Ezekiel 39:2, commentary and pictures

God himself turns the northern chief back, strips his host down to a sixth part, and makes him come up from the far north to the mountains of Israel where his advance is governed and cut short. The promise belonged to the conditional offer made to restored Israel after the Babylonian captivity, depending on repentance and putting away of sin, and because Israel did not yield it was never fulfilled as written in its full measure and detail. What remains is fulfilled on a broader and more glorious scale in harmony with the gospel that the Gentiles are fellow heirs in Christ and in the clearer unconditional terms given in Revelation, with its type finding its antitype in Revelation 20 and 21. Those who held the northern power to be Russia taught that the verse reveals its ruler, its rise, its wars such as with Turkey and Japan, and its gathering for Armageddon to be destroyed in the Holy Land. Part of that overthrow falls before the second coming of Christ with the plagues of the last days, and its ultimate completion comes in the final rebellion after the thousand years when the forces of evil are summoned to their final doom.

Wording and Immediate Scene

God himself turns Gog back and leaves but the sixth part of him, and causes him to come up from the north parts and brings him upon the mountains of Israel, so that his advance is directed and limited by God. The marginal wording about drawing back with a hook of six teeth is not retained in the English and American Revised Versions, which render the clause as turning Gog about and leading him on, and it does not support identifying six separate retreats or linking the verse to six plagues. On a different reading the hook is symbolic and its six teeth represent six divisions of a constraining force, as when Russia entered Turkish territory in the Turko-Russian War of 1877 and six powers at the Berlin Treaty — England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey — compelled it to give up its intended gains after it had been turned back from territory it had entered.

The verse depicts a great horde from the north led by Magog sweeping down upon God's people Israel dwelling in the land of Palestine upon the mountains of Israel, meaning a confederacy and aggregation of distinct nations bringing national judgments. The enemies rush onward from the north quarters like a storm onto the mountains of Israel, and there amid bloody strife and a tempest of fire and brimstone they perish at the presence of God and the birds are called to feast upon their carcasses, showing that the last days will be days of bloody strife, distress, and carnage among the nations of the earth.

Its setting requires a gathered people of God living safely in a prosperous land, conditions that are absent in present-day Palestine, so it is not a literal prediction of a last-days attack in that setting. The attacking forces are also described as using wooden weapons, unlike modern armies.

Conditional Offer to Israel

Ezekiel 39:2 belongs to a conditional, mixed prophecy originally offered to restored Israel after the Babylonian captivity in connection with the sanctuary described in the last chapters of Ezekiel. Its promises depended on Israel yielding wholly to God, obeying Him, truly repenting, being ashamed and confounded for sins and iniquities, and putting away wickedness. Because Israel did not meet the conditions and was not faithful, the prophecy was never fulfilled as written in its full measure and detail.

What God offered was to bring His scattered people back upon the mountains of Israel, then cause the northern enemy host to come up from the north parts and bring it upon those mountains in order to destroy it there with plagues. He would cut off all enemies, bring the northern kings and enemies far and near into subjection, conquer Israel's enemies, make Jerusalem a praise in the earth, and make Israel great. He would grant the resurrection pictured in Ezekiel 37, cleanse His people from sin, and give the marvelous sanctuary and temple of Ezekiel 40-48 with its water of life and glory, where God would dwell in glory in the city called Jehovah Is There, so that Israel would become a light to the world and His glory would be manifested before the nations.

Because Israel refused to be ashamed, did not forsake sins and iniquities, and did not faithfully yield and return to God, the victory and restoration were only partial, in small part and very limited. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, and the Jews failed to meet the conditions for the larger fulfillment. Only a mere shadow of the temple and deliverance was built instead of the full deliverance.

Its details cannot be pressed literally for that time or for later times with ancient weapons and local conditions. What remains to be fulfilled is fulfilled not with those conditions but in harmony with conditions existing on earth, under different conditions in the last days, on a broader and more glorious scale. It must be read in the light of 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, and in the clearer unconditional terms given in Revelation, where its plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against God's people find their setting in Revelation 16-19.

The verse belongs to Ezekiel 33 to 48 and 36 to 48 and 38 to 40, prophecies of restoration full of consolation and promise, showing God's love for His house. In general it serves as a type of God's final punishment of those who would destroy His people, whose antitype is found in Revelation 20 and 21. The promised subjection faintly foreshadows what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth.

Gog Identified With Russia

Gog is the ruler, or czar, of Russia, the land of Magog, Meshech, Tubal and Rosh, and the land of the czar through the names Rosh, Meshech and Tubal in Ezekiel 38-39. The prophecy foretells Russia's rise as a power and its important role in the closing work of world history, revealing Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny. God restrains Gog just before the final events that lead to his ruin and the end of the world.

