Ezekiel 39:9

And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: THEY THAT DWELL IN THE CITIES OF ISRAEL SHALL GO FORTH, AND SHALL SET ON FIRE AND BURN THE WEAPONS. The burning of the foe's weapons implies that nothing belonging to them should be left to pollute the land. The seven years (seven being the sacred number) spent on this work implies the completeness of the cleansing, and the people's zeal for purity. How different from the ancient Israelites, who left not merely the arms, but the pagan themselves, to remain among them! (Fairbairn); (); so the pagan among them became, by God's judicial appointment, "as thorns in Israel's sides, and thei...

1-10 The Lord will make the most careless and hardened transgressors know his holy name, either by his righteous anger, or by the riches of his mercy and grace. The weapons formed against Zion shall not prosper. Though this prophecy is to be fulfilled in the latter days, it is certain. From the language used, it seems that the army of Gog will be destroyed by miracle....

Verse Ezekiel 39:9. _AND SHALL SET ON FIRE - THE WEAPONS_] The Israelites shall make bonfires and fuel of the weapons, tents, c., which the defeated Syrians shall leave behind them, as expressive of the joy which they shall feel for the destruction of their enemies and to keep up, in their _culinary consumption_, the memory of this great event. _THEY SHALL BURN THEM WITH FIRE SEVEN YEARS_] These may be _figurative_ expressions, after the manner of the Asiatics, whose language abounds with such descriptions. They occur every where in the prophets. As to the number _seven_, it is only a certain for an indeterminate number. But as the slaughter was great, and the _bows, arrows, quivers, shields, bucklers, handstaves_, and _spears_ were in vast multitudes, it must have taken a long time to gather them up in the different parts of the...

BURN THEM WITH FIRE - Or, “kindle fire with them;” or, as in the margin. The weapons of the army left on the field of battle shall be so numerous as to supply fuel for the people of the land for seven years. Seven was a number connected with cleansing after contact with the dead (Numbers 19:11 ff), and this purification of the land by the clearance of paganish spoils was a holy work (compare Ezekiel 39:12)....

EXPOSITION Of the two main divisions of this chapter, the first (Ezekiel 39:1) depicts the greatness of the overthrow of Gog; the second (Ezekiel 39:21) records the impression made by it upon Both Israel and the heathen, and adds a closing promise to the former. EZEKIEL 39:1 In the first main division Ezekiel repeats the substance of what has already been advanced concerning the defeat of Gog (verses 1-8), after which he strives to represent its completeness (verses 9-20), by setting forth (1) the immense quantity of spoil Israel should obtain from the fallen foe (verses 9, 10). (2) the length of time it should take Israel t

AND THEY THAT DWELL IN THE CITIES OF ISRAEL SHALL GO FORTH,.... Out of their houses into the streets, where Gog's soldiers will lie dead, and their armour by them; or rather out of their cities, where they dwelt safely, and where they kept themselves, and were secure from the enemy: these seem to be distinct from the militia of Israel, engaged in battle with Gog; these were the inhabitants that will stay at home, and yet share in the spoil and plunder; see Psalms 68:12, these, after the battle is over, and the victory obtained, of which they will have information, will then march out without fear into the open fields and mountains, where the army of Gog will fall, Ezekiel 39:4: AND SHALL SET ON FIRE AND BURN THE WEAPONS; the armour of Gog's army, which they shall

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

GOG'S DESTRUCTION AND BURIAL. This chapter does little more than repeat, with variations, the message of the last. The slain hordes lie thick upon Israel's mountains and fields, to be devoured by beasts and birds. Yahweh, whose power is not limited to His own land, will send His destructive fire upon the enemy's land and his islands in the Black (or Mediterranean?) Sea. This is the great day (Ezekiel 39:8) of which the prophets have spoken, and its doings will convince the world of the uniqueness of Israel's God. So great would be the destruction that Israel, which was poor in wood, would find weapons enough of the invaders to burn as fuel for seven years. Thus the spoilers would be spoiled a precious thought to later Judaism, as we see from the sanguinary and vindictive temper of the Book of Esther....

The wood of the weapons of Gog's warriors shall serve the people of Israel as fuel for seven years, they shall go neither to gather faggots for fire in the fields nor to cut down any wood out of the forests (Ezekiel 39:10). _set on fire and burn_ MAKE FIRE OF THE WEAPONS AND BURN THEM i.e. they shall use them as fuel. The "handstaves" are probably those with which the animals ridden upon or others were driven. _burn them with fire_ MAKE FIRE OF THEM....

AND THEY SHALL BURN THEM, &C.— That is, for a long time; a certain for an uncertain number. There shall be in the country so great a quantity of military weapons, that they shall serve them for a long time for fuel. We should remember, that they do not make very large fires in those hot countries. Mariana, in his Spanish History, book 2: chap. 24 relates, that after the victory which the Spaniards gained over the Saracens in 1212, they found so many spears, and other warlike weapons of wood, as served them four years for fuel. See Calmet. Bishop Lowth observes, on Isaiah 9:4 that some heathen nations burnt heaps of arms to the supposed god of victory; and that among the Romans this act was an emblem of peace. Among God's people it might shew trust in him as their defender. Archbishop Newcombe observes on the present passage, "The victory shall be so great, that, during this period of tim...