The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 293

EXPOSITION. CHAPTER XXXIX. ravenous birds of every ■ort; or, wing. The language depicts an army on the Of the two me.in divisions of this chapter, me.roh, followed by jackals, vultures, and the first (vers. 1-20) depicts the greatness other birds of prey, ready to feast upon of the overthrow of Gog; the second (vers. the corpses of slaughtered men (comp. 21-29) records the impression made by it oh. xxxiii. 27 : 1 Sam. xvii. 46 ; and Homer's 'Iliad,' i. 4, 5). In addition to destroying upon both Israel ancl the heathen, and adds Gog, causing him to fall upon the moun- a closing promise to the former. tains of Israel and upon the open field ; Vere. 1-20.-In the first main division literally, upon tlie faoo of the field, Jehovah Ezekiel repeats the substance of what has engages to <'e.rry the fire of war and already been advanced concerning the de- generally of devastation (cf. eh. xxxxiii. 22; Amos ii. 2, 5; Rev. xx. 29) into Gog's own feat of Gog (vers. 1-8), after which he land, Magog (see on eh. xxxviii. 2), and strives to represent its completeness (vers. among them that dwell oe.relessly (better, 9-20), by setting forth (1) the immense securely) in the isles; or, ooast-lands (eh. quantity of spoil Israel should obtain from xxvii. 7); i.e. not merely the merchants of the fallen foe (vers. 9, 10), (2) the length of Te.rshish, or the "isles" of the trading nations mentioned in eh. xx.xviii. 13, as time it should take Israel to bnry the dead Hengstenberg and Plnmptre prefer, but, and cleanse the land from defilement ( vers. as Smend, Schroder, and Keil explain, all 11-16, and (8) the horrible oal'D.age which the distant peoples of the coast-lands from should ensue on Gog's destruction, sym- whom Gog's armies were drawn (eh. n:avlli. bolized by a vast sacrificial feast prepared 5, 6), and in whom were many of Gog's sympathizers. by Jehovah for the beasts and birds (vers. Ver. 8.-:Behold! it is oome. "The 17-20). words which a man might speak on be- Ver. I.-The chief prinoe of Mesheoh holding his purpose e.ooomplished are, with and Tubal ; or, PTince of Rosh, Meshech, and Ezekiel's bold anthropomorphism, put into Tubal (see on eh. mviii. 2). the mouth of Jehovah" (Plumptre). Ver. 2.-I will . . . leave but the sixth Vere. 9, 10 set forth as the first proof of pa.rt of thee. The word "l'!'lN~\!'1 iB derived the greatness of Gog's overthrow the im- mense booty in the shape of weapons of either from the numeml six, 'ii,\?, or from war which should be obtained by the in- the root Nt~, the import of ,which is un- he.bite.nts of the cities of Israel. So huge certain, e.!though e. cognate root in Etbiopio should be the quantity of wee.pons left l!llggeststhe idea of"goingon" or" proceed- behind by the slain, that the Israelites ing"-& meaning l:li:i.vemick also finds in should burn them with fire aeven years. the Hebrew. The former derivation has This burning of the wee.pons has been been followed by the Authorized Version, explained by Hii.verniok, on the ground that which renders in the me.rgin, •• I will strike weapons of war, as incompatible with Mes- thee with six plagues," or" draw thee back sianic times, should be no more required with a hook of six teeth," and by Heng- ( cf. Isa. ii. 4) ; by Ewe.Id, as in e.ocordance stenberg, with whom Plumptre agree~, "I with the custom of the Hebrews (Isa. ix. will six thee," i.e. "afflict thee with six 5) nnd other ancient peoples (Livy, xxxviii. plagues," viz. those mentioned in eh. mviii. 23 ; Virgil, 'lEucid,' viii. 562) ; by Hitzig 22. The latter derivation, presumably and Smend, as prompted by the consid01re.- the more correct, is adopted by the LXX. tion that Israel, for whom Jehovah had (1<a.607ioy,f,11,,), the Vulgate (educam), the fought, should have no further need of wea- Revised Version (" I will lead thee on"), pons; by Schroder, as indicating that for and by modem expositors generally. Hitzig Israel these warlike iUBtruments should and Smend approve of Ewald'a translation, then so completely lose their power to "I entice thee astray, and lead thee with terrify that they might be looked upon lee.ding- strings." simply as so muoh firewood; and by Keil, 118 Ver. 3.-I will ■mite thy bow out of thy designed to annihilo.te the enemy e.n<l remove left hand. Bows and arrows were charac- every tre.co of him. Kliefoth appears nearest teristic weapons of the Soythians, whom the mark, in suggesting that the emphasis HerodotUB (iv. 46) atyles /,r,rOTof&·rcu (comp. lies upon the length of time the burning Jer. v. 16: vi 28; and see note on eh. should continue; and that this was in, xxxviii. 15). tended, by conveying an idea of the vastness Vere. 4-6. - I will give thee 1U1to of the spoil, to represent the thoroughness os. xx.x1x. 1-29.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 303