I first began studying Ezekiel 38 in the 1980s and have watched with great interest as our changing world conforms more and more to Ezekiel’s words. As the time of the end draws nearer the insights we gain from the changes around us give us a better understanding of Bible prophecy in general and Ezekiel 38 in particular. In this update of our study we’ll apply these insights to Ezekiel’s 2600 year old prophecy.
What Time Is It?
First of all, let’s get some kind of time frame settled. Ezekiel’s prophecies are chronological. Falling between the prophecies of Israel’s modern re-birth (Ezekiel 36-37) and the Millennium (Ezekiel 40-48), the battle of Ezekiel 38-39 has to take place during a time of peace after 1948 but before the 2nd coming, and all agree it hasn’t happened yet. This has led some to see the passage as a description of Armageddon, but as we’ll see there are many prominent nations missing from this battle whereas Zechariah 14:2 prophecies that every nation will join the battle of Armageddon. That being the case, the time frame narrows to sometime between 1948 and the beginning of the Great Tribulation, after which no place in the world will be at peace, especially Israel.
Ezekiel prophesied that the Lord would use this battle to turn Israel back to Him and to complete the return of Jews from all over the world to Israel, not leaving any behind (Ezekiel 39:28). This leads us to believe that the battle of Ezekiel 38-39 is the event that re-starts the clock on the 490-year period of time spoken of by Daniel, the famous 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24-27. 69 of those weeks (483 years) had come when the Messiah was crucified and the Temple destroyed, stopping the clock one week (seven years) short of fulfillment. I believe the dramatic victory the Lord wins over Israel’s enemies in Ezekiel’s battle will convince them to officially re-instate their Old Covenant relationship with Him to fulfill the remaining seven years of Daniel’s prophecy. This will require two things to happen. First they’ll need a Temple for worship. It’s this Temple that’s later desecrated by the anti-Christ, kicking off the Great Tribulation.
And second, the Church will have to disappear. Paul wrote that Israel had been hardened in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in (Romans 11:25). That means as long as the Church is around Israel won’t be able to recognize God’s involvement in their national life. But the Battle of Ezekiel 38 will be such a miraculous victory that it will re-awaken Israel to God’s presence. This means the Dispensation of Grace will have come to an end and the Church will be gone by the time this battle comes to an end.
With all this in mind, let’s begin a careful study of Ezekiel 38-39, to prepare us for these events should they become reality soon.
The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army-your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer with all its troops and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops-the many nations with you. (Ezek. 38:1-6)
In another study, I made the claim that Gog is a supernatural figure (perhaps Satan’s counterpart to the Archangel Michael) and the behind the scenes commander of this event, while Magog is listed in Genesis 10 as one of Noah’s grandsons, a son of Japeth. Over 130 historical references demonstrate that Magog is the father of today’s Russian people. (For a more detailed treatment on the modern names of all the nations mentioned in this passage, click here.)
The phrase “hooks in the jaw” comes from the equestrian world where a special bridle is used to make a rebellious horse obedient to its rider’s commands. It symbolizes God forcing Russia to become involved in this battle to assure that His will is done. Persia is the ancient name for Iran, Cush and Put represent the North African nations, Gomer was Magog’s brother and settled along the Danube River in what would become Eastern Europe, and Togarmah, a son of Gomer’s, inhabited what’s now known as Armenia and Turkey. The characteristic all these nations have in common today is their religion. They’re all Moslem.
“Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land. (Ezek. 38:7-9)
The fact that Israel is the target in this passage is self evident, but a controversy rages around the Heberew word betach translated “in safety” in verse 8. A secondary meaning, “carelessly” could mean that they’re not really safe but just think they are and so their guard is down. To achieve either of the conditions this word implies would require a truly miraculous change in Israel’s current situation and for many years scholars were uncertain as to how this could ever happen.
But a little known prophecy in the Psalms might have the answer. According to Psalm 83 all of Israel’s next door neighbors will unite in an effort to wipe Israel completely off the map. But Israel will soundly defeat them and capture their lands as well. Enemies like Hezbollah, Lebanon, the Palestinians, Hamas, etc. will cease to exist, and the lands they now occupy will once again belong to Israel. (Many people don’t realize that even the land of Lebanon was originally given to Israel and will belong to Israel again in the Millennium.)
It’s also beginning to look like the Isaiah 17 prophecy of the destruction of Damascus could be fulfilled at the same time. Israel has officially declared that they’ll hold Syria responsible for any attack by Hezbollah, and will retaliate accordingly. High Israeli officials have recently said that the Syrian government will not survive such a retaliation and its infrastructure will be destroyed. This is a direct threat against Damascus.
If the fulfillment of Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17 precede the Battle Ezekiel 38, it helps explain how Israel could be taken by surprise when the Moslem coalition attacks and why none of Israel’s next door neighbors are mentioned in Ezekiel’s line up.
Next time we’ll look at the other nations that are not involved in this battle and you’ll see why it can’t be referring to Armageddon. We’ll also see how the Lord chooses to reveal Himself to the nations. See you then.
Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Part 21)
Dr. Thomas Ice
And My holy name I shall make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is coming and it shall be done," declares the Lord God. "That is the day of which I have spoken. Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out, and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears and for seven years they will make fires of them. And they will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them, and seize the plunder of those who plundered them," declares the Lord God.
—Ezekiel 39:7–10
Why is the Lord God of Israel going to bring Gog and his overwhelming army down to attack Israel at this point in history? The broadest purpose statement for this entire passage is given in verses seven and eight. "My holy name I shall make known in the midst of My people Israel," with the result that "I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore" (39:7). That God is holy is important to God Himself, even though it is greatly undervalued today, even in Christian circles. Most likely, there is a relationship between national Israel's change of behavior and the restoration and conversion of the nation as described earlier in chapter 37. "These verses restate the divine initiative in the invasion and elaborate upon the fall of Gog and God's purposes."[1]
Holy, Holy, Holy
Three times in verse seven the Hebrew word for "holy" is used (qadosh). Twice "My holy name" and once "the Holy One of Israel." This word means, "set apart for special use; treated with respect, removed from common usage."[2] It appears that the Gog and Magog event will take place at that time in history when the Lord is going to intervene in history in order to sanctify His reputation and that of Israel as well among the nations of this world. E. W. Hengstenburg has noted:
The holy name of God (ver. 7) is His character, arising from His former historical manifestations, as God in the full sense, the absolute, the transcendently glorious, unconditionally separate from all untruth and impotence. God makes known His name among His people when He verifies His historical character anew, when He gives His people the victory over the heathen world that rages against them. He would profane His name if He were to abandon His people continually to the heathen world, as He had done in the time of the prophet on account of their apostasy.[3]
It is through the Lord's obvious, miraculous intervention on behalf of His people that God restores the strained relationship with Israel. The Lord says, "I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore" (39:7). The Hebrew verb 'ahel is translated "profaned" in this passage and has the basic meaning of "to pollute, defile, or profane."[4] In this context, the verb appears in the hiphil stem, which denotes causative action. Thus, it means to "allow to be profaned" or defiled.[5] God is no longer going to allow His holy name or reputation to be profaned, either by His own people or the nations throughout the world. Charles Feinberg explains:
His true character will appear in its proper light as both righteous and mighty. Such emphasis is made of this thought throughout the book of Ezekiel because this is the design of God in all history, and there is no more important concept in all the universe. That which gives stability and worth to life on earth is the determining truth that a God of holiness, wisdom, love and truth is working out His blessed will throughout the universe and among created intelligences.[6]
If there was any doubt in anyone's mind about the certainty of these events coming to pass, verse 8 reiterates the inevitability that God will see this through. "'Behold, it is coming and it shall be done,' declares the Lord God. 'That is the day of which I have spoken.'" In fact, there is probably not another passage in the entire Bible that emphasizes the certitude of a prophetic event as we find here in Ezekiel 38—39. "There may, indeed, be some who think that matters may be altered or fashioned to their liking," declares Feinberg. "To them the word comes that there is no escape from what has been predicted, for it is as good as done. When God predicts, He makes it manifest that He can also perform that which is foretold."[7] Men may think of themselves as the primary actors in history, but when the truth is told, it is God who is seen to be the Prime Mover.
What is the impact of God's glorification upon the nation of Israel? It is clear that "a revival occurs in Israel, causing many Jews to turn to the Lord."[8]
Seven-Year Burning
What is the point being emphasized in verses 9 and 10 about burning the spoils of war in this passage? "Rather than simply destroy the weapons, they will be used for fuel and thereby benefit the Israelis." [9] Why would they burn the weapons instead of just disposing of them? Randall Price suggests the following: "This ironic disposition of weapons designed to kill the people will be considered a "plunder of those who [intended to] plunder them" (verse 10b)."[10] Verse 10 indicates that during this seven-year period, Israelis will not have to use natural resources from the land for fires. "'And they will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them, and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,' declares the Lord God" (39:10).
The fact that these weapons will be burnt for seven years provides a time indicator that could help us discern when this battle will take place on God's prophetic timeline. "These seven months of burying seven years of burning are crucial in determining when this invasion occurs," declares Fruchtenbaum. "For any view to be correct, it must satisfy the requirements of these seven months and seven years."[11]
I believe that the invasion of Gog will likely take place after the rapture of the church, but before the start of the tribulation. One of the primary factors is the seven-year period that is mentioned in this section of the passage. It seems unlikely that the seven-year burning could lapse into the thousand-year kingdom period after our Lord's second coming. Dr. Price expounds upon these issues as follows:
If this battle takes place after the Rapture but before the seventieth week begins, there would be ample time and the freedom of movement even through the first half of the Tribulation (the time of pseudo-peace for Israel under the Antichrist's covenant) to accomplish this job. Moreover, the statement about not needing to gather firewood from the forests (verse 10) would make more sense than after the first trumpet judgment when one-third of the trees were burned up (Revelation 8:7). If this battle were to take place at any point in the Tribulation the people would run out of time to complete this task, before the intensified persecution of the final 42 months (Matthew 24:16-22) that drives the Jewish Remnant into the wilderness to escape the Satanic onslaught (Revelation 12:6). While there is no reason why the burning of weapons for firewood could not continue into the Millennial Kingdom, since during this time other weapons will be converted to peaceful and productive uses (Isaiah 2:4), the renewal of nature and increased productivity of this age (Isaiah 27:6; Zechariah 8:12; Micah 4:4) could argue against this necessity.[12]
When contemplating the timing of the fulfillment of this battle, we must notice four key observations.[13] First, Israel must be back in her land and a nation again, which is the situation today. Second, within the land of Israel itself, the places that were laid waste must be inhabited, which is the exact situation today in Israel. Third, "Israel is dwelling in unwalled villages, a good description of present-day kibbutzim."[14] Fourth, Israel will be dwelling securely. Fruchtenbaum says, "nowhere in the entire text does it speak of Israel as living in peace. Rather, Israel is merely living in security, which means 'confidence,' regardless of whether it is during a state of war or peace."[15]
It appears that even though I believe that this battle will take place after the rapture but before the start of the tribulation, nevertheless, the stage is already set in our own day for these events to take place. Russia is on the prowl again and one of her closest allies is Persia (Iran). The world is moving closer each day to this impending showdown. Maranatha!
(To Be Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
And My holy name I shall make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is coming and it shall be done," declares the Lord God. "That is the day of which I have spoken. Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out, and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears and for seven years they will make fires of them. And they will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them, and seize the plunder of those who plundered them," declares the Lord God.
—Ezekiel 39:7–10
Why is the Lord God of Israel going to bring Gog and his overwhelming army down to attack Israel at this point in history? The broadest purpose statement for this entire passage is given in verses seven and eight. "My holy name I shall make known in the midst of My people Israel," with the result that "I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore" (39:7). That God is holy is important to God Himself, even though it is greatly undervalued today, even in Christian circles. Most likely, there is a relationship between national Israel's change of behavior and the restoration and conversion of the nation as described earlier in chapter 37. "These verses restate the divine initiative in the invasion and elaborate upon the fall of Gog and God's purposes."[1]
Holy, Holy, Holy
Three times in verse seven the Hebrew word for "holy" is used (qadosh). Twice "My holy name" and once "the Holy One of Israel." This word means, "set apart for special use; treated with respect, removed from common usage."[2] It appears that the Gog and Magog event will take place at that time in history when the Lord is going to intervene in history in order to sanctify His reputation and that of Israel as well among the nations of this world. E. W. Hengstenburg has noted:
The holy name of God (ver. 7) is His character, arising from His former historical manifestations, as God in the full sense, the absolute, the transcendently glorious, unconditionally separate from all untruth and impotence. God makes known His name among His people when He verifies His historical character anew, when He gives His people the victory over the heathen world that rages against them. He would profane His name if He were to abandon His people continually to the heathen world, as He had done in the time of the prophet on account of their apostasy.[3]
It is through the Lord's obvious, miraculous intervention on behalf of His people that God restores the strained relationship with Israel. The Lord says, "I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore" (39:7). The Hebrew verb 'ahel is translated "profaned" in this passage and has the basic meaning of "to pollute, defile, or profane."[4] In this context, the verb appears in the hiphil stem, which denotes causative action. Thus, it means to "allow to be profaned" or defiled.[5] God is no longer going to allow His holy name or reputation to be profaned, either by His own people or the nations throughout the world. Charles Feinberg explains:
His true character will appear in its proper light as both righteous and mighty. Such emphasis is made of this thought throughout the book of Ezekiel because this is the design of God in all history, and there is no more important concept in all the universe. That which gives stability and worth to life on earth is the determining truth that a God of holiness, wisdom, love and truth is working out His blessed will throughout the universe and among created intelligences.[6]
If there was any doubt in anyone's mind about the certainty of these events coming to pass, verse 8 reiterates the inevitability that God will see this through. "'Behold, it is coming and it shall be done,' declares the Lord God. 'That is the day of which I have spoken.'" In fact, there is probably not another passage in the entire Bible that emphasizes the certitude of a prophetic event as we find here in Ezekiel 38—39. "There may, indeed, be some who think that matters may be altered or fashioned to their liking," declares Feinberg. "To them the word comes that there is no escape from what has been predicted, for it is as good as done. When God predicts, He makes it manifest that He can also perform that which is foretold."[7] Men may think of themselves as the primary actors in history, but when the truth is told, it is God who is seen to be the Prime Mover.
What is the impact of God's glorification upon the nation of Israel? It is clear that "a revival occurs in Israel, causing many Jews to turn to the Lord."[8]
Seven-Year Burning
What is the point being emphasized in verses 9 and 10 about burning the spoils of war in this passage? "Rather than simply destroy the weapons, they will be used for fuel and thereby benefit the Israelis." [9] Why would they burn the weapons instead of just disposing of them? Randall Price suggests the following: "This ironic disposition of weapons designed to kill the people will be considered a "plunder of those who [intended to] plunder them" (verse 10b)."[10] Verse 10 indicates that during this seven-year period, Israelis will not have to use natural resources from the land for fires. "'And they will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them, and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,' declares the Lord God" (39:10).
The fact that these weapons will be burnt for seven years provides a time indicator that could help us discern when this battle will take place on God's prophetic timeline. "These seven months of burying seven years of burning are crucial in determining when this invasion occurs," declares Fruchtenbaum. "For any view to be correct, it must satisfy the requirements of these seven months and seven years."[11]
I believe that the invasion of Gog will likely take place after the rapture of the church, but before the start of the tribulation. One of the primary factors is the seven-year period that is mentioned in this section of the passage. It seems unlikely that the seven-year burning could lapse into the thousand-year kingdom period after our Lord's second coming. Dr. Price expounds upon these issues as follows:
If this battle takes place after the Rapture but before the seventieth week begins, there would be ample time and the freedom of movement even through the first half of the Tribulation (the time of pseudo-peace for Israel under the Antichrist's covenant) to accomplish this job. Moreover, the statement about not needing to gather firewood from the forests (verse 10) would make more sense than after the first trumpet judgment when one-third of the trees were burned up (Revelation 8:7). If this battle were to take place at any point in the Tribulation the people would run out of time to complete this task, before the intensified persecution of the final 42 months (Matthew 24:16-22) that drives the Jewish Remnant into the wilderness to escape the Satanic onslaught (Revelation 12:6). While there is no reason why the burning of weapons for firewood could not continue into the Millennial Kingdom, since during this time other weapons will be converted to peaceful and productive uses (Isaiah 2:4), the renewal of nature and increased productivity of this age (Isaiah 27:6; Zechariah 8:12; Micah 4:4) could argue against this necessity.[12]
When contemplating the timing of the fulfillment of this battle, we must notice four key observations.[13] First, Israel must be back in her land and a nation again, which is the situation today. Second, within the land of Israel itself, the places that were laid waste must be inhabited, which is the exact situation today in Israel. Third, "Israel is dwelling in unwalled villages, a good description of present-day kibbutzim."[14] Fourth, Israel will be dwelling securely. Fruchtenbaum says, "nowhere in the entire text does it speak of Israel as living in peace. Rather, Israel is merely living in security, which means 'confidence,' regardless of whether it is during a state of war or peace."[15]
It appears that even though I believe that this battle will take place after the rapture but before the start of the tribulation, nevertheless, the stage is already set in our own day for these events to take place. Russia is on the prowl again and one of her closest allies is Persia (Iran). The world is moving closer each day to this impending showdown. Maranatha!
