BIBLES NET. COM
Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page
|
[Previous] [Next] |
Matthew Henry |
E Z E K I E L.
CHAP. XXXVIII.
This chapter, and that which follows it, are concerning Gog and Magog,
a powerful enemy to the people of Israel, that should make a formidable
descent upon them, and put them into a consternation, but their army
should be routed and their design defeated; and this prophecy, it is
most probable, had its accomplishment some time after the return of the
people of Israel out of their captivity, whether in the struggles they
had with the kings of Syria, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, or perhaps
in some other way not recorded, we cannot tell. If the sacred history
of the Old Testament had reached as far as the prophecy, we should have
been better able to understand these chapters, but, for want of that
key, we are locked out of the meaning of them. God had by the prophet
assured his people of happy times after their return to their own land;
but lest they should mistake the promises which related to the kingdom
of the Messiah and the spiritual privileges of that the kingdom of the
Messiah and the spiritual privileges of that kingdom, as if from them
they might promise themselves an uninterrupted temporal prosperity, he
here tells them, as Christ told his disciples to prevent the like
mistake, that in the world they shall have tribulation, but they may be
of good cheer, for they shall be victorious at last. This prophecy here
of Gog and Magog is without doubt alluded to in that prophecy which
relates to the latter days, and which seems to be yet unfulfilled
(Rev. xx. 8),
that Gog and Magog shall be gathered to battle against the camp of the
saints, as the Old-Testament prophecies of the destruction of Babylon
are alluded to,
But, in both, the Old-Testament prophecies had their accomplishment in
the Jewish church as the New-Testament prophecies shall have when the
time comes in the Christian church. In this chapter we have intermixed,
I. The attempt that Gog and Magog should make upon the land of Israel,
the vast army they should bring into the field, and their vast
preparations
(ver. 4-7),
their project and design in it
(ver. 8-13),
God’s hand in it,
II. The great terror that this should strike upon the land of Israel,
III. The divine restraint that these enemies should be under, and the
divine protection that Israel should be under,
IV. The defeat that should be given to those enemies by the immediate
hand of God
(ver. 21-23),
which we shall hear more of in the next chapter.
| The Judgment of Gog and Magog. | B. C. 585. |
|
|
|
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the
chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against
thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I
will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen,
all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great
company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with
shield and helmet:
6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north
quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy
company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto
them.
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.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a
cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people
with thee.
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that
at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt
think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled
villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely,
all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor
gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon
the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people
that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle
and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all
the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to
take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to
carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to
take a great spoil?
The critical expositors have enough to do here to enquire out Gog and
Magog. We cannot pretend either to add to their observations or to
determine their controversies. Gog seems to be the king and Magog the
kingdom; so that Gog and Magog are like Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Some
think they find them afar off, in Scythia, Tartary, and Russia. Others
think they find them nearer the land of Israel, in Syria, and Asia the
Less. Ezekiel is appointed to prophesy against Gog, and to tell him
that God is against him,
v. 2, 3.
Note, God does not only see those that are now the enemies of his
church and set himself against them, but he foresees those that will be
so and lets them know by his word that he is against them too, and yet
is pleased to make use of them to serve his own purposes, for the glory
of his own name; surely their wrath shall praise him, and
the remainder thereof he will restrain,
Ps. lxxvi. 10.
Let us observe here,
I. The confusion which God designed to put this enemy to. It is
remarkable that this is put first in the prophecy; before it is
foretold that God will bring him forth against Israel it is
foretold that God will put hooks into his jaws and turn him
back
(v. 4),
that they might have assurance of their deliverance before they had the
prospect given them of their danger. Thus tender is God of the comfort
of his people, thus careful that they may not be frightened; even
before the trouble begins he tells them it will end well.
II. The undertaking which he designed to engage him in, in order to
this defeat and disappointment.
1. The nations that shall be confederate in this enterprise against
Israel are many, and great, and mighty
(v. 5, 6),
Persia, Ethiopia, &c. Antiochus had an army made up of all the
nations here named, and many others. These people had been at variance
with one another, and yet in combination against Israel. How are those
increased that trouble God’s people!
