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<p>Though this prophecy was to have its accomplishment in the latter days, yet it is here spoken of as if it were already accomplished, because it is certain (<a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.8" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.8">Ezek. 39:8</a>): “<i>Behold it has come, and it is done</i>; it is as sure to be done when the time shall come as if it were done already; <i>this is the day whereof I have</i> long and often <i>spoken</i>, and, though it has been long in coming, yet at length <i>it has come</i>.” Thus it was said unto John (<a class="bibleref" title="Rev.21.6" href="/passage/?search=Rev.21.6">Rev. 21:6</a>), <i>It is done</i>. To represent the routing of the army of Gog as very great, here are three things specified as the consequences of it. It was God himself that gave the defeat; we do not find that the people of Israel drew a sword or struck a stroke: but,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. They shall <i>burn their weapons</i>, their <i>bows and arrows</i>, which <i>fell out of their hands</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.3" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.3">Ezek. 39:3</a>), <i>their shields and bucklers</i>, their <i>javelins, spears, leading staves, truncheons</i>, and <i>half-pikes</i>, every thing that is combustible. They shall not lay them up in their armouries, nor reserve them for their own use, lest they should be tempted to put a confidence in them, but they shall burn them; not all at once, for a bonfire (to what purpose would be that waste?) but as they had occasion to use them for fuel in their houses, instead of other fire-wood, so that they should have no occasion to <i>take wood out of the field or forests</i> for <i>seven years</i> together (<a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.10" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.10">Ezek. 39:10</a>), such vast quantities of weapons shall there be left upon the open field where the enemy fell, and in the roads which they passed in their flight. The weapons were dry and fitter for fuel than green wood; and, by saving the wood in their coppices and forests, they gave it time to grow. Though the mountains of Israel produce plenty of all good things, yet it becomes the people of Israel to be good husbands of their plenty and to save what they can for the benefit of those that come after them, as Providence shall give them opportunity to do so. We may suppose that when those who dwelt in the cities of Israel came forth to <i>spoil those who spoiled them</i>, and make reprisals upon them, they found upon them silver, and gold, and ornaments; yet no mention is made of any thing particularly that they converted to their own use but the wood of the weapons for fuel, which is one of the necessaries of human life, to teach us to think it enough if we be well supplied with those, though we have but little of the delights and gaieties of it and of those things which we may very well live without. And every time they put fuel to the fire, and warmed themselves at it, they would be put in mind of the number and strength of their enemies, and the imminent peril they were in of falling into their hands, which would help to enlarge their hearts in thankfulness to that God who had so wonderfully, so seasonably, delivered them. As they sat by <i>the fire</i> with their children about them (their fire-side), they might from it take occasion to tell them what great things God had done for them.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">II. They shall bury their dead. Usually, after a battle, when many are slain, the enemy desire time to bury their own dead. But here the slaughter shall be so general that there shall not be a sufficient number of the enemies left alive to bury the dead. And, besides, the slain lie so dispersed on the mountains of Israel that it would be a work of time to find them out; and therefore it is left to the house of Israel to bury them as a piece of triumph in their overthrow. 1. A place shall be appointed on purpose for the burying of them, <i>the valley of the passengers, on the east of the sea</i>, either the salt sea or the sea of Tiberias, a valley through which there was great passing and repassing of travellers between Egypt and Chaldea. There shall be such a multitude of dead bodies, putrefying above ground, with such a loathsome stench, that the travellers who go that way shall be forced to <i>stop their noses</i>. See what vile bodies ours are; when the soul has been a little while from them the smell of them becomes offensive, no smell more nauseous or more noxious. There therefore where the greatest number lay slain shall the burying-place be appointed. In the place where the tree falls there let it lie. And it shall be called, <i>The valley of Hamon-gog</i>, that is, <i>of the multitude of Gog</i>; for that was the thing which was in a particular manner to be had in remembrance. How numerous the forces of the enemy were which God defeated and destroyed for the defence of his people Israel! 2. A considerable time shall be spent in burying them, no less than <i>seven months</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.12" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.12">Ezek. 39:12</a>), which is a further intimation that the <i>slain of the Lord</i> in this action should be many and that great care should be taken by the house of Israel to leave none unburied, that so <i>they might cleanse the land</i> from the ceremonial pollution it contracted by the lying of so many dead corpses unburied in it, for the prevention of which it was appointed that those who were <i>hanged on a tree</i> should be speedily <i>taken down and buried</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.21.23" href="/passage/?search=Deut.21.23">Deut. 21:23</a>. This is an intimation that times of eminent deliverances should be times of reformation. The more God has done for the saving of a land from ruin the more the inhabitants should do for the cleansing of the land from sin. 3. Great numbers shall be employed in this work: <i>All the people of the land</i> shall be ready to lend a helping hand to it, <a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.13" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.13">Ezek. 39:13</a>. Note, Every one should contribute the utmost he can in his place towards the cleansing of the land from the pollutions of it, and from every thing that is a reproach to it. Sin is a common enemy, which every man should take up arms against. <i>In publico discrimine unusquisque homo miles est—In the season of public danger every man becomes a soldier</i>. And whoever shall assist in this work <i>it shall be to them a renown</i>; though the office of grave-makers, or common scavengers of the country, seem but mean, yet, when it is for the cleansing and purifying of the land from dead works, it shall be mentioned to their honour. Note, Acts of humanity add much to the renown of God’s Israel; it is a credit to religion when those that profess it are ready to every good work; and a good work it is to bury the dead, yea, though they be strangers and enemies to the commonwealth of Israel, for even they shall rise again. <i>It shall be a renown</i> to them in <i>the day when God will be glorified</i>. Note, It is for the glory of God when his Israel do that which adorns their profession; others <i>will see their good works and glorify their Father</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Matt.5.16" href="/passage/?search=Matt.5.16">Matt. 5:16</a>. And when God is honoured he will put honour upon his people. His glory is their renown. 4. Some particular persons shall make it their
