Ezekiel 39:4, commentary and pictures

Thou with all thy bands and the people with thee fall upon the mountains of Israel and are given to ravenous birds of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. The prophecy belongs to the conditional promise from Ezekiel 36 onward offered to Israel after the Babylonian captivity, in which God would restore His scattered people to the mountains of Israel, destroy the northern enemies, and dwell among them in glory if they truly repented and yielded wholly to Him. Because Israel did not repent, with only about forty thousand returning and only a shadow of the temple built, the victory was only partial and was never fulfilled then in its fullness or in its original literal form with its bows and arrows, burial, and local prosperity. What remains is to be fulfilled in the last days on a broader and more glorious scale in harmony with conditions on the earth, partly before the second coming in the clearer terms of Revelation 16-19 and partly in the last great battle after the thousand years. Gog is the northern powers, revealed as Russia by Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, controlled by Satan and seeking to destroy God's people, and his doom points in general to God's final punishment of all who attack them. The prophecy therefore does not teach a special work for the literal Jews or their return to Palestine as a sign, but calls God's people to return to Him wholly, warning that bloody strife will end in eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others.

Words and Setting

Thou with all bands and the people with thee fall upon the mountains of Israel and are given to ravenous birds of every sort and to beasts of the field to be devoured. The outline is that of the gathering for Armageddon and the final conflict, in which the gathered forces of the northern nations meet defeat on Israel's mountains and are left as prey. That destruction is a national judgment by a great horde from the north under Magog sweeping down upon God's people in Palestine and destroyed there before Christ comes, not at the end of the thousand years when the dead of all ages are raised and national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. It belongs to God's last-day judgments against the army coming from the north, executed in part by plagues sent by God. Part is to be fulfilled before the second coming of Christ in the clearer terms of Revelation and part in the last great battle after the thousand years, and what remains must be fulfilled in harmony with conditions existing on the earth.

The fall was part of the victory that would have been fulfilled in full if Israel had accepted God's terms, but because Israel failed the victory was only partial and the details were not fully fulfilled then. It was a literal deliverance belonging to the old covenant with fleshly Israel and conditional on repentance and cleansing from sin. If they had been ashamed of their ways and yielded to God, He would have brought them back to the mountains of Israel, raised them as shown in the resurrection of Ezekiel 37, destroyed their northern enemies, and then enabled them to build the marvelous sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 where His presence would dwell as Jehovah Is There.

The mountains of Israel are the strongholds or governments of the nations where God's people live under some legal protection for religious liberty. The fall there belongs to the final scenes of Gog's career and of conflict and judgment, when God brings the invading power's purposes against His people to nothing and describes his ruin. Verses 4-5 are linked with the later verses about the same events.

The ancient literal details suited that age and will not be fulfilled literally with modern weapons and a worldwide war in which the slain lie unburied from one end of the earth to the other. There will be no literal burning of wooden bows, spears, arrows, shields and bucklers, and no burial of the dead and cleansing of the land by human hands as in Ezekiel 39:9-16. Its full fulfillment comes in the greater glory of the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected with it, without the local conditions of the prophet's day, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. The plagues and other judgments against those who attack God's people are therefore to be understood in the setting described in Revelation 16-19.

The promised setting included a gathered people of God living securely and prosperously in Israel with a wealth that would prompt attackers to seize spoil. That does not fit a literal fulfillment in the last days, when Palestine is not so inhabited, its residents are not dwelling safely, and the land has no wealth of the kind to invite spoil. The predicted wooden weapons also do not match modern armies. Gog is the great northern ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in the place of all others.

Conditional Promise to Israel

Ezekiel 39:4 belongs to the conditional prophecy running from Ezekiel 36 onward, and to the sanctuary prophecy of chapters 37-48, offered to Israel after the Babylonian captivity. In that setting God would have restored all His scattered people to the mountains of Israel and raised them, cut off the northern enemies and all enemies far and near and brought them into subjection and overthrow in Israel, dwelt among His people with glory never seen before, and built the new and far greater sanctuary and glorious temple where His presence and glory would dwell in the sight of the nations. The fall upon the mountains of Israel and giving to ravenous birds and beasts was the destruction of Gog and Magog and the northern nations that would have swept down on restored Israel, to be destroyed before Israel in its restored land.