(To Be Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Part 20)
Dr. Thomas Ice
"You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and allyour troops, and the peoples who are with you; I shall give you as food toevery kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. You will fall on the open field; for it is I who havespoken," declares the Lord God. And I shall send fire upon Magog andthose who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the Lord."
—Ezekiel 39:4–6
Ezekiel38:8 says Gog and his invaders "will come into the land that is restored fromthe sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to themountains of Israel which had been acontinual waste." Instead, in 39:4God will cause Gog to "fall on the mountains of Israel." Gog intends one thing, but God causes atotally different outcome in His defense of His people Israel.
FallenPrey
TheHebrew verb for "fall" is a common word that in this context means to fall inbattle. Since it is usedcorporately of the entire invading force, i.e., "you and all your troops, andthe peoples who are with you," it speaks of their defeat.[1] "Troops" and "peoples" were usedearlier in 38:6. It is clear fromthe previous context that this fall is the result of God's miraculousintervention on behalf of Israel. Arnold Fruchtenbaum describes the mountains of Israel asfollows:
They extend the length ofthe center of the country, beginning at the southern point of the Valley ofJezreel at the town of Jenin in Galilee (biblical Ein Ganim), and continuingsouth until they peter out at a point north of Beersheha in the Negev. These mountains contain the famousbiblical cities of Dothan, Shechem, Samaria, Shiloh, Bethel, Ai, Ramah,Bethlehem, Hebron, Debir, and most importantly, Jerusalem, which seems to bethe goal of the invading army.
Here is another example where the SixDay War has set the stage for the fulfillment of prophecy. Up to the Six Day War in 1967 all ofthe mountains of Israel, except for a small corridor of West Jerusalem, wereentirely in the hands of the Jordanian Arabs. Only since 1967 have the mountains of Israel been in Israel, thussetting the stage for the fulfillment of this prophecy.[2]
SinceGod is the one who will bring down the invading force, He will also use thisoccasion to feed His creation with their flesh. "I shall give you as food to every kind of predatory birdand beast of the field." The verb"give" is used here in the sense of to "set, lay, or place" before one.[3] Here we have "the prophetic perfect"tense of the verb,[4] which means that eventhough the text speaks of a future event, it is best translated as havingalready taken place, i.e., "I have given you." The reason for the prophetic perfect is because when theLord prophesizes something, it is so certain to take place that it is spoken ofas having already taken place, though still in the future. Thus, the Lord will provide Israel'senemies as a meal for the animals and birds as a waiter would set a feast upona table to one to eat. Thereferences to birds and beast describe those who will eat dead meat. The phrase "every kind" modifiesspecifically the reference to birds.[5] Charles Feinberg notes:
Because of the amount ofcarnage, burial will not be the order of the day. The Lord has determined that the carcasses will fall to theravenous birds and beasts. Suchabsence of burial was especially abhorrent in the Near East. This picture in verse 4 anticipateswhat is stated at greater length in verses 17–20.[6]
Verse5 expands upon verse 4 and employs a play-on-words with the use of"field." It is the field where thebeasts are said to roam and that is where the Lord God destroys Gog'sarmies—in the open field. The invaders never make into the population centers in which to mount anattack, instead, they die literally "on the face of the field." This is a Hebrew idiom for the "open"field. They fall on the open fieldsimply because the Lord God of Israel says they will. As in creation, God speaks a word and whatever He commandsoccurs. So it is with the LordGod's word of judgment.
FireUpon The Coastlands
Verse6 says, "And I shall send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlandsin safety; and they will know that I am the Lord." The Hebrew word for "fire" is the mostcommon noun for "fire," used 376 times in the Old Testament.[7] The verb "send" is in the piel stem,noting intensive action by God. The word "fire" is used in a near context along with "torrential rain,with hailstones, . . . and brimstone" (38:22). Since "fire and brimstone" are used in a similar descriptionin 38:22, it follows that the Lord will use fire and brimstone as He did withSodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24).
Someinterpreters see a nuclear exchange occurring as a means to the fulfillment ofthis prophecy. For example, Bibleteacher Chuck Missler commenting on this verse says, "Some analysts see anintercontinental nuclear exchange possible suggested. With the proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout theworld today, such a prospect is disturbingly likely."[8] The problem I have with seeing anuclear exchange in this passage is that the biblical text clearly emphasizesthat it is God Himself that is bringing the fire from heaven. The passage says, "I shall send fireupon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety." The passage before us clearly presentsGod Himself as the one sending down fire upon judged invaders. Nowhere does the passage indicate thatthe Lord will use segregates as agents to carry out His judgments. Instead, God has demonstratedthroughout history that He is quite capable of implementing this prophecy byHimself.
Ibelieve that when the Bible says that God or an angel is the one implementing ajudgment, then it must be taken as an indication that indeed God is the onedirectly performing the feat. Ithink that such statements in the Bible would not allow for us to interpretthem as possible reference to human activity like a nuclear war, which would beman vs. man. The first five sealjudgments in Revelation 6 would be an example of God using human agents tocarry out a judgment. However, allof the rest of the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments are said by the biblicaltext to be implemented directly by God, often using angels to carry out thesesupernatural events. This is animportant biblical point: that God is the one doing these things since God isclearly using supernatural means to achieve these ends, just as He did withSodom and Gomorrah, at the Exodus, and will do many times during thetribulation (Rev. 4—19). Thepassage says, "I [God] shall send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit thecoastlands in safety." Therefore,the text clearly says that God is doing this directly and it does not mentionhuman agents. Notice the overallemphasis in the passage as a whole that the Lord is the one acting against Gogand on behalf of Israel (Ezek. 39:1–7). Verse one: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog." Verse two: "I shall turn youaround." Verse three: "I shallstrike your bow from your left hand." Verse four: "I shall give you as food." Verse five: "'for it is I who have spoken,' declares theLord God.'" Verse six: "I shall send fire uponMagog" and "they will know that I am the Lord." Verse seven: " My holy name I shallmake known in the midst of My people Israel; and I shall not let My holy namebe profaned anymore. And thenations will know that I am the Lord,the Holy One in Israel." In otherwords, God performs it so that God will get the notoriety and glory.
Thefire of judgment that the Lord will send upon the coastlands most likely refersto the destruction of Gog's homeland, Magog, and the remotehomelands of his allies (the coastlands, cf. 26:15, 18; 27:3, 6-7, 15, 35), whodwell in safety in these places. The overall lesson will be to teach them that He is God. Some think that this refers to adestruction of all of the coastlands or all nations in the world that dwell insafety. This is unlikely since theentire focus of the passage is upon Gog and his confederacy of invaders. The logic of the Lord in this instanceis that Gog and his allies attack Israel who is "living securely" (38:8), sothe Lord responds with an attack on the invaders homeland where they are saidto be dwelling "in safety," (39:6) or so they thought in their arrogance. Fruchtenbaum says, that the defeat ofGog "will cause Russia to cease being a political force in world affairs."[9] Thus, Israel appeared destined fordestruction in the eyes of the world as a result of a powerful coalition, butthe Lord stepped in and defended Israel and turned the table on the invaders bydestroying their homelands, which they thought to be secure. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[2] (italics original) Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footstepsof the Messiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 114.
[3] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[4] Rabbi Dr. S. Fisch, Ezekiel: Hebrew Text &English Translation With An Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), p. 259.
[5] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 171.
[6] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 229.
[7] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, 7.4.2.
[8] Chuck Missler, The Magog Invasion (Palos Verdes, CA: Western Front, 1995), p. 179.
[9] Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, p. 115.
"You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and allyour troops, and the peoples who are with you; I shall give you as food toevery kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. You will fall on the open field; for it is I who havespoken," declares the Lord God. And I shall send fire upon Magog andthose who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the Lord."
—Ezekiel 39:4–6
Ezekiel38:8 says Gog and his invaders "will come into the land that is restored fromthe sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to themountains of Israel which had been acontinual waste." Instead, in 39:4God will cause Gog to "fall on the mountains of Israel." Gog intends one thing, but God causes atotally different outcome in His defense of His people Israel.
FallenPrey
TheHebrew verb for "fall" is a common word that in this context means to fall inbattle. Since it is usedcorporately of the entire invading force, i.e., "you and all your troops, andthe peoples who are with you," it speaks of their defeat.[1] "Troops" and "peoples" were usedearlier in 38:6. It is clear fromthe previous context that this fall is the result of God's miraculousintervention on behalf of Israel. Arnold Fruchtenbaum describes the mountains of Israel asfollows:
They extend the length ofthe center of the country, beginning at the southern point of the Valley ofJezreel at the town of Jenin in Galilee (biblical Ein Ganim), and continuingsouth until they peter out at a point north of Beersheha in the Negev. These mountains contain the famousbiblical cities of Dothan, Shechem, Samaria, Shiloh, Bethel, Ai, Ramah,Bethlehem, Hebron, Debir, and most importantly, Jerusalem, which seems to bethe goal of the invading army.
Here is another example where the SixDay War has set the stage for the fulfillment of prophecy. Up to the Six Day War in 1967 all ofthe mountains of Israel, except for a small corridor of West Jerusalem, wereentirely in the hands of the Jordanian Arabs. Only since 1967 have the mountains of Israel been in Israel, thussetting the stage for the fulfillment of this prophecy.[2]
SinceGod is the one who will bring down the invading force, He will also use thisoccasion to feed His creation with their flesh. "I shall give you as food to every kind of predatory birdand beast of the field." The verb"give" is used here in the sense of to "set, lay, or place" before one.[3] Here we have "the prophetic perfect"tense of the verb,[4] which means that eventhough the text speaks of a future event, it is best translated as havingalready taken place, i.e., "I have given you." The reason for the prophetic perfect is because when theLord prophesizes something, it is so certain to take place that it is spoken ofas having already taken place, though still in the future. Thus, the Lord will provide Israel'senemies as a meal for the animals and birds as a waiter would set a feast upona table to one to eat. Thereferences to birds and beast describe those who will eat dead meat. The phrase "every kind" modifiesspecifically the reference to birds.[5] Charles Feinberg notes:
Because of the amount ofcarnage, burial will not be the order of the day. The Lord has determined that the carcasses will fall to theravenous birds and beasts. Suchabsence of burial was especially abhorrent in the Near East. This picture in verse 4 anticipateswhat is stated at greater length in verses 17–20.[6]
Verse5 expands upon verse 4 and employs a play-on-words with the use of"field." It is the field where thebeasts are said to roam and that is where the Lord God destroys Gog'sarmies—in the open field. The invaders never make into the population centers in which to mount anattack, instead, they die literally "on the face of the field." This is a Hebrew idiom for the "open"field. They fall on the open fieldsimply because the Lord God of Israel says they will. As in creation, God speaks a word and whatever He commandsoccurs. So it is with the LordGod's word of judgment.
FireUpon The Coastlands
Verse6 says, "And I shall send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlandsin safety; and they will know that I am the Lord." The Hebrew word for "fire" is the mostcommon noun for "fire," used 376 times in the Old Testament.[7] The verb "send" is in the piel stem,noting intensive action by God. The word "fire" is used in a near context along with "torrential rain,with hailstones, . . . and brimstone" (38:22). Since "fire and brimstone" are used in a similar descriptionin 38:22, it follows that the Lord will use fire and brimstone as He did withSodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24).
Someinterpreters see a nuclear exchange occurring as a means to the fulfillment ofthis prophecy. For example, Bibleteacher Chuck Missler commenting on this verse says, "Some analysts see anintercontinental nuclear exchange possible suggested. With the proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout theworld today, such a prospect is disturbingly likely."[8] The problem I have with seeing anuclear exchange in this passage is that the biblical text clearly emphasizesthat it is God Himself that is bringing the fire from heaven. The passage says, "I shall send fireupon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety." The passage before us clearly presentsGod Himself as the one sending down fire upon judged invaders. Nowhere does the passage indicate thatthe Lord will use segregates as agents to carry out His judgments. Instead, God has demonstratedthroughout history that He is quite capable of implementing this prophecy byHimself.
Ibelieve that when the Bible says that God or an angel is the one implementing ajudgment, then it must be taken as an indication that indeed God is the onedirectly performing the feat. Ithink that such statements in the Bible would not allow for us to interpretthem as possible reference to human activity like a nuclear war, which would beman vs. man. The first five sealjudgments in Revelation 6 would be an example of God using human agents tocarry out a judgment. However, allof the rest of the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments are said by the biblicaltext to be implemented directly by God, often using angels to carry out thesesupernatural events. This is animportant biblical point: that God is the one doing these things since God isclearly using supernatural means to achieve these ends, just as He did withSodom and Gomorrah, at the Exodus, and will do many times during thetribulation (Rev. 4—19). Thepassage says, "I [God] shall send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit thecoastlands in safety." Therefore,the text clearly says that God is doing this directly and it does not mentionhuman agents. Notice the overallemphasis in the passage as a whole that the Lord is the one acting against Gogand on behalf of Israel (Ezek. 39:1–7). Verse one: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog." Verse two: "I shall turn youaround." Verse three: "I shallstrike your bow from your left hand." Verse four: "I shall give you as food." Verse five: "'for it is I who have spoken,' declares theLord God.'" Verse six: "I shall send fire uponMagog" and "they will know that I am the Lord." Verse seven: " My holy name I shallmake known in the midst of My people Israel; and I shall not let My holy namebe profaned anymore. And thenations will know that I am the Lord,the Holy One in Israel." In otherwords, God performs it so that God will get the notoriety and glory.
Thefire of judgment that the Lord will send upon the coastlands most likely refersto the destruction of Gog's homeland, Magog, and the remotehomelands of his allies (the coastlands, cf. 26:15, 18; 27:3, 6-7, 15, 35), whodwell in safety in these places. The overall lesson will be to teach them that He is God. Some think that this refers to adestruction of all of the coastlands or all nations in the world that dwell insafety. This is unlikely since theentire focus of the passage is upon Gog and his confederacy of invaders. The logic of the Lord in this instanceis that Gog and his allies attack Israel who is "living securely" (38:8), sothe Lord responds with an attack on the invaders homeland where they are saidto be dwelling "in safety," (39:6) or so they thought in their arrogance. Fruchtenbaum says, that the defeat ofGog "will cause Russia to cease being a political force in world affairs."[9] Thus, Israel appeared destined fordestruction in the eyes of the world as a result of a powerful coalition, butthe Lord stepped in and defended Israel and turned the table on the invaders bydestroying their homelands, which they thought to be secure. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[2] (italics original) Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footstepsof the Messiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 114.
[3] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[4] Rabbi Dr. S. Fisch, Ezekiel: Hebrew Text &English Translation With An Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), p. 259.
[5] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 171.
[6] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 229.
[7] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, 7.4.2.
[8] Chuck Missler, The Magog Invasion (Palos Verdes, CA: Western Front, 1995), p. 179.
[9] Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, p. 115.
Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Part 19)
Dr. Thomas Ice
"And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say,'Thus says the Lord God," Behold,I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I shall turnyou around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north, andbring you against the mountains of Israel. And I shall strike your bow from your left hand, and dashdown your arrows from your right hand."
—Ezekiel 39:1–3
AsI write this installment of the future campaign of Gog against Israel, we havejust seen Russia attack Georgia in order to gain control of South Ossetia, aprovince within Georgia. Russiahas also bombed a number of important cities throughout Georgia and sent hermechanized infantry in to occupy certain territories within Georgia. This is the first invasion of anothercountry by Russia since the Soviet Union went into Afghanistan in the1970s. Why did they do it now? Stratfor Intelligence Reportprovides the following analysis:
The war in Georgia,therefore, is Russia's public return to great power status. This is notsomething that just happened—it has been unfolding ever since Putin tookpower, and with growing intensity in the past five years. Part of it has to do with the increaseof Russian power, but a great deal of it has to do with the fact that theMiddle Eastern wars have left the United States off-balance and short onresources. As we have written, this conflict created a window ofopportunity. The Russian goal isto use that window to assert a new reality throughout the region while theAmericans are tied down elsewhere and dependent on the Russians. The war was far from a surprise; it hasbeen building for months. But the geopolitical foundations of the war have beenbuilding since 1992. Russia hasbeen an empire for centuries. Thelast 15 years or so were not the new reality, but simply an aberration thatwould be rectified. And now it isbeing rectified.[1]
Iam not saying that this recent event fits directly into the Gog invasion ofIsrael, but it does appear to be an important event indicating that the Russianbear is back on the prowl. Whenyou couple this invasion with the fact that Russia has resumed flying her Bearbombers along our border near Alaska[2]and the fact that Putin has threatened to put missiles in Cuba again,[3]it makes one realize that Russia is much more aggressive and anti-Western thanshe has been the last fifteen years. This could signal that Russia is interested in military aggression aftera period of dormancy.
