Ezekiel 39:20, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures God's judgment table where the defeated armies of the northern assault, with their horses, chariots, mighty men and all men of war, are given as a feast for the birds and beasts of prey. It belonged to a conditional promise of deliverance and restoration that would have been fulfilled in detail for Israel in that day if they had repented, obeyed and returned with all the heart after Babylon. Because Israel failed, what was promised to literal Israel will instead be fulfilled on a broader and more glorious scale in the last days and in the new heavens and new earth. In its broad outline it concerns Armageddon and the closing events of earth's history, describing the same event as Revelation 19:17-21 where kings and armies opposed to Christ are destroyed at His return. Part will occur before Christ comes the second time and part in the last great battle after the thousand years, when Satan gathers Gog and Magog from the four quarters against the camp of the saints, while Gog is the ruler of Russia and the great northern confederacy sweeping down upon God's people.

Words and Original Setting

The verse stands in the closing part of Ezekiel, chapters 33 to 48, in the sanctuary vision of the last part of the book. That section from chapter 36 onward, and chapters 37 to 48 in particular, promises consolation and restoration and shows God's love for His house. It declares what He would do for His people if they yielded to Him.

In its original setting it describes a great horde from the north led by Gog and Magog sweeping down upon those God calls My people Israel in the land of Palestine. The attackers meet destruction on the mountains of Israel amid fire and brimstone at God's presence. It is a judgment against wicked nations that under Satan's control seek to destroy God's people. It involves divisions of nations and aggregation of nations and national judgments, with Persia associated with the power from the north in a great gathering for battle.

The horses and chariots, mighty men and all men of war are the defeated enemy forces and their equipment brought to God's table. These are the final scenes of Gog's career, occurring later in the sequence than the earlier restraints and leading toward the end of the world. Their slain horses, chariots, mighty men and warriors become food for birds, consumed at His table.

Read literally the prophecy demands conditions of the prophet's day that do not exist now. It demands the mountains of Israel inhabited by God's own gathered people out of all nations, dwelling safely all together in unwalled villages, with property and cattle and goods and tempting wealth to arouse the cupidity of the northern powers to take great spoil. It demands armies equipped with wooden shields and bucklers and handstaves and spears that could be used for fuel, whereas today's armies are not so equipped. Palestine is controlled by the Turk and holds only few Jews, and is the poorest of lands with no such wealth to tempt invaders and no such safe dwelling.

Conditional Offer to Israel

Ezekiel 39:20 belongs to a conditional prophecy of deliverance from enemies and restoration connected with the sanctuary vision in the last part of Ezekiel, beginning in chapter 36, which would have been fulfilled in detail in Israel's day after the seventy years in Babylon if Israel had been faithful and had obeyed God. Its fulfillment depended on Israel forsaking sin and putting away wickedness, returning to the Lord with all the heart, yielding to Him and truly repenting, being ashamed and confounded for their ways and for iniquities, and being cleansed from sin. The northern nations represented by Gog sweeping down from the north would then have been defeated before them, and the fate appointed for those enemies — horses and chariots and mighty men and men of war made a feast at God's table — would have been accomplished in the restoration from Babylon. Because Israel failed to meet God's requirements, that victory took place only in very small part and was only partial, and the details were not fulfilled as originally promised.

If Israel had met the conditions, God would have brought into subjection the kings of the north and their enemies far and near, cut off all their enemies, given them victory, and made Jerusalem a praise in the earth. He would have brought them back to the mountains of Israel, made them great, raised them as described in the resurrection of Ezekiel 37, and destroyed the northern host coming down upon them with plagues falling upon the enemies, filling birds and beasts with the slain. After that victory Israel would have built the marvelous sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48, and the presence of God would have dwelt among them in glory in the city called Jehovah Is There. The promises concerning true Israel looked to restored scattered people dwelling with God in glory, receiving future glory and the full immortal inheritance.

