Ezekial Chapter 39

1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:

God is repeating His disapproval of Gog.

2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:

God gives the plan of defeat to Gog. Five-sixths of his army will be destroyed and he will have to run and hide in the mountains of Israel. We know that Antouchus’ army hid in the mountains.

3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.

Note what weapons Gog’s army is using against Israel- bows and arrows. This scripture must be fulfilled before the invention of guns.

4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

God promised to fight with the wilds against this man.

5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Not only will Gog’s army be destroyed, his homeland will be burned.

7 So will I make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let them pollute My holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

God plans to do this to bring glory to His name among both the Israelites and the heathens.

8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:

The Macabees were the main weapon God used to defeat Antiochus.

Note again what weapons are burned. Not exploding sticks (guns) or any other indication of modern warfare. Israel would burn bows and arrows, shields and bucklers, handstaves and spears.

10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.

History tells us there were so many weapons left behind by the dead and fleeing army of Antiochus that Israel DID burn them for seven years. They didn’t have to cut firewood to heat their homes or cook their foods.

11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.

Hamongog means “the multitude of Gog.”

The valley of the passengers on the east of the sea was a major trade route between Babylon and Egypt. The stench of the dead enemy would be so horrible it would “stop the noses of the passengers” or “everyone that goes on that road will have to hold their noses.”

Generally each army buries its own dead. God wasn’t going to leave enough of Gog’s army alive to bury anyone.

12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.

It did take Israel more than half a year to bury all the dead from Antiochus’ retreat.

13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.

At first everyone would help to bury the dead…

14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.

But soon Israel would hire people to be full time searchers to find the remaining bodies.

15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.

Again, we have record of this happening at the time of the Macabees.

16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.

The city in the valley the enemy would be buried in will be called Hamonah, or “The Multitude.” This would be in remembrance of the multitude buried by the inhabitants of the valley.

17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.

18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.

20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.

God promises the wild animals quite a feast.

21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.

Everyone knew at the mighty defeat of the Macabees that God was God.

23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.

God promises that all the world will know at the fulfillment of this scripture that Israel was carried away captive into Babylon, not because of the weakness of their God, but because of their own sin. Everyone would know that the captivity which had just occurred in Ezekiel’s time was punishment.

24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.

Israel’s punishment was just when compared to their sins.

25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;

God promises that He will defend Israel again.

26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.

27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;

28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.

God brought Israel back into her homeland and took care of her again once she had been punished sufficiently. All descendents of Jacob who wanted to return to the land of Israel were brought home.

29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

The generation that returned to Israel never saw God hide His face form them again. As long as Israel chose to serve God, He protected them.

God’s salvation is always conditional upon the people choosing to serve Him. When we remove ourselves from His protection through disobedience, He again hides His face from us, as He did from Israel when they again backslid.