Criticsof a future fulfillment of the Gog and Magog prophecy often mocked thepossibility of this because of the collapse ofthe Soviet Union. (I never saw theconnection between Russia having to head up the Soviet Union for this prophecyto be possible. The fact thatRussia continued to exist is all the prophecy requires.) Gary North said, "Russia was aprime candidate. But, after 1991,this has become difficult to defend, for obvious reasons. The collapse of the Soviet Union hascreated a major problem for dispensationalism's theologians and its popularauthors."[4] Clearly, Russia's current attempt athegemony over Georgia does not mean that Putin is trying to recreate the oldSoviet Empire. It does signal thatRussia, who has gained a lot of oil wealth in the last few years, is trying torearm itself so that she can be the greatest power in the region. Friedman explains:
Putindid not want to re-establish the Soviet Union, but he did want to re-establishthe Russian sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union region. To accomplish that, he had to do twothings. First, he had to re-establishthe credibility of the Russian army as a fighting force, at least in thecontext of its region. Second, hehad to establish that Western guarantees, including NATO membership, meantnothing in the face of Russian power. He did not want to confront NATO directly, but he did want to confrontand defeat a power that was closely aligned with the United States, had U.S.support, aid and advisers and was widely seen as being under Americanprotection. Georgia was the perfect choice.
Ezekiel 39
Having completedour commentary on Ezekiel 38, we now turn the page to chapter 39 of this greatprophecy. Arnold Fruchtenbaumnotes that the interpretative principle he calls The Law of Recurrence occurs inchapter 39.[5] Hedescribes it as follows:
This law describes the factthat in some passages of Scripture there exists the recording of an eventfollowed by a second recording of the same event giving more details to thefirst. Hence, it often involvestwo blocks of Scripture. The firstblock presents a description of an event as it transpires in chronologicalsequence. This is followed by asecond block of Scripture dealing with the same event and the same period oftime, but giving further details as to what transpires in the course of theevent.[6]
Fruchtenbaum saysthat Ezekiel 39 "repeats some of the account given in the first block and givessome added details regarding the destruction of the invading army."[7] Perhaps the reason the Lord repeats some prophesies is in order toreally drive home the importance of what He is saying. Thus, this would make the Gog prophecydoubly important because of this emphasis. The second giving of the Gog invasion prophecy is concludedin 39:16. Ezekiel 39:1–6 isthe first section in this chapter that reiterates the place of destruction.
SecondVerse, Same as the First
Ezekiel, who iscalled "son of man" in verse one is told to "prophesy against Gog, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God,"Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal." This passage is an exact repeat of whatwas spoken in 38:3, which I have already commented on in that section. Why is it repeated? I think the first verse is exactly thesame as that which is found in chapter 38 in order to show that it is aprophecy about the same entities and events already prophesied in the precedingsection. That is why, havingestablished their linkage to the previous chapter in 39:1, the Lord then beginsto expand upon this event in 39:3–6.
Versetwo says, "I shall turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotestparts of the north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel." This verse appears to be a summarystatement of 38:4, 6, 8, and 15, which I have already commented on. "The principle contents of ch. xxxviii.4–15," notes C. F. Keil, "are then briefly summed up in verse 2."[8] Charles Feinberg says, "The statementconcerning turning Gog about (v. 2) carries with it the idea of compulsion."[9] However, the phrase "drive you on" isnot used in the previous chapter. In fact, Ezekiel 39:2 is the only place in the entire Hebrew OldTestament that this verb is used.[10] It has the basic idea of "to walkalong,"[11] as one would walkalong side an animal, like leading a dog on leash. This verb is in the piel stem, which indicates the intensiveactive form of the word. So the picturebeing painted is that of the Lord leading Gog and his allies down to themountains of Israel like one would lead an animal on a leash. The clear point being made in thisverse is that the ultimate cause for this invasion, regardless of human action,is the sovereign will of God.
DisarmingGog
Versethree says, "And I shall strike your bow from your left hand, and dash downyour arrows from your right hand." Both of these phrases are Hebrew idioms that picture the Lord, notIsrael, disarming Gog by knocking out of his hand his bow, which refers toGog's weapons or weapons systems (whatever the case may be). The Lord will also take away theammunition used by Gog during this future invasion, when He will "dash downyour arrows from your right hand." Put simply, the Lord will disarm Gog on behalf of the nation ofIsrael. Keil explains, "In theland of Israel, God will strike his weapons out of his hands, i.e. make himincapable of fighting, . . . and give him up with all his army as a prey todeath."[12] Thus, chapter 39 begins with a shorteroverview and summary of many things that were already revealed in the previouschapter. The Lord drives home thepoint of His intense oversight of this future battle in which He will protectHis people. Further, we could bewitnessing today some of the positioning of the players who will participate inthis great invasion as Russia and Iran manifest their belligerence. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1] George Friedman, "The Russo-GeorgianWar and the Balance of Power," Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report (Aug. 12, 2008), www.stratfor.com.
[2] "Russia's Bear bomber returns" (Sept. 10, 2007)www. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6984320.stm.
[3] "Putin eyes renewed Russian ties with Cuba,"(Aug. 4, 2008) www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/04/russia.cuba.ap/.
[4] Gary North, "The Unannounced Reason BehindAmerican Fundamentalism's [& Virtually All Evangelicalism] Support for theState of Israel" (July 19, 2000), www.tks.org/GaryNorth.htm.
[5] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah:A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 6.
[6] Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, p. 6. Fruchtenbaum classifies the following passages as examples of The Law ofRecurrence: Genesis 1 & 2; Isaiah 30 & 31; Ezekiel 38 & 39;Revelation 17 & 18.
[7] Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, p. 6.
[8] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 171.
[9] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 228.
[10] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, 7.4.2.
[11] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[12] Keil, Ezekiel, p. 171.
"And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say,'Thus says the Lord God," Behold,I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I shall turnyou around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north, andbring you against the mountains of Israel. And I shall strike your bow from your left hand, and dashdown your arrows from your right hand."
—Ezekiel 39:1–3
AsI write this installment of the future campaign of Gog against Israel, we havejust seen Russia attack Georgia in order to gain control of South Ossetia, aprovince within Georgia. Russiahas also bombed a number of important cities throughout Georgia and sent hermechanized infantry in to occupy certain territories within Georgia. This is the first invasion of anothercountry by Russia since the Soviet Union went into Afghanistan in the1970s. Why did they do it now? Stratfor Intelligence Reportprovides the following analysis:
The war in Georgia,therefore, is Russia's public return to great power status. This is notsomething that just happened—it has been unfolding ever since Putin tookpower, and with growing intensity in the past five years. Part of it has to do with the increaseof Russian power, but a great deal of it has to do with the fact that theMiddle Eastern wars have left the United States off-balance and short onresources. As we have written, this conflict created a window ofopportunity. The Russian goal isto use that window to assert a new reality throughout the region while theAmericans are tied down elsewhere and dependent on the Russians. The war was far from a surprise; it hasbeen building for months. But the geopolitical foundations of the war have beenbuilding since 1992. Russia hasbeen an empire for centuries. Thelast 15 years or so were not the new reality, but simply an aberration thatwould be rectified. And now it isbeing rectified.[1]
Iam not saying that this recent event fits directly into the Gog invasion ofIsrael, but it does appear to be an important event indicating that the Russianbear is back on the prowl. Whenyou couple this invasion with the fact that Russia has resumed flying her Bearbombers along our border near Alaska[2]and the fact that Putin has threatened to put missiles in Cuba again,[3]it makes one realize that Russia is much more aggressive and anti-Western thanshe has been the last fifteen years. This could signal that Russia is interested in military aggression aftera period of dormancy.
Criticsof a future fulfillment of the Gog and Magog prophecy often mocked thepossibility of this because of the collapse ofthe Soviet Union. (I never saw theconnection between Russia having to head up the Soviet Union for this prophecyto be possible. The fact thatRussia continued to exist is all the prophecy requires.) Gary North said, "Russia was aprime candidate. But, after 1991,this has become difficult to defend, for obvious reasons. The collapse of the Soviet Union hascreated a major problem for dispensationalism's theologians and its popularauthors."[4] Clearly, Russia's current attempt athegemony over Georgia does not mean that Putin is trying to recreate the oldSoviet Empire. It does signal thatRussia, who has gained a lot of oil wealth in the last few years, is trying torearm itself so that she can be the greatest power in the region. Friedman explains:
Putindid not want to re-establish the Soviet Union, but he did want to re-establishthe Russian sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union region. To accomplish that, he had to do twothings. First, he had to re-establishthe credibility of the Russian army as a fighting force, at least in thecontext of its region. Second, hehad to establish that Western guarantees, including NATO membership, meantnothing in the face of Russian power. He did not want to confront NATO directly, but he did want to confrontand defeat a power that was closely aligned with the United States, had U.S.support, aid and advisers and was widely seen as being under Americanprotection. Georgia was the perfect choice.
Ezekiel 39
Having completedour commentary on Ezekiel 38, we now turn the page to chapter 39 of this greatprophecy. Arnold Fruchtenbaumnotes that the interpretative principle he calls The Law of Recurrence occurs inchapter 39.[5] Hedescribes it as follows:
This law describes the factthat in some passages of Scripture there exists the recording of an eventfollowed by a second recording of the same event giving more details to thefirst. Hence, it often involvestwo blocks of Scripture. The firstblock presents a description of an event as it transpires in chronologicalsequence. This is followed by asecond block of Scripture dealing with the same event and the same period oftime, but giving further details as to what transpires in the course of theevent.[6]
Fruchtenbaum saysthat Ezekiel 39 "repeats some of the account given in the first block and givessome added details regarding the destruction of the invading army."[7] Perhaps the reason the Lord repeats some prophesies is in order toreally drive home the importance of what He is saying. Thus, this would make the Gog prophecydoubly important because of this emphasis. The second giving of the Gog invasion prophecy is concludedin 39:16. Ezekiel 39:1–6 isthe first section in this chapter that reiterates the place of destruction.
SecondVerse, Same as the First
Ezekiel, who iscalled "son of man" in verse one is told to "prophesy against Gog, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God,"Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal." This passage is an exact repeat of whatwas spoken in 38:3, which I have already commented on in that section. Why is it repeated? I think the first verse is exactly thesame as that which is found in chapter 38 in order to show that it is aprophecy about the same entities and events already prophesied in the precedingsection. That is why, havingestablished their linkage to the previous chapter in 39:1, the Lord then beginsto expand upon this event in 39:3–6.
Versetwo says, "I shall turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotestparts of the north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel." This verse appears to be a summarystatement of 38:4, 6, 8, and 15, which I have already commented on. "The principle contents of ch. xxxviii.4–15," notes C. F. Keil, "are then briefly summed up in verse 2."[8] Charles Feinberg says, "The statementconcerning turning Gog about (v. 2) carries with it the idea of compulsion."[9] However, the phrase "drive you on" isnot used in the previous chapter. In fact, Ezekiel 39:2 is the only place in the entire Hebrew OldTestament that this verb is used.[10] It has the basic idea of "to walkalong,"[11] as one would walkalong side an animal, like leading a dog on leash. This verb is in the piel stem, which indicates the intensiveactive form of the word. So the picturebeing painted is that of the Lord leading Gog and his allies down to themountains of Israel like one would lead an animal on a leash. The clear point being made in thisverse is that the ultimate cause for this invasion, regardless of human action,is the sovereign will of God.
DisarmingGog
Versethree says, "And I shall strike your bow from your left hand, and dash downyour arrows from your right hand." Both of these phrases are Hebrew idioms that picture the Lord, notIsrael, disarming Gog by knocking out of his hand his bow, which refers toGog's weapons or weapons systems (whatever the case may be). The Lord will also take away theammunition used by Gog during this future invasion, when He will "dash downyour arrows from your right hand." Put simply, the Lord will disarm Gog on behalf of the nation ofIsrael. Keil explains, "In theland of Israel, God will strike his weapons out of his hands, i.e. make himincapable of fighting, . . . and give him up with all his army as a prey todeath."[12] Thus, chapter 39 begins with a shorteroverview and summary of many things that were already revealed in the previouschapter. The Lord drives home thepoint of His intense oversight of this future battle in which He will protectHis people. Further, we could bewitnessing today some of the positioning of the players who will participate inthis great invasion as Russia and Iran manifest their belligerence. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1] George Friedman, "The Russo-GeorgianWar and the Balance of Power," Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report (Aug. 12, 2008), www.stratfor.com.
[2] "Russia's Bear bomber returns" (Sept. 10, 2007)www. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6984320.stm.
[3] "Putin eyes renewed Russian ties with Cuba,"(Aug. 4, 2008) www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/04/russia.cuba.ap/.
[4] Gary North, "The Unannounced Reason BehindAmerican Fundamentalism's [& Virtually All Evangelicalism] Support for theState of Israel" (July 19, 2000), www.tks.org/GaryNorth.htm.
[5] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah:A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 6.
[6] Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, p. 6. Fruchtenbaum classifies the following passages as examples of The Law ofRecurrence: Genesis 1 & 2; Isaiah 30 & 31; Ezekiel 38 & 39;Revelation 17 & 18.
[7] Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, p. 6.
[8] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 171.
[9] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 228.
[10] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, 7.4.2.
[11] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[12] Keil, Ezekiel, p. 171.
Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Part 18)
Dr. Thomas Ice
Ezekiel 38 and 39
Part XVIII
by Thomas Ice
"And the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, thebeasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and allthe men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountainsalso will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse, and every wall willfall to the ground. And I shallcall for a sword against him on all My mountains," declares the Lord God. "Every man's sword will be against his brother. And with pestilence and with blood Ishall enter into judgment with him; and I shall rain on him, and on his troops,and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones,fire, and brimstone. And I shallmagnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of manynations; and they will know that I am the Lord."
—Ezekiel 38:20–23
Asa result of the earthquake within the land of Israel in verse 19, verse 20reflects the corresponding realization of the Lord's greatness throughoutheaven and earth. In all threespheres—land, sea and air—creatures within God's creation willreverence the Lord's display of His power on behalf of His elect nation Israel.
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Thenormal order of things within the sea, land and heavens will be greatlydisturbed by the tremendous display within Israel by the Lord. The text characterizes human reactionto God's display in Israel when it says, "all the men who are on the face ofthe earth will shake at My presence." "The order will be, first, earthquake, then anarchy, pestilence andnatural disasters," notes Charles Feinberg. "God's violent shaking of the earth will affect every areaof nature, both animate and inanimate."[1] Gog attacks Israel armed to the hiltbut God merely shakes the earth a little and they are totally wiped out. It is clear from this passage thatIsrael and their excellent, modern military (including nuclear weapons) havenothing to do with the destruction of Gog and his allies.
Thelast three phrases in verse 20 describe in more detail the "earthquake in theland of Israel." As a result ofthat quake, "the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways willcollapse, and every wall will fall to the ground." Earlier Gog's invasion is noted as taking place on "themountains of Israel" (verse 8). Apassage way or path is needed for an army to make it past the mountains ofIsrael in order to gain entrance into the heartland. In the modern state of Israel's wars, this has been astumbling stone for the Syrians and other Arab armies in their attacks onIsrael. They have had greatdifficulty getting through those mountains. However, in this invasion, it is God, not the Israel DefenseForces (IDF) that will completely destroy the enemy, as the Lord's earthquakewill literally pull the rug out from under the invaders. This will no doubt destroy a greatportion of the invaders.
Friendly Fire
Inmodern warfare when someone accidentally kills someone on your own side it iscalled "friendly fire." I recentlyread that on the modern battlefield of today, because of the great firepower ofmodern armies, that about 20% of deaths are due to friendly fire. Verse 21 clearly says that the onlykilling to be done by Gog's invaders of Israel will be that of massacring theirfellow troops. "'And I shall callfor a sword against him on all My mountains,' declares the Lord God. 'Every man's sword will be against his brother.'" Apparently in the confusion generatedby the Lord's earthquake and great shaking of the mountains of Israel, Gog'sarmies will experience a whole lot of friendly fire as the Lord confuses themand they turn upon one another.
Imaginethe great embarrassment and humiliation that Gog's constituents back homeexperience when they learn that the IDF did not even engage this great army,they did not have to since many of them killed each other. Upon further examination Gog's allieswill learn that it was really the God of Israel that they went up against. They did not have a chance! But that is not the only means the Lordwill use to defeat the invaders.
God Bugs Gog
Thisyear (2008) the father of so-called "Jesus Rock" or "Contemporary ChristianMusic," Larry Norman died. I usedto listen to him in the early 1970s and one of my favorite songs that he didwas one simply called "Moses." Thesong is about Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and into thePromised Land. There is a verse inthat song that goes as follows:
Mosesknew that God was taking to him,
sohe set off to Egypt with a vigor and vim,
andMoses bugged the Pharaoh—he bugged him,
andhe bugged him,
tillhe got his people free.
Heused real bugs![2]
Just as God used real bugs to bug the Pharaoh at theExodus, once again, He will use real bugs and pestilence to bug Gog and hisarmies, but this time to keep His people free from invasion. In addition to the earthquake andfriendly fire, the Lord will use other means of defeating Israel enemy asindicated in verse 22. "And withpestilence and with blood I shall enter into judgment with him; and I shallrain on him, and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, atorrential rain, with hailstones, fire, and brimstone."