2. They are well furnished with arms and ammunition, and bring a good
train of artillery into the field–horses and horsemen
(v. 4)
bravely equipped with all sorts of armour, bucklers and shields
for defence, and all handling swords for offence. Orders are
given to make all imaginable preparation for this expedition
(v. 7):
“Be thou prepared, and do thou prepare. See what warlike
preparations thou hast already in store, and, lest that should not
suffice, make further preparation, thou and all thy company,”
Let Gog himself be a guard to the rest of the confederates. As
commander-in-chief, let him engage to take care of them and their
safety; let him pass his word for their security, and take them under
his particular protection. The leaders of an army, instead of exposing
their soldiers needlessly and presumptuously, and throwing away their
lives upon desperate undertakings, should study to be a guard to them,
and, whenever they send them forth in danger, should contrive to
support and cover them. This call to prepare seems to be
ironical–Do thy worst, but I will turn thee back; like
that
Gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces.
3. Their design is against the mountains of Israel
(v. 8),
against the land that is brought back from the sword. It is not
long since it was harassed with the sword of war, and it has been
always wasted, more or less, with one judgment or other; it is but
newly gathered out of many people, and brought forth out of
the nations; it has enjoyed comparatively but a short
breathing-time, has scarcely recovered any strength since it was
brought down by war and captivity; and therefore its neighbours need
not fear its being too great, nay, and therefore it is very barbarous
to pick a quarrel with it so soon. It is a people that dwell safely,
all of them, in unwalled villages, very secure, and having
neither bars nor gates,
v. 11.
It is a certain sign that they intend no mischief to their neighbours,
for they fear no mischief from them. It cannot be thought that those
will offend others who do not take care to defend themselves; and this
aggravates the sin of these invaders. It is base and barbarous to
devise evil against thy neighbour while he dwells securely by
thee, and has no distrust of thee,
But see here how the clouds return after the rain in this world,
and what little reason we have ever to be secure till we come to
heaven. It is not long since Israel was brought back from the sword of
one enemy, and behold the sword of another is drawn against it. Former
troubles will not excuse us from further troubles; but when we think we
have put off the harness, at least for some time, by a fresh and
sudden alarm we may be called to gird it on again; and therefore
we must never boast nor be off our guard.
4. That which the enemy has in view, in forming this project, is to
enrich himself and to make himself master, not of the country, but of
the wealth of it, to spoil and plunder it, and make a prey of it: At
the same time that God intends to bring this matter about things
shall come into the mind of this enemy, and he shall think an
evil thought,
v. 10.
Note, All the mischief men do, and particularly the mischief they do to
the church of God, arises from evil thoughts that come into their mind,
ambitious thoughts, covetous thoughts, spiteful thoughts against those
that are good, for the sake of their goodness. It came into Antiochus’s
mind what a singular people these religious Jews were, and how their
worship witnessed against and condemned the idolatries of their
neighbours, and therefore, in enmity to their religion, he would plague
them. It came into his mind what a wealthy people they were, that they
had gotten cattle and goods in the midst of the land
(v. 12),
and withal how weak they were, how unable to make any resistance, how
easy it would be to carry off what they had, and how much glory this
rapine would add to his victorious sword; these things coming into his
mind, and one evil thought drawing on another, he came at last to this
resolve
(v. 11, 12):
“I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; yea, that I
will; it will cost me nothing to make them all my own. I will go and
disturb those that are at rest, without giving them any notice,
not to crush their growing greatness, or chastise their insolence, or
make reprisals upon them for any wrong they have done us (they had none
of these pretences to make war upon them), but purely to take a
spoil and to take a prey”
(v. 12),
in open defiance to all the laws of justice and equity, as much as the
highwayman’s killing the traveller that he may take his money. These
were the thoughts that came into the mind of this wicked prince, and
God knew them; nay, he knew them before they came into his mind, for he
understands our thoughts afar off,
Ps. cxxxix. 2.
5. According to the project thus formed he pours in all his forces
upon the land of Israel, and finds those that are ready to come in to
his assistance with the same prospects
(v. 9):
“Thou shalt ascent and come like a storm, with all the force,
and fury, and fierceness imaginable, and thou shalt be like a cloud
to cover the land, to darken it, and to threaten it, thou
and not only all thy bands, all the force thou canst bring
into the field, but many people with thee” (such as are spoken
of
v. 13),
“Sheba and Dedan, the Arabians and the Edomites, and the
merchants of Tarshish, of Tyre and Sidon and other maritime cities,
they and their young lions that are greedy of spoil and live
upon it, shall say, Hast thou come to take the spoil of this
land?” Yes he has; and therefore they wish him success. Or perhaps they
envy him, or grudge it to him. “Hast thou come for riches who art
thyself so rich already?” Or, knowing that God was on Israel’s side,
they thus ridicule his attempts, foreseeing that they would be baffled
and that he would be disappointed of the prey he promised himself. Or,
if he come to take the prey, they will come and join with him,
and add to his forces. When Lysias, who was general of Antiochus’s
army, came against the Jews, the neighbouring nations joined with him
(1 Mac. iii. 41),
to share in the guilt, in hopes to share in the prey. When thou
sawest a thief then thou consentedst with him.