Gog also represents the northern Scythian nations to Israel's north and their confederates, powerful northern nations driven by ambition to rule over others. The prophecy would have been fulfilled for restored Israel after Babylon if the people had obeyed God, forsaken sins, returned to God and met His requirements, with those northern enemies attacking Israel and being conquered and destroyed before Israel. Because Israel did not meet God's requirements the victory was only partial and the promises were fulfilled only in small part and in very limited measure. On that greater reading there will be no burning of weapons or cleansing of the land by human hands in events connected with Christ's second coming, because the fires of the last day will consume sin and melt the earth.

The turning back applies to Russia's retreat after its 1877 war with Turkey, when Russia entered Turkish territory and came from the north but was turned back from Constantinople. Six powers at the Berlin council and treaty — England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Turkey — imposed a treaty requiring withdrawal and compelled Russia to give up its intended gains. The hook is symbolic and its six teeth represent six divisions of a constraining force. The verse also points to Russia's later return to the country from which it was driven back.

Russia, identified with the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, is turned back in its conflict with Japan, with Japan described as a means God is using to turn Russia back. Russia being turned back by Japan and brought forth in the present European war, caused to come up from the north parts upon the mountains of Israel, foretells present-day conditions and European affairs. That European war fulfills prophecy alongside Daniel, Joel and Revelation.

The northern peoples assembling under the czar belong to the general prophetic outline of a gathering for Armageddon, coming from the north with a mighty army to be destroyed on the mountains of the Holy Land. Part of that prophecy has been fulfilled, but much of it is yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future. God restrains Gog just before the final events leading to his ruin, and the verse is given as warning beforehand and as a light in the present distress of nations, to be applied now before fulfillment. It is used to discern the present position amid the strife of the time, identifying the great Gog and Magog conflict as a tremendous international war approaching amid Russia's expansion and the threatened partition of China.

End-Time Fulfillment Pattern

Ezekiel 38 and 39 are divided in fulfillment, with some events occurring before the second coming of Christ and some in the last great battle fought on the other side of the thousand years, so that Gog and Magog are punished in part in this world before and when Christ comes and ultimately at the end of the thousand years. What remains is not fulfilled with ancient weapons and local conditions but in harmony with conditions existing on earth, and only in the clearer unconditional terms given in Revelation and in the light of the fuller revelation that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel. The northern invasion as a confederacy and aggregation of distinct nations bringing national judgments, with plagues falling upon the invaders sweeping down upon the mountains of Israel, takes place before Christ comes. It cannot mean the attack of Gog and Magog at the end of the thousand years when all the dead of all ages are raised, because then national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated.

On the other reading, the prophecy belongs to the final effort of the wicked to oppose God and His redeemed people after the thousand years when the unrighteous have been raised in the second resurrection. In that final rebellion the northern peoples named symbolize the forces of world evil opposing God and His redeemed, nations controlled by Satan seeking to destroy God's people, summoned to receive their final doom and ultimate destruction as impenitent nations. There is also a greater fulfillment in events connected with Christ's second coming without the local conditions of Ezekiel's time, fulfilled under different conditions on a broader and more glorious scale. There will then be no burning of weapons or cleansing of the land by human hands, because the fires of the last day will consume sin and melt the earth.

The plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against God's people find their setting not in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16-19, while the picture of combined armies will appear in near-future revolutions sweeping down over lesser powers and destroying them outside the setting given in the prophecy. God brings the northern army onto the mountains of Israel, where He overthrows it with the judgments of the last days. That overthrow is a final great northern apostasy and northern confederacy sweeping over the Holy Land with great power and destruction, described as coming against the southern power in the final conflict, though that north-south connection is presented as uncertain. Had Israel remained faithful Israel would have occupied Palestine and the great confederacy of evil would have targeted God's people by invading their land, but after Israel's scattering the same plan seeks to secure that territory and destroy God's people scattered throughout the world.

That scattering is associated with God gathering His people from among the nations and bringing them to their land, and as the nations align for Armageddon with Persia joined to the great power from the north it points to the urgent work of bringing the gospel to Persia and the surrounding regions. The prophecy is therefore not a literal prediction of a last-days attack in the present Palestinian setting, since its setting requires a gathered people of God living safely in a prosperous land with attackers using wooden weapons, conditions absent in present-day Palestine and unlike modern armies. It cannot rightly be used for a future return of the Jews with an earthly reign of Christ and an earthly inheritance of the saints, because at the second coming the saints are caught up to meet Christ in the air and taken to heaven while the earth is desolated, and admitting that heaven-going and desolation overthrows the return-of-the-Jews theory and the theories connected with it.

Scriptural Links and Warning

Ezekiel 38 and 39 point to a destruction taking place elsewhere than Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom. Gehenna has served as a place of punishment by fire and will do so, and may again do so, but the overthrow here described lies in another place.

The passage is to be applied now, before its fulfillment, as warning given beforehand and as light amid the present distress of nations. Part has been fulfilled, yet much remains to come to pass in the immediate and near future, revealing international policy and ultimate destiny. The Gog and Magog conflict is thus identified as a tremendous international war approaching amid the strife of the time, including expansion and the threatened partition of China, by which the present position in relation to coming events may be discerned.