Ezekiel 38 and 39.

The Prophecy Against Gog, who would torment God’s people after their return from captivity.

This prophecy was given during the Babylonian captivity of the children of Israel.

This is one of the most popular passages in the Holy Bible that the false prophets love to use. This is so because Westerners do not see the fulfillment in the standard Bible they read. It is, however, contained in the Apocrypha book of 1 Maccabees.

The short explanation is that the fulfillment of this prophecy took place 165 BC. The king of the region (today called Syria) was Antiochus and he was known as GOG and his land Magog.

To this day religious Jews have a festive period called “Hanukkah” remembering the liberation and the restoration of the temple.

It is usually towards the last weeks of the months of November/December of the secular calendar and last for a period of eight days.

Judas Maccabee is regarded as one of the greatest warriors in Jewish history alongside Joshua, Gideon and David. Read some interesting facts at Wikipedia. Even George Fridirick Hândel composed some lovely music bearing the name Judas Maccabeus.

The above is really all that is necessary to say about the event prophesied in Ezekiel 38/39. However, many people stubbornly believe that it is something still to come, hence the effort on this site to explain the passage. In short, if anybody tries to convince you that it is an unfulfilled prophecy, ignore the story.

There is, of course, an unfulfilled prophecy for Christians in Revelation 20:7-12. We will look at that separately.

The words that immediately indicate that the prophecy is not regarding present-day Israel are the following: Safe and Peaceful…

The words clearly do NOT describe the present day state called Israel.

It does, however, clearly describe Israel after there return from Babylonia.

Eze 38:8 …against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it (the people) is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall all dwell in safety.

Eze 38:11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of un-walled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates…

Eze 39:26 After they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. .

Remarks re the foregoing:

The area of Palestine that is, today, known as “Israel” has not seen one minute of peace and safety since 1948 and the prospect of peace and safety is becoming more remote as an aggressive Israeli regime is pressing harder than ever to get a war going in the middle east.

The Israeli regime is not peaceful neither helpless. It is a well-known fact that the state of Israel is in possession of a nuclear arsenal that is rated fifth largest in the world.

In addition the USA war department is ready to attack, within seconds, any one who should dare attack Israel. The latter seems to be one of the reasons why the Israeli regime, with impunity, drop bombs on neighboring countries like Syria .

(The Children of) ISRAEL

To Bible believers the following is important: In Gen.12:7 God says to Abraham that his SEED (i.e. his descendants) will inherit the land (Canaan).

God also said to the Israelites (when on their way to the promised land) that if they keep his commandments they would receive his protection and blessing.

Alas, as we all know the children of Israel disobeyed God and was literally deserted by God so that terrible calamities overcame them.

When eventually the Messiah, Jesus Christ, arrived, the Pharisees (religious leaders) and Sadducee (Political elite), did not recognize him because they expected a worrier Messiah that would liberate them from the Romans and make them the rulers of the entire Asia minor. This is, of course, not what God promised the Israelites, but that they will be the light of the world through Christ.

Even atheists who take no notice of God and his commands, will believe that modern day Jews are descendants of Israel (Jacob). This is in fact an error as the overwhelming majority of European Jews are of Khazar descent – i.e. descendants of Japheth, not of Shem.

Read the article about the Khazars in archive at the top right hand side of this page. It is abundantly clear that the modern day Ashkenazi Jews are not seed of Abraham.

Wrong Religion

Already before, but especially during their Babylonian sojourn, some Rabbis misled the children of Israel. They namely, formulated doctrines of their own that eventually became rigidly enforced traditions.

Some 2000 years ago, the Pharisee followers of the Babylonian Talmud were criticized because they followed false doctrines.

Jesus Christ said they “nullified all the Commandments of God by their Tradition, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:13; Matt. 15:6-9, etc.) “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because the truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).

The Khazarian converts assumed that their newly found religion was the true religion as given by God to Moses. Little did they know that it is in fact a doctrine by Satan.

Let us now continue to look at Ezekiel 38 and 39

1833 Webster Bible

The following comment is found in Adam Clarke’s “Commentary on the Bible”.

“The sublime prophecy contained in this and the following chapter relates to Israel’s victory over Gog. It begins with representing a prodigious armament of many nations combined together under the conduct of Gog, with the intention of overwhelming the Jews, after having been for some time resettled in their land subsequent to their return from the Babylonian captivity, Eze_38:1-9.