TheHebrew noun for "pestilence" is used of a plague, like the bubonic plague whichcan be caused by something like an insect sting.[3] However, in this case, it is not bugscausing the sickness but it is God who bugs them. Used in conjunction with pestilence is the Hebrew noun for"blood," which in this context refers to "blood shed violently,"[4] as the judgment ofGod. The main verb governing allof the actions of verse 22 is the Hebrew word for "judgment." Thus, all of the pestilence, torrentialrain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone are said to be the judgment of God uponGog and his company of invaders. The first half of the verse tells us that the Lord will enter intojudgment with the invaders by using the means of pestilence that will cause thebloodshed or death of Gog's army. The second half of the verse appears to be the different types ofpestilence that will cause death to the enemies of God and Israel. As in the Exodus, the Lord miraculouslysends down the torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone upon theinvaders as they attack Israel. Likely the hailstones will target specific individuals of the enemy asin Revelation 16:21. Also, notjust brimstone, but fire also will fall from heaven and targetindividuals. Fire and brimstonewas said to be the only items used to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24),but here we have fire mixed with torrential rain. This will be an amazing combination of pestilence thatcauses the death of Israel invaders. I wonder if there will be a vote in the United Nations or a similar bodyto condemn God because of this event?
God's Glory
Gogwill arrogantly attack Israel with visions of his own glory. However, it will be God who will obtaingreat notoriety from the event. Verse 23 says, "And I shall magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and makeMyself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord."
Therewill be three specific things accomplished by the Lord as a result of Hisdefeat of this company of armies attacking His land Israel. The three lessons are taught by the useof three Hebrew verbs. First, Godshall "magnify" Himself through these events, as express by the hithpael orreflexive-intensive use of gadel. The root word gadelmeans, "to become great." In thehithpael stem it has the sense of "to make oneself great" or "to prove to begreat."[5] This is exactly what the Lord God ofIsrael will do when He will defeat, all by Himself, this vast army descendingupon Israel. He will add thisproof to a long list of other items from the past (for example, creation, theflood, the exodus, etc.) in which He has proven Himself great in time-spacehistory.
Second,qadosh, another hithpael stem verb isused. The root word qadoshis believed to mean, "to cut" and thus carries the basic meaning of "to setapart" for special use. The term"holy" is associated with qadosh and conveys the ideaof setting apart something from common use in order to use it on specialoccasions. The hithpael stem asused in this passage would mean, "to show or demonstrate One as holy."[6] In the context of this passage it issaying that the Lord God has demonstrated to the world that He is Holy,separated from everyone else in a special way, and that He is the unique andonly God since no one else can do what He just did to Israel's enemies.
Third,yadah is a widely used Hebrew verb thatmeans "to know" or "to come to know," usually through experience or interactionwith someone or something. In thisinstance, yadah occurs in the niphal stem, which isthe simple passive or reflexive sense.[7] Therefore, in this context it conveysthe sense that God wants the world to come to know or realize that He is theLord God of Israel as a result of these events. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), pp. 225–26.
[2] Larry Norman, "Moses," Upon This Rock (New York: Capitol Records, 1969).
[3] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[4] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[5] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[6] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[7] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
Ezekiel 38 and 39
Part XVIII
by Thomas Ice
"And the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, thebeasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and allthe men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountainsalso will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse, and every wall willfall to the ground. And I shallcall for a sword against him on all My mountains," declares the Lord God. "Every man's sword will be against his brother. And with pestilence and with blood Ishall enter into judgment with him; and I shall rain on him, and on his troops,and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones,fire, and brimstone. And I shallmagnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of manynations; and they will know that I am the Lord."
—Ezekiel 38:20–23
Asa result of the earthquake within the land of Israel in verse 19, verse 20reflects the corresponding realization of the Lord's greatness throughoutheaven and earth. In all threespheres—land, sea and air—creatures within God's creation willreverence the Lord's display of His power on behalf of His elect nation Israel.
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Thenormal order of things within the sea, land and heavens will be greatlydisturbed by the tremendous display within Israel by the Lord. The text characterizes human reactionto God's display in Israel when it says, "all the men who are on the face ofthe earth will shake at My presence." "The order will be, first, earthquake, then anarchy, pestilence andnatural disasters," notes Charles Feinberg. "God's violent shaking of the earth will affect every areaof nature, both animate and inanimate."[1] Gog attacks Israel armed to the hiltbut God merely shakes the earth a little and they are totally wiped out. It is clear from this passage thatIsrael and their excellent, modern military (including nuclear weapons) havenothing to do with the destruction of Gog and his allies.
Thelast three phrases in verse 20 describe in more detail the "earthquake in theland of Israel." As a result ofthat quake, "the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways willcollapse, and every wall will fall to the ground." Earlier Gog's invasion is noted as taking place on "themountains of Israel" (verse 8). Apassage way or path is needed for an army to make it past the mountains ofIsrael in order to gain entrance into the heartland. In the modern state of Israel's wars, this has been astumbling stone for the Syrians and other Arab armies in their attacks onIsrael. They have had greatdifficulty getting through those mountains. However, in this invasion, it is God, not the Israel DefenseForces (IDF) that will completely destroy the enemy, as the Lord's earthquakewill literally pull the rug out from under the invaders. This will no doubt destroy a greatportion of the invaders.
Friendly Fire
Inmodern warfare when someone accidentally kills someone on your own side it iscalled "friendly fire." I recentlyread that on the modern battlefield of today, because of the great firepower ofmodern armies, that about 20% of deaths are due to friendly fire. Verse 21 clearly says that the onlykilling to be done by Gog's invaders of Israel will be that of massacring theirfellow troops. "'And I shall callfor a sword against him on all My mountains,' declares the Lord God. 'Every man's sword will be against his brother.'" Apparently in the confusion generatedby the Lord's earthquake and great shaking of the mountains of Israel, Gog'sarmies will experience a whole lot of friendly fire as the Lord confuses themand they turn upon one another.
Imaginethe great embarrassment and humiliation that Gog's constituents back homeexperience when they learn that the IDF did not even engage this great army,they did not have to since many of them killed each other. Upon further examination Gog's allieswill learn that it was really the God of Israel that they went up against. They did not have a chance! But that is not the only means the Lordwill use to defeat the invaders.
God Bugs Gog
Thisyear (2008) the father of so-called "Jesus Rock" or "Contemporary ChristianMusic," Larry Norman died. I usedto listen to him in the early 1970s and one of my favorite songs that he didwas one simply called "Moses." Thesong is about Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and into thePromised Land. There is a verse inthat song that goes as follows:
Mosesknew that God was taking to him,
sohe set off to Egypt with a vigor and vim,
andMoses bugged the Pharaoh—he bugged him,
andhe bugged him,
tillhe got his people free.
Heused real bugs![2]
Just as God used real bugs to bug the Pharaoh at theExodus, once again, He will use real bugs and pestilence to bug Gog and hisarmies, but this time to keep His people free from invasion. In addition to the earthquake andfriendly fire, the Lord will use other means of defeating Israel enemy asindicated in verse 22. "And withpestilence and with blood I shall enter into judgment with him; and I shallrain on him, and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, atorrential rain, with hailstones, fire, and brimstone."
TheHebrew noun for "pestilence" is used of a plague, like the bubonic plague whichcan be caused by something like an insect sting.[3] However, in this case, it is not bugscausing the sickness but it is God who bugs them. Used in conjunction with pestilence is the Hebrew noun for"blood," which in this context refers to "blood shed violently,"[4] as the judgment ofGod. The main verb governing allof the actions of verse 22 is the Hebrew word for "judgment." Thus, all of the pestilence, torrentialrain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone are said to be the judgment of God uponGog and his company of invaders. The first half of the verse tells us that the Lord will enter intojudgment with the invaders by using the means of pestilence that will cause thebloodshed or death of Gog's army. The second half of the verse appears to be the different types ofpestilence that will cause death to the enemies of God and Israel. As in the Exodus, the Lord miraculouslysends down the torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone upon theinvaders as they attack Israel. Likely the hailstones will target specific individuals of the enemy asin Revelation 16:21. Also, notjust brimstone, but fire also will fall from heaven and targetindividuals. Fire and brimstonewas said to be the only items used to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24),but here we have fire mixed with torrential rain. This will be an amazing combination of pestilence thatcauses the death of Israel invaders. I wonder if there will be a vote in the United Nations or a similar bodyto condemn God because of this event?
God's Glory
Gogwill arrogantly attack Israel with visions of his own glory. However, it will be God who will obtaingreat notoriety from the event. Verse 23 says, "And I shall magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and makeMyself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord."
Therewill be three specific things accomplished by the Lord as a result of Hisdefeat of this company of armies attacking His land Israel. The three lessons are taught by the useof three Hebrew verbs. First, Godshall "magnify" Himself through these events, as express by the hithpael orreflexive-intensive use of gadel. The root word gadelmeans, "to become great." In thehithpael stem it has the sense of "to make oneself great" or "to prove to begreat."[5] This is exactly what the Lord God ofIsrael will do when He will defeat, all by Himself, this vast army descendingupon Israel. He will add thisproof to a long list of other items from the past (for example, creation, theflood, the exodus, etc.) in which He has proven Himself great in time-spacehistory.
Second,qadosh, another hithpael stem verb isused. The root word qadoshis believed to mean, "to cut" and thus carries the basic meaning of "to setapart" for special use. The term"holy" is associated with qadosh and conveys the ideaof setting apart something from common use in order to use it on specialoccasions. The hithpael stem asused in this passage would mean, "to show or demonstrate One as holy."[6] In the context of this passage it issaying that the Lord God has demonstrated to the world that He is Holy,separated from everyone else in a special way, and that He is the unique andonly God since no one else can do what He just did to Israel's enemies.
Third,yadah is a widely used Hebrew verb thatmeans "to know" or "to come to know," usually through experience or interactionwith someone or something. In thisinstance, yadah occurs in the niphal stem, which isthe simple passive or reflexive sense.[7] Therefore, in this context it conveysthe sense that God wants the world to come to know or realize that He is theLord God of Israel as a result of these events. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), pp. 225–26.
[2] Larry Norman, "Moses," Upon This Rock (New York: Capitol Records, 1969).
[3] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[4] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[5] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[6] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[7] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Part 17)
Dr. Thomas Ice
Thus says the Lord God, "Are you the one of whom I spoke informer days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in thosedays for many years that I would bring you against them? And it will come about on that day,when Gog comes against the land of Israel," declares the Lord God, "that My fury will mount up in Myanger. And in My zeal and in Myblazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a greatearthquake in the land of Israel."
—Ezekiel 38:17–19
Aswe move into a new section in the prophecy, the Lord once again speaks toEzekiel about God's future victory over Gog and his allies(38:17–23). For the fifthand final time in chapter 38, the prophecy is said to be the word of theLord. "Seven times in Ezekiel38—39 we read the same words, 'Thus says the Lord God' (38:2, 10, 14, 17;39:1, 17, 25)," notes Mark Hitchcock. "Another eight times the refrain, 'declares the Lord God,' appears. Obviously, God doesn't want us to miss thepoint—this is His Word."[1] This prophecy begins with the Lordasking a question to Gog. Thisquestion stems from the previous verse (38:16) and is about how God willsanctify Himself in the eyes of Gog and the nations.
What's The Question?
Itis as if God is taunting Gog with this question that reveals God's absoluteconfidence in the outcome of this encounter. In this section (38:17–23), God answers the questionsof "what" and "how." First, thequestion "what" is answered in verses 17 and 18, while the question of "how" inverses 19 through 23. The questionthat God confronts Gog with is as follows: "Are you the one of whom I spoke informer days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in thosedays for many years that I would bring you against them?" The Hebrew grammar causes the reader toexpect an affirmative answer.[2] So where are the other Old Testamentprophecies that the Lord is referring to in this passage? Randall Price answers that question asfollows:
The opening statement ofthis defeat (verse 17) seems to imply a there has been prior prediction inother prophets of Gog's invasion. However, the ambiguity in the expression "are you the one" (even thoughGog is understood from verse 16) spoken of by God in the distant past revealsthat the reference is open to representative "Gogs" whose actions againstIsrael have invited a divine demonstration. Gog's army will be a multi-national force and some of thesenations have had prophecies specifically directed against them by formerIsraelite prophets: Cush/Ethiopia (Isaiah 18:1-7), Arabia (Isaiah21:13-17). However, no directreference to Gog in any of the former prophets is necessary, since all previousinvaders have been types leading to Gog and his allies as the antitype.[3]
TheLord continues the "what" in verse 18 in relation to Gog's invasion of the landof Israel, by noting that His "fury will mount up in My anger." The Lord uses three Hebrew words todescribe His reaction to Gog's invasion of the land of Israel. In the order in which they appear inthe Hebrew text, the first word is the common verb 'alah,which occurs over 1,200 times in the Hebrew Old Testament[4]and means to "go up, ascend, or climb,"[5]is translated "will mount up."
Second,the Hebrew noun chemah, which means "heat, poison or venom(of animals), rage, wrath,"[6]is translated "fury" in this passage. This word is used 120 times in the Hebrew Bible and most of the usagerelates to human or Divine wrath (110 times).[7] The use of chemahto refer to human wrath only occurs 25 times, while it is used 85 times toreference Divine wrath with the most occurrences found in Ezekiel (31 times).[8] Thus, we see the righteous anger of theLord that builds up and is released as His wrath in history.
Third,the final Hebrew word is the noun 'af,which means "nose, anger, nostrils"[9]is used 155 times in the Hebrew Old Testament[10]and is translated in the passage as "My anger." Hebrew nouns not only occur in the singular and pluralmodes, but also have a dual use. "Whenthe reference is to the nose, the singular form is used, while the dual form isused for either the face or nostrils."[11] Here the Lord's anger is expressed within the dual mode, thus, emphasizing the nostrils, which is seen in some animalswhen they get upset they start breathing through the nostrils like a snortinganger. Then chemahand 'af are grouped together in reference toGod, as occurs here, the expression denotes the strongest kind of anger by Godthat leads to action. Keildescribes this as an "anthropopathetic expression, 'my wrath ascends in mynose,' . . . The outburst of wrathshows itself in the vehement breath which the wrathful man inhales and exhalesthrough his nose."[12] The clear message of the passage isthat God has reached the limit of His patience and He will now spring forth inwrathful action against Gog and his allies.
How It Will Happen?
Thefinal section in chapter 38 (verses 19–23) begins with the Lord revealingHis attitude with which He will defend His people Israel. The first part of verse 19 says, "And inMy zeal and in My blazing wrath . . ." Once again, this phrase contains three important Hebrew wordsdemonstrating that the lexicon was not exhausted in the previous verse when itcomes to describing God's great anger toward Gog and the other invaders. First, the noun translated "zeal" is qinah,which occurs 17 times in the Hebrew Old Testament and it is found the mosttimes in Ezekiel (7 times).[13] The basic meaning is that of "zeal" forsomething (in this case God's zeal for His prized earthly possession Israel)and the "jealousy" and "wrath" that is exhibited when another attempts to movein and take away that possession.[14] We gain insight into the Lord'sattitude toward His people and His land—the land of Israel—twochapters earlier in Ezekiel that reads as follows:
Therefore, thus says theLord God, "Surely in the fire ofMy jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, andagainst all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession withwholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey." Therefore, prophesy concerning the landof Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to thevalleys, "Thus says the Lord God,'Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrathbecause you have endured the insults of the nations.'" (Ezek. 36:5–6,italics added)
Thesame jealousy that God expressed in chapter 36 is carried into 38:19 concerningthe wife of Jehovah—Israel. "God'spatience would be exhausted with the repeated attempts of Israel's enemies toannihilate her," declares Charles Feinberg. "The Lord Himself will undertake the destruction of Israel'senemies, choosing to use no secondary agent, for this is to be a final andirrecoverable judgment."[15]
Thesecond noun we find in this passage is the Hebrew word 'esh,which means "fire" and in this verse is translated as "blazing."[16] The third word in the Hebrew text is 'evra,which is translated "wrath"[17]in verse 19 and in construct relationship to blazing. Taken together they produce the strongest possible statementabout the wrath of God—it is blazing, it is on fire. "These words express theintensity of God's display of vengeance against the invaders of His Land ('Mymountains,' 38:21)."[18]
Sowhat does the burning zeal of the Lord cause Him to declare? God will "declare that on that daythere will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel." "That day" refers to the day in whichGog and his gang will invade the land of Israel. Then God will counterstrike the outsiders by inflicting agreat earthquake upon the land of Israel. Price tells us:
According to verses 19b-21a divinely appointed earthquake will be so severe as to disorient Gog'smulti-national forces and cause them in the confusion to fight each other. Theearthquake will apparently set off volcanic deposits in the region, bringingdown on Gog's army a hail of molten rock and burning sulfur (volcanic ash) withthe result that the enemy troops are utterly destroyed before they can strike ablow against Israel (verse 22).[19]
Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Mark Hitchcock, After The Empire: Bible Prophecy in Light of the Fall ofthe Soviet Union (Wheaton, IL:Tyndale House Publishers 1994), p. 174.
[2] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 168.
[3] Randall Price, Unpublished Notes on TheProphecies of Ezekiel, (2007), p.42.
[4] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, version7.4.2.
[5] Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrewand English Lexicon of the Old Testament (London: Oxford, 1907), electronic edition.
[6] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[7] G. Johannes Botterweck, & Helmer Ringgren,editors, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. IV (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), p. 462.
[8] Botterweck & Ringgren, TheologicalDictionary, vol. IV, p. 464.
[9] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[10] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, version7.4.2.
[11] Willem A. VanGemeren, gen. editor, NewInternational Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, 5 vols., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), vol.1, p. 463.
[12] Keil, Ezekiel, p. 169.
[13] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, version7.4.2.
[14] Definition derived from Koehler and Baumgartner, HebrewLexicon, electronic version.
[15] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 225.
