Ezekiel 39:17, commentary and pictures

The summons to every bird and wild animal is to a great slaughter of enemies on the mountains of Israel, to eat flesh and drink blood of kings, captains, mighty men, soldiers and horses left unburied in vast numbers.
It belongs to what God was prepared to do for Israel after the return from Babylon if they forsook sin and returned to Him with all the heart, to gather the scattered, defeat the northern horde, cleanse the land, dwell among them in glory and establish His sanctuary.
Because Israel did not meet the conditions, it was fulfilled only in very small part in the limited prosperity after the restoration and never literally in all its details as described.
The broad promise still points on a greater scale to God's final punishment of the wicked nations gathered against His people at Armageddon, the same last battle and supper of the great God for the birds in Revelation 19:17-21, fulfilled partly before Christ comes and ultimately at the end of the thousand years.
Its details of wooden weapons burned for fuel and unwalled villages rich with spoil fit ancient warfare and will not describe the last war, when fire melts the earth with fervent heat.

The Sacrificial Feast

The sacrifice is a great slaughter of enemies upon the mountains of Israel, to which every feathered fowl and every beast of the field is summoned to assemble and come from every side to eat flesh and drink blood. Those given as food include kings, captains, mighty men, rulers, soldiers and horses slain in defeat in the final conflict connected with the second coming of Christ. It is the same event described in Revelation 19:17-18, the supper of the great God for the birds, and it stands in contrast with the marriage supper of the Lamb where the redeemed feast at the King's table. The slaughter is world-wide and not merely local, ending the last great gathering of the nations to war immediately preceding Christ's coming.

The dead are so numerous and so few remain to bury them that the bodies lie unburied after the vast battle. God summons the birds and beasts of prey to feast on the slain, including the wicked gathered against Him, until the earth becomes a table of corpses with no one left to bury the dead. Details such as burning wooden bows, arrows, shields, bucklers, hand staves and spears for fuel and cleansing the land by human hands fit ancient warfare and will not describe the last war. In the greater fulfillment in the glory of the second coming and events connected with it, those local conditions are left behind, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat.

The literal setting demands the mountains of Israel inhabited by a people gathered by God from all nations, dwelling safely all together in unwalled villages, possessing cattle, goods, property and wealth tempting northern powers to seek spoil. It demands attackers carrying wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears that Israel could burn for fuel, none of which matches present Palestine, which is controlled by others, poor, unsafe, without such wealth to tempt invasion, and faced by modern armies without wooden weapons. The destructions described occur in places other than Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom.

Conditional Promise to Israel

Ezekiel 39:17 belongs to what God was prepared to do for Israel after the return from Babylonian captivity if they forsook sin, were ashamed and confounded for their ways, put away wickedness and iniquities, were cleansed from sin, returned to the Lord with all the heart and yielded to Him. Had they done so He would have gathered those scattered among the nations back upon the mountains of Israel, destroyed the enemy horde and kings of the North coming down from the north upon them with plagues, and made their slain a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel for every feathered fowl and beast of the field to eat flesh and drink blood. He would then have cleansed the land, restored His people and made them great, dwelt among them in overpowering glory, built the marvelous sanctuary and established a greater sanctuary, made Jerusalem a praise in the earth, conquered their enemies far and near, and given Israel victory and greatness. Fulfillment depended on the principle that when God speaks concerning a nation to destroy it He will repent of the evil if that nation turns from its evil, and when He speaks concerning a nation to build and plant it He will repent of the promised good if it does evil and obeys not His voice. Because Israel did not meet the conditions, did not fully repent, never complied, and did not yield to God's plan, the promised victory, slaughter and glory were fulfilled only in very small part and only partially in the limited prosperity after the restoration. There followed only a meager restoration from Babylonian captivity, with only about forty thousand returning and with the inferior temple of Zerubbabel instead of the greater promised sanctuary. Some details in the later chapters concern what might have occurred if Israel had fulfilled the Lord's conditions, but the closing chapters' prophecy of restoration with its summons to birds and beasts to the great feast was never literally fulfilled in all its details because they refused to be ashamed. Its conditions were never met, so its detailed events, including the gathering for the great sacrifice, will never be fulfilled as described and Ezekiel 39 will not be fulfilled in detail. The promised sanctuary was never built and cannot be built now, because its sacrifices pointed to Christ, who fulfilled their meaning, and that sanctuary prophecy of Ezekiel 37 to 48, being conditional upon Israel's acceptance or rejection, will never be built. The verse is also a call to return to God to receive the good things promised through the prophets, with no further explanation given of the image of birds and beasts gathering to eat. God's purposes for wicked nations and true Israel remain the same though times and setting differ, and the broad promise still points to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at the second coming. That future glory and full immortal inheritance will come to the faithful true Israel according to later revelations, to be fulfilled in the last days under different conditions on a broader, stronger and more glorious scale, in clearer unconditional terms, remaining only faintly typical of what God will do in the new heavens and new earth when He restores all things by His mighty power.

