Ezekielchapter 38
23 verses · KJVEzekiel book hub →
Key verse
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:
It stands in scene A of the chapter, verses 1 to 9.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Gog, of the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, is brought out with hooks in his jaws at the head of a great confederacy: Persia, Cush and Put, Gomer and the house of Togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north. The timing is explicit and future: 'in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword,' whose people are gathered out of many peoples and dwell securely in unwalled villages. Gog thinks an evil thought (to take a spoil) while Sheba, Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish look on. Then the fury: a great shaking, every man's sword against his brother, pestilence, overflowing rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone.
Context
Prophecy · Ezekiel · Ezekiel overview
Where the chapter sits
Ezekiel 38 falls in Gog and Magog (chapters 38–39). The northern confederacy gathered against restored Israel. Ancient-enemy, future-adversary, and symbolic readings are all surfaced.
Before it: Restoration promised, chapters 33–37. After it: The Temple vision, chapters 40–48.
The whole shape of Ezekiel→The world behind this chapter
Ezekiel 38The history
The names in the coalition are real places on the ancient map, most of them in what is now Turkey and the lands beyond. Meshech and Tubal appear in Assyrian records as Mushki and Tabal, kingdoms of eastern Anatolia. Gomer matches the Cimmerians, called Gimirrai in Assyrian texts, a people who came down out of the northern steppe. Beth-togarmah corresponds to Til-garimmu, also in Anatolia. Magog is placed by Josephus among the Scythian peoples of the far north.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Those northern horsemen were a live memory, not a legend. Herodotus describes the Scythians as mounted archers of the steppe who swept down into the Near East in the seventh century BC and terrified everyone they met. A great cavalry army coming out of the north was the most frightening thing a Near Eastern audience could picture.
The rest of the coalition is drawn from the other compass points: Persia to the east, Cush up the Nile in what is now Sudan, and Put in Libya to the west. Together the list means an assault from every direction at once.
The setting is described with unusual care, and it is not Ezekiel's own day. It is after many days, in the latter years, against a land restored from war, whose people are gathered out of many nations onto mountains that had been a continual waste, and who now dwell securely, all of them living without walls, having neither bars nor gates. An unwalled country was an unheard-of thing in that world; it means a people who feel no need to defend themselves.
MannaFest reads this as a still-future invasion of a regathered Israel, before the kingdom described in chapters 40 to 48, the premillennial frame. Others place it at the end of the thousand years alongside the rebellion named in Revelation, and some read it as a picture of all hostile nations rather than a specific campaign; the alternatives are named rather than argued here.
The outcome is not a battle in the ordinary sense. God brings the invader up with hooks in his jaws, and then breaks him with earthquake, confusion in the ranks, disease, torrential rain, hailstones and fire, the weather and the ground, not an army.
What it meant to them
The exiles had just been told they would be brought home. The obvious next question is the one every refugee asks: and what happens the next time somebody comes for us?
This chapter answers it. The last and largest attack does come, and it is not fought off by Israel's soldiers. God says the point of the whole episode is that He will magnify Himself and make Himself known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD. The people who had watched their God appear defeated are told how the world's opinion of Him finally gets settled.
Sources cited
- Herodotus, The Histories , on the Scythians
- Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews (Whiston translation)
- Chuck Missler, The Magog Invasion
A. Gog of Magog turned back with hooks in his jaws
1. (vv. 1-3)
a.the word of the Lord came unto me: The word of the Lord directs the prophet to set his face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, continuing the son of man address that has run through the book. The commentators name the historical identification question without settling it: the older bench places Magog among the Scythian peoples of the far north, while Meshech and Tubal are read as Asia Minor's ancient Moschi and Tibareni. The chapter's own bearings, the north and the latter years, are what the text supplies, and the exposition builds no modern application on top of them.