| The Judgment of Gog and Magog. | B. C. 585. |
|
|
|
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith
the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth
safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,
thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses,
a great company, and a mighty army:
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.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken
in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which
prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee
against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall
come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my
fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I
spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the
land of Israel;
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.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my
mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against
his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood;
and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many
people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great
hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will
be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I
am the LORD.
This latter part of the chapter is a repetition of the former; the
dream is doubled, for the thing is certain and to be very carefully
regarded.
I. It is here again foretold that this spiteful enemy should make a
formidable descent upon the land of Israel
(v. 15):
“Thou shalt come out of the north parts (Syria lay on the north
of Canaan) with a mighty army, shalt come like a cloud,
and cover the land of my people Israel,”
These words
(v. 14),
When my people Israel dwell safely, shalt thou not know it? may
be taken two ways:–
1. As intimating his inducements to this attempt. “Thou shalt have
intelligence brought thee how securely, and therefore how carelessly,
the people of Israel dwell, which shall give rise to thy project
against them; for when thou knowest not only what a rich, but what an
easy prey they are likely to be, thou wilt soon determine to fall upon
them” Note, God’s providence is to be acknowledged in the occasion, the
small occasion perhaps, that is given, and that not designedly neither,
to those first thoughts from which great enterprises take their
original. God, to bring about his own purposes, lets men know that
which yet he knows they will make a bad use of, as here. Or,
2. As intimating his disappointment in this attempt, which here, as
before, the prophecy begins with: “When my people Israel dwell
safely, not in their own apprehension only, but in reality,
forasmuch as they dwell safely under the divine protection, shalt not
thou be made to know it by the fruitlessness of thy endeavours to
destroy them?” Thou shalt soon find that there is no enchantment
against Jacob, that no weapon formed against them shall
prosper; thou shalt know to thy cost, shalt know to thy shame, that
though they have no walls, nor bars, nor gates, they have God himself,
a wall of fire, round about them, and that he who touches
them touches the apple of his eye; whosoever meddles with them
meddles to his own hurt. And it is for the demonstrating of this to all
the world that God will bring this mighty enemy against his people.
Those that gathered themselves against Israel said, Let us
take the spoil and take they prey, but they knew not the
thoughts of the Lord,
Mic. iv. 11, 12.
I will bring thee against my land. This is strange news, that
God will not only permit his enemies to come against his own children,
but will himself bring them; but, if we understand what he aims at, we
shall be well reconciled even to this: it is “that the heathen may
know me to be the only living and true God when I shall be
sanctified in thee, O Gog! that is, in thy defeat and destruction
before their eyes, that all the nations may see, and say,
There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, that rides on the
heavens for the help of his people.” Note, God brings his people
into danger and distress that he may have the honour of bringing about
their deliverance, and suffers the enemies of his church to prevail
awhile, though they profane his name by their sin, that he may have the
honour of prevailing at last and sanctifying his own name in their
ruin. Now it is said, This shall be in the latter days, namely,
in the latter days of the Old-Testament church; so the mischief that
Antiochus did to Israel was; but in the latter days of the
New-Testament church another like enemy should arise, that should in
like manner be defeated. Note, Effectual securities are treasured up in
the word of God against the troubles and dangers the church may be
brought into a great while hence, even in the latter days.
II. Reference is herein had to the predictions of the former prophets
(v. 17):
Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time, of whom Moses
spoke in his prophecy of the latter days
He will render vengeance to his adversaries), and David,
(The heathen are sunk down into the pit that they made) and
often elsewhere in the Psalms? This is the leviathan of whom Isaiah
spoke
that congress of the nations of which Joel spoke,
Many of the prophets had perhaps spoken particularly of this event,
though it be not written, as they all had spoken and written too that
which is applicable to it. Note, There is an amiable admirable harmony
and agreement between the Lord’s prophets, though they lived in several
ages, for they were all guided by one and the same Spirit.