Final Conflict Foretold

The broad outline is the gathering for Armageddon, the final conflict, with judgments upon the wicked nations which, controlled by Satan, seek to destroy God's people. Gog is the ruler, or czar, of Magog and the lands of Meshech, Tubal and Rosh, lying in territory occupied by Russia, Moscow, Tobolsk and neighboring regions. This foretells Russia's rise as a great power with an important part in the closing work of world history. The prophecy is partly fulfilled with much yet to come in the immediate and near future, and Japan is one means used to turn Russia back.

The scene is the beginning of the final scenes of earth's history, in which Gog and the powers gathered with him meet God's judgment. The Russian army and allied forces are destroyed on the mountains of Israel and the Holy Land in the last-day conflict connected with the second coming of Christ, becoming prey under God's judgments. Their defeat is pictured as a great sacrifice where birds and beasts are summoned to feast on the bodies of the mighty, rulers, soldiers and horses. The invasion involves Persia and the power from the north, whose developing role signals the approaching battle of Armageddon.

It is an evil confederacy invading the land God's people would have occupied in Palestine, with design against God's people and invasion of their land. It is a final northern apostasy sweeping over the Holy Land with great power and destruction, and a mighty confederacy led by the power of Revelation 17 to reinstate the Papacy and attack the king of the south with combined armies and navies. That Gog and Magog war is close at hand and involves the great nations, bringing an era of war to a decisive end when earth's mighty nations fall at Armageddon on the fair Judean mountains. Gog and Magog whose armies are thus given for food are great northern ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan in seeking to rule in place of all others.

The bodies of those slain in that war, together with all the wicked destroyed by the brightness of Christ's appearing, will be left to be devoured by wild beasts and birds of prey during the thousand years the earth lies desolate. The judgments are poured out in plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone upon the wicked who come against His own people. Famine caused by damage to the earth, sea and trees leaves beasts hungry, so God calls them to prey on people as part of the judgments. Its setting is found not in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16 to 19, and the last prophecies of Ezekiel must be read in light of the fuller disclosures in Revelation, for coming revolutions may include combined armies like those in Ezekiel 38 sweeping down over lesser powers and utterly destroying them, but not in the setting found in these prophecies.

In one view the divisions and aggregations of nations are national judgments before Christ comes, not at the end of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised and all the dead come up, because then national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. In another view the final doom of Gog and Magog who oppressed God's people is fulfilled after the thousand years expire, when Satan is loosed to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth to gather them against the camp of the saints and the city of God, with some events applying after the thousand years. In another view part is fulfilled on this side of the second coming in clearer unconditional terms given in Revelation and part at the end of the thousand years, with Gog and Magog representing northern nations punished partly before and when Christ comes and ultimately at the end of the thousand years.

Ties to Other Scriptures

The summons to every feathered fowl and every beast of the field to eat flesh and drink blood is the same event described in Revelation 19:17-18, the supper of the great God for the birds. It is the last great battle fought before the Lord's return, the war of Armageddon, ending in the slain of the Lord at the second coming of Christ. The bodies of those slain in that war, together with all the wicked destroyed by the brightness of Christ's appearing, are left to be devoured by wild beasts and birds of prey during the thousand years the earth lies desolate. The slaughter is world-wide, not local, as the culmination of events and the last gathering of the nations to war immediately preceding Christ's coming.

Its setting is found not in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16 to 19, and the last prophecies of Ezekiel must be read in the light of the fuller disclosures in Revelation. They belong to a conditional mixed prophecy that was not fulfilled literally in all its details because Israel failed to meet God's requirements, leaving only the meager restoration from the Babylonian captivity. God's promises of a glorious future will still be fulfilled for His own people, but not by applying every Old Testament detail to later times. Part is fulfilled on this side of the second coming of Christ in the clearer unconditional terms given in Revelation, and part is fulfilled at the end of the thousand years. The whole must be read through the fuller revelation of the gospel that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Coming revolutions may include combined armies like those set forth in Ezekiel 38 sweeping down over lesser powers and utterly destroying them, but not in the setting found in these prophecies.

The great supper in which the kings, captains, and mighty men of earth become food for the birds of heaven contrasts with the marriage supper of the Lamb, where the redeemed feast at the King's table. The eagles gathered where the carcass is are these fowls gathered to eat the dead at the second coming. The verse shows the Lord in that day inviting all the birds of the air to feast on the slain, as one of the judgments God pours out in plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone upon the wicked who come against His own people. It illustrates the bloody destruction of the nations advancing against the mountains of Israel and being destroyed in God's judgment in the last days, after whose defeat the birds and beasts are summoned to feast on their remains.

Call to Readiness

Ezekiel 39:17 belongs to the prophecy of Persia and the power from the north whose developing part in world affairs signals the approaching battle of Armageddon. As the forces of evil gather the nations for that battle, God's people are to be gathered out from among the nations. That gathering makes the spread of the gospel among them urgent.

The summons for birds and beasts of prey to feast on the slain follows a worldwide conflict so vast that the dead are too numerous and too few remain to bury them, so the bodies lie unburied upon the field. That scene is the aftermath of a future war involving Russia and its allies and the nations opposing them. Its approach points the faithful to their coming redemption. It warns others to seek shelter in Jesus Christ.