Ezekiel 38:1, 2 voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Ezekiel 38:1
“And the word of the Lord came unto me,.... At the same time as the preceding prophecy did, as the copulative and shows; which predicts the restoration and conversion of the Jews; the union of their tribes under the King Messiah; and their settlement in their own land: and this respects some disturbance they should meet with upon it, for a short time, by a powerful enemy hereafter described: saying; as follows:”
Ezekiel 38:1
“So begins this classic passage in which Gog and Magog, with their allies, are drawn into an invasion of Israel only to have the God of Israel use the occasion to show Himself strong by intervening on behalf of His people and destroying the invading forces.”
Chuck Missler· The Magog Identity (article) (2002)Calvary Chapel-influenced Independent
Ezekiel 38:2, 3 voices
Ezekiel 38:2
“Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog - This is allowed to be the most difficult prophecy in the Old Testament. It is difficult to us, because we know not the king nor people intended by it: but I am satisfied they were well known by these names in the time that the prophet wrote. I have already remarked in the introduction to this book that there are but two opinions on this subject that appear to be at all probable: 1. That which makes Gog Cambyses, king of Persia; and,”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:2
HENGSTENBERG supports English Version, as "Rosh" is not found in the Bible. "Magog was Gog's original kingdom, though he acquired also Meshech and Tubal, so as to be called their chief prince."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 38:2
“Gog - This cannot be one single person, or prince, though perhaps it points out some one, by whom the troubles foretold were begun. Some believe the time is still to come, wherein this prophecy is to be fulfilled.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2. (vv. 4-6)
a.put hooks into thy jaws: The image of hooks in the jaws recurs from Pharaoh's own sentence at 29:4, a beast led out against its will rather than a willing march, and the great host follows in full armor, horses, and shields. The coalition drawn in with Gog is ancient geography rather than a modern map: Persia to the east, Ethiopia and Libya to the south and west, Gomer and the house of Togarmah out of the north quarters, the nations that ring Israel's known world in the prophet's own day. Keil reads the list as deliberately complete, gathered from every quarter against the one land, and the exposition leaves the ancient names as the text gives them.
Ezekiel 38:5, 1 voice
Ezekiel 38:5
“Libya and Ethiopia, mixed with the northern invaders, are tribes from the extreme south, to show that this is a general combination of the foes of God’s people.”
Ezekiel 38:6, 2 voices
Ezekiel 38:6
“Gomer, and all his bands,.... Or all his army, as the Targum.”
Ezekiel 38:6
“Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah - The Cimmerians and Turcomanians, and other northern nations. - Calmet.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3. (vv. 7-9)
a.Be thou prepared: The command to be prepared is double edged: Gog readies himself even while the earlier verses have already said the Lord turns him and brings him forth, so the preparation is staged from outside the very army that thinks it is choosing to march. The timing is fixed to Israel's own restoration, after many days, in the latter years, against a land gathered out of the nations and dwelling safely, tying the oracle to the return the previous chapters have just promised. The storm and the covering cloud are the same invasion imagery Jeremiah and Joel use of an overwhelming army, and the bench reads the figures as figures rather than as forecasting a literal weather event.
Ezekiel 38:8, 2 voices
Ezekiel 38:8
English Version means, "Against Israel, which has been waste, but which (that is, whose people) is now (at the time of the invasion) brought forth out of the nations where they were dispersed, and shall be found by the invader dwelling securely, so as to seem an easy prey to him."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 38:8
“The land - The land of the Jews, a people recovered from captivity, into which the sword of their enemy had brought them. Always waste - It is already two thousand four hundred years since the ten tribes were carried away by Salmanezer. But it - The land of Canaan, that is, the people of it.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:9, 1 voice
Ezekiel 38:9
“Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm - It is observable that Antiochus is thus spoken of by Daniel, Dan 11:40: The king of the north - Antiochus, shall come against him (the king of the south is the king of Egypt) like a whirlwind.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
B. An evil plan against a land of unwalled villages
1. (vv. 10-13)
a.an evil thought: The Lord names the thought before Gog thinks it, an evil thought forming in his heart to go up against a land of unwalled villages, a people at rest and dwelling safely without bars or gates, to take a spoil and a prey. The rhetorical challenge from Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, the trading nations of the ