Ezekiel 39:11, commentary and pictures

Ezekiel 39:11 gives Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of the travelers east of the sea, where Gog and all his multitude are to be buried and the place called the Valley of Hamon-gog, for the cleansing of the land by burying the dead after a great battle.
It belongs to the restoration promises of Ezekiel 33 to 48 of complete victory over enemies, return to the mountains of Israel and glory manifested before the nations, which was conditional on Israel repenting, forsaking sin and yielding to God after the return from Babylon.
Because Israel did not comply, the prophecy was never fulfilled in detail and will never be fulfilled literally with temple, sacrifices, division of the land and burial by human hands in Palestine.
What remains will be fulfilled in a general way to true Israel by faith, on a broader and more glorious scale in the new heavens and new earth, when the fires of the last day consume sin.
In its general outline it concerns judgment upon the wicked nations which, controlled by Satan, seek to destroy God's people, with those who held Gog to be the ruler of Russia and the northern confederacy placing his ruin before Christ comes, while others place his final doom by the second death after the thousand years and the second resurrection.

Words and Burial Setting

The Hebrew word for grave is kever, a place of burial, distinct from sheol, the state of death. Gog is given a place of graves in Israel, in the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea, where Gog and all his multitude are buried and which is called the Valley of Hamon-gog. That burial in Ezekiel 39:9-16 is the cleansing of the land by burying the dead after the great battle and destruction of Israel's northern foes.

The burial and cleansing lasting seven months signifies that the work is complete and enduring. The passengers are those who remain on earth, the whole house of Israel, who have passed through the cleansing fires and are beyond the power of the second death. The valley of Hamon-gog is the place of Gog's final doom, where Gog, his armies, allies, and the nations gathered with him come under unmixed wrath and are conquered by the second death because they did not belong to Christ.

The literal setting requires Israel as a people gathered from the nations dwelling on the mountains of Israel, dwelling safely all in unwalled villages, possessing cattle, goods and wealth that arouses the cupidity of the northern powers to think an evil thought and sweep down to take great spoil. The attackers carry wooden shields and bucklers, bows, arrows, spears and handstaves that Israel can burn for fuel for fires. That setting cannot happen in the last days, when Palestine is poorest of lands with no such wealth to tempt the northern powers, is inhabited by few Jews and controlled by others, by the Turk, with the people not dwelling safely. Armies today are not equipped with wooden weapons, and in the last great war the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth to the other and shall not be buried.

The verse stands in a confessedly obscure section, Ezekiel 39:9-16. There the prophets glance very clearly to the scene of the last days, yet the line forming a clear demarcation between what refers to the past and what refers to the future is not easy to draw.

Conditional Promise to Israel

Ezekiel 39:11 belongs to the consolation and restoration prophecies of Ezekiel 33 to 48, especially from chapter 36 onward, which show God's love for His house and promise complete victory over enemies, return of the scattered people to the mountains of Israel, dwelling among them with glory never seen before, a new and far greater sanctuary, and glory manifested among His people in sight of the nations. It is part of the promise that the kings of the North and enemies far and near would be brought into subjection and buried in Israel, and that if God's people had heeded the prophet the Lord would have cut off all their enemies and made Israel a light to the world with resurrection, water of life, and glory of God.

The whole prophecy, including the destruction of Gog and the northern enemies with plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone, and what might have happened in the land after the return from Babylon, was conditional on Israel meeting God's requirements, yielding to Him, repenting, forsaking sin, putting away wickedness and being ashamed of iniquities. Many details in the later chapters describe what might have happened if Israel had fulfilled the Lord's conditions and been established in its land, with faithful Israel conquering northern nations represented by Gog and Magog and burying Gog and his multitude in Israel in the Valley of Hamon-gog. Because Israel did not comply, repent, or yield to God, the prophecy was never fulfilled, never fulfilled in detail, and will never be fulfilled literally with temple, sacrifices, division of the land, resurrection, and healing power in Palestine, since Christ's death on the cross fulfilled all sacrifices.

In another account, since Israel failed to meet God's conditions, the prophecy was fulfilled only in part or in very small part, with only a mere shadow of the temple built instead of the glorious temple, and only about forty thousand returning from Babylon without realizing the fullness. The burial details, including the burial of bodies, the wooden weapons of shields, bucklers, bows, arrows, spears and handstaves burned for fires, and the cleansing of the land by human hands in Israel in Ezekiel 39:9-16, applied to the prophecy's original setting and are local to that time. They are not to be carried over literally to the final conflict and will not all take place then, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat.

The future promises to true Israel, to Israel by faith brought in through the gospel including Gentiles and not a national arrangement, will be fulfilled in a general way, on a broader, stronger and more glorious scale, with future glory and fullness of the immortal inheritance, faintly typical of what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth. That general outline concerns God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at the Second Coming and the gathering for Armageddon, while the literal setting requiring a people gathered from the nations dwelling safely in unwalled villages with cattle, goods and wealth tempting northern powers cannot happen in the last days. The sanctuary of the last part of Ezekiel will never be built, and the prophecy after Christ concerns spiritual restoration rather than literal temple, sacrifices, and land.

