Ezekiel 38:12

To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. TO TURN THINE HAND ... UPON THE PEOPLE THAT ARE GATHERED OUT OF THE NATIONS ... THAT DWELL IN THE MIDST OF THE LAND - literally, in the navel of the land (Judges 9:37, margin.) So, in Ezekiel 5:5, Israel is said to be set "in the midst of the nations:" "This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations;" not physically, but morally; a central position for being a blessing to the world. It is on this account (as the favoured or "beloved city,...

1-13 These events will be in the latter days. It is supposed these enemies will come together to invade the land of Judea, and God will defeat them. God not only sees who are now the enemies of his church, but he foresees who will be so, and lets them know by his word that he is against them; though they join together, the wicked shall not be unpunished....

Verse Ezekiel 38:12. _TO TAKE A SPOIL - AND A PREY_] When Antiochus took Jerusalem he gave the pillage of it to his soldiers, and spoiled the temple of its riches, which were immense. See _Joseph_. WAR, B. i. c. 1....

EXPOSITION The present and the following chapters, comprising the next oracle, or "word of God," delivered by the prophet, relate to the expedition (Ezekiel 38:1), overthrow (Ezekiel 38:14), and destruction of Gog (Ezekiel 39:1), with the results of the same to the heathen world and to Israel (Eze 38:21 -29). Attempts to identify Gog and his armies with particular nations, as _e_._g_._ _with the Chaldeans (Ewald), the Scythians (Kuobel, Hitzig), the Greeks under Antiochus Epiphanes (Grotius), and even the Turks (Luther), have not been and are not likely to be successful. Either the highly idealized picture the prophet sketches was designed, as Hengstenberg thinks, to sum up and

TO TAKE A SPOIL, AND TO TAKE A PREY,.... These are the words of Gog continued; suggesting that he should have no occasion to fight; should have nothing else to do but to seize upon the goods and plunder the substance of these people: TO TURN THINE HAND UPON THE DESOLATE PLACES THAT ARE NOW INHABITED: such as were before desolate, and had lain long so, but now peopled and cultivated; these he would attack and demolish, and make a spoil and prey of: AND UPON THE PEOPLE THAT ARE GATHERED OUT OF THE NATIONS; a description of the Jews, as before; Ezekiel 38:8 WHICH HAVE GOTTEN CATTLE AND GOODS; so that it should seem that Gog or the Turks will not immediately attack the Jews upon their possession of the land of Judea; but some time after, when they have settled in it, and have acquired much wealth and riches in cattle and goods, and then

Ezekiel 38:1; Ezekiel 39:1. There will be at that time of restoration a great and final invasion of the land of Israel. Gog and Magog will invade the land “that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people.” The invaders come “against the mountains of Israel which have always been waste; but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely, all of them.” In Ezekiel 38:11, the evil purpose of the invader is made known. From all this we learn that the invasion takes place at the time when the Lord has brought back His people and resumed His relationship with the remnant of Israel. The invasion will happen some time after the beastly empire with its beast head, the revived Roman e

EZEKIEL 38. GOG'S INVASION (EZEKIEL 38:1), DESIGN (EZEKIEL 38:10), AND DESTRUCTION (EZEKIEL 38:17). Gog, of the land of Magog, seems from the names of the peoples that follow (cf. Ezekiel 27:13) to represent the mysterious hordes of the north, and were probably suggested to Ezekiel by the Scythian invasion (cf. Ezekiel 39:3) of Western Asia about 630 B.C. He, with a confederacy of peoples from the extreme south (Ezekiel 27:10;...

TO TAKE. SPOIL, &c. The Hebrew exhibits the Figure of speech _Polyptoton_ (App-6). "To spoil. spoil and to prey. prey". Compare Psalms 83:4, &c. UPON. against.. special various reading called Sevin (App-34) reads "over". PEOPLE: i.e. Israel, as in Ezekiel 39:13. not in verses: Ezekiel 38:6; Ezekiel 38:8; Ezekiel 38:9, Eze 6:15, Eze 6:22. MIDST. Hebrew. _navel_. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunet), App-6, for the middle. LAND. earth. Hebrew. _eretz_. Compare...

On "take a spoil" cf. Ezekiel 29:19; Isaiah 10:6. The phrase "turn the hand upon" is always used in a hostile sense (Isaiah 1:25). Ezekiel 38:11-12 give the prophet's idea of the condition of the restored community and of the state of the world in those days which permits it. He does not furnish details, but previous prophecies (ch. 25 32) describe how all the nations formerly hostile to Israel are humbled or taken out of the way. The period of Israel's restoration is a time of universal peace. Only distant nations on the outskirts of the world, that have never entered upon the stage of history, remain unaware of the fame and glory of the

UPON THE DESOLATE PLACES— Judaea is here described as a land which lay _desolate_ before the Jews returned to it. The Jews after the captivity were _a people gathered out of the nations,_ for they were very much mixed with other people....