Ezekiel 38:13

Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? SHEBA, AND DEDAN, AND THE MERCHANTS OF TARSHISH. These mercantile peoples, though not taking an active part against the cause of God, are well pleased to see others do it. Worldliness makes them ready to deal in the ill-gotten spoil of the invaders of God's people. Gain is before godliness with them ( 1Ma 3:41 ). WITH ALL THE YOUNG LIONS - daring princes and leaders....

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 38:13. _SHEBA, AND DEDAN_] The Arabians, anciently great plunderers; and _Tarshish_, the inhabitants of the famous isle of Tartessus, the most noted merchants of the time. They are here represented as coming to Antiochus before he undertook the expedition, and _bargaining for the spoils of the Jews. Art thou_ _come to take a spoil, to carry away silver and gold, cattle and_ _goods_?...

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

SHEBA, AND DEDAN, AND THE MERCHANTS OF TARSHISH,.... These are not any of the people that shall come along with Gog on his expedition; but some neighbouring nations bordering on Judea, who will address him in the following manner, as he passes through them, or by them. Sheba and Dedan design the Arabians inhabiting that part of Arabia which lay near to Judea, even Arabia Petraea and Felix; and the merchants of Tarshish are the Tyrians and Zidonians that traded by sea, as Tarshish sometimes signifies; or to Tartessus in Spain, where they had much traffic; and may design the people of those places that will at this time be living in Palestine, that trade by sea to foreign parts. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it the "Carthaginian merchants", or "the merchants of Carthage": WITH ALL THE YOUNG LIONS THEREOF; which some interpret of sea pirates, for their cruelty and voraciousness...

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;...

SHEBA, Ac. These are some who protest....

The merchant peoples are roused to excitement by the enterprise of Gog; probably it is the hope of gain by trafficking with him for his spoil that excites them hardly envy at the rich harvest lying before him. On Sheba Ezekiel 27:22; Dedan Ezekiel 27:20; Tarshish Ezekiel 27:12. _all the young lions_ Cf. Ezekiel 19:3; Ezekiel 19:5; Ezekiel 32:2. The term might be thought not very suitable to a troop of camp followers intent merely on traffic. The term is probably

TARSHISH— Houbigant reads, _Tartessus, with all the villages. Ezekiel 38:14. Shalt thou not know it?_] _Thou shalt be raised up._ Houbigant, after the LXX, and very agreeably to the context....