Because Israel did not yield, did not truly repent, refused to be ashamed and did not put away iniquities, the promise was not fulfilled in its fullness and glory. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, and the promised restoration was not realized in fullness. The closing chapters' prophecy of restoration was therefore never literally fulfilled and never will be literally fulfilled, and the chapter's specific details will not all be fulfilled. The promised sanctuary would have been built there, but Israel did not accept God's plan, it was never literally built, it will never be built literally, and it will not be built because Christ fulfilled the sacrifices on which it depended.

What was given to literal, fleshly Israel under the old covenant will instead be fulfilled concerning true Israel through later revelations, in the last days under different conditions and on a broader and more glorious scale. Like the other promises of that section, it is faintly typical of what will take place in the new heavens and new earth when God restores all things by His mighty power. It will be fulfilled in greater glory at the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected with it, but without the local conditions of the prophet's day, without burning of weapons and without cleansing of the land by human hands. The warfare imagery of horses and chariots and mighty men and men of war must now be fulfilled in harmony with conditions existing on the earth, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat.

Time of End Fulfillment

The broad outline of Ezekiel 38 and 39 concerns Armageddon and the closing events of earth's history, with tribes and peoples gathered under the czar lining up for that final conflict. The gathering is worldwide and tremendous, involving the great nations in the prophesied Gog and Magog conflict, and it was presented as close at hand. It is one of the last signs immediately preceding Christ standing at the door, when the Lord invites all the fowls that fly in the air to feast on the slain of the Lord at the second coming. God's table is filled with their horses and chariots, mighty men and warriors, showing the destruction of the hostile armies under God's wrath.

Part will occur before Christ comes the second time and part in the last great battle on the other side of the thousand years, with Revelation giving the clearer terms of those events. Gog and Magog represent northern nations that will be punished partly in this world before and when Christ comes, and finally at the end of the thousand years. The warfare imagery of horses and chariots and mighty men and men of war made a feast at God's table must now be fulfilled in harmony with conditions existing on the earth.

The verse depicts the defeat before the second coming, the last great battle fought before the Lord returns, the war of Armageddon, the same event as Revelation 19:17-21. In its general pattern it points to God's final punishment of those who destroy His people at the second coming, a prophecy of judgment on the nations that threaten Israel in which Gog and Magog and their forces are slain. It will be fulfilled in greater glory at the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected with it, but without the local conditions of the prophet's day. The bodies of those killed in that battle, together with all the wicked destroyed by the brightness of Christ's appearing, are left unburied to be eaten by wild beasts and birds of prey during the thousand years the earth lies desolate, with so many dead in a worldwide war that they remain unburied. The divisions of nations and aggregation of nations and national judgments described take place before Christ comes, in the aftermath of the final conflict as a great feast for birds and beasts on slain warriors, rulers, horses and chariots, linked to the events surrounding Christ's second coming.

The verse also depicts the final doom at the close of the thousand years, when Satan is loosed from his prison and gathers the wicked nations from the four quarters of the earth, including Gog and Magog who in past days oppressed God's people, to battle against the camp of the saints and the city of God. Others held that it does not describe the time at the end of the thousand years when Gog and Magog are raised from the dead, because when all the dead of all ages come up together national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated.

Literal details suited only to ancient warfare will not be literally repeated in the last days. There will be no literal burning of wooden bows and arrows and spears and handstaves and shields and bucklers for fuel for seven years, and no burying of the dead and cleansing of the land by human hands, for 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 fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. The true setting for the judgments of plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against His own people is not found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16-19, in whose light the prophecies in the last part of Ezekiel must be read.

Russia and Northern Powers

Gog is the ruler or czar of Russia, named as chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, with Rosh in the Revised Version marking that northern power. The prophecy brings Noah's descendants after the Flood to notice by name and by country to give information and instruction about the origin of the Russian Empire, its international policy with its American complications, and its ultimate destiny in the Russo-Eastern question. Part of that prophecy has been fulfilled, but much of it is yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future. It is given as a warning to be studied and applied before fulfillment, as a light in a dark place, because those coming things mean eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others.