That victory and restoration depended on Israel meeting God's conditions by truly repenting, being ashamed of iniquities, putting away wickedness and sin, returning to the Lord with all the heart, and yielding wholly to God. The call was to return to God and give themselves wholly to Him so they could receive the good things promised through the prophets, and only by forsaking sin and complying with the conditions would Israel have conquered and received the promises in full measure.

Because Israel did not repent and yield, was not ashamed and did not put away iniquities, the victory was only partial and was fulfilled only in a very small part, and the prophecy was not fulfilled then in its fullness, in detail, or in its original form. Only about forty thousand returned from captivity, so the promises were not realized in their fullness, and only a mere shadow of the temple was built because the people refused to be ashamed and heed the prophet. What God would have done if Israel had accepted His terms and been faithful — delivering Israel from enemies, cutting off all enemies, raising those gone down in death, rebuilding the glorious temple with its water of life and glory so Israel would become a light to the world — did not come to pass as described.

The closing chapters of Ezekiel are a prophecy of restoration that was never literally fulfilled and never will be literally fulfilled, and the sanctuary described there will never be built. The details will not all be fulfilled as described or in all the original details, and the judgment on Gog and Magog will not be fulfilled in detail in that form. The future glory promised to the faithful will instead be fulfilled for true Israel according to later revelations, faintly typified by these promises, in the earth made new and the new heavens and new earth when God restores all things by His mighty power.

Fulfillment in Last Days

The verse belongs to the general outline of the gathering for Armageddon and the final conflict, depicting the gathered forces falling on Israel's mountains and left as prey for birds and beasts. It places Persia among the forces associated with the power from the north whose defeat is part of that gathering for the approaching battle, while God gathers His people from among the nations and brings them to their land. It places the great confederacy of evil in an invasion of the territory once occupied by Israel. It belongs to the great Gog and Magog conflict linked to a tremendous conflict among the nations close at hand and discernible in the prophetic word.

What remains is to be fulfilled in harmony with conditions existing on the earth, for the ancient literal details such as the burning of wooden bows and spears and the burial of the dead and cleansing of the land in Ezekiel 39:9-16 suited that age and will not be fulfilled literally with modern weapons and a worldwide war in which the slain lie unburied from one end of the earth to the other. Part is to be fulfilled before the second coming of Christ in the clearer terms of Revelation and part in the last great battle after the thousand years. Because Israel did not meet the conditions of faith and obedience the prophecy will not be fulfilled in all its original details, yet God's purpose to punish wicked nations continues partly in this world before and when Christ comes and ultimately at the end of the thousand years, with Israel's promised inheritance fulfilled in the earth made new.

The destruction is a national judgment in which a great horde from the north led by Magog sweeps down upon God's people Israel in the land of Palestine and is destroyed there upon the mountains to be devoured by birds and beasts. This takes place before Christ comes, not at the end of the thousand years when the dead of all ages are raised, because then national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. The final doom of Gog and Magog, who once oppressed God's people, is pronounced through Ezekiel and comes when they are called into service at the close of the thousand years and join Satan's gathered hosts for the last battle.

The unfulfilled prophecy will be fulfilled in the last days under different conditions on a broader, stronger, and more glorious scale, in the greater glory of the second coming and connected events without the local conditions of the prophet's day. There will be no literal burning of wooden bows, arrows, shields and bucklers and no cleansing of the land by human hands, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. The promised setting of a gathered people living securely and prosperously in Israel with wealth prompting attackers to seize spoil does not fit a literal fulfillment in the last days when Palestine is not so inhabited, secured, or enriched, and wooden weapons do not match modern armies. The plagues and other judgments against those who attack God's people are therefore to be understood in the setting described in Revelation 16-19, not as a literal fulfillment of Ezekiel's stated setting, so that future combined armies sweeping over and destroying lesser powers would not fulfill Ezekiel's prophecy in its stated setting.

