Ezekiel 39:15, commentary and pictures

The verse describes travelers through the land setting up a marker beside any human bone they find, so that appointed buriers may afterward bury it in the valley of Hamon-gog and thus cleanse the land after the great slaughter. It belongs to the restoration promises of Ezekiel 36 to 48, in which God offered to gather scattered Israel to the mountains of Israel, restore land and people, dwell among them in glory, give victory over enemies, and make them a light to the nations. That offer depended on Israel forsaking sin and returning to the Lord with all the heart, but only a small remnant returned from Babylon without full repentance, so the glorious temple and full deliverance never came. Because the conditions failed, the marking and burying of bones as described will never occur literally, and in the greater fulfillment at the second coming there will be no cleansing by human hands, for the fires of the last day will consume sin and melt the earth. Its judgments point generally to God's final punishment of the wicked powers that seek to destroy His people, disclosed more fully in Revelation 16 to 19 and fulfilled ultimately when Satan gathers Gog and Magog among the resurrected wicked against the camp of the saints after the thousand years.

Bone Marking and Cleansing

Ezekiel 39:15 describes travelers passing through the land who, whenever one sees a human bone, set up a marker beside it until the appointed buriers come to bury it in the valley of Hamon-gog. That burial detail belonged to the prophecy's original application to Israel in connection with the restoration from Babylonian captivity, describing what would have been done if the people had yielded to God and been faithful to Him. Because Israel did not fully repent and comply, that specific marking and burying as described will not occur later in that form and does not describe the final conflict of the Christian age, when the slain will remain unburied. Some events of Ezekiel 38-39 may still be fulfilled before Christ's return or in the battle after the thousand years according to conditions then existing, but the promised future glory will come to true Israel without fulfillment of this specific detail.

The marking and burial is a cleansing of the land after the great battle, because the dead bodies defile it and are removed by burial through human hands, and it is not the cleansing of a sanctuary. It belonged to the local conditions of the prophet's day and to what would have been fulfilled to Israel in the restoration from Babylon if Israel had forsaken sins and returned to the Lord with all the heart, when enemies sweeping down from the north with wooden munitions of war, bows and arrows and shields and bucklers, would have been conquered. Because Israel failed the prophecy was fulfilled only in very small part, and in its greater fulfillment in the glory of the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected therewith there will be no cleansing of the land by human hands and no literal marking and burying of bones, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. Gog represents great northern ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in the place of all others. The passengers are the whole house of Israel who remain on earth after passing through the cleansing fires, and their burial work completes the cleansing, while Gog and his armies and allies suffer God's unmixed wrath and meet their final doom in the valley of eternal death beyond the second resurrection, where the survivors belong to Christ and the second death has no power over them.

The burial setting required the mountains of Israel inhabited by a people gathered out from all nations whom God calls His own, dwelling safely all of them in villages without walls. They were to possess cattle and goods and wealth, whose plenty arouses the cupidity of the northern powers to think an evil thought and sweep down to take great spoil, carrying wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears that Israel can use for fuel. Palestine is not so inhabited, being controlled by the Turk with few Jews, the poorest of lands with no such wealth to tempt invaders, and its people are not dwelling safely. Modern armies are not equipped with wooden weapons for burning, so Ezekiel 38 and 39 with this verse cannot be fulfilled literally in the last days.

Conditional Promise to Israel

Ezekiel 39:15 belongs to the conditional restoration promises in Ezekiel 36 to 48, and more particularly in Ezekiel 37 to 48 and in Ezekiel 38 and 39, first offered in connection with the restoration from Babylonian captivity and describing what the Lord would do for His people if they yielded to Him. The sanctuary described in that prophecy will never be built as there described. Its conditions were never met, so the prophecy was never fulfilled.

What God offered was to gather all His scattered people from the nations to the mountains of Israel, restore people and land, dwell among them in glory, build a new and far greater sanctuary where His presence would dwell as Jehovah Is There, give victory and cut off their enemies, manifest His glory in sight of the nations, and make Israel a light to the world. With that would have come the resurrection of chapter 37 and the fruitfulness of the land shooting forth branches and yielding fruit, the defeat of the northern enemies, and the cleansing of the land. Instead of the glorious temple with its water of life and glory of God, only a mere shadow of the temple was built.

The promises depended on Israel being ashamed of their ways, forsaking sins, returning to the Lord with all the heart, and meeting stated conditions of faith, obedience and cleansing from sin. Only about forty thousand returned, the people did not fully repent or comply, so the prophecy was never fulfilled, was fulfilled only in very small or limited part, and the full deliverance never came. The destruction of Gog and Magog, the northern nations, would have taken place before Israel if the people had met God's conditions.