These enemies are further represented as making themselves sure of the spoil, Eze_38:10-13. But in this critical conjuncture when Israel, to all human appearance, was about to be swallowed up by her enemies, God most graciously appears, to execute by terrible judgments the vengeance threatened against these formidable adversaries of his people, Eze_38:14-16.

The prophet, in terms borrowed from human passions, describes, with awful emphasis, the fury of Jehovah as coming up to his face; and the effects of it so dreadful, as to make all the animate and inanimate creation tremble, and even to convulse with terror the whole frame of nature, Eze_38:17-23.”

Gog–the prince of the land of Magog. The title was probably a common one of the kings of the country, as “Pharaoh” in Egypt. Chakan was the name given by the Northern Asiatics to their king, and is still a title of the Turkish sultan: “Gog” may be a contraction of this. In Ezekiel’s time a horde of northern Asiatics, termed by the Greeks “Scythians,” and probably including the Moschi and Tibareni, near the Caucasus, here (“Meshach . . . Tubal”) undertook an expedition against Egypt [HERODOTUS, 1.103-106]. These names might be adopted by Ezekiel from the historical fact familiar to men at the time, as ideal titles for the great last anti-Christian confederacy.

Magog– (Gen_10:2; 1Ch_1:5). The name of a land belonging to Japheth’s posterity. Maha, in Sanskrit, means “land.” Gog is the ideal political head of the region. In Rev_20:8, Gog and Magog are two peoples. the chief prince–rather, “prince of Rosh,” or “Rhos” [Septuagint]. The Scythian Tauri in the Crimea were so called. The Araxes also was called “Rhos.” The modern Russians may have hence assumed their name, as Moscow and Tobolsk from Meshach and Tubal, though their proper ancient name was Slavi, or Wends. HENGSTENBERG supports English Version, as “Rosh” is not found in the Bible. “Magog was Gog’s original kingdom, though he acquired also Meshach and Tubal, so as to be called their chief prince.”

Eze 38:3 – His high-sounding titles are repeated to imply the haughty self-confidence of the invader as if invincible.

Eze 38:4 -I will turn thee back – Thy enterprise shall fail.

Eze 38:5 – Persia – That a part of this country was tributary to Antiochus, see 1 Maccabees 3:31.

Ethiopia, and Libya – That these were auxiliaries of Antiochus is evident from Dan_11:43  “The Libyans and Ethiopians shall be at his steps.”Eze 38:5 – Persia . . . Libya–expressly specified by APPIAN as supplying the ranks of Antiochus’ army.

Eze 38:6 – Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah – The Cimmerians and Turcomanians, and other northern nations. – Calmet. Eze 38:6 – Gomer–the Celtic Cimmerians of Crim-Tartary.

Togarmah–the Armenians of the Caucasus, south of Iberia.

Eze 38:7 – Irony. Prepare thee and all thine with all needful accoutrements for war–that ye may perish together. be . . . a guard unto them–that is, if thou canst.

Eze 38:8 – In the latter years thou shalt come – This was fulfilled about four hundred years after the prophesy. – Martin.

Eze 38:8 – thou shall be visited–in wrath, by God (Isa_29:6). Probably there is allusion to Isa_24:21-22, “The host of the high ones . . . shall be gathered . . . as prisoners . . . in me pit . . . and after many days shall they be visited.”

I therefore prefer English Version to GROTIUS rendering, “Thou shalt get the command” of the expedition.

The “after many days” is defined by “in the latter years,” that is, in the times just before the coming of Messiah, namely, under Antiochus, before His first coming.

the mountains of Israel . . . always waste–that is, waste during the long period of the captivity, the earnest of the much longer period of Judea’s present desolation (to which the language “always waste” more fully applies).

This marks the impious atrocity of the act, to assail God’s people, who had only begun to recover from their protracted calamities.

but it is brought . . . and they shall dwell–rather, “And they (the Israelites) were brought . . . dwelt safely”

[FAIRBAIRN]. English Version means, “Against Israel, which has been waste, but which (that is, whose people) is now (at the time of the invasion) brought forth out of the nations where they were dispersed, and shall be found by the invader dwelling securely, so as to seem an easy prey to him.”

Eze 38:9 – Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm – It is observable that Antiochus is thus spoken of by Daniel, Dan_11:40 : The king of the north – Antiochus, shall come against him (the king of the south is the king of Egypt) like a whirlwind.