III. It is here foretold that this furious formidable enemy should be
utterly cut off in this attempt upon Israel, and that it should issue
in his own ruin. This is supposed by many to have its accomplishment in
the many defeats given by the Maccabees to the forces of Antiochus and
the remarkable judgments of God executed upon his own person, for he
died of sore diseases. But these things are here foretold, as usual, in
figurative expressions, which we are not to look for the literal
accomplishment of, and yet they might be fulfilled nearer the letter
than we know of.
1. God will be highly displeased with this bold invader: When he
comes up in pride and anger against the land of Israel, and
thinks to carry all before him with a high hand, then God’s fury
shall come up in his face, which is an allusion to the manner of
men, whose colour rises in their faces when some high affront is
offered them and they are resolved to show their resentment of it,
God will speak against them in his jealousy for his people and
in the fire of his wrath against his and their enemies,
See how God’s permitting sin, his laying occasions of sin before men,
and his making use of it to serve his own purposes, consist with his
hatred of sin and his displeasure against it. God brings this enemy
against his land, letting him know what an easy prey it might be
and determining thereby to glorify himself; and yet, when he comes
against the land, God’s fury comes up, and he speaks to
him in the fire of his wrath. If any ask, Why does he thus find
fault? for who has resisted his will? It is easy to answer, Nay,
but, O man! who art thou that repliest against God?
2. His forces shall be put into the greatest confusion and
consternation imaginable
(v. 19):
There shall be a great shaking of them in the land of
Israel, a universal concussion
(v. 20),
such as shall affect the fishes and fowls, the
beasts and creeping things, and much more the men that
are upon the face of the earth, who sooner receive impressions of
fear. There shall be such an earthquake as shall throw down the
mountains, those natural heights, and the steep places,
towers and walls, those artificial heights; they shall all
fall to the ground. Some understand this of the fright which the
land of Israel should be put into by the fury of the enemy. But it is
rather to be understood of the fright which the enemy should be put
into by the wrath of God; all those things which they both raise
themselves and stay themselves upon shall be shaken down, and their
hearts shall fail them.
3. He shall be routed and utterly ruined; both earth and heaven shall
be armed against him
(1.) The earth shall muster up its forces to destroy him. If the people
of Israel have not strength and courage to resist him, God will call
for a sword against him,
v. 21.
And he has swords always at command, that are bathed in heaven,
Isa. xxxv. 5.
Throughout all the mountains of Israel, where he hoped to meet with
spoil to enrich him, he shall meet with swords to destroy him, and,
rather than fail, every man’s sword shall be against his
brother, as in the day of Midian,
Ps. lxxxiii. 9.
The great men of Syria shall undermine and overthrow one another, shall
accuse one another, shall fight duels with one another. Note, God can,
and often does, make the destroyers of his people to be their own
destroyers and the destroyers of one another. However, he will himself
be their destroyer, will take the work into his own hand, that it may
be done thoroughly
(v. 22):
I will plead against him with pestilence and blood. Note, Whom
God acts against he pleads against; he shows them the ground of his
controversy with them, that their mouths may be stopped, and he may be
clear when he judges.
(2.) The artillery of heaven shall also be drawn out against them: I
will rain upon him an overflowing rain,
v. 22.
He comes like a storm upon Israel,
v. 9.
But God will come like a storm upon him, will rain upon him great
hailstones as upon the Canaanites
(Josh. x. 11),
fire and brimstone as upon Sodom, and a horrible tempest,
Ps. xi. 6.
Thus the Gog and Magog in the New Testament shall be devoured with
fire from heaven, and cast into the lake of brimstone,
Rev. xx. 9, 10.
That will be the everlasting portion of all the impenitent implacable
enemies of God’s church and people.
4. God, in all this, will be glorified. The end he aimed at
(v. 16)
shall be accomplished
(v. 23):
Thus will I magnify myself and sanctify myself. Note, In the
destruction of sinners God makes it to appear that he is a great and
holy God, and he will do so to eternity. And, if men do not magnify and
sanctify him as they ought, he will magnify himself, and sanctify
himself; and this we should desire and pray for daily, Father,
glorify thy own name.
|
[Previous] [Next] |
Matthew Henry |
|
Back to Bibles Net . Com – Online Christian Library Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary – Free Download |
Copyright 2008. Bibles Net. Com. All Rights Reserved.