[16] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[17] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[18] Randall Price, "Ezekiel" in Tim LaHaye & EdHindson, editors, The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2007), p.193.
[19] Price, Unpublished Notes on Ezekiel, p. 42.
Thus says the Lord God, "Are you the one of whom I spoke informer days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in thosedays for many years that I would bring you against them? And it will come about on that day,when Gog comes against the land of Israel," declares the Lord God, "that My fury will mount up in Myanger. And in My zeal and in Myblazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a greatearthquake in the land of Israel."
—Ezekiel 38:17–19
Aswe move into a new section in the prophecy, the Lord once again speaks toEzekiel about God's future victory over Gog and his allies(38:17–23). For the fifthand final time in chapter 38, the prophecy is said to be the word of theLord. "Seven times in Ezekiel38—39 we read the same words, 'Thus says the Lord God' (38:2, 10, 14, 17;39:1, 17, 25)," notes Mark Hitchcock. "Another eight times the refrain, 'declares the Lord God,' appears. Obviously, God doesn't want us to miss thepoint—this is His Word."[1] This prophecy begins with the Lordasking a question to Gog. Thisquestion stems from the previous verse (38:16) and is about how God willsanctify Himself in the eyes of Gog and the nations.
What's The Question?
Itis as if God is taunting Gog with this question that reveals God's absoluteconfidence in the outcome of this encounter. In this section (38:17–23), God answers the questionsof "what" and "how." First, thequestion "what" is answered in verses 17 and 18, while the question of "how" inverses 19 through 23. The questionthat God confronts Gog with is as follows: "Are you the one of whom I spoke informer days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in thosedays for many years that I would bring you against them?" The Hebrew grammar causes the reader toexpect an affirmative answer.[2] So where are the other Old Testamentprophecies that the Lord is referring to in this passage? Randall Price answers that question asfollows:
The opening statement ofthis defeat (verse 17) seems to imply a there has been prior prediction inother prophets of Gog's invasion. However, the ambiguity in the expression "are you the one" (even thoughGog is understood from verse 16) spoken of by God in the distant past revealsthat the reference is open to representative "Gogs" whose actions againstIsrael have invited a divine demonstration. Gog's army will be a multi-national force and some of thesenations have had prophecies specifically directed against them by formerIsraelite prophets: Cush/Ethiopia (Isaiah 18:1-7), Arabia (Isaiah21:13-17). However, no directreference to Gog in any of the former prophets is necessary, since all previousinvaders have been types leading to Gog and his allies as the antitype.[3]
TheLord continues the "what" in verse 18 in relation to Gog's invasion of the landof Israel, by noting that His "fury will mount up in My anger." The Lord uses three Hebrew words todescribe His reaction to Gog's invasion of the land of Israel. In the order in which they appear inthe Hebrew text, the first word is the common verb 'alah,which occurs over 1,200 times in the Hebrew Old Testament[4]and means to "go up, ascend, or climb,"[5]is translated "will mount up."
Second,the Hebrew noun chemah, which means "heat, poison or venom(of animals), rage, wrath,"[6]is translated "fury" in this passage. This word is used 120 times in the Hebrew Bible and most of the usagerelates to human or Divine wrath (110 times).[7] The use of chemahto refer to human wrath only occurs 25 times, while it is used 85 times toreference Divine wrath with the most occurrences found in Ezekiel (31 times).[8] Thus, we see the righteous anger of theLord that builds up and is released as His wrath in history.
Third,the final Hebrew word is the noun 'af,which means "nose, anger, nostrils"[9]is used 155 times in the Hebrew Old Testament[10]and is translated in the passage as "My anger." Hebrew nouns not only occur in the singular and pluralmodes, but also have a dual use. "Whenthe reference is to the nose, the singular form is used, while the dual form isused for either the face or nostrils."[11] Here the Lord's anger is expressed within the dual mode, thus, emphasizing the nostrils, which is seen in some animalswhen they get upset they start breathing through the nostrils like a snortinganger. Then chemahand 'af are grouped together in reference toGod, as occurs here, the expression denotes the strongest kind of anger by Godthat leads to action. Keildescribes this as an "anthropopathetic expression, 'my wrath ascends in mynose,' . . . The outburst of wrathshows itself in the vehement breath which the wrathful man inhales and exhalesthrough his nose."[12] The clear message of the passage isthat God has reached the limit of His patience and He will now spring forth inwrathful action against Gog and his allies.
How It Will Happen?
Thefinal section in chapter 38 (verses 19–23) begins with the Lord revealingHis attitude with which He will defend His people Israel. The first part of verse 19 says, "And inMy zeal and in My blazing wrath . . ." Once again, this phrase contains three important Hebrew wordsdemonstrating that the lexicon was not exhausted in the previous verse when itcomes to describing God's great anger toward Gog and the other invaders. First, the noun translated "zeal" is qinah,which occurs 17 times in the Hebrew Old Testament and it is found the mosttimes in Ezekiel (7 times).[13] The basic meaning is that of "zeal" forsomething (in this case God's zeal for His prized earthly possession Israel)and the "jealousy" and "wrath" that is exhibited when another attempts to movein and take away that possession.[14] We gain insight into the Lord'sattitude toward His people and His land—the land of Israel—twochapters earlier in Ezekiel that reads as follows:
Therefore, thus says theLord God, "Surely in the fire ofMy jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, andagainst all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession withwholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey." Therefore, prophesy concerning the landof Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to thevalleys, "Thus says the Lord God,'Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrathbecause you have endured the insults of the nations.'" (Ezek. 36:5–6,italics added)
Thesame jealousy that God expressed in chapter 36 is carried into 38:19 concerningthe wife of Jehovah—Israel. "God'spatience would be exhausted with the repeated attempts of Israel's enemies toannihilate her," declares Charles Feinberg. "The Lord Himself will undertake the destruction of Israel'senemies, choosing to use no secondary agent, for this is to be a final andirrecoverable judgment."[15]
Thesecond noun we find in this passage is the Hebrew word 'esh,which means "fire" and in this verse is translated as "blazing."[16] The third word in the Hebrew text is 'evra,which is translated "wrath"[17]in verse 19 and in construct relationship to blazing. Taken together they produce the strongest possible statementabout the wrath of God—it is blazing, it is on fire. "These words express theintensity of God's display of vengeance against the invaders of His Land ('Mymountains,' 38:21)."[18]
Sowhat does the burning zeal of the Lord cause Him to declare? God will "declare that on that daythere will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel." "That day" refers to the day in whichGog and his gang will invade the land of Israel. Then God will counterstrike the outsiders by inflicting agreat earthquake upon the land of Israel. Price tells us:
According to verses 19b-21a divinely appointed earthquake will be so severe as to disorient Gog'smulti-national forces and cause them in the confusion to fight each other. Theearthquake will apparently set off volcanic deposits in the region, bringingdown on Gog's army a hail of molten rock and burning sulfur (volcanic ash) withthe result that the enemy troops are utterly destroyed before they can strike ablow against Israel (verse 22).[19]
Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Mark Hitchcock, After The Empire: Bible Prophecy in Light of the Fall ofthe Soviet Union (Wheaton, IL:Tyndale House Publishers 1994), p. 174.
[2] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 168.
[3] Randall Price, Unpublished Notes on TheProphecies of Ezekiel, (2007), p.42.
[4] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, version7.4.2.
[5] Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrewand English Lexicon of the Old Testament (London: Oxford, 1907), electronic edition.
[6] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[7] G. Johannes Botterweck, & Helmer Ringgren,editors, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. IV (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), p. 462.
[8] Botterweck & Ringgren, TheologicalDictionary, vol. IV, p. 464.
[9] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[10] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, version7.4.2.
[11] Willem A. VanGemeren, gen. editor, NewInternational Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, 5 vols., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), vol.1, p. 463.
[12] Keil, Ezekiel, p. 169.
[13] Based upon a search conducted by the computerprogram Accordance, version7.4.2.
[14] Definition derived from Koehler and Baumgartner, HebrewLexicon, electronic version.
[15] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 225.
[16] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[17] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[18] Randall Price, "Ezekiel" in Tim LaHaye & EdHindson, editors, The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2007), p.193.
[19] Price, Unpublished Notes on Ezekiel, p. 42.
Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Part 16)
Dr. Thomas Ice
"Sheba, and Dedan, and themerchants of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, 'Have you cometo capture spoil? Have youassembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to takeaway cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?' Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, 'Thus saysthe Lord God, "On that day when Mypeople Israel are living securely, will you not know it? And you will come from your place outof the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of themriding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army; and you will come upagainst My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will come about inthe last days that I shall bring you against My land, in order that the nationsmay know Me when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog."'
—Ezekiel38:13–16
Itappears that Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish are clearly atrading community that is not involved in the invasion and from the sidelinesask the motives of the invaders. "Have you come to capture spoil?" "Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silverand gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?" Even though these are questions, theyalso clearly reveal in them the intent of the invaders, which were also statedin verse 12.
Purpose Of The Invaders
Sincemost of the terminology of the invaders is stated in verse 12, it is clear thatthe human motive of the invaders is to steal the wealth of Israel. Many expositors have speculated overthe years what it is about Israel that the invaders have their eye on. Some have said that it is the mineralwealth of the Dead Sea, which is the richest on earth. However, as Arnold Fruchtenbaum notes,"Russia could also obtain the Dead Sea by invading Jordan."[1] Whatever the specifics, the cumulativedescription of verses 12 and 13 make it clear that Israel has wealth and theyinvade her in order to gain that wealth.
Thereis no doubt that Israel is by far the richest country in the region. Today she has developed a productiveeconomy via research and development in the area of technology. Also, she is perhaps the mostproductive country per capita in the world agriculturally. Israel has long controlled the diamondbusiness and is the world leader in generic pharmaceuticals. Wikipedia says, "Israel is considered one of the most advanced countries in the Southwest Asia in economic andindustrial development. . . . Ithas the second-largest number of startup companies in the world (afterthe United States) and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside North America."[2] Regardless of thespecific enticements, this passage is clear that Israel is invaded for thepurpose of stealing her wealth.
Prophecy Against Gog
Anew section begins with verses 14–16. "Son of man" is a common term used 93 times by God in thisbook to refer to Ezekiel.[3] As C. F. Keil says, it "denotes manaccording to his natural condition . . . denoting the weakness and fragility ofman in opposition to God."[4] The rest of this verse is a repeat ofphrases already analyzed, except the last one: "will you not know it?" This phrase in the English translatestwo Hebrew words. The word for"not" appears at the beginning of the phrase "On that day when My people . .." Even though "not" appears inthe middle of the passage, it relates grammatically to and negates the finalword in the verse, which is the Hebrew verb "to know." Keil rightly explains: "thou wilt know,or perceive, sc. that Israel dwells securely, notexpecting any hostile invasion."[5] Rabbi Fisch echoes Keil and says, "thestate of Israel's peace and confidence which has led to his unpreparedness, sothat thou wilt choose him for thy victim."[6] Charles Feinberg notes Israel's"imagined security" and says, "The question is doubtless a rhetorical one. The Lord knew full well that Gog willhave already acquainted himself with the fact of Israel's political condition inorder to be sure of his attack."[7]
TheLord continues to speak to Gog and says, "you will come from your place." Where is Gog's place? Gog's place is said, as in verse 6, tobe "the remote parts of the north." This phrase was dealt with in verse 6 and is the exact same Hebrewexpression in both places, except verse 15 has the prepositional stem "from,"while it is implied in verse 6. This phrase will also be used again in 39:2. So three times the text emphasizes that Gog will come fromthe remotest parts of the North. "It is intriguing that a tribe of 'Mescherians,' whose territoryincluded the area of the modern city of Moscow," observes Jon Ruthven, "thecapital of the traditional 'Rus',' lies due north of Israel."[8] If one draws a line from Jerusalemnorth to the North Pole, it will come very close to modern Moscow. In fact, the only possible country thatis to the extreme north of Israel is Russia. The country of Russia begins north of the Black Sea inSouthern Russia and is the only country north of the Black Sea. Since we do not have many choices, oneout of one, it is clear that Gog is Russia, which fits the other informationgleaned thus far from Ezekiel 38.
Therest of verse 15 speaks of the fact that Gog will come with a huge army,including many allies with her. Ihave dealt with this terminology already in earlier verses in the passage.
Why Me Lord?
Verse16 concludes the section in which God explains "why" He will sovereignly workin history to bring about Gog's invasion of Israel. This verse makes it clear that the Lord God of Israel seesthe Gog lead invasion as a direct attack upon Him. Gog will "come up against My peopleIsrael;" "I shall bring you against My land;"and "that the nations may know Me" (italicsadded). Gog will descend uponGod's real estate "like a cloud to cover the land." Charles Dyer suggests, "This awesome army will overrun allobstacles as effortlessly as a cloud sailing across the sky."[9] This is true, until God decides tointervene on behalf of His people and land.
Regardlessof what the world thinks and the news media will say about Israel in that day,the Lord God says that that the people who will be invaded are "My peopleIsrael." As Paul says of Israel inthe New Testament, "God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew" (Rom.11:2). On what basis can Paul saythis? He can say it because "thegifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:28). Yet, too many in our day suffer underthe false illusion of replacement theology that God has replace "My peopleIsrael" with the church. It istrue that the church made up of elect Jews and Gentiles during the current ageare also the people of God. However, God is not finished with national or ethnic Israel and willfocus upon them after the rapture.
TheLord also calls the land of Israel "My land." In other words, His people Israel are living in His land,which is also called Israel, in the last days when Gog and his hordes come downto attack them. Thus, this passagemakes it very clear that an attack on God's people and land is an attack uponGod Himself. This is why, eventhough Israel is not ready for this attack God will step in to defend her. Why will He defend His people and land? He will defend them "in order that thenations may know Me when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, OGog" (38:16).
Thissection concludes with God's purpose, which is the ultimate and overridingpurpose, for bringing Gog against His people "in the lastdays" (38:14). Gog's purposefrom the human perspective was noted earlier (38:10–13), but the utmostpurpose is to teach the nations to acknowledge the Lord. They would do this when God used Gog todemonstrate His holiness before them as the whole world watches. God will mobilize Gog as He had raisedup Pharaoh at the Exodus to demonstrate His power and holiness when Hesubsequently puts him down. "Though the purpose of Gog's campaign is said to be lust for destructionand spoil," declares Fisch, "it is an act designed inGod's wisdom to bring mankind to the realization that He is King of theuniverse."[10] Thus, God's intent through all of thisis to demonstrate who He is and what He values in this world. He is a holy God who has given Israelher land and He knows how to protect His people. O, that we would all learn this lesson. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah:A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 111.
[2] Wikipedia, accessed May13, 2008.
[3] From a search conducted by the computer program Accordance, version 7.4.2.
[4] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 47.
[5] Keil, Ezekiel, p. 167.
[6] S. Fisch, Ezekiel: Hebrew Text & Englishtranslation with an Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), p. 256.
[7] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 224.
[8] Jon Mark Ruthven, The Prophecy That Is ShapingHistory: New Research on Ezekiel's Vision of the End (Fairfax, VA: Xulon Press, 2003), p. 39.
[9] Charles H. Dyer, "Ezekiel," in The BibleKnowledge Commentary: Old Testament,ed. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor Books,1985), p. 1301.
[10] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 257.
"Sheba, and Dedan, and themerchants of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, 'Have you cometo capture spoil? Have youassembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to takeaway cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?' Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, 'Thus saysthe Lord God, "On that day when Mypeople Israel are living securely, will you not know it? And you will come from your place outof the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of themriding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army; and you will come upagainst My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will come about inthe last days that I shall bring you against My land, in order that the nationsmay know Me when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog."'
—Ezekiel38:13–16
Itappears that Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish are clearly atrading community that is not involved in the invasion and from the sidelinesask the motives of the invaders. "Have you come to capture spoil?" "Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silverand gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?" Even though these are questions, theyalso clearly reveal in them the intent of the invaders, which were also statedin verse 12.
Purpose Of The Invaders
Sincemost of the terminology of the invaders is stated in verse 12, it is clear thatthe human motive of the invaders is to steal the wealth of Israel. Many expositors have speculated overthe years what it is about Israel that the invaders have their eye on. Some have said that it is the mineralwealth of the Dead Sea, which is the richest on earth. However, as Arnold Fruchtenbaum notes,"Russia could also obtain the Dead Sea by invading Jordan."[1] Whatever the specifics, the cumulativedescription of verses 12 and 13 make it clear that Israel has wealth and theyinvade her in order to gain that wealth.
Thereis no doubt that Israel is by far the richest country in the region. Today she has developed a productiveeconomy via research and development in the area of technology. Also, she is perhaps the mostproductive country per capita in the world agriculturally. Israel has long controlled the diamondbusiness and is the world leader in generic pharmaceuticals. Wikipedia says, "Israel is considered one of the most advanced countries in the Southwest Asia in economic andindustrial development. . . . Ithas the second-largest number of startup companies in the world (afterthe United States) and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside North America."[2] Regardless of thespecific enticements, this passage is clear that Israel is invaded for thepurpose of stealing her wealth.