Eze 38:9 – cloud to cover the land–with the multitude of thy forces.

Eze 38:10 – Shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought – Antiochus purposed to invade and destroy Egypt, as well as Judea; see Dan_11:31, Dan_11:32, Dan_11:36. This Calmet interprets of Cambyses, his cruelties in Egypt, and his evil design to destroy the Israelites.

Eze 38:10 – an evil thought–as to attacking God’s people in their defenseless state.

Eze 38:11 – dwell safely–that is, securely, without fear of danger (compare Est_9:19). Antiochus, the type of Antichrist, took Jerusalem without a blow.

Eze 38:12 – To take a spoil – and a prey – When Antiochus took Jerusalem he gave the pillage of it to his soldiers, and spoiled the temple of its riches, which were immense.

See Josephus War, B. 1. C. 1.

Eze 38:13 – Sheba, and Dedan – The Arabians, anciently great plunderers; and Tarshish, the inhabitants of the famous isle of Tartessus, the most noted merchants of the time. They are here represented as coming to Antiochus before he undertook the expedition, and bargaining for the spoils of the Jews. Art thou come to take a spoil, to carry away silver and gold, cattle and goods? Gain is before godliness with them (1 Maccabees 3:41). young lions–daring princes and leaders.

Eze 38:14 – shalt thou not know it?–to thy cost, being visited with punishment, while Israel dwells safely. Eze 38:16 – When I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog – By the defeat of his troops under Lysias, his general.

1 Maccabees 3:32, 33, etc., and 6:6.

Eze 38:16 – as a cloud: Eze_38:9 multitude of forces.

Eze 38:17 – thou he of whom I have spoken in old time–Gog, &co. are here identified with the enemies spoken of in other prophecies (Num_24:17-24; Isa_27:1; compare Isa_26:20-21; Jer_30:23-24; Joe_3:1; Mic_5:5-6; Isa_14:12-14; Isa_59:19). God is represented as addressing Gog at the time of his assault; therefore, the “old time” is the time long prior, when Ezekiel uttered these prophecies; so, he also, as well as Daniel (Dan. 11:1-45) and Zechariah (Zec. 14:1-21) are included among “the prophets of Israel” here. …many years–ago.

Eze 38:18 – fury shall come up in my face–literally, “nose”; in Hebrew, the idiomatic expression for anger, as men in anger breathe strongly through the nostrils. Anthropopathy: God stooping to human modes of thought (Psa_18:8).

Eze 38:19 – great shaking–an earthquake: physical agitations after accompanying social and moral revolutions. Foretold also in Joe_3:16; (compare Hag_2:6-7; Mat_24:7, Mat_24:29; Rev_16:18).

Eze 38:20 – fishes–disturbed by the fleets, which I will bring.

– fowls, &c.–frightened at the sight of so many men: an ideal picture.

– mountains–that is, the fortresses on the mountains.

– steep places–literally, “stairs” (Song_2:14); steep terraces for vines on the sides of hills, to prevent the earth being washed down by the rains.

– every wall–of towns.

Eze 38:21 – I will call for a sword against him – Meaning Judas Maccabeus, who defeated his army under Lysias, making a horrible carnage. – Martin. Cambyses had no wars in the mountains of Israel.

Eze 38:21 – every man’s sword . . . against his brother–I will destroy them partly by My people’s sword, partly by their swords being turned against one another (compare 2Ch_20:23).

Eze 38:22 – plead–a forensic term; because God in His inflictions acts on the principles of His own immutable justice, not by arbitrary impulse (Isa_66:16; Jer_25:31).

– blood . . . hailstones, fire– (Rev_8:7; Rev_16:21). The imagery is taken from the destruction of Sodom and the plagues of Egypt (compare Psa_11:6). Antiochus died by “pestilence” (2 Maccabees 9:5).