The prophecy was given beforehand as a warning and as a light in a dark place, because rapidly developing events of national interest and worldwide import mean eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others. It shows that the last days will be days of bloody strife, distress, and carnage among the nations, in which the enemies rush from the north like a storm against the mountains of Israel and there perish at God's presence amid fire and brimstone, with the birds called to feast upon their carcasses. The verse applies to present-day conditions and European affairs and war, foretelling Russia being turned back and brought forth in the present conflict. Japan is one means the Lord uses to turn Russia back, with Russia especially identified with the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.

The verse is associated with a future northern confederacy that will oppose the king of the south and is identified with the great coalition that will reinstate the Papacy. It belongs to the prophecy of a final northern apostasy whose forces sweep into the Holy Land with great power and destruction. If Israel had remained faithful its people would have occupied Palestine and the confederacy's design would have been directed against them there, but since Israel was scattered the same plan is directed at gaining that territory and destroying God's people scattered throughout the world. Even so the gospel mission gathers God's children while hostile powers gather for battle.

Identity of Gog

Gog is the ruler of Russia, identified through Rosh, Meshech and Tubal as chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and the prophecy reveals Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny. Russia is a power that will play an important part in the closing history of the world, with part of that prophecy fulfilled but much of it yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future. The prophecy is given beforehand as a warning and as a light in a dark place, because rapidly developing events of national interest and worldwide import mean eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others. It applies to present-day conditions and European affairs and war, foretelling Russia being turned back and brought forth in the present conflict.

The mighty army of Russia is to be destroyed on the mountains in the Holy Land, overthrown by God on the mountains of Israel and given to birds and wild animals to devour. This overthrow is part of God's last-day judgments against the army coming from the north. Japan is one means the Lord uses to turn Russia back, possibly turning her back in the present European war.

Gog and Magog also represent the northern nations, the northern enemies and great northern ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in the place of all others. Their appointed fate was to sweep down on restored Israel and fall upon the mountains of Israel, left for birds and beasts to devour, with Israel conquering before them if Israel had forsaken sin and returned to the Lord with all the heart and met God's conditions of faith and obedience. Because Israel failed those conditions the victory was only partial and the prophecy was fulfilled only in a very small part and not in all its original details, with its full fulfillment coming in the greater glory of the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected with it and ultimately at the end of the thousand years, and with Israel's promised inheritance fulfilled in the earth made new.

Persia stands among the forces associated with the power from the north whose defeat is foretold, part of the nations gathering for the approaching battle of Armageddon, while God gathers His people from among the nations and brings them to their land and the gospel mission gathers God's children even as hostile powers gather for battle. The wicked nations doomed to fall and be devoured are controlled by Satan and seek to destroy God's people.

Judgment Doctrine and Application

Ezekiel 39:4 is a prophecy of judgment in which God conquers Israel's enemies and gives them over to destruction. It concerns the wicked nations which, controlled by Satan, seek to destroy God's people. It belongs to what God was prepared to do for Israel after their return from Babylon, to destroy the nations that threatened them, including Gog and Magog. That victory was conditional on the people yielding wholly to Him, not an unconditional promise, and because the condition was not met it was not fulfilled in detail in its original form. What remains points in general to God's final punishment of those who seek to destroy His people.

The destruction to birds and beasts on the mountains of Israel occurs in another place, not in Gehenna. It is therefore no proof that Gehenna is where the wicked are now punished or will be kept alive forever. It stands instead as an example that God executes punishment by destruction in other places besides the valley of Hinnom.

The verse does not teach a special work of God among the Jews in the Christian dispensation. It does not establish a literal return of the Jews to Palestine as a sign to watch for, and interpretations that use Ezekiel 39 to predict such events are disputed and should not be announced as certain. The taking of the saints to heaven at the second coming of Christ, when the earth is desolated, overthrows the return-of-the-Jews theory drawn from it, along with its connected teaching of the reign of Christ and the inheritance of the saints on earth in that form. The prophecy calls God's people to return to Him and give themselves wholly to Him so they could receive the good things promised through the prophets. Its promise that the kings of the north and all enemies of Israel far and near would be brought into subjection and overthrown in Israel depended on Israel putting away wickedness and sin and being ashamed of iniquities, which they did not do. Like the other promises in this section it is faintly typical of what God will do in restoring all things for the faithful in the new heavens and new earth by His mighty power.