Ezekiel 39:17

Speak unto every feathered fowl— It was the custom for persons who offered sacrifices to invite their friends to the feast, which was made of the remainder. So here the prophet, by God's command, invites the beasts and fowls to partake of the sacrifice of his enemies. Whoever compares Psalms 78:48. Deuteronomy 32:24. Habakkuk 3:5 and Isaiah 34:7 must confess, that the prophet had all these passages in his eye: but at the same time, from a luxuriance of expression, he has both enlarged upon, and surpassed them. He dwells as long as he can upon this subject; he sets it in all the variety of lights which it will bear, and leaves no room for any that come after him to add or improve; unless we except that passage of St. John, Revelation 19:17 which is certainly superior in sublimity to this of the prophet. See Michaelis's Notes, p. 110.