Prophecy Against Gog
Anew section begins with verses 14–16. "Son of man" is a common term used 93 times by God in thisbook to refer to Ezekiel.[3] As C. F. Keil says, it "denotes manaccording to his natural condition . . . denoting the weakness and fragility ofman in opposition to God."[4] The rest of this verse is a repeat ofphrases already analyzed, except the last one: "will you not know it?" This phrase in the English translatestwo Hebrew words. The word for"not" appears at the beginning of the phrase "On that day when My people . .." Even though "not" appears inthe middle of the passage, it relates grammatically to and negates the finalword in the verse, which is the Hebrew verb "to know." Keil rightly explains: "thou wilt know,or perceive, sc. that Israel dwells securely, notexpecting any hostile invasion."[5] Rabbi Fisch echoes Keil and says, "thestate of Israel's peace and confidence which has led to his unpreparedness, sothat thou wilt choose him for thy victim."[6] Charles Feinberg notes Israel's"imagined security" and says, "The question is doubtless a rhetorical one. The Lord knew full well that Gog willhave already acquainted himself with the fact of Israel's political condition inorder to be sure of his attack."[7]
TheLord continues to speak to Gog and says, "you will come from your place." Where is Gog's place? Gog's place is said, as in verse 6, tobe "the remote parts of the north." This phrase was dealt with in verse 6 and is the exact same Hebrewexpression in both places, except verse 15 has the prepositional stem "from,"while it is implied in verse 6. This phrase will also be used again in 39:2. So three times the text emphasizes that Gog will come fromthe remotest parts of the North. "It is intriguing that a tribe of 'Mescherians,' whose territoryincluded the area of the modern city of Moscow," observes Jon Ruthven, "thecapital of the traditional 'Rus',' lies due north of Israel."[8] If one draws a line from Jerusalemnorth to the North Pole, it will come very close to modern Moscow. In fact, the only possible country thatis to the extreme north of Israel is Russia. The country of Russia begins north of the Black Sea inSouthern Russia and is the only country north of the Black Sea. Since we do not have many choices, oneout of one, it is clear that Gog is Russia, which fits the other informationgleaned thus far from Ezekiel 38.
Therest of verse 15 speaks of the fact that Gog will come with a huge army,including many allies with her. Ihave dealt with this terminology already in earlier verses in the passage.
Why Me Lord?
Verse16 concludes the section in which God explains "why" He will sovereignly workin history to bring about Gog's invasion of Israel. This verse makes it clear that the Lord God of Israel seesthe Gog lead invasion as a direct attack upon Him. Gog will "come up against My peopleIsrael;" "I shall bring you against My land;"and "that the nations may know Me" (italicsadded). Gog will descend uponGod's real estate "like a cloud to cover the land." Charles Dyer suggests, "This awesome army will overrun allobstacles as effortlessly as a cloud sailing across the sky."[9] This is true, until God decides tointervene on behalf of His people and land.
Regardlessof what the world thinks and the news media will say about Israel in that day,the Lord God says that that the people who will be invaded are "My peopleIsrael." As Paul says of Israel inthe New Testament, "God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew" (Rom.11:2). On what basis can Paul saythis? He can say it because "thegifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:28). Yet, too many in our day suffer underthe false illusion of replacement theology that God has replace "My peopleIsrael" with the church. It istrue that the church made up of elect Jews and Gentiles during the current ageare also the people of God. However, God is not finished with national or ethnic Israel and willfocus upon them after the rapture.
TheLord also calls the land of Israel "My land." In other words, His people Israel are living in His land,which is also called Israel, in the last days when Gog and his hordes come downto attack them. Thus, this passagemakes it very clear that an attack on God's people and land is an attack uponGod Himself. This is why, eventhough Israel is not ready for this attack God will step in to defend her. Why will He defend His people and land? He will defend them "in order that thenations may know Me when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, OGog" (38:16).
Thissection concludes with God's purpose, which is the ultimate and overridingpurpose, for bringing Gog against His people "in the lastdays" (38:14). Gog's purposefrom the human perspective was noted earlier (38:10–13), but the utmostpurpose is to teach the nations to acknowledge the Lord. They would do this when God used Gog todemonstrate His holiness before them as the whole world watches. God will mobilize Gog as He had raisedup Pharaoh at the Exodus to demonstrate His power and holiness when Hesubsequently puts him down. "Though the purpose of Gog's campaign is said to be lust for destructionand spoil," declares Fisch, "it is an act designed inGod's wisdom to bring mankind to the realization that He is King of theuniverse."[10] Thus, God's intent through all of thisis to demonstrate who He is and what He values in this world. He is a holy God who has given Israelher land and He knows how to protect His people. O, that we would all learn this lesson. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah:A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 111.
[2] Wikipedia, accessed May13, 2008.
[3] From a search conducted by the computer program Accordance, version 7.4.2.
[4] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 47.
[5] Keil, Ezekiel, p. 167.
[6] S. Fisch, Ezekiel: Hebrew Text & Englishtranslation with an Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), p. 256.
[7] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 224.
[8] Jon Mark Ruthven, The Prophecy That Is ShapingHistory: New Research on Ezekiel's Vision of the End (Fairfax, VA: Xulon Press, 2003), p. 39.
[9] Charles H. Dyer, "Ezekiel," in The BibleKnowledge Commentary: Old Testament,ed. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor Books,1985), p. 1301.
[10] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 257.
Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Part 15)
Dr. Thomas Ice
"'to capture spoil and to seizeplunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited,and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquiredcattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.' Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants ofTarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, 'Have you come to capturespoil? Have you assembled yourcompany to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattleand goods, to capture great spoil?'"'
—Ezekiel38:12–13
TwiceIsrael and Jerusalem are said in Ezekiel to dwell at the center of theearth. "Thus says the Lord God, 'This is Jerusalem; I have set herat the center of the nations, with lands around her'" (Ezek. 5:5). Rabbi Fisch says, "Following Ezekiel,Dante places Jerusalem at the centre of the world, with the Ganges as theextreme east and the pillars of Hercules as the extreme west."[1] Israel and its chief city Jerusalem wascreated by God and placed in the center of the earth so that she could be alight to the nations as the Lord desired to use her to spread His messageacross the globe. Rabbi Fischnotes, "Jerusalem intended to be the radiating centre of the knowledge of Godfor all peoples."[2] It is within such a context thatEzekiel 38:12 notes that the nation of Israel is "at the center of the world."
Israel: Center of the World
TheHebrew word translated "world" in the New American Standard translation that Iuse is really the Hebrew term for "earth." Ha'aretz is used over 2,500 times in theHebrew Old Testament[3]and is used in five basic ways: 1) ground, earth; 2) a specific piece ofground; 3) a territory or country; 4) the whole of the land, the earth; 5)depths of the earth or the underworld.[4] In this context it clearly is areference to the entire earth. Itis important to note that "earth" instead of "world" is used in the original,since world could denote the people and not the land. The emphasis here is upon being in the center of the earth'sland—the geographical naval. The Hebrew word for "center" is literally "the naval,"[5]"as the naval is in the centre of the body."[6]
Whyis Israel's location mentioned at this point in the passage? I agree with Rabbi Fisch's opinion:"This is mentioned to stress the viciousness of Gog's plan. He dwelt in the far north, a greatdistance from the Land of Israel; so the people of the latter could have handno aggressive designs upon him."[7] C. F. Keil echoes Rabbi Fisch's viewand describes it as one of their two motives for invasion in the following:
This figurative expressionis to be explained from ch. v. 5; "Jerusalem in the midst of the nations." The navel is not a figure denoting thehigh land, but signifies the land situated in the middle of the earth, andtherefore the land most glorious and most richly blessed; so that they whodwell there occupy the most exalted position among the nations. A covetous desire for the possessionsof the people of god, and envy at his exalted position in the centre of theworld, are therefore the motives by which Gog is impelled to enter upon hispredatory expedition against the people living in the depth of peace.[8]
Belief in Israel's special status andglobal location explains the famous rabbinical statement derived from these twopassages in Ezekiel:
As the navel is set in the centre ofthe human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world . . . situatedin the centre of the world, and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel,and the sanctuary in the centre of Jerusalem, and the holy place in the centreof the sanctuary, and the ark in the centre of the holy place, and thefoundation stone before the holy place, because from it the world was founded.[9]
Manycommentators on this passage only stress the economic gain as the single motivefor Gog's invasion from the human perspective. However, this final phrase in verse 12 makes it clear thatthey also invade out of envy of Israel's special status with God and herresulting geographic location.
Sheba and Dedan
Whoare Sheba and Dedan? "Sheba andDedan are not difficult to identify. They are located in the modern country of Saudi Arabia."[10] "Sheba and Dedan are countiesin northern Arabia," notes Arnold Fruchtenbaum.[11] As indicated in the context, they wereknown for their commercial trading, thus, their interest in the Gog invasion ofnearby Israel in order to take spoil. Randall Price locates Sheba as modern Yemen in the southern part of theArabian peninsula and Dedan as Saudi Arabia.[12] Regardless of their precise location onthe Arabian peninsula, there appears to be no doubt that it is a reference toSaudi Arabia and perhaps some of the other Arab nations currently occupyingthat peninsula.
Tarshish
Sheba and Dedanare said to be in alignment with "the merchants of Tarshish, with all itsvillages." What does the phrase "the merchants of Tarshish" mean? Like those in Sheba and Dedan, they aresaid to be merchants or traders. But where is Tarshish located?
Tarshish appearsto be a wealthy trading community on the extremity of the Mediterraneanworld. "Tarshish is ancientTartessus in the present-day nation of Spain."[13] This view is supported by standard Hebrew language reference books.[14] For example, Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner in their HebrewLexicon say, "these point to Spain with its richmineral resources. [Tarshish]could be a town the territory of which is in the region of the mouth of theGuadalquivir. With some variationthis is probably the most widely accepted view today"[15] "We read often in the OT of'ships of Tarshish' which were large, oceangoing vessels (Ezk 27:25) thatcarried all sorts of precious cargo, especially metals such as silver and gold(I Kgs 10:22; 22:48; II Chr 9:21; Isa 60:9; Jer 10:9; Ezk 38:13) as well asiron, tin, and lead (Ezk 27:12)."[16]
HarvardProfessor, Barry Fell, has done extensive study on these matters and theirrelation to activities in pre-Columbus America. Dr. Barry Fell says:
From the Bible we learn that the shipsof Tarshish were the largest seagoing vessels known to the Semitic world, andthe name was eventually applied to any large ocean-going vessel. . . . theships of Tarshish became proverbial as an expression of sea power. . . .
it is not unlikely that the merchants of Tarshish may havebeen associated with the trans-Atlantic migration of the Celts who came toAmerica. Indeed James Whittall,with whom I have discussed the decipherment of Tartessian inscriptions here inAmerica, thinks that the American Celts were deliberately brought here byPhoenicians, who wanted mining communities to exploit American naturalresources, and with whom they could then trade. If this hypothesis is correct, then Tartessian vessels wouldsurely have played a major role in the Celtic migration to New England.[17]
There does appearto be a significant basis to support the notion that the merchants of Tarshishare connected with the seafaring Phoenicians of 3,000 years ago. These merchants naturally establishedtrading posts scattered along their various routes. Dr. Stuart McBirnie may well be right when he concludes:
Only in the past half-dozenyears has much light been thrown on the historic location of ancientTarshish. Books and articles inlearned archaeological journals written before that time now seem to haverather limited value. In someinstances, they are more confusing than helpful, despite the prestige of theirauthors. The reasons for certaintyof identification are found in recent archaeological discoveries which confirmthat ancient authorities were right all along in their identification ofTarshish as a Western European colonizing power based in Spain.[18]
Thus,the merchants of Tarshish appear to refer to the Phoenician maritime andtrading community located in Spain during the general time of King Solomon,3,000 years ago. The merchants ofTarshish, during the last 500 years, developed into the modern mercantilenations of Western Europe like Spain, Holland, and Britain. Hitchcock concludes: "Tarshish, ormodern Spain, could be used by Ezekiel to represent all of the western nationswhich Saudi Arabia will join with in denouncing this invasion. . . . It is highly probable that Ezekiel usedthe far western colony of Tarshish to represent the end-time empire of theAntichrist."[19] Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] S. Fisch, Ezekiel: Hebrew Text & Englishtranslation with an Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), p. 25.
[2] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 25.
[3] From a search conducted by the computer program Accordance, version 7.4.2.
[4] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[5] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[6] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 25.
[7] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 25.
[8] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 166.
[9] Midrash Tanchuma, Qedoshim.
[10] Mark Hitchcock, After The Empire: Bible Prophecy in Light of the Fall ofthe Soviet Union (Wheaton, IL:Tyndale House Publishers 1994), p. 100.
[11] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah:A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 111.
[12] Randall Price, "Ezekiel" in Tim LaHaye & EdHindson, editors, The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2007), p.191.
[13] Hitchcock, After the Empire, pp. 100–101.
[14]See Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs,eds., The New Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew—Lexicon of the Old Testament, (New York: Oxford University Press, rev. ed,1977) p. 1076-77;Wilhelm Gesenius, Gesenius' Hebrew & Chaldee Lexicon (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949), p. 875.
[15] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[16]R. Laird Harris, Gleason J. Archer, Jr., Bruce K.Waltke, eds., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2 Vols., (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), II:981.
[17]Barry Fell, America B. C., (New York: Pocket Books, 1976, [1989]), pp. 93-94.
[18]W. S. McBirnie, Antichrist (Dallas: Acclaimed Books, 1978), p. 62.
[19] Hitchcock, After the Empire, p. 101.
"'to capture spoil and to seizeplunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited,and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquiredcattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.' Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants ofTarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, 'Have you come to capturespoil? Have you assembled yourcompany to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattleand goods, to capture great spoil?'"'
—Ezekiel38:12–13
TwiceIsrael and Jerusalem are said in Ezekiel to dwell at the center of theearth. "Thus says the Lord God, 'This is Jerusalem; I have set herat the center of the nations, with lands around her'" (Ezek. 5:5). Rabbi Fisch says, "Following Ezekiel,Dante places Jerusalem at the centre of the world, with the Ganges as theextreme east and the pillars of Hercules as the extreme west."[1] Israel and its chief city Jerusalem wascreated by God and placed in the center of the earth so that she could be alight to the nations as the Lord desired to use her to spread His messageacross the globe. Rabbi Fischnotes, "Jerusalem intended to be the radiating centre of the knowledge of Godfor all peoples."[2] It is within such a context thatEzekiel 38:12 notes that the nation of Israel is "at the center of the world."
Israel: Center of the World
TheHebrew word translated "world" in the New American Standard translation that Iuse is really the Hebrew term for "earth." Ha'aretz is used over 2,500 times in theHebrew Old Testament[3]and is used in five basic ways: 1) ground, earth; 2) a specific piece ofground; 3) a territory or country; 4) the whole of the land, the earth; 5)depths of the earth or the underworld.[4] In this context it clearly is areference to the entire earth. Itis important to note that "earth" instead of "world" is used in the original,since world could denote the people and not the land. The emphasis here is upon being in the center of the earth'sland—the geographical naval. The Hebrew word for "center" is literally "the naval,"[5]"as the naval is in the centre of the body."[6]
Whyis Israel's location mentioned at this point in the passage? I agree with Rabbi Fisch's opinion:"This is mentioned to stress the viciousness of Gog's plan. He dwelt in the far north, a greatdistance from the Land of Israel; so the people of the latter could have handno aggressive designs upon him."[7] C. F. Keil echoes Rabbi Fisch's viewand describes it as one of their two motives for invasion in the following:
This figurative expressionis to be explained from ch. v. 5; "Jerusalem in the midst of the nations." The navel is not a figure denoting thehigh land, but signifies the land situated in the middle of the earth, andtherefore the land most glorious and most richly blessed; so that they whodwell there occupy the most exalted position among the nations. A covetous desire for the possessionsof the people of god, and envy at his exalted position in the centre of theworld, are therefore the motives by which Gog is impelled to enter upon hispredatory expedition against the people living in the depth of peace.[8]
Belief in Israel's special status andglobal location explains the famous rabbinical statement derived from these twopassages in Ezekiel:
As the navel is set in the centre ofthe human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world . . . situatedin the centre of the world, and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel,and the sanctuary in the centre of Jerusalem, and the holy place in the centreof the sanctuary, and the ark in the centre of the holy place, and thefoundation stone before the holy place, because from it the world was founded.[9]
Manycommentators on this passage only stress the economic gain as the single motivefor Gog's invasion from the human perspective. However, this final phrase in verse 12 makes it clear thatthey also invade out of envy of Israel's special status with God and herresulting geographic location.
Sheba and Dedan
Whoare Sheba and Dedan? "Sheba andDedan are not difficult to identify. They are located in the modern country of Saudi Arabia."[10] "Sheba and Dedan are countiesin northern Arabia," notes Arnold Fruchtenbaum.[11] As indicated in the context, they wereknown for their commercial trading, thus, their interest in the Gog invasion ofnearby Israel in order to take spoil. Randall Price locates Sheba as modern Yemen in the southern part of theArabian peninsula and Dedan as Saudi Arabia.[12] Regardless of their precise location onthe Arabian peninsula, there appears to be no doubt that it is a reference toSaudi Arabia and perhaps some of the other Arab nations currently occupyingthat peninsula.
Tarshish
Sheba and Dedanare said to be in alignment with "the merchants of Tarshish, with all itsvillages." What does the phrase "the merchants of Tarshish" mean? Like those in Sheba and Dedan, they aresaid to be merchants or traders. But where is Tarshish located?
