-24 The nations will see the *Lord’s power when he punishes them. The defeat of Gog will be a display of the power and purposes of the *Lord. Then the *Israelites will realise that the *Lord is their God. And people will see the reason why the *Lord sent his people into *exile.
The nations thought that God could not save his people. But the *exile of the *Jews did not show a weakness in God. Rather it showed that God is holy. He sent the *Jews away because they had *sinned against him. When God punishes the nations, then they will understand this. They will see his power and his *glory.
Verses 25-29 The *Lord will bring all his people back to the country called *Israel. There they will live in peace. They will serve the *Lord their God. They will no longer *turn to false gods. They will be loyal to their king *Messiah. And God will pour out his Spirit on the people.
This has not happened yet. The *Jews do not live in peace in their country. They have not accepted Jesus the *Messiah as their king. They wait still for his return. The nations do not realise that God is holy. But God has said that all these things will happen in the future.
Israel ~ Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel. Israel became the name of the northern nation when it separated from Judah. However, Ezekiel sometimes uses the word ‘Israel’ to refer to Judah.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
prophesy ~ to speak a prophecy.
prophecy ~ a message from God; a gift of the Holy Spirit.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
weapon ~ a tool of war. People use weapons for attack or defence when they fight. For example, swords, spears or (today) guns.
spears ~ long sticks with sharp ends that soldiers used as weapons of war.
shields ~ Soldiers carried these in their hands for protection in battle. They used them like covers, so that swords or other weapons could not hit the body.
weapon ~ a tool of war. People use weapons for attack or defence when they fight. For example, swords, spears or (today) guns.
spears ~ long sticks with sharp ends that soldiers used as weapons of war.
spears ~ long sticks with sharp ends that soldiers used as weapons of war.
weapon ~ a tool of war. People use weapons for attack or defence when they fight. For example, swords, spears or (today) guns.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
destroy ~ to carry out the most severe punishment possible; to cause someone to suffer; to kill everyone in a nation.
clean ~ acceptable to God.
glory ~ great honour and beauty.
sacrifice ~ The priests killed a special animal and they burned it on an altar. That animal was called a sacrifice. They offered a sacrifice when they asked God to forgive sins. God made Jesus to be a sacrifice for our sins. Animals or people whom God or other people kill for a purpose are also sacrifices (see Ezekiel 39:17). And people also made sacrifices to false gods.
altar ~ the special table where people burn animals or offer other gifts to God or to false gods.
sin ~ Sin means the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because of their sins.
bulls ~ the male farm animals which mate with cows.
Messiah ~ The Jews expect a king to come who will save them. That king, called the Messiah, will rule both them and all people.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
exile ~ When people have to live in a foreign country they are in exile. Such a person is called an exile.
sin ~ Sin means the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because of their sins.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
turn ~ to change your behaviour, your friends, or your God; or, to carry out actions in order to oppose someone.