Gog and Magog whose overthrow is described are great northern powers, ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in place of all others. They are pictured as a mighty northern confederacy in conflict with opposing powers, linked to the Papacy and to a future world-spanning military campaign. They form a last great northern apostasy that sweeps over the Holy Land with great power and destruction. Had Israel remained faithful, the prophecy would have pictured God's people occupying Palestine while an evil world confederacy sought to seize their territory and destroy them, and in present application God's people are scattered throughout the world but the same evil plan is directed against them.

The prophecy foretells Russia's important part in the closing work of world history. The filling of the table with horses and chariots, mighty men and men of war describes the aftermath of the final conflict as a great feast for the birds and beasts, with warriors, rulers, horses and chariots slain and consumed under God's last-day judgments. It is applied to the Russian army and the other forces destroyed in the final conflict, and specifically to the destruction of Russia's invading army on the mountains of the Holy Land. In that application the prophecy points to a worldwide war involving Russia and its allies against England and its allies, with so many dead that they remain unburied.

The prophecy bears on the unhappy condition of affairs in the Far East and the rapid development of events of national interest and worldwide import, which are the distress of nations with perplexity and men's hearts failing them for fear while looking after those things coming on the earth. It belongs to the foretelling of present-day conditions in European affairs, applied to Russia in the present war as turned back and brought forth, with the question whether by Japan. Japan is described as a means God is using to turn Russia back. The prophesied Gog and Magog conflict is described as a tremendous war involving the great nations and as close at hand, associated with the partition of China.

Conflicting interpretations of Russia's fate are reason to wait for more light rather than announce a definite forecast, and the prophecy does not establish a literal return of the Jews to Palestine as a sign to watch for. 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, but not in the setting found in this prophecy. The true setting for the judgments of plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against God's own people is not found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16-19, in whose fuller, clearer disclosures the last part of Ezekiel must be read.

Feast and Scripture Parallels

To be filled at God's table means the slain become a feast that God Himself provides, with warriors, rulers, horses, chariots, mighty men and all men of war given to be consumed under His last-day judgments. The Lord invites all the fowls that fly in the air to feast upon the slain of the Lord at the second coming of Christ, and the slain warriors and horses become food for birds and beasts of prey, so many dead that they remain unburied. That gathering is worldwide, answering where the carcass is there the eagles will be gathered together, and it is the supper of the great God and the last great gathering of the nations to war, made one of the last signs immediately preceding Christ standing at the door.

The feast is the great supper of God where beasts and birds of prey feed on the dead, presenting the fate of the kings and armies of the earth opposed to Christ at His return. Horses, chariots, mighty men and warriors are consumed by the birds gathered for the feast, connected with the coming of the King of kings with destruction of the wicked. The summoning of beasts to the supper is also applied to beasts preying on people whose food supply has been destroyed, as part of the famine, sword, pestilence and beasts brought by hurting the earth, sea and trees.

The bodies of those killed in that battle, together with all the wicked destroyed by the brightness of Christ's appearing, are left unburied to be eaten by wild beasts and birds of prey during the thousand years the earth lies desolate. This is the same event as Revelation 19:17-21, the last great battle fought before the Lord returns, the war of Armageddon. The prophecies in the last part of Ezekiel must be read in the light of the fuller, clearer disclosures in Revelation 16 to 19, where Revelation gives the clearer terms for fulfillments both before Christ's second coming and at the end of the thousand years. The true setting for the plagues, pestilence, hailstones, fire and brimstone poured out upon the wicked who come against His people is found not in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but in Revelation 16-19, so that combined armies like those set forth in Ezekiel 38 may appear in near-future revolutions and sweep over lesser powers and destroy them without being in the setting of this prophecy. Its filling with horses and chariots, mighty men and men of war belongs to a destruction in another place, distinct from punishments by fire in Gehenna the valley of Hinnom.