Tarshish appearsto be a wealthy trading community on the extremity of the Mediterraneanworld. "Tarshish is ancientTartessus in the present-day nation of Spain."[13] This view is supported by standard Hebrew language reference books.[14] For example, Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner in their HebrewLexicon say, "these point to Spain with its richmineral resources. [Tarshish]could be a town the territory of which is in the region of the mouth of theGuadalquivir. With some variationthis is probably the most widely accepted view today"[15] "We read often in the OT of'ships of Tarshish' which were large, oceangoing vessels (Ezk 27:25) thatcarried all sorts of precious cargo, especially metals such as silver and gold(I Kgs 10:22; 22:48; II Chr 9:21; Isa 60:9; Jer 10:9; Ezk 38:13) as well asiron, tin, and lead (Ezk 27:12)."[16]
HarvardProfessor, Barry Fell, has done extensive study on these matters and theirrelation to activities in pre-Columbus America. Dr. Barry Fell says:
From the Bible we learn that the shipsof Tarshish were the largest seagoing vessels known to the Semitic world, andthe name was eventually applied to any large ocean-going vessel. . . . theships of Tarshish became proverbial as an expression of sea power. . . .
it is not unlikely that the merchants of Tarshish may havebeen associated with the trans-Atlantic migration of the Celts who came toAmerica. Indeed James Whittall,with whom I have discussed the decipherment of Tartessian inscriptions here inAmerica, thinks that the American Celts were deliberately brought here byPhoenicians, who wanted mining communities to exploit American naturalresources, and with whom they could then trade. If this hypothesis is correct, then Tartessian vessels wouldsurely have played a major role in the Celtic migration to New England.[17]
There does appearto be a significant basis to support the notion that the merchants of Tarshishare connected with the seafaring Phoenicians of 3,000 years ago. These merchants naturally establishedtrading posts scattered along their various routes. Dr. Stuart McBirnie may well be right when he concludes:
Only in the past half-dozenyears has much light been thrown on the historic location of ancientTarshish. Books and articles inlearned archaeological journals written before that time now seem to haverather limited value. In someinstances, they are more confusing than helpful, despite the prestige of theirauthors. The reasons for certaintyof identification are found in recent archaeological discoveries which confirmthat ancient authorities were right all along in their identification ofTarshish as a Western European colonizing power based in Spain.[18]
Thus,the merchants of Tarshish appear to refer to the Phoenician maritime andtrading community located in Spain during the general time of King Solomon,3,000 years ago. The merchants ofTarshish, during the last 500 years, developed into the modern mercantilenations of Western Europe like Spain, Holland, and Britain. Hitchcock concludes: "Tarshish, ormodern Spain, could be used by Ezekiel to represent all of the western nationswhich Saudi Arabia will join with in denouncing this invasion. . . . It is highly probable that Ezekiel usedthe far western colony of Tarshish to represent the end-time empire of theAntichrist."[19] Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] S. Fisch, Ezekiel: Hebrew Text & Englishtranslation with an Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), p. 25.
[2] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 25.
[3] From a search conducted by the computer program Accordance, version 7.4.2.
[4] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[5] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[6] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 25.
[7] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 25.
[8] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 166.
[9] Midrash Tanchuma, Qedoshim.
[10] Mark Hitchcock, After The Empire: Bible Prophecy in Light of the Fall ofthe Soviet Union (Wheaton, IL:Tyndale House Publishers 1994), p. 100.
[11] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah:A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 111.
[12] Randall Price, "Ezekiel" in Tim LaHaye & EdHindson, editors, The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2007), p.191.
[13] Hitchcock, After the Empire, pp. 100–101.
[14]See Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs,eds., The New Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew—Lexicon of the Old Testament, (New York: Oxford University Press, rev. ed,1977) p. 1076-77;Wilhelm Gesenius, Gesenius' Hebrew & Chaldee Lexicon (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949), p. 875.
[15] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[16]R. Laird Harris, Gleason J. Archer, Jr., Bruce K.Waltke, eds., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2 Vols., (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), II:981.
[17]Barry Fell, America B. C., (New York: Pocket Books, 1976, [1989]), pp. 93-94.
[18]W. S. McBirnie, Antichrist (Dallas: Acclaimed Books, 1978), p. 62.
[19] Hitchcock, After the Empire, p. 101.
Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Part 14)
Dr. Thomas Ice
Thus saysthe Lord God, "It will come abouton that day, that thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise anevil plan, and you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalledvillages. I will go against thosewho are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls, andhaving no bars or gates, to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn yourhand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the peoplewho are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who liveat the center of the world.'"
—Ezekiel38:10–12
Verses10 through 13 records the intentions of the invaders. It is no problem for the God of the Bible to know thethoughts and intentions of one's mind and heart (Heb. 4:12–13) and thusreveal to us what one's motives are. Even though the Lord "put hooks in their jaws" (38:4) in order to bringthe invaders down, the human thought process isrevealed in this section.
Bad Intentions
"TheLord God" is a term that denotes "the sovereign Lord of the nations,"[1]which is certainly on display in this passage. "On that day" is a reference to the preceding section whenIsrael is again settled in the land and the time when the invasion will take place. It is on that day that "thoughts willcome into your mind." The Hebrewword translated "thoughts" is a common noun dabar, which is usually translated "word," "speech" or "thing"[2]depending on the context. In thiscontext, the best rendering is "not words, but things which come into hismind. What things these are, welearn from verses 11 and 12."[3] The Hebrew language does not have aword for "mind," even though it is used in the New American Standardtranslation from which I have quoted throughout this series. That is surely the sense of the word,but it is translated "mind" and is the Hebrew labeb that has the basic meaning of "inner man" or"heart."[4] Thus, inner activity like thinking wasassigned to the "heart." In thiscontext, the passage speaks of the things that will take place in the innerman, which would be "thoughts."
Verse10 concludes with the line, "you will devise an evil plan." This phrase is made up of three Hebrewwords. "You will devise" is theHebrew verb hasabat, which has the ideaof "to weave," and in relation to the heart or mind it would convey the idea ofweaving, scheming or devising a plan.[5] The noun is from the same exact root asthe verb. Thus, a literaltranslation would convey the idea of thinking thoughts. But since the third word is anadjective meaning "evil,"[6]it is clear that the sense of this passage refers to an evil plan against God'schosen people, Israel. Therefore,this verse appears to be telling us that even though the general idea to attackIsrael is the result of God's sovereign plan (38:4), the details are conceivedand developed within the mind of Rosh and his band will invaders. Because it is characterized as amanmade scheme or plan, Rosh and his fellow attackers are held responsible.
The Plan Revealed
Theevil scheme is disclosed in verse eleven. The evil thoughts are those of Rosh and say, "I will go up against theland of unwalled villages." Verse11 describes Rosh's perception of a regathered Israel at this time inhistory. There is no reason tothink that Rosh's description is inaccurate. The verb "go up" is a very common Hebrew expression thatmeans "to ascend, go up." It iscommonly used of anyone going to the land of Israel or Jerusalem from outsidethe country. There is no militaryovertone in this verb.[7] The land of Israel is described in thispassage in the following four ways: 1) the land ofunwalled villages; 2) those who are at rest; 3) that live securely; and 4) allof them living without walls, and having no bars or gates.
The first characterizationof Israel as a land of unwalled villages means that they will not build wallsaround their villages for protection as in ancient times. Randall Price notes: "only the Old Cityof Jerusalem has a wall and the modern city since the late 1800's has existedoutside these walls."[8] This probably means that the nationwill lack protection from invasion since that was the purpose of building wallsin ancient times. Rabbi Fischsays, "Israel will have made no preparations against attack by building wallsaround his cities."[9]
Thesecond phrase tells of a people who are at rest. The Hebrew participle saqat describes a people who are "quiet, undisturbed, and at rest."[10] This verb is used frequently in Joshuaand Judges to note the quiet or rest that resulted from Israel's militaryvictories over the Canaanites as they conquered the Land under Joshua.[11] This term refers to quiet or rest frommilitary conflict. The third term is betah and was used in verse 8. We saw that it refers to Israel living in security, whichmeans confidence.[12]
The fourth characterizationis all of them living without walls, and having nobars or gates. We have seenearlier that living without walls would literally mean that none of theircities or towns will have walls that the ancients had in order to hold off aninvading army. This picture isreinforced by the note that they will not have bars or gates, presumably inwalls that they do not have. Barsand gates were important points of defense in ancient city walls.
What does thismean in relation to the invasion? First, this passage is the perspective of Gog, who thinks that Israel isnot properly defended and thus vulnerable to a surprise attack. Second, Price points out that, "Israel'ssecurity is based on the strength of its military, which is acknowledged as oneof the best in the world and which has defended the country againstoverwhelming odds in numerous past invasions."[13] Third, these conditions were never trueat any time in Israel's past, thus it must refer to a future time as alreadynoted by the phrases "after many days" and "in the latter years" (38:8). Keil says, "This description ofIsrael's mode of life also points beyond the times succeeding the Babyloniancaptivity."[14]
Follow The Money
Two reasons arerevealed by God in verse 12 as Gog's motive for the future invasion ofIsrael. These reasons areindicated by a pair of infinitival phrases and are first, "to capture spoil"and second, "to seize plunder." Inboth instances the Hebrew text uses the same word twice, a verb as aninfinitive followed by the noun in construct to the verb to describe Gog'smotive for the invasion.
The first phrase,"to capture spoil," comes from the Hebrew root word shalal and means "to congregate, assemble together in order torob."[15] Thus, since both the verb and the nounare from the same Hebrew root, it would mean something like "to spoilspoil." However, that is not goodEnglish. The Hebrew idem is betterrendered "to capture spoil," even though the fact that both words are from thesame root is lost in translation.
The second idem,"to size plunder" comes from the Hebrew root baz and means "to plunder, spoil, take booty, rob."[16] Thus, it would have the sense in Hebrewof "spoiling spoil." This word carrieswith it the idea of dividing up the spoil or bounty captured in a raid ormilitary conquest. Thus, the clearmotive for invasion is to gain material wealth. Charles Feinberg notes, "The enemy, greedy of Israel'swealth, will embark on a campaign of conquest for gain."[17]
The rest of verse12 reinforces the two opening declarations concerning Gog's motive forinvasion. A third infinitivedeclares that Gog desires "to turn your hand against the waste places which arenow inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, whohave acquired cattle and goods." The notion of "turning one's hand against" pictures one doing a 180degree turn around from the direction they were headed in order to attackanother. This is described inverse 10 as Gog devising an evil plan, but must be seen as the human means toan overall process originally initiated by God Himself (38:2–4). To make matters worse concerning Gog'sevil thoughts is the picture painted by the last part of verse 12, which speaksof Israel returning to her land which had become a waste place in her absence,then turning it into a wealth producing land, that Gog and his attackers nowwant to invade in order to take this wealth for themselves. Israel has survived over 2,000 years ofdispersion among the nations and God brings them back to her land in which theybecome highly productive and wealthy, only to have Gog and his allies attackthem to take away her newly gained wealth. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Commentary on TheOld Testament (Chattanooga, TN:AMG Publishers, [1981] 2002), p. 1578.
[2] Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrewand English Lexicon of the Old Testament (London: Oxford, 1907), electronic edition.
[3] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 164.
[4] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition.
[5] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[6] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition.
[7] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[8] Randall Price, Unpublished Notes on TheProphecies of Ezekiel, (2007), p.40.
[9] S. Fisch, Ezekiel: Hebrew Text & Englishtranslation with an Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), p. 255.
[10] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition.
[11] See Joshua 11:23; 14:15; Judges 3:11, 30; 5:31;8:28.
[12] See Thomas Ice, "Ezekiel 38 and 39, Part XIII," Pre-TribPerspectives (Feb. 2008), pp.6–7.
[13] Price, Ezekiel, pp. 40–41.
[14] Keil, Ezekiel, p. 165.
[15] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[16] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition.
[17] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 222.
Thus saysthe Lord God, "It will come abouton that day, that thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise anevil plan, and you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalledvillages. I will go against thosewho are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls, andhaving no bars or gates, to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn yourhand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the peoplewho are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who liveat the center of the world.'"
—Ezekiel38:10–12
Verses10 through 13 records the intentions of the invaders. It is no problem for the God of the Bible to know thethoughts and intentions of one's mind and heart (Heb. 4:12–13) and thusreveal to us what one's motives are. Even though the Lord "put hooks in their jaws" (38:4) in order to bringthe invaders down, the human thought process isrevealed in this section.
Bad Intentions
"TheLord God" is a term that denotes "the sovereign Lord of the nations,"[1]which is certainly on display in this passage. "On that day" is a reference to the preceding section whenIsrael is again settled in the land and the time when the invasion will take place. It is on that day that "thoughts willcome into your mind." The Hebrewword translated "thoughts" is a common noun dabar, which is usually translated "word," "speech" or "thing"[2]depending on the context. In thiscontext, the best rendering is "not words, but things which come into hismind. What things these are, welearn from verses 11 and 12."[3] The Hebrew language does not have aword for "mind," even though it is used in the New American Standardtranslation from which I have quoted throughout this series. That is surely the sense of the word,but it is translated "mind" and is the Hebrew labeb that has the basic meaning of "inner man" or"heart."[4] Thus, inner activity like thinking wasassigned to the "heart." In thiscontext, the passage speaks of the things that will take place in the innerman, which would be "thoughts."
Verse10 concludes with the line, "you will devise an evil plan." This phrase is made up of three Hebrewwords. "You will devise" is theHebrew verb hasabat, which has the ideaof "to weave," and in relation to the heart or mind it would convey the idea ofweaving, scheming or devising a plan.[5] The noun is from the same exact root asthe verb. Thus, a literaltranslation would convey the idea of thinking thoughts. But since the third word is anadjective meaning "evil,"[6]it is clear that the sense of this passage refers to an evil plan against God'schosen people, Israel. Therefore,this verse appears to be telling us that even though the general idea to attackIsrael is the result of God's sovereign plan (38:4), the details are conceivedand developed within the mind of Rosh and his band will invaders. Because it is characterized as amanmade scheme or plan, Rosh and his fellow attackers are held responsible.
The Plan Revealed
Theevil scheme is disclosed in verse eleven. The evil thoughts are those of Rosh and say, "I will go up against theland of unwalled villages." Verse11 describes Rosh's perception of a regathered Israel at this time inhistory. There is no reason tothink that Rosh's description is inaccurate. The verb "go up" is a very common Hebrew expression thatmeans "to ascend, go up." It iscommonly used of anyone going to the land of Israel or Jerusalem from outsidethe country. There is no militaryovertone in this verb.[7] The land of Israel is described in thispassage in the following four ways: 1) the land ofunwalled villages; 2) those who are at rest; 3) that live securely; and 4) allof them living without walls, and having no bars or gates.
The first characterizationof Israel as a land of unwalled villages means that they will not build wallsaround their villages for protection as in ancient times. Randall Price notes: "only the Old Cityof Jerusalem has a wall and the modern city since the late 1800's has existedoutside these walls."[8] This probably means that the nationwill lack protection from invasion since that was the purpose of building wallsin ancient times. Rabbi Fischsays, "Israel will have made no preparations against attack by building wallsaround his cities."[9]
Thesecond phrase tells of a people who are at rest. The Hebrew participle saqat describes a people who are "quiet, undisturbed, and at rest."[10] This verb is used frequently in Joshuaand Judges to note the quiet or rest that resulted from Israel's militaryvictories over the Canaanites as they conquered the Land under Joshua.[11] This term refers to quiet or rest frommilitary conflict. The third term is betah and was used in verse 8. We saw that it refers to Israel living in security, whichmeans confidence.[12]
The fourth characterizationis all of them living without walls, and having nobars or gates. We have seenearlier that living without walls would literally mean that none of theircities or towns will have walls that the ancients had in order to hold off aninvading army. This picture isreinforced by the note that they will not have bars or gates, presumably inwalls that they do not have. Barsand gates were important points of defense in ancient city walls.
What does thismean in relation to the invasion? First, this passage is the perspective of Gog, who thinks that Israel isnot properly defended and thus vulnerable to a surprise attack. Second, Price points out that, "Israel'ssecurity is based on the strength of its military, which is acknowledged as oneof the best in the world and which has defended the country againstoverwhelming odds in numerous past invasions."[13] Third, these conditions were never trueat any time in Israel's past, thus it must refer to a future time as alreadynoted by the phrases "after many days" and "in the latter years" (38:8). Keil says, "This description ofIsrael's mode of life also points beyond the times succeeding the Babyloniancaptivity."[14]
Follow The Money
Two reasons arerevealed by God in verse 12 as Gog's motive for the future invasion ofIsrael. These reasons areindicated by a pair of infinitival phrases and are first, "to capture spoil"and second, "to seize plunder." Inboth instances the Hebrew text uses the same word twice, a verb as aninfinitive followed by the noun in construct to the verb to describe Gog'smotive for the invasion.
The first phrase,"to capture spoil," comes from the Hebrew root word shalal and means "to congregate, assemble together in order torob."[15] Thus, since both the verb and the nounare from the same Hebrew root, it would mean something like "to spoilspoil." However, that is not goodEnglish. The Hebrew idem is betterrendered "to capture spoil," even though the fact that both words are from thesame root is lost in translation.