Because the conditions failed, the specific burial detail of marking bones and burying them in the valley of Hamon-gog and the other details as described will never occur literally, will not occur later in that form, and do not describe the final conflict of the Christian age or what will happen in the last great war, when the slain will remain unburied. The burial and cleansing of the land belonged to a conditional prophecy that could have been fulfilled in Israel's past if the people had been faithful, and belonged to the local conditions of the prophet's day with wooden munitions of war, bows and arrows and shields and bucklers. In the greater fulfillment at the second coming and events connected therewith there will be no cleansing by human hands and no literal marking and burying of bones, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat.

Ezekiel 39:9-16 is an obscure prophecy glancing to the last days in which the line between past and future is not easy to draw. Some of its events may still be fulfilled before Christ's return or in the battle after the thousand years according to conditions then existing on earth. Because Israel did not meet the stated conditions, it will be fulfilled in the last days under different, broader and more glorious conditions, with the promised future glory coming to true Israel who will receive the earth made new. God's purposes for the true Israel and for wicked nations remain, though their times and circumstances differ, with Gog and Magog punished partly in this world before and when Christ comes and ultimately at the end of the thousand years.

Final Enemies and Judgment

Gog stands for great northern ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in place of all others. He is Russia as chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, called Rosh, and the account of the final scenes of his career places those events farther along the prophetic timeline toward the end of the world. Ezekiel 38 and 39 present the descendants of Noah by name and by country after the Flood and thereby make known Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny in the Russo-Eastern question with its American complications. Japan is a means God is using to turn Russia back.

The prophecy of Gog and Magog concerns a tremendous coming conflict among nations, close at hand and discernible through Bible prophecy. It foretells Russia turned back by Japan and brought forth in the present European war, and with Daniel, Joel and Revelation it foretells present-day conditions and what the Bible says about European affairs. It foretells a final northern apostasy sweeping over the Holy Land with great power and destruction. It is associated with a mighty northern confederacy whose head is outlined in Revelation 17, which will reinstate the Papacy and attack the southern power with combined armies and navies. Had Israel remained faithful, God's people would have occupied Palestine and the confederacy of evil would have been formed against them and invaded their territory, and though God's people are now scattered throughout the world the same evil plan will seek both to secure that territory and to destroy them. The gathering of peoples for battle is linked to the approaching Armageddon, while the gathering of God's people is applied to the spread of the gospel and missionary work in Persia, which is associated with the power ruling from the north, and in nearby regions.

The prophecy is history foretold, given by holy men moved by the Holy Ghost who knew the end from the beginning, and given as a more sure word of prophecy as a light shining in a dark place, written for admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come. It is a warning that must be applied before fulfillment, because God does nothing that concerns His people without first giving full and faithful warning. Its issue is eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others amid the distress of nations with perplexity and men's hearts failing for fear while looking after the things coming on the earth. Part of the prophecy has been fulfilled, but much of it is yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future.

The verse belongs to God's judgments against the wicked nations controlled by Satan that seek to destroy His people, and the hand of God is in its fulfillment. It portrays God's enemies advancing against Israel from the north and perishing in a storm of fire and brimstone at God's presence, with birds feasting on their bodies, as a prophecy of bloody conflict and destruction among the nations in the last days. Those judgments include plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against His own people. Gog and his armies and allies suffer God's unmixed wrath and meet their final doom in the valley of eternal death beyond the second resurrection, while the survivors belong to Christ and the second death has no power over them. That destruction will occur in another place than Gehenna, for Ezekiel 38 and 39 do not describe punishment in the valley of Hinnom but destructions apparently to happen elsewhere.

Those judgments will not be fulfilled literally in the last days in the setting given in Ezekiel 38 and 39, for a literal fulfillment there is impossible, though combined armies like those described may appear in near-future revolutions but not in that prophetic setting. The true setting for these judgments is found in the fuller, clearer disclosures of Revelation 16 to 19, and the prophecies in the last part of Ezekiel must be read in the light of that fuller revelation. The prophecy points generally to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people, and its specific events as described will not occur later in that form. Its details are not all fulfilled literally, for some are fulfilled before Christ's second coming in the clearer terms of Revelation, and some at the end of the thousand years. The destruction of the great horde from the north led by Magog sweeping down upon Israel in the land of Palestine on the mountains of Israel is a national judgment before Christ comes by plagues falling upon Israel's enemies, not the battle at the end of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised, because then national boundaries and distinctions are eliminated and there are no such divisions or aggregations of nations. The final doom pronounced upon Gog and Magog, who in past days oppressed God's people, is received after the thousand years when Satan is loosed from his prison and goes out to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, gathering the resurrected wicked together to battle in hope of taking captive the camp of the saints and the city of God. God's purposes for the true Israel and for wicked nations remain though their times and circumstances differ: Israel will receive the earth made new, and Gog and Magog, representing northern nations, will be punished partly in this world before and when Christ comes and ultimately at the end of the thousand years.