This chapter continues and concludes the prophecy
against Gog and Magog, in whose destruction God crowns his favour
to his people Israel, which shines very brightly after the
scattering of that black cloud in the close of this chapter. Here
is, I. An express prediction of the utter destruction of Gog and
Magog, agreeing with what we had before,
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: 3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. 6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord. 7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.
This prophecy begins as that before
(
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken. 9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: 10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God. 11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. 12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. 13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. 14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. 15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog. 16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land. 17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. 18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God. 21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.
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 (
I. They shall burn their weapons,
their bows and arrows, which fell out of their hands
(
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, the valley of the
passengers, on the east of the sea, 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 stop their noses. 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, The valley of Hamon-gog,
that is, of the multitude of Gog; 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 seven
months (
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,
1. There is a general invitation given,
2. There is great preparation made: They
shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of
the princes of the earth,
3. They shall all be fed, they shall all be
feasted to the full (
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 (
23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. 24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them. 25 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; 26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. 27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; 28 Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. 29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.
This is the conclusion of the whole matter going before, and has reference not only to the predictions concerning Gog and Magog, but to all the prophecies of this book concerning the captivity of the house of Israel, and then concerning their restoration and return out of their captivity.
I. God will let the heathen know the
meaning of his people's troubles, and rectify the mistake of those
concerning them who took occasion from the troubles of Israel to
reproach the God of Israel, as unable to protect them and untrue to
his covenant with them. When God, upon their reformation and return
to him, turned again their captivity, and brought them back to
their own land, and, upon their perseverance in their reformation,
wrought such great salvations for them as that from the attempts of
Gog upon them, then it would be made to appear, even to the heathen
that would but consider and compare things, that there was no
ground at all for their reflection, that Israel went into
captivity, not because God could not protect them, but because they
had by sin forfeited his favour and thrown themselves out of his
protection (
II. God will give his own people to know
what great favour he has in store for them notwithstanding the
troubles he had brought them into (
1. Why now? Now God will have mercy upon
the whole house of Israel, (1.) Because it is time for him to
stand up for his own glory, which suffers in their sufferings:
Now will I be jealous for my holy name, that that may no
longer be reproached. (2.) Because now they repent of their sins:
They have borne their shame, and all their trespasses. When
sinners repent, and take shame to themselves, God will be
reconciled and put honour upon them. It is particularly pleasing to
God that these penitents look a great way back in their penitential
reflections, and are ashamed of all their trespasses which they
were guilty of when they dwelt safely in their land and none
made them afraid. The remembrance of the mercies they enjoyed
in their own land, and the divine protection they were under there,
shall be improved as an aggravation of the sins they committed in
that land; they dwelt safely, and might have continued to dwell so,
and none should have given them any disquiet or disturbance if they
had continued in the way of their duty. Nay, therefore they
trespassed because they dwelt safely. Outward safety is
often a cause of inward security, and that is an inlet to all sin,
2. What then? When God has gathered them
out of their enemies' hands, and brought them home again, (1.) Then
God will have the praise of it: I will be sanctified in them in
the sight of many nations,