The second idem,"to size plunder" comes from the Hebrew root baz and means "to plunder, spoil, take booty, rob."[16] Thus, it would have the sense in Hebrewof "spoiling spoil." This word carrieswith it the idea of dividing up the spoil or bounty captured in a raid ormilitary conquest. Thus, the clearmotive for invasion is to gain material wealth. Charles Feinberg notes, "The enemy, greedy of Israel'swealth, will embark on a campaign of conquest for gain."[17]
The rest of verse12 reinforces the two opening declarations concerning Gog's motive forinvasion. A third infinitivedeclares that Gog desires "to turn your hand against the waste places which arenow inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, whohave acquired cattle and goods." The notion of "turning one's hand against" pictures one doing a 180degree turn around from the direction they were headed in order to attackanother. This is described inverse 10 as Gog devising an evil plan, but must be seen as the human means toan overall process originally initiated by God Himself (38:2–4). To make matters worse concerning Gog'sevil thoughts is the picture painted by the last part of verse 12, which speaksof Israel returning to her land which had become a waste place in her absence,then turning it into a wealth producing land, that Gog and his attackers nowwant to invade in order to take this wealth for themselves. Israel has survived over 2,000 years ofdispersion among the nations and God brings them back to her land in which theybecome highly productive and wealthy, only to have Gog and his allies attackthem to take away her newly gained wealth. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Commentary on TheOld Testament (Chattanooga, TN:AMG Publishers, [1981] 2002), p. 1578.
[2] Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrewand English Lexicon of the Old Testament (London: Oxford, 1907), electronic edition.
[3] C. F. Keil, Ezekiel, Daniel, Commentary on theOld Testament, trans. JamesMartin (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 164.
[4] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition.
[5] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[6] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition.
[7] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[8] Randall Price, Unpublished Notes on TheProphecies of Ezekiel, (2007), p.40.
[9] S. Fisch, Ezekiel: Hebrew Text & Englishtranslation with an Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), p. 255.
[10] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition.
[11] See Joshua 11:23; 14:15; Judges 3:11, 30; 5:31;8:28.
[12] See Thomas Ice, "Ezekiel 38 and 39, Part XIII," Pre-TribPerspectives (Feb. 2008), pp.6–7.
[13] Price, Ezekiel, pp. 40–41.
[14] Keil, Ezekiel, p. 165.
[15] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[16] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition.
[17] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 222.
Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Part 13)
Dr. Thomas Ice
Aftermany days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the landthat is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from manynations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but itspeople were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all ofthem. And you will go up, you willcome like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all yourtroops, and many peoples with you.
—Ezekiel38:8–9
Thefinal two of seven descriptive phrases in verse 8 will now be examined. These phrases provide a framework fordetermining when this invasion will take place.
Gathered From The Nations
Thesixth descriptive phrase of verse 8 says, "but its people were brought out fromthe nations." The disjunctive waw at the beginning of this construction indicates thatthis phrase stands in contrast and is related to the previous phrase: "whoseinhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israelwhich had been a continual waste." The subject "it" "is feminine in the Hebrew, can only refer to theland."[1] The sense is as follows: the land ofIsrael's people (i.e., the Jews). Such a sense provides a strong polemic that the people God believesbelong in the land of Israel are the Jews.
TheHebrew verb yasah is used over athousand times in the Old Testament and means to "come out" or "go forth."[2] However, in this instance it is in thehophal stem, which gives it a causative passive sense and means that the Jewishpeople "were brought out" from the nations by someone other thanthemselves. Who would that"someone" reference? The implicationcan only refer to God as the One who will cause the Jews to be brought back tothe land of Israel. The verb"brought out" in this instance serves to support the overall notion of God'ssovereign control over all nations—Israel and the Gentiles. The Gentiles were noted at thebeginning of verse 8 as they are "summoned" to invade Israel. Israel is emphasized in this phrasesince it is God who is in reality bringing them back to their Promised Land.
Thereare only three Hebrew words in this phrase and it literally says, "but it isbrought forth out of the peoples."[3] Reading this in context, as shouldalways be done with any passage, the "it" refers to the last half of thepreceding phrase "the mountains of Israel which had been a continualwaste." Thus, how can the land ofIsrael be brought back from the peoples or nations? This can only occur if the people are brought back to theland, which explains why most translators add "people" in an effort to clarifythe sense of the Hebrew.
Living Securely
The finalconstruct says, "and they are living securely, all of them." This phrase is also composed of threeHebrew words and completes this long sentence. The verb jasab isused over a thousand times in the Old Testament and has the general meaning of"sit, remain, or dwell."[4] Therefore, it is translated "living" inmany English translations since that is the nuance of what one does when theystay for a period of time on a certain piece of land, as opposed to one who isjust visiting.
The next Hebrewword is the noun betah that istranslated "securely." There hasbeen a lot of discussion about just what this word means in this context. The Hebrew lexicons tell us that thegeneral meaning is "security" or "confidence" and is similar to our Englishword "trust" in range of meaning.[5] It is often used in construct form withthe verb "to dwell," as is the case here and occurs 160 times in the HebrewBible.[6] It is used in Leviticus and Deuteronomyas a promise from the Lord that He will cause the nation to dwell securely inthe Land if they obey his law (Lev. 25:18, 19; 26:5; Deut. 12:10). This term is used throughout thehistorical and prophetic Old Testament books as a comment whether or not Israelis dwelling securely in the land. In fact, this phrase is used in Jeremiah 49:31 in a similar invasioncontext as we see in Ezekiel 38. It says: "'Arise, go up against a nation which is at ease, which livessecurely,' declares the Lord. 'It has no gates or bars; they dwellalone.'" This is how it is used inEzekiel 38:8. "However, quiteoften this general meaning has a negative ring . . . to indicate a falsesecurity."[7] The context supports the false securityconnotation in this instance, because of the impending invasion. On the other hand, since Godmiraculously delivers the nation, maybe it is not misplaced after all.
Somehave tried to equate the notion of "living securely" with the "livingpeacefully." It is said that whatis described in this passage is a situation where Israel is at peace with alltheir neighbors and no one is a treat to them. This is not supported by the word betah or the context. "Nowhere in the entire text does it speak of Israel asliving in peace. Rather, Israel ismerely living in security, which means 'confidence,' regardless of whether itis during a state of war or peace," notes Arnold Fruchtenbaum. "There is nothing in the variousdescriptions of Israel given in this passage that is not true of Israel today."[8]
Thefinal Hebrew word is translated by the English phrase "all of them." To whom does this refer? It can only refer to all of thoseliving securely in the land of Israel. All of those who have returned to the mountains of Israel are dwellingin security. Charles Feinbergconcludes, "Finally, they were viewed as living securely, all of them, withoutfear of invasion or deportation."[9] This sets the stage for the comments inthe next verse where God again addresses God and his invading force.
Gog Goes Up
We see that theaction of verse 9 will take place when the conditions of verse 8 are all inplace. "Just when least expectedand without the slightest warning, the enemy will swoop down on the returnedexiles, as an unheralded storm."[10] The Hebrew verb "go up" is very commonand becomes idiomatic when used in a military context where one goes up tobattle or in reference to the land of Israel, one goes up, regardless of thedirection of one's movement.
A Cloudy Storm
A couple ofsimiles are used to describe how Gog's invasion will take place. The first one "will come like astorm." One Hebrew lexicon saidthat the use of "storm" in this passage "really means 'a storm that breaks outviolently and suddenly.'"[11] Thus, the Gog invasion of Israel willbe suddenly and unexpected like a thunderstorm that gathers quickly and thenunleashes its fury with an outburst that catches many unprepared.
The second similedescribes the extent and vastness of the size of the invading army. The Hebrew verb kassot is only used eleven times in the Hebrew Bible and has theconnotation of not just "to cover," but to cover some thing for the purpose ofconcealing it.[12] So we see that the Gog invading forceswill be so massive in number that their troops will cover the land socompletely that one will not be able to see the land upon which they move.
The final phraseof the verse says, "you and all your troops, and many peoples with you." "You" is a reference to Goghimself. Gog will be coming withall of his troops as described earlier in the chapter. Gog will not be alone, he will with himthe many different people groups as mentioned above as their alliance invadesGod's land of Israel. Rabbi Fischnotes that the same description is used in Jeremiah 4:13, which says, "Behold,he goes up like clouds, and his chariots like the whirlwind; His horses areswifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!" Fisch concludes that the Ezekiel passage is "a figure forthe strength and terrifying appearance of Gog's approaching armies."[13] "The land will be covered and smotheredby the vast multitude of Gog's followers, just as a cloud blankets a land belowit," says Feinberg. "Gog will seeto it that he has plenty of allies and enough mercenaries to carry through hissatanic scheme."[14] Israel may be caught off guard but notthe Lord God of Israel Who never sleeps nor slumbers. He is standing guard and will fight for Israel when thisgreat northern invasion suddenly breaks forth in history. After all, the Lord God of Israel isthe one who initiates these yet future events. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] (italics original) Rabbi Dr. S. Fisch, Ezekiel:Hebrew Text & English Translation With An Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), pp.254–55.
[2] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[3] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 254.
[4] Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrewand English Lexicon of the Old Testament (London: Oxford, 1907), electronic edition.
[5] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition; and Koehler and Baumgartner,Hebrew Lexicon, electronicversion.
[6] From a search conducted by the computer program Accordance, version 7.4.2.
[7] G. Johannes Botterweck, & Helmer Ringgren,editors, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), p. 89.
[8] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah:A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 117.
[9] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 222.
[10] Feinberg, Ezekiel, p. 222.
[11] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[12] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition; and Koehler and Baumgartner,Hebrew Lexicon, electronicversion.
[13] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 255.
[14] Feinberg, Ezekiel, p. 222.
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Aftermany days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the landthat is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from manynations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but itspeople were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all ofthem. And you will go up, you willcome like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all yourtroops, and many peoples with you.
—Ezekiel38:8–9
Thefinal two of seven descriptive phrases in verse 8 will now be examined. These phrases provide a framework fordetermining when this invasion will take place.
Gathered From The Nations
Thesixth descriptive phrase of verse 8 says, "but its people were brought out fromthe nations." The disjunctive waw at the beginning of this construction indicates thatthis phrase stands in contrast and is related to the previous phrase: "whoseinhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israelwhich had been a continual waste." The subject "it" "is feminine in the Hebrew, can only refer to theland."[1] The sense is as follows: the land ofIsrael's people (i.e., the Jews). Such a sense provides a strong polemic that the people God believesbelong in the land of Israel are the Jews.
TheHebrew verb yasah is used over athousand times in the Old Testament and means to "come out" or "go forth."[2] However, in this instance it is in thehophal stem, which gives it a causative passive sense and means that the Jewishpeople "were brought out" from the nations by someone other thanthemselves. Who would that"someone" reference? The implicationcan only refer to God as the One who will cause the Jews to be brought back tothe land of Israel. The verb"brought out" in this instance serves to support the overall notion of God'ssovereign control over all nations—Israel and the Gentiles. The Gentiles were noted at thebeginning of verse 8 as they are "summoned" to invade Israel. Israel is emphasized in this phrasesince it is God who is in reality bringing them back to their Promised Land.
Thereare only three Hebrew words in this phrase and it literally says, "but it isbrought forth out of the peoples."[3] Reading this in context, as shouldalways be done with any passage, the "it" refers to the last half of thepreceding phrase "the mountains of Israel which had been a continualwaste." Thus, how can the land ofIsrael be brought back from the peoples or nations? This can only occur if the people are brought back to theland, which explains why most translators add "people" in an effort to clarifythe sense of the Hebrew.
Living Securely
The finalconstruct says, "and they are living securely, all of them." This phrase is also composed of threeHebrew words and completes this long sentence. The verb jasab isused over a thousand times in the Old Testament and has the general meaning of"sit, remain, or dwell."[4] Therefore, it is translated "living" inmany English translations since that is the nuance of what one does when theystay for a period of time on a certain piece of land, as opposed to one who isjust visiting.
The next Hebrewword is the noun betah that istranslated "securely." There hasbeen a lot of discussion about just what this word means in this context. The Hebrew lexicons tell us that thegeneral meaning is "security" or "confidence" and is similar to our Englishword "trust" in range of meaning.[5] It is often used in construct form withthe verb "to dwell," as is the case here and occurs 160 times in the HebrewBible.[6] It is used in Leviticus and Deuteronomyas a promise from the Lord that He will cause the nation to dwell securely inthe Land if they obey his law (Lev. 25:18, 19; 26:5; Deut. 12:10). This term is used throughout thehistorical and prophetic Old Testament books as a comment whether or not Israelis dwelling securely in the land. In fact, this phrase is used in Jeremiah 49:31 in a similar invasioncontext as we see in Ezekiel 38. It says: "'Arise, go up against a nation which is at ease, which livessecurely,' declares the Lord. 'It has no gates or bars; they dwellalone.'" This is how it is used inEzekiel 38:8. "However, quiteoften this general meaning has a negative ring . . . to indicate a falsesecurity."[7] The context supports the false securityconnotation in this instance, because of the impending invasion. On the other hand, since Godmiraculously delivers the nation, maybe it is not misplaced after all.
Somehave tried to equate the notion of "living securely" with the "livingpeacefully." It is said that whatis described in this passage is a situation where Israel is at peace with alltheir neighbors and no one is a treat to them. This is not supported by the word betah or the context. "Nowhere in the entire text does it speak of Israel asliving in peace. Rather, Israel ismerely living in security, which means 'confidence,' regardless of whether itis during a state of war or peace," notes Arnold Fruchtenbaum. "There is nothing in the variousdescriptions of Israel given in this passage that is not true of Israel today."[8]
Thefinal Hebrew word is translated by the English phrase "all of them." To whom does this refer? It can only refer to all of thoseliving securely in the land of Israel. All of those who have returned to the mountains of Israel are dwellingin security. Charles Feinbergconcludes, "Finally, they were viewed as living securely, all of them, withoutfear of invasion or deportation."[9] This sets the stage for the comments inthe next verse where God again addresses God and his invading force.
Gog Goes Up
We see that theaction of verse 9 will take place when the conditions of verse 8 are all inplace. "Just when least expectedand without the slightest warning, the enemy will swoop down on the returnedexiles, as an unheralded storm."[10] The Hebrew verb "go up" is very commonand becomes idiomatic when used in a military context where one goes up tobattle or in reference to the land of Israel, one goes up, regardless of thedirection of one's movement.
A Cloudy Storm
A couple ofsimiles are used to describe how Gog's invasion will take place. The first one "will come like astorm." One Hebrew lexicon saidthat the use of "storm" in this passage "really means 'a storm that breaks outviolently and suddenly.'"[11] Thus, the Gog invasion of Israel willbe suddenly and unexpected like a thunderstorm that gathers quickly and thenunleashes its fury with an outburst that catches many unprepared.
The second similedescribes the extent and vastness of the size of the invading army. The Hebrew verb kassot is only used eleven times in the Hebrew Bible and has theconnotation of not just "to cover," but to cover some thing for the purpose ofconcealing it.[12] So we see that the Gog invading forceswill be so massive in number that their troops will cover the land socompletely that one will not be able to see the land upon which they move.
The final phraseof the verse says, "you and all your troops, and many peoples with you." "You" is a reference to Goghimself. Gog will be coming withall of his troops as described earlier in the chapter. Gog will not be alone, he will with himthe many different people groups as mentioned above as their alliance invadesGod's land of Israel. Rabbi Fischnotes that the same description is used in Jeremiah 4:13, which says, "Behold,he goes up like clouds, and his chariots like the whirlwind; His horses areswifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!" Fisch concludes that the Ezekiel passage is "a figure forthe strength and terrifying appearance of Gog's approaching armies."[13] "The land will be covered and smotheredby the vast multitude of Gog's followers, just as a cloud blankets a land belowit," says Feinberg. "Gog will seeto it that he has plenty of allies and enough mercenaries to carry through hissatanic scheme."[14] Israel may be caught off guard but notthe Lord God of Israel Who never sleeps nor slumbers. He is standing guard and will fight for Israel when thisgreat northern invasion suddenly breaks forth in history. After all, the Lord God of Israel isthe one who initiates these yet future events. Maranatha!
(ToBe Continued . . .)
ENDNOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] (italics original) Rabbi Dr. S. Fisch, Ezekiel:Hebrew Text & English Translation With An Introduction and Commentary (London: The Soncino Press, 1950), pp.254–55.
[2] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, TheHebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic version (Leiden, The Netherlands:Koninklijke Brill, 2000).
[3] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 254.
[4] Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrewand English Lexicon of the Old Testament (London: Oxford, 1907), electronic edition.
[5] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition; and Koehler and Baumgartner,Hebrew Lexicon, electronicversion.
[6] From a search conducted by the computer program Accordance, version 7.4.2.
[7] G. Johannes Botterweck, & Helmer Ringgren,editors, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), p. 89.
[8] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah:A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, [1982] 2003), p. 117.
[9] Charles Lee Feinberg, The Prophecy of Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 222.
[10] Feinberg, Ezekiel, p. 222.
[11] Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic version.
[12] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, electronic edition; and Koehler and Baumgartner,Hebrew Lexicon, electronicversion.
[13] Fisch, Ezekiel, p. 255.
[14] Feinberg, Ezekiel, p. 222.
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