Eze 38:22 – Great hailstones, fire, and brimstone – These are probably figurative expressions, to signify that the whole tide of the war should be against him, and that his defeat and slaughter should be great

Ezekiel 39 – The prophet goes on to announce the Divine judgments against Gog and his army, Eze_39:1-7; and describes their dreadful slaughter, Eze_39:8-10, and burial, Eze_39:11-16, in terms so very lofty and comprehensive, as must certainly denote some very extraordinary interposition of Providence in behalf of the Jews. And to amplify the matter still more, the prophet, with peculiar art and propriety, relays the summoning of all the birds and beasts of prey in nature to feast on the slain, (in allusion to the custom of feasting on the remainder of sacrifices), till after the greater multitudes are buried; to intimate that even the remainder, and as it were the stragglers of such mighty hosts, would be more than sufficient to satisfy their utmost rapacity, Eze_39:17-20. The remaining verses contain a prediction of the great blessedness of the people of God in Gospel times, and of the stability of the kingdom of Christ,

Eze_39:21-29. It will be proper to remark that the great northern expedition against the natural Israel, described in this and the preceding chapter, is, from its striking resemblance in the main particulars, put by the writer of the Apocalypse, (Rev_20:7-10), for a much more formidable armament of a multitude of nations in the four quarters of the earth against the pure Christian Church, the Mystical Israel; an event still extremely remote, and which it is thought shall immediately precede the destruction of the world by fire, and the general judgment.

Eze 39:2 – I will: It is probable that none of the invaders will escape, but perhaps the inhabitants of Magog in general are meant. The immense army of Gog, led forth against Israel, will almost empty his land; and the subsequent judgments of God upon those that remain at home, will reduce them to a sixth of the whole.

Psa_40:14, Psa_68:2; Isa_37:29

Eze 39:3 – I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand – The Persians whom Antiochus had in his army, Eze_38:5, were famous as archers, and they may be intended here. The bow is held by the left hand; the arrow is pulled and discharged by the right.

Eze 39:6 – And among them that dwell carelessly in the isles – The auxiliary troops that came to Antiochus from the borders of the Euxine Sea. – Martin.

– careless–Self confident

– the isles–Those dwelling in maritime regions, who had helped Gog with fleets and troops, shall be visited with the fire of God’s wrath in their own lands.

– I will send a fire on Magog – On Syria. I will destroy the Syrian troops.

Eze 39:7 – In the midst of my people Israel – This defeat of Gog is to be in Israel: and it was there according to this prophecy, that the immense army of Antiochus was so completely defeated.

– And I will not let them pollute my holy name any more – See on 1 Maccabees 1:11, etc., how Antiochus had profaned the temple, insulted Jehovah and his worship, etc. God permitted that as a scourge to his disobedient people; but now the scourger shall be scourged, and he shall pollute the sanctuary no more.

– not let them pollute my holy name–by their sins bringing down judgments which made the heathen think that I was unable or unwilling to save My people.

Eze 39:8 – it is come . . . it is done–The prediction of the salvation of My people, and the ruin of their enemy, is come to pass–is done: expressing that the event foretold is as certain as if it were already accomplished.

Eze 39:9 – And shall set on fire – the weapons – The Israelites shall make bonfires and fuel of the weapons, tents, etc., which the defeated Syrians shall leave behind them, as expressive of the joy which they shall feel for the destruction of their enemies; and to keep up, in their culinary consumption, the memory of this great event.

They shall burn them with fire seven years – These may be figurative expressions, after the manner of the Asiatics, whose language abounds with such descriptions. They occur everywhere in the prophets. As to the number seven it is only a certain for an indeterminate number. But as the slaughter was great, and the bows, arrows, quivers, shields, bucklers, hand staves, and spears were in vast multitudes, it must have taken a long time to gather them up in the different parts of the fields of battle, and the roads in which the Syrians had retreated, throwing away their arms as they proceeded; so there might have been a long time employed in collecting and burning them. And as all seem to have been doomed to the fire, there might have been some found at different intervals and burned, during the seven years here mentioned.

Mariana, in his History of Spain, lib. xi., c. 24, says, that after the Spaniards had given that signal overthrow to the Saracens, a.d. 1212 they found such a vast quantity of lances, javelins, and such like, that they served them for four years for fuel. And probably these instruments obtained by the Israelites were used in general for culinary firewood, and might literally have served them for seven years; so that during that time they should take no wood out of the fields, nor out of the forests for the purpose of fuel, Eze_39:10.

– set on fire: The language here employed seems to intimate that the army of Gog will be cut off by miracle, as that of Sennacherib; for the people are described as going forth, not to fight and conquer, but merely to gather the spoil, and to destroy the weapons of war, as no longer of use., hand staves, or, javelins

When the immense number and destruction of the invaders are considered, and also the little fuel comparatively which is necessary in warm climates, we may easily conceive of this being literally fulfilled.

Eze 39:9-10 – The burning of the foe’s weapons implies that nothing belonging to them should be left to pollute the land.

