Ezekiel 39:1

CHAPTER XXXIX

The prophet goes on to denounce the Divine judgments against

Gog and his army, 1-7;

and describes their dreadful slaughter, 8-10,

and burial, 11-16,

in terms so very lofty and comprehensive, as must certainly

denote some very extraordinary interposition of Providence in

behalf of the Jews. And to amplify the matter still more, the

prophet, with peculiar art and propriety, delays the summoning

of all the birds and beasts of prey in nature to feast on the

slain, (in allusion to the custom of feasting on the remainder

of sacrifices,) till after the greater multitudes are buried;

to intimate that even the remainder, and as it were the

stragglers of such mighty hosts, would be more than sufficient

to satisfy their utmost rapacity, 17-20.

The remaining verses contain a prediction of the great

blessedness of the people of God in Gospel times, and of the

stability of the kingdom of Christ, 21-29.

It will be proper to remark that the great northern expedition

against the natural Israel, described in this and the preceding

chapter, is, from its striking resemblance in the main

particulars, put by the writer of the Apocalypse,

(Ezekiel 20:7,)

for a much more formidable armament of a multitude of nations

in the four quarters of the earth against the pure Christian

Church, the MYSTICAL Israel; an event still extremely remote,

and which it is thought shall immediately precede the

destruction of the world by fire, and the general judgment.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXXIX