Ezekiel 39:4

Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) Unto the ravenous birds.—Compare the account of the destruction of Pharaoh in Ezekiel 29:4-5.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

39:1-10 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The chief prince - Or, "prince of Rosh."

And leave but the sixth part of thee - Or, and lead thee along (Septuagint and Vulgate).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4, 5. (Compare Eze 39:17-20).

upon the mountains of Israel—The scene of Israel's preservation shall be that of the ungodly foe's destruction.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thou shalt fall; thy army shall be overthrown and slain. Thou, Gog himself the leader of this army, and all thy bands; thine own soldiers, the old trained soldiers.

The people; the several nations that had joined in this enterprise with Gog. Their unburied carcasses shall be torn and mangled by every ravenous bird of the air? and the wild beasts, that range over the mountains for their prey, shall eat them; so many of them shall be denied a burial. See a like place Ezekiel 32:4,5.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel,.... Be slain, and his carcass lie there; so the Targum,

"upon the mountains of the land of Israel thy carcass shall be cast:''

thou and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee; Gog and his army, auxiliaries and allies:

I will give thee to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured: a great part of his army being slain, should not be buried, but be devoured by birds of prey, and savage beasts; such as eagles and vultures of the former sort, and lions, bears, wolves, &c. of the latter. This was always reckoned a very sore judgment and dreadful calamity, not to have a burial, but to be exposed to birds and beasts of prey; this was threatened to the Israelites, in case of disobedience to the law of God, Deuteronomy 28:26 and to the wicked Jews in the times of Jeremiah; and to that evil king of Judah, Jehoiakim, Jeremiah 16:4 and is lamented as one of the greatest evils that could befall good men, Psalm 79:2, and nothing was more dreadful among the Heathens themselves; hence Homer (z), among the many calamities Achilles was the cause of to the Grecians, mentions this as one, that he was the means of giving the bodies of a great number of their heroes to the dogs, and to the fowls of the air; so Virgil (a) represents the want of a burial, and being left to be fed upon by birds of prey, as severe a punishment of a wicked man as can be wished for.

(z) Iliad. 1. l. 4, 5. (a) "----non te optima mater Condet humi, patriove onerrabit membra sepulchro Alitibus linquere feris". Aeneid. l. 10.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou {b} shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy troops, and the people that are with thee: I will give thee to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

(b) Meaning that by the virtue of God's word the enemy will be destroyed wherever he assails his Church.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. Cf. Ezekiel 39:17, Ezekiel 38:21.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 4-6. - I will give thee unto ravenous birds of every sort; or, wing. The language depicts an army on the march, followed by jackals, vultures, and other birds of prey, ready to feast upon the corpses of slaughtered men (comp. Ezekiel 33:27; 1 Samuel 17:46; and Homer's 'Iliad,' 1:4, 5). In addition to destroying Cog, causing him to fall upon the mountains of Israel and upon the open field; literally, upon the face of the field, Jehovah engages to carry the fire of war and generally of devastation (cf. Ezekiel 33:22; Amos 2:2, 5; Revelation 20:29) into Cog's own land, Magog (see on Ezekiel 38:2), and among them that dwell carelessly (better, securely) in the isles; or, coast-lands (Ezekiel 27:7); i.e. not merely the merchants of Tarshish or the "isles" of the trading nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38:13, as Hengstenberg and Plumptre prefer, but, as Smend, Schroder, and Keil explain, all the distant peoples of the coast-lands from whom Gog's armies were drawn (Ezekiel 38:5, 6), and in whom were many of Gog's sympathizers. Ezekiel 39:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Further Description of the Judgment to Fall upon Gog and his Hosts

Ezekiel 39:1-8. General announcement of his destruction. - Ezekiel 39:1. And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with thee, Gog, thou prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. Ezekiel 39:2. I will mislead thee, and conduct thee, and cause thee to come up from the uttermost north, and bring thee to the mountains of Israel; Ezekiel 39:3. And will smite thy bow from thy left hand, and cause thine arrows to fall from thy right hand. Ezekiel 39:4. Upon the mountains of Israel wilt thou fall, thou and all thy hosts, and the peoples which are with thee: I give thee for food to the birds of prey of every plumage, and to the beasts of the field. Ezekiel 39:5. Upon the open field shalt thou fall, for I have spoken it, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ezekiel 39:6. And I will send fire in Magog, and among those who dwell in security upon the islands, that they may know that I am Jehovah. Ezekiel 39:7. I will make known my holy name in the midst of my people Israel, and will not let my holy name be profaned any more, that the nations may know that I am Jehovah, holy in Israel. Ezekiel 39:8. Behold, it comes and happens, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah; this is the day of which I spoke. - The further description of the judgment with which Gog and his hosts are threatened in Ezekiel 38:21-23, commences with a repetition of the command to the prophet to prophesy against Gog (Ezekiel 39:1, cf. Ezekiel 38:2-3). The principal contents of Ezekiel 38:4-15 are then briefly summed up in Ezekiel 39:2. שׁבבתּיך, as in Ezekiel 38:4, is strengthened by שׁשּׁתיך, שׁשׁא, ἁπαχ λεγ.., is not connected with שׁשׁ in the sense of "I leave a sixth part of thee remaining," or afflict thee with six punishments; but in the Ethiopic it signifies to proceed, or to climb, and here, accordingly, it is used in the sense of leading on (lxx καθοδηγήσω σε, or, according to another reading, κατάξω; Vulg. educam). For Ezekiel 39:2, compare Ezekiel 38:15 and Ezekiel 38:8. In the land of Israel, God will strike his weapons out of his hands, i.e., make him incapable of fighting (for the fact itself, compare the similar figures in Psalm 37:15; Psalm 46:10), and give him up with all his army as a prey to death. עיט, a beast of prey, is more precisely defined by צפּור, and still further strengthened by the genitive כּל־כּנף: birds of prey of every kind. The judgment will not be confined to the destruction of the army of Gog, which has invaded the land of Israel, but (Ezekiel 39:6) will also extend to the land of Gog, and to all the heathen nations that are dwelling in security. אשׁ, fire, primarily the fire of war; then, in a further sense, a figure denoting destruction inflicted directly by God, as in Ezekiel 38:22, which is therefore represented in Revelation 20:9 as fire falling from heaven. Magog is the population of the land of Magog (Ezekiel 38:2). With this the inhabitants of the distant coastlands of the west (the איּים) are associated, as representatives of the remotest heathen nations. Ezekiel 39:7, Ezekiel 39:8. By this judgment the Lord will make known His holy name in Israel, and show the heathen that He will not let it be blasphemed by them any more. For the fact itself, compare Ezekiel 36:20. For Ezekiel 39:8, compare Ezekiel 21:12, and for היּום, see Ezekiel 38:18-19.