The seven years (seven being the sacred number) spent on this work, implies the completeness of the cleansing, and the people’s zeal for purity. How different from the ancient Israelites, who left not merely the arms, but the heathen themselves, to remain among them [FAIRBAIRN], (Jdg_1:27-28; Jdg_2:2-3; Psa_106:34-36). The desolation by

Antiochus began in the one hundred and forty-first year of the Seleucidæ. From this date to 148, a period of six years and four months (“2300 days,” Dan_8:14), when the temple-worship was restored (1 Maccabees 4:52), God vouchsafed many triumphs to His people; from this time to the death of Antiochus, early in 149(year of the Seleucidæ), a period of seven months, the Jews had rest from Antiochus, and purified their land, and on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month celebrated the Encænia, or feast of dedication (Joh_10:22) and purification of the temple.

The whole period, in round numbers, was seven years. Mattathias was the patriotic Jewish leader, and his third son, Judas, the military commander under whom the Syrian generals were defeated. He retook Jerusalem and purified the temple. Simon and Jonathan, his brothers, succeeded him: the independence of the Jews was secured, and the crown vested in the Asmonean family, in which it continued till Herod the Great.

Eze 39:11 – The valley of the passengers on the east of the sea – That is, of Gennesareth, according to the Targum. The valley near this lake or sea is called the Valley of the Passengers, because it was a great road by which the merchants and traders from Syria and other eastern countries went into Egypt; see Gen_37:17, Gen_37:25.

– There shall they bury Gog and all his multitude – Some read, “There shall they bury Gog, that is, all his multitude.” Not Gog, or Antiochus himself, for he was not in this battle; but his generals, captains, and soldiers, by whom he was represented. As to Hamon-gog, we know no valley of this name but here. But we may understand the words thus: the place where this great slaughter was, and where the multitudes of the slain were buried, might be better called Hamon-gog, the valley of the multitude of God, than the valley of passengers; for so great was the carnage there, that the way of the passengers shall be stopped by it.

– place . . . of graves–Gog found only a grave where he had expected the spoils of conquest.

– valley–So vast were to be the masses that nothing but a deep valley would suffice for their corpses.

– the passengers on the east of the sea–those traveling on the high road, east of the Dead Sea, from Syria to Petra and Egypt. The publicity of the road would cause many to observe God’s judgments, as the stench (as English Version translates) or the multitude of graves (as HENDERSON translates, “it shall stop the passengers”) would arrest the attention of passers-by. Their grave would be close to that of their ancient prototypes, Sodom and Gomorrah in the Dead Sea, both alike being signal instances of God’s judgments.

Eze 39:12 – And seven months – It shall require a long time to bury the dead. This is another figurative expression; which, however, may admit of a good deal of literal meaning. Many of the Syrian soldiers had secreted themselves in different places during the pursuit after the battle, where they died of their wounds, of hunger, and of fatigue; so that they were not all found and buried till seven months after the defeat of the Syrian army.

This slow process of burying is distinctly related in the three following verses, and extended even to a bone, Eze_39:15; which, when it was found by a passenger, the place was marked, that the buriers might see and inter it. Seven months was little time enough for all this work; and in that country putrescency does not easily take place: the scorching winds serving to desiccate the flesh, and preserve it from decomposition.

Eze 39:14 – with the passengers–The men employed continually in the burying were to be helped by those happening to pass by; all were to combine.

…after the end of seven months shall they search–to see if the work was complete [MUNSTER].

Eze 39:15 – First “all the people of the land” engaged in the burying for seven months; then special men were employed, at the end of the seven months, to search for any still left unburied. The passers-by helped them by setting up a mark near any such bones, in order to keep others from being defiled by casually touching them, and that the buriers might come and remove them. Denoting the minute care to put away every relic of heathen pollution from the Holy Land.

Eze 39:16 – A city in the neighborhood was to receive the name Hamonah, “multitude,” to commemorate the overthrow of the multitudes of the foe [HENDERSON]. The multitude of the slain shall give a name to the city of Jerusalem after the land shall have been cleansed [GROTIUS]. Jerusalem shall be famed as the conqueror of multitudes.

Eze 39:17 – Gather yourselves – to my sacrifice – This is an allusion to a custom common in the east: when a sacrifice is made, the friends and neighbors of the party sacrificing are invited to come and feast on the sacrifice.

