Ezekiel 38:16

And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. I WILL BRING THEE AGAINST MY LAND, THAT THE HEATHEN KNOW ME. So in God tells Pharaoh, "For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth....

14-23 The enemy should make a formidable descent upon the land of Israel. When Israel dwell safely under the Divine protection, shalt not thou be made to know it by finding that endeavours to destroy them are made in vain? Promises of security are treasured up in the word of God, against the troubles and dangers the church may be brought into in the latter days. In the destruction of sinners, God makes it appear that he is a great and holy God. We should desire and pray daily. Father, glorify thine own name....

Verse Ezekiel 38:16. _WHEN I SHALL BE SANCTIFIED IN THEE, O GOG_] By the defeat of his troops under _Lysias_, his general. _1Mac 3:32, 33_, c., and Ezekiel 6:6....

I SHALL BE SANCTIFIED IN THEE - I shall be shown to be holy and just in avenging Myself of Mine enemy....

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

AND THOU SHALL COME UP AGAINST MY PEOPLE OF ISRAEL,.... Which is repeated for the certainty of it; and not for his comfort, but his ruin; not to the terror of Israel, but for the glory of God: AS A CLOUD TO COVER THE LAND; the land of Israel, so great should be his army; Ezekiel 38:9, IT SHALL BE IN THE LATTER DAYS; of the Gospel state, or kingdom of the Messiah, when the Jews shall be converted, and are returned to their own land, Hosea 3:5: AND I WILL BRING THEE AGAINST MY LAND; not to possess it, nor to hurt it, or to any injury to the people of it: but THAT THE HEATHEN MAY KNOW ME; the Pagan kingdoms of China, and others; who by God's judgments on the Turks will come to the knowledge of the true God, and acknowledge him, and will bec

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;...

IN THE LATTER DAYS. in the end of days. Still future. See notes on Ezekiel 38:2 and Ezekiel 38:8. THE HEATHEN MAY KNOW, &c. See note on Ezekiel 6:10 HEATHEN. nations. WHEN. SHALL BE SANCTIFIED, &c.: or, by My hallowing Myself, &c....

Cf. Ezekiel 38:9. _shall be sanctified_ Or, get me sanctifying, i.e. recognition as "holy" "holy" having the meaning of all that which God alone is. The rendering "shew myself holy" is less natural, though the meaning is virtually the same. Jehovah shews his great deeds in the sight of the nations, and thus they recognise his Godhead, cf. Ezekiel 38:23. He gets him sanctifying "in" or through Gog, as the object on whom his great operations of power are manifested. In these verses Jehovah is represented on the one hand as bringing up Gog in order that he may be sanctified in him in the sight of the nations; and on the other hand Gog is represented as coming up of his own will, prompted by evil purposes, by the hope of an easy conquest and by lust of spoil. The first representation must not be pre