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Ezekiel 38-39    Listen Podcast
These two chapters should be read together. They prophesy concerning the same yet-future battle in Israel.

A big battle is in Israel's prophetic future (Ezekiel 38)
Ezekiel prophesies of a yet-future battle that turns out to be a huge affair - and logically so! The prophecy of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 (see notes) sees the resurrection of an entire nation (Israel) after a long period of inactivity. Most teaching that passage today see the events of chapter 37 beginning to take shape after Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, having not been an independent nation for over 2500 years. The battle of chapters 38-39 must follow that occasion, making it an event that takes place after 1948.

1 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 and say, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
6 Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.

What do we know about the attackers?

7 ¶ “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them.
8 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.
9 You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”
10 ¶ “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:
11 You will say, “I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’—
12 to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, “Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’ ” ’

In verses 7-13, we get a glimpse of what will be going on in the minds of these enemies of Israel prior to this battle. The big question is: When does this battle fall, prophetically, in Israel's future?

There are four common conjectures regarding the timing of this battle.

14 ¶ “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?
15 Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.
16 You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”
17 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?
18 ¶ “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that My fury will show in My face.
19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: “Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel,
20 so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’
21 I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
22 And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.” ’

Verses 14-23 begin to describe this battle. The attack comes from the north (verse 15) in great numbers (verse 16). Then there will be an earthquake in verses 19-20 which matches the scenario found in Revelation 6:12-17 (see notes). As a matter of fact, verses 21-23 fit nicely into the scenario found in Revelation 6:12-17 as well.

The aftermath of the battle (Ezekiel 39)

1 “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal;
2 and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel.
3 Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand.
4 You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord GOD.
6 “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day of which I have spoken.
9 ¶ “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years.
10 They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord GOD.
11 ¶ “It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog.
12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land.
13 Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified,” says the Lord GOD.
14 “They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search.
15 The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.
16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land.” ’
17 ¶ “And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, “Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field:
‘Assemble yourselves and come;
Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal
Which I am sacrificing for you,
A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel,
That you may eat flesh and drink blood.
18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty,
Drink the blood of the princes of the earth,
Of rams and lambs,
Of goats and bulls,
All of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 You shall eat fat till you are full,
And drink blood till you are drunk,
At My sacrificial meal
Which I am sacrificing for you.
20 You shall be filled at My table
With horses and riders,
With mighty men
And with all the men of war,” says the Lord GOD.
21 ¶ “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward.
23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.” ’
25 ¶ “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name—
26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations,
28 then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.
29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”

There are some interesting and unmistakable identifiers associated with this battle. After the battle described in these two chapters, it takes 7 months to bury the dead of the enemy (verse 12), and their weapons are used as fuel for seven years (verse 9). I first started studying these two chapters in 1973 and have considered a myriad of possibilities for fitting this battle into other prophetic passages; I am convinced that this battle sits most compatibly at the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation.

We see that the allied enemies involved here come from the north, west, east and south. By the way, the country borders of Ezekiel's day were different than today. The biggest culprit seems to be that northernmost nation leading the offensive against Israel's "unwalled cities."

Let's plug this battle into other prophetic passages:
As mentioned, I'm convinced that the time of this battle is the midpoint of the tribulation. The antichrist will have been increasing in influence over a world experiencing relative peace for the first 3 1/2 years of the tribulation (See notes on Revelation 6). These enemy armies will occupy the mountains around Jerusalem. We see that an earthquake and events that resemble volcanic activity preemptively destroy the enemy right there in the mountains (Ezekiel 38:19-20). That seems to coincide with the events of Revelation 6:12-17 (see notes) detailing the same kind of an event. It seems that this is the event supernaturally orchestrated by God which sets up the last half of the tribulation. We see in these two chapters that God causes the enemy to plan the attack, and God destroys them with an earthquake. After their miraculous destruction, it seems plausible that the antichrist will take credit for the victory and proclaim himself to be God. It is at this point that Daniel's "abomination of desolation" will take place (Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14; Luke 21:20; II Thessalonians 2:4 - see notes); the antichrist will declare himself to be God and move into the temple that will have been built by that time in Jerusalem. With that great allied enemy destroyed, the antichrist is in a great position to rule with unopposed authority - at least for awhile.