Ezekiel 39:18, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures the mighty rulers and princes of the earth as slain under divine judgment and given as food to the birds and beasts gathered to a great feast. They are portrayed as well-fed sacrificial animals, rams and lambs and goats and bullocks, all fatlings of Bashan, and the supper of the great God where the wicked are destroyed at the King's coming stands in contrast to the marriage supper where the redeemed feast at the King's table. It belongs to the closing part of Ezekiel, chapters 33 to 48, which sets forth restoration and promise and what the Lord would have done for His people if they had yielded to Him, a prophecy of what God would have done for Israel after the return from Babylon if Israel had been faithful and obedient. In general outline it describes the gathering of the nations for Armageddon, the last great battle before the Lord's return, the same event as Revelation 19:17-21, and the bodies of those slain in that war with all the wicked destroyed by the brightness of Christ's appearing are left to be devoured by wild beasts and birds of prey while the earth lies desolate during the thousand years. What was conditional will be fulfilled in the last days on a broader and more glorious scale at the second coming and connected events, without the local conditions of wooden weapons to be burned and cleansing of the land by human hands, because the fires of the last day will consume sin and melt the earth with fervent heat, while it is also the final doom pronounced upon Gog and Magog after the thousand years are expired when Satan gathers them against the camp of the saints and the beloved city.

Feast Imagery Explained

The verse pictures the mighty and the princes of the earth slain in divine judgment and given as food to birds and beasts gathered to a great feast. The enemies who come against God's people are destroyed, their corpses left for the birds, with flesh and blood of powerful people and well-fed animals as imagery for the slain. This great supper of God is connected with the coming of the King of kings and with Russia's role in the last-days conflict at Christ's second coming.

The mighty rulers are pictured as well-fed sacrificial animals — rams, lambs, and goats, bullocks, all fatlings of Bashan — made food for the birds of heaven. The scene shows an enormous slaughter with vast numbers of unburied dead, the slain warriors and their leaders becoming food for the birds and beasts gathered to the feast. The Lord invites all the fowls that fly in the air to feast upon the slain, eating the flesh of the mighty and drinking the blood of the princes wherever the carcass lies. That coming is vivid, brilliant and world-wide as lightning from east to west, with the slain lying throughout the earth, the last great gathering of the nations to war immediately preceding Christ's standing to deliver His own.

God summons creatures to a great supper in which they prey on people, including the mighty and princes. They feed on human flesh to satisfy their hunger, especially when famine follows the destruction of the earth's food sources. The supper of the great God where the wicked are destroyed at the King's coming stands in contrast to the marriage supper where the redeemed feast at the King's table.

Original Conditional Setting

The verse stands in the closing portion of Ezekiel, chapters 33 to 48, and more particularly chapters 36 to 48 and 37 to 48, which set forth restoration, consolation and promise, declaring what the Lord would do for His people if they yielded to Him. Its lesson is God's love for His house. It belonged to a prophecy of what God would have done for Israel after the return from Babylon if Israel had been faithful, obedient and repentant, putting away wickedness and being ashamed of iniquities as required in Ezekiel 43:9-11. Had they met those conditions He would have conquered their enemies far and near, bringing complete restoration with all His scattered people gathered from the nations to the mountains of Israel, dwelling among them with glory greater than ever seen, building a new and far greater sanctuary, and manifesting His glory among His people in the sight of the nations. The defeat of Israel's enemies and the giving of the mighty and the princes of the earth to be eaten belonged to that promised victory and subjection of the kings of the north.

Its particular details fit the weapons and conditions of Israel's time and not modern warfare or the final war. The prophecy pictures wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears that Israel could burn for fuel, the burying of the dead, villages without walls, and a people called God's own gathered out from all nations dwelling safely all of them with property and cattle and goods and wealth that arouses the cupidity of the northern powers, so that they think an evil thought and sweep down upon that land of peace and plenty to take great spoil. Present Palestine does not meet these conditions, being controlled by the Turk with only few Jews there, being among the poorest of lands with no such wealth to tempt invaders and no such safety, while the armies of today are not equipped with weapons of that kind.

Because Israel was not ashamed and did not put away iniquities and did not fully repent or yield, the promised outcome was not realized as stated. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, and the glory of Ezekiel 36-48 dwindled to the smaller temple built by Zerubbabel and faint prosperity after the restoration, fulfilled only partially, feebly, in very small part. Like the other promises of those chapters it is only faintly typical of what God will restore in the new heavens and new earth by His mighty power.

The prophecy was therefore never fulfilled in detail because its conditions were not met, was never literally fulfilled and never will be literally fulfilled as written. Its details, including the eating of the flesh of mighty men and drinking of the blood of princes and animals, will not be fulfilled as written, and not all its details should be applied literally to one time or event, since the prophecy is mixed and conditional. The promised full deliverance from enemies did not take place, yet it points generally to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people, and the promised future glory and immortal inheritance will instead be fulfilled for the faithful in the manner later revealed.

Final Battle Foretold

In general outline the verse describes the gathering of the nations for Armageddon, the last great battle fought before the Lord's return, the same event as Revelation 19:17-21 and the gathering of the nations for judgment near the end of the world. It belongs to the account of the final scenes of Gog's career and ruin and to the beginning of earth's closing scenes, referring to the same events as verses 4, 5 and 17-20 and agreeing with other prophecies about those scenes. The mighty and the princes of the earth being eaten means 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 while the earth lies desolate during the thousand years.