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<p class="tab-1">III. The birds and beasts of prey shall rest upon the carcases of the slain while they remain unburied and it shall be impossible to prevent them, <a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.17" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.17">Ezek. 39:17</a> We find a great slaughter represented by this figure, <a class="bibleref" title="Rev.19.17" href="/passage/?search=Rev.19.17">Rev. 19:17</a>; which is borrowed from this.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">1. There is a general invitation given, <a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.17" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.17">Ezek. 39:17</a>. It is <i>to the fowl of every wing</i> and to <i>every beast of the field</i>, from the greatest to the least, that preys upon carcases, from the eagle to the raven, from the lion to the dog; let them all gather themselves on every side; here is meat enough for them, and they are all welcome. Let them come to God’s <i>sacrifice</i>, to his <i>feast</i>; so the margin reads it. Note, The judgments of God, executed upon sin and sinners, are both a sacrifice and a feast, a sacrifice to the justice of God and a feast to the faith and hope of God’s people. When God <i>broke the head of leviathan</i>, he gave him to be <i>meat to Israel</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.74.14" href="/passage/?search=Ps.74.14">Ps. 74:14</a>. <i>The righteous shall rejoice</i> as at a feast <i>when he sees the vengeance</i>, and shall <i>wash his foot</i>, as at a feast, <i>in the blood of the wicked</i>. This sacrifice is <i>upon the mountains of Israel</i>; these are the high places, the altars, where God has been dishonoured by the idolatries of the people, but where he will now glorify himself in the destruction of his enemies.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">2. There is great preparation made: They shall <i>eat the flesh of the mighty</i> and <i>drink the blood of the princes of the earth</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.18,Ezek.39.19" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.18,Ezek.39.19"><span class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.18">Ezek. 39:18</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.19">19</span></a>. (1.) It is the flesh and blood of men that they shall be treated with. This has sometimes been an instance of the rebellion of the inferior creatures against man their master, which is an effect of his rebellion against God his Maker. (2.) It is the flesh and blood of great men, here called <i>rams</i>, and <i>bullocks</i>, and <i>great goats, all of them fatlings of Bashan</i>. It is the blood of <i>the princes of the earth</i> that they shall regale themselves with. What a mortification is this to the princes of the blood, as they call themselves, that God can make that blood, that royal blood, which swells their veins, a feast for the birds and beasts of prey! (3.) It is the flesh and blood of wicked men, the enemies of God’s church and people, that they are invited to. They had accounted the Israel of God as <i>sheep for the slaughter</i>, and now they shall themselves be so accounted; they had thus used the <i>dead bodies of Gods’ servants</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.79.2" href="/passage/?search=Ps.79.2">Ps. 79:2</a>), or would have done, and now it shall come upon themselves.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">3. They shall all be fed, they shall all be feasted to the full (<a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.19" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.19">Ezek. 39:19</a>): “<i>You shall eat fat, and drink blood</i>, which are satiating surfeiting things. The sacrifice is great and the feast upon the sacrifice is accordingly: <i>You shall be filled at my table</i>.” Note, God keeps a table for the inferior creatures; he <i>provides food for all flesh</i>. The <i>eyes of all wait upon him</i>, and he <i>satisfies their desires</i>, for he keeps a plentiful table. And if the birds and beasts shall be filled at God’s table, which he has prepared for them, much more shall his children be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of his house, even of his holy temple. They shall be filled <i>with horses and chariots</i>; that is, those who ride in the chariots, <i>mighty men and men of war</i>, who triumphed over nations, are now themselves triumphed over by the <i>ravens of the valley</i> and the <i>young eagles</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Prov.30.17" href="/passage/?search=Prov.30.17">Prov. 30:17</a>. They thought to make an easy prey of God’s Israel, and now they are themselves an easy prey to the birds and beasts. See how <i>evil pursues sinners</i> even after death. This exposing of their bodies to be a prey is but a type and sign of those terrors which, after death, shall prey upon their consciences (which the poetical fictions represented by a vulture continually pecking at the heart), and this shame is but an earnest of the everlasting shame and contempt they shall rise to.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">IV. This shall redound very much both to the glory of God and to the comfort and satisfaction of his people. 1. It shall be much for the honour of God, for the heathen shall hereby be made to know that he is the Lord (<a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.21" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.21">Ezek. 39:21</a>): <i>All the heathen shall see</i> and observe <i>my judgments that I have executed</i>, and thereby my <i>glory shall be set among them</i>. This principle shall be admitted and established among them more than ever, that the God of Israel is a great and glorious God. He is known to be so even among the heathen, that have not, or read not, his written word, by <i>the judgments which he executes</i>. 2. It shall be much for the satisfaction of his people; for they shall hereby be made to know that he is their God (<a class="bibleref" title="Ezek.39.22" href="/passage/?search=Ezek.39.22">Ezek. 39:22</a>): <i>The house of Israel shall know</i>, abundantly to their comfort, that <i>I am the Lord their God from that day and forward</i>. (1.) He will be so from that day and forward. God’s present mercies are pledges and assurances of further mercies. If God evidence to us that he is our God he assures us that he will never leave us. <i>This God is our God for ever and ever</i>. (2.) They shall know it with more satisfaction from that day and forward. They had sometimes been ready to question whether the Lord was with them or no; but the events of this day shall silence their doubts, and, the matter being thus settled and made clear, it shall not be doubted of for the future. As boasting in themselves is hereby for ever excluded, so boasting in God is hereby for ever secured.</p>
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