Ezekiel 38:20

So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. SO THAT THE FISH OF THE SEA - disturbed by the fleets which I will bring. AND THE FOWLS OF THE HEAVEN - frightened at the sight of so many men: an ideal picture. All creatures of the earth "shall shake at my presence." AND THE MOUNTAINS - i:e., the fortresses on the mountains "shall be thrown down." AND THE STEEP PLACES SHALL FALL - "steep places," literally, 'stairs' (); i:e., steep terraces for vines on the side...

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....

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

SO THAT THE FISHES OF THE SEA SHALL SHAKE AT MY PRESENCE,.... From whence it appears that this great shaking shall not be on account of the army of Gog, and the devastations that it shall make; but on account of the powerful presence of God, which will be manifest in the destruction of his army: and what is here said of the shaking of the fishes of the sea, AND THE FOWLS OF THE HEAVEN, AND THE BEAST OF THE FIELD, AND ALL CREEPING THINGS THAT CREEP UPON THE EARTH, AND ALL THE MEN THAT ARE UPON THE EARTH, must be understood figuratively and hyperbolically, as Kimchi observes, and in allusion to earthquakes, which both shake and terrify all kind of creatures; the blow given to Gog will be so terrible, that all nature will seem to be thrown into a convulsion and agitation by it; see Jeremiah 4:24: AND THE MOUNTAINS SHALL BE THROWN DOWN; as they are someti

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;...

FALL. sink down....

This invasion of Gog has been long predicted. It shall be the occasion of a final manifestation of himself by Jehovah to creation and the nations, which shall inspire universal awe, and leave in the minds of all mankind the knowledge of Jehovah, and that which he is....

SO THAT THE FISHES, &C.— There is nothing hyperbolical in this; for the prophet describes a terrible earthquake, whereby the mountains are shaken, and great fragments of rocks precipitated from their tops, to the great terror and astonishment of every part of the creation. See Houbigant. Instead of _shake,_ we may read _tremble._...

11. THE OVERTHROW OF GOG 38:14-23 TRANSLATION (14) Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to God: Thus says the Lord GOD: in that day when My people Israel dwell safely, shall you not know it? (15) And you shall come from your place, from the uttermost parts of the north, you and many people with you, all of them riding on horses, a great congregation and a mighty army. (16) And you shall go up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the end of days that I will bring you against My land in order that the nations might know Me, when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, O God. (17) Thus says the Lord GOD: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by the hand of MY servants the prophets of Israel who prophesied in those days for (many) years, that I would bring you against them? (18) And it shall come to pass in that day, when God comes aga...