Ezekiel 38:8

After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. AFTER MANY DAYS THOU SHALT BE VISITED - in wrath, by God (, "Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire"). Probably there is allusion to Isaiah 24:21, "The host of the high ones ... shall be gathered ... as prisoners ... in the pit ... and after many days shall they be visited." I therefore prefer the English version to Grotius' rend...

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 38:8. _IN THE LATTER YEARS THOU SHALT COME_] This was fulfilled about _four hundred_ years after.-_Martin_. The expedition of _Cambyses_ against Egypt was about _twelve_ years after the return of the Jews from Babylon.-_Calmet_....

As Gog was drawn on to his attack upon Israel in order to his ultimate ruin, therefore his preparations were the first step in his visitation from the Almighty. AFTER MANY DAYS - For “many days.” Many a long day shall the hand of God be upon thee, drawing thee on to thy ruin, and in the latter days shalt thou come. THE LAND - literally, a “land” once laid waste by the sword, but now delivered from it, whose inhabitants once scattered have been gathered together from out of many peoples. ALWAYS - Rather, a long time. The mountains were at the time of Gog’s advance again cultivated and populous. AND THEY SHALL DWELL - Rather, and they dwell. It is a description of the actual condition at the time of Gog’s invasion (compare...

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

AFTER MANY DAYS THOU SHALT BE VISITED,.... After the Ottoman empire has stood a long time, as it has already; when the many days will be ended that Israel should be without a king and a prince, c. Hosea 3:4, then shall Gog or the Turk be visited of God, not in a way of grace, but vengeance he shall be punished for all his iniquities, and his punishment or destruction will be brought about in the following manner: IN THE LATTER YEARS THOU SHALL COME INTO THE LAND THAT IS BROUGHT BACK FROM THE SWORD; that is, into the land of Judea, the right owners of which shall now be returned unto it; who have been for many years drove and kept out of it by the sword of their enemies; see Jeremiah 31:2 and these "latter years" are the same with the "latter days", in which these people shall seek the Lord and

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;...

AFTER MANY DAYS. Pointing to. then, and yet future time, when Israel shall have been recently "gathered", and before the Restoration is perfected, THE LATTER YEARS. See notes above and on Ezekiel 38:2. SAFELY. confidently....

_thou shalt be visited_ Not in the frequent sense of visited with punishment, but in the sense of recalled to mind in order to be employed (cf. usage Ezekiel 23:21). Others: _mustered_, which is not very natural; and the meaning "thou shalt receive orders" (from Jehovah) can hardly be supported from usage. From the position of the prophet the invasion of Gog seems to belong to the far-distant future, to a time after the people have been restored and have enjoyed long peace and great felicity. For many people, PEOPLES, and so Ezekiel 38:9_; Ezekiel 38:15; Ezekiel 38:22_. _always waste_ i.e. long time waste, c