What was conditional will be fulfilled in the last days on a broader and more glorious scale in the second coming and connected events, under different conditions from Israel's time. The slaughter and feasting on the mighty would have taken place in that local setting after the restoration from Babylon if Israel had forsaken sin and returned to the Lord with all the heart and conquered its northern enemies, but because Israel failed it was fulfilled only in very small part with the glory of Ezekiel 36-48 dwindling to the smaller temple built by Zerubbabel and faint prosperity. There will be no burning of wooden bows and arrows and shields and bucklers and no cleansing of the land by human hands, because the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. Gog and Magog whose mighty men and princes are slain are great northern powers, ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in the place of all others.

Some hold that parts of Ezekiel 38-39 will be fulfilled before Christ's second coming in the clearer terms given in Revelation and other parts at the end of the thousand years, but this verse's slaughter and feasting is not specifically identified with those future events. Its imagery fits the weapons and conditions of Israel's time, not modern warfare or the final war, and because the prophecy is mixed and conditional not all its details should be applied literally to one time or event. Others hold that the verse involves distinct nations and aggregations of nations under national judgments with plagues that take place before Christ comes. It cannot describe Gog and Magog raised from the dead at the end of the thousand years, because then when all the dead of all ages come up national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated.

Still others place the verse as the final doom pronounced upon Gog and Magog after the thousand years are expired, when Satan is loosed out of his prison, the wicked are brought back, and Satan goes out to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city. In this application the Russian army is part of the prey, destroyed on the mountains of the Holy Land after the Turks are driven from Europe and the Ottoman Empire comes to an end, in the world's final conflict linked to Christ's second coming. The aftermath of that final conflict is a great feast for birds and beasts, with mighty warriors and earthly rulers slain and their bodies become food in God's judgment.

Nations and History

Ezekiel 39:18 belongs to the account of the final scenes of Gog's career and ruin near the end of the world, describing the same events as the gathering of the nations for judgment. It portrays a great horde from the north sweeping down upon God's people Israel in Palestine in a confederacy led by Magog, northern nations attacking Israel under national judgments with plagues that take place before Christ comes. It cannot describe Gog and Magog raised from the dead at the end of the thousand years, because when all the dead of all ages come up then national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. In its first application it showed what God would have done for the Jews after the restoration from Babylon if they had obeyed Him, forsaken sin and returned to the Lord with all the heart, conquering the northern enemies with slaughter and feasting on the mighty in that local setting. Because Israel did not meet God's requirements and refused to be ashamed, that victory was only partial and fulfilled only in very small part, with the glory of Ezekiel 36-48 dwindling to the smaller temple built by Zerubbabel and faint prosperity.

The later fulfillment follows the new covenant and concerns a larger confederacy of nations opposing God's people, to be fulfilled in greater glory in the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected with it but without the local conditions of the prophet's day. Then there will be no burning of wooden bows and arrows and shields and bucklers and no cleansing of the land by human hands, because the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat, and the details about weapons and burying the dead do not describe the final conflict in detail. Gog and Magog whose mighty men and princes are slain are great northern powers, ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in the place of all others. Had Israel remained faithful God's people would have occupied Palestine and the evil confederacy would have targeted them by invading their land, but now that God's people are scattered throughout the world the same plan is to seize the territory once occupied by Israel and destroy God's people wherever they are.

The context names Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, associated with Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk and identified as the czar's land. Russia is presented as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Japan is presented as one means the Lord uses to turn Russia back.

The prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39 about Russia and her international policy and ultimate destiny is given as warning about rapidly developing events of national interest and worldwide import in the Far East in a time of distress of nations with perplexity. It foretells present-day conditions in European affairs and Far Eastern conditions, about Russia turned back by Japan and brought forth in the present war. Part of it has been fulfilled and much of it is yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future, meaning eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others.

The verse is a prophecy of judgment brought by the hand of God Himself for the salvation of Israel His people, declaring that the Lord would cut off all the enemies of His people. It is directed against the wicked nations which, controlled by Satan, seek to destroy God's people. It belongs to the closing chapters' prophecy of restoration, which was conditional upon God's people heeding the prophet's words and which was never literally fulfilled and never will be literally fulfilled, so because they refused to be ashamed the promised full deliverance from enemies did not take place.

Ezekiel 39 is cited as a possible reference to the mighty confederacy led by the king of the north, which will be reinstated with the Papacy and attack the king of the south. It is cited as part of a prophecy of a final northern apostasy that sweeps through the Holy Land with great power and destruction. It is understood here as a prophecy of a tremendous Gog and Magog war involving the great nations that is close at hand.

Other Scripture Connections

Ezekiel 39:17-18 parallels Revelation 19:17-18, showing the summons to the birds to eat the flesh of the mighty and the princes of the earth after their overthrow. It depicts the great supper of God as a judgment in which the mighty and princes are given as food to the beasts and birds, connected with the coming of the King of kings. Its plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone upon the wicked who come against God's people have their true setting not in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16-19, so the last part of Ezekiel is to be understood in the light of Revelation. It refers to the same events as verses 4, 5 and 17-20, belonging to the description of Gog's final defeat and the beginning of earth's closing scenes, and agrees with other prophecies about those scenes, though combined armies like those set forth in Ezekiel 38 may appear in revolutions in the near future and sweep down over lesser powers and utterly destroy them outside that setting.

It is fulfilled at the second coming of Christ, which is vivid, brilliant and world-wide as lightning shining from east to west, when the Lord invites all the fowls that fly in the air to feast upon the slain of the Lord wherever the carcass lies and the eagles are gathered together throughout the earth, the supper of the great God as the last great gathering of the nations to war that immediately precedes Christ standing at the door to deliver His own. The destruction in Ezekiel 38 and 39 will occur in places other than Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, though Gehenna has been and will be a place of punishment, possibly again by fire. The closing chapters are used to teach the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ, and the inheritance of the saints on earth, but that earthly restoration does not stand, because the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is desolated.