Future Prophetic Fulfilment

In general outline the prophecy concerns judgment against the wicked nations which, controlled by Satan, seek to destroy God's people, and the gathering for Armageddon. It concerns God's people Israel in the land of Palestine attacked by a great horde and confederacy from the north led by Magog and Gog. That attack brings national judgment with plagues and divisions and aggregation of nations before Christ comes. If Israel had been faithful, the enemies coming from the north would have been destroyed and plagues would have fallen upon them, while God directly promised salvation to Israel His people and glory to the land, the city and the sanctuary.

Gog represents the ruler, or czar, of Russia, and the northern Scythian nations and their confederacy. The prophecy is God's revelation of Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny. Russia is foretold to play an important part in the closing work of world history. Russia is the object of God's displeasure, and the final scenes of Gog's career lead to its ruin and the end of the world under unmixed wrath.

The prophecy associates Persia with the great power from the north in the nations' alignment for the approaching battle of Armageddon, and its setting is connected with God gathering His people from among the nations in the work of taking the gospel to Persia and nearby regions. It is associated with a mighty northern confederacy that will come against the king of the south in the final conflict, whose head is identified with the power described in Revelation 17, and whose attack is part of the movement that reinstates the Papacy. It predicts a final great apostasy coming from the north, sweeping over the Holy Land with great power and destruction. Had Israel remained faithful God's people would have occupied Palestine and the evil world confederacy would have targeted them and invaded their territory, and though Israel was scattered the evil plan still seeks both to gain the territory once occupied by Israel and to destroy God's scattered people throughout the world.

The sequence begins before some events described in Ezekiel 38 and continues later in prophetic time. Part of the prophecy has been fulfilled, while much remains to come in the near future. Prophecy is a warning meant to be understood before fulfillment, and prophecy records history in advance. God's enemies advance from the north against Israel like a storm and perish in a tempest of fire and brimstone, with the slain left for the birds to consume.

In present application the prophecy foretells Russia being turned back, as by Japan, and being brought forth in the present European war, together with Daniel, Joel and Revelation, foretelling present-day conditions and what the Bible says about European affairs. Gog's burial in Israel after his defeat in the place named the Valley of Hamon-gog connects the prophecy about Gog with Russia, identified as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, with Japan being used to turn Russia back. The great Gog and Magog war is close at hand and will involve the great nations in a tremendous conflict. Russia, identified with Gog, will fail in its ambition to rule the world and meet the grave foretold for Gog when it goes out to carry out its evil purpose.

The national judgment with divisions and aggregation of nations takes place before Christ comes. It does not describe the time at the end of the thousand years when the dead of all ages are raised, because then national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. Yet some of Ezekiel 38-39 will be fulfilled before Christ's second coming and some at the end of the thousand years, as clarified by Revelation, the prophecy not having been fulfilled in all its details in ancient Israel. Gog and Magog represent the northern nations, which will be punished partly in this world before and when Christ comes, and ultimately at the end of the thousand years.

Gog, his armies, allies, and the nations gathered with him come under God's unmixed wrath and suffer final destruction, with burial and cleansing lasting seven months signifying that the work is complete and enduring. The passengers are those who remain on earth — the whole house of Israel — who have passed through the cleansing fires and are beyond the power of the second death. The valley of Hamon-gog is the place of Gog's final doom, after the second resurrection, when Gog and his host are conquered by the second death because they did not belong to Christ at His coming. These are literal earthly events, when Jerusalem is holy with no stranger passing through it. Gog and Magog, who had oppressed God's people in earlier times, are gathered into Satan's final rebellion after the thousand years and called to receive the doom pronounced against them.

The judgments of plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone that God will pour out upon the wicked who come against His own people belong in the setting of Revelation 16-19 rather than Ezekiel 38-39, and the last part of Ezekiel must be read in light of the fuller disclosures in Revelation. Combined armies like those set forth in Ezekiel 38 may appear in near-future revolutions and sweep down over lesser powers and destroy them, but not in the setting found in these prophecies. Forecasts of Russia's destiny from this prophecy, made dependent on the literal return of the Jews to Palestine, have received conflicting interpretations and therefore do not establish a definite course of events for Russia.

Doctrine and Related Scriptures

The burial described across Ezekiel 39:11-16 is the interment of Gog and his multitude in Israel after a great battle, and the cleansing of the land by burying the dead. That burial is not the cleansing of the sanctuary, and its mention does not establish that Palestine itself is the sanctuary.

The verse shows a future destruction and burial of Gog and all his multitude in a place in Israel distinct from Gehenna in the valley of Hinnom. Divine punishment has been and will be inflicted by destruction in other places besides Gehenna. Gehenna is not thereby made a place where the wicked are now being punished or will be kept alive forever.

The verse stands among the last nineteen chapters appealed to to prove the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ, and the inheritance of the saints on earth. That use is set against the teaching that the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is desolated, which overthrows the return-of-the-Jews theory.

Ezekiel 39 belongs to a prophecy of what God would have done for Israel if the people had yielded to Him, conquering their enemies and restoring His faithful people, but those promised blessings were conditional and Israel's refusal meant they were not fulfilled as described. It belongs to the prophecy in Ezekiel 37-48, which is conditional on Israel's acceptance or rejection and whose sanctuary will never be built. Read in light of the New Testament, the prophecy after Christ concerns spiritual restoration rather than literal temple, sacrifices, and land, concerning Israel by faith brought in through the gospel including Gentiles and not a national arrangement that excludes them.