Eze 39:17 – (Rev_19:17). sacrifice–Anciently worshippers feasted on the sacrifices. The birds and beasts of prey are invited to the sacrificial feast provided by God (compare Isa_18:6; Isa_34:6; Zep_1:7; Mar_9:49). Here this sacrifice holds only a subordinate place in the picture, and so is put last. Not only shall their bones lie long unburied, but also they shall be stripped of the flesh by beasts and birds of prey.

Eze 39:18 – rams . . . lambs . . . goats–By these various animal victims used in sacrifices are meant various ranks of men, princes, generals, and soldiers (compare Isa_34:6). fatlings of Bashan–ungodly men of might (Psa_22:12). Bashan, beyond Jordan, was famed for its fat cattle. Fat implies prosperity, which often makes men refractory towards God (Deu_32:14-15).

Eze 39:19 – And ye shall eat fat – and drink blood – It is the fowls and the beasts that God invites, Eze_39:17 : “Speak to every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, assemble yourselves – that ye may eat flesh and drink blood;” nor are the persons altered in all these Eze_39:17-20 : so the assertion of Voltaire (re the Jews) is either through brutish ignorance or Satanic malice.

Eze 39:22 – So the house of Israel shall know . . . Lord–by My interposition for them. So, too, the heathen shall be led to fear the name of the Lord (Psa_102:15).

Eze 39:25 – Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob – Both they and the heathen shall know that it was for their iniquity that I gave them into the hands of their enemies: and now I will redeem them from those hands in such a way as to prove that I am a merciful God, as well as a just God.

– bring again the captivity–restore from calamity to prosperity.

– the whole house of Israel–so “all Israel” (Rom_11:26). The restorations of Israel heretofore have been partial; there must be one yet future that is to be universal (Hos_1:11).

– Now will: The return of a few Jews from Babylon, and their continuance, increase, partial reformation, and prosperity, till the days of Christ, followed by their present long continued dispersion, under the frown of God, and destitute of his Spirit, could in no degree answer to these predictions. Hence we must conclude, that some future events, exactly suitable to them, shall yet take place relative to the nation of Israel. Eze_34:13, Eze_36:21, Eze_36:24; Isa_27:12, Isa_27:13,

Isa_56:8; Jer_3:18, Jer_23:3, Jer_30:3, Jer_30:10,Jer_30:18; Jer_31:3, Jer_32:37; Amo_9:14; Rom_11:26-31

the whole: Eze_20:40, Eze_37:21, Eze_37:22; Jer_31:1; Hos_1:11

and will: Eze_36:4-6, Eze_36:21-23; Joe_2:18; Zec_1:14, Zec_8:2

Eze 39:26 – After that they have borne their shame – After they shall have borne the punishment due to a line of conduct which is their shame and reproach, viz. idolatry.

Eze 39:27 – When I have – gathered them – Antiochus had before captured many of the Jews, and sold them for slaves; see Dan_11:33. Eze 39:28 – And have left none of then any more there – All that chose had liberty to return; but many remained behind. This promise may therefore refer to a greater restoration, when not a Jew shall be left behind.

This, the next verse (:29) intimates, will be in the Gospel dispensation.

The Jews, having no dominion, settled country, or fixed property to detain them, may return at any time without difficulty (compare Hos_3:4-5).

Eze 39:29 – poured out my Spirit upon . . . Israel–the sure forerunner of their conversion (Joe_2:28; Zec_12:10). The pouring out of His Spirit is a pledge that He will hide His face no more (2Co_1:22; Eph_1:14; Phi_1:6).

The arrangements as to the land and the temple are, in many particulars, different from those subsisting before the captivity. There are things in it so improbable physically as to preclude a purely literal interpretation. The general truth seems to hold good that, as Israel served the nations for his rejection of Messiah, so shall they serve him in the person of Messiah, when he shall acknowledge Messiah (Isa_60:12; Zec_14:17-19; compare Psa_72:11).

The ideal temple exhibits, under Old Testament forms (used as being those then familiar to the men whom Ezekiel, a priest himself, and one who delighted in sacrificial images, addresses), not the precise literal outline, but the essential character of the worship of Messiah as it shall be when He shall exercise sway in Jerusalem among His own people, the Jews, and thence to the ends of the earth. The very fact that the whole is a vision (Eze_40:2), not an oral face-to-face communication such as that granted to Moses (Num_12:6-8), implies that the directions are not to be understood so precisely literally as those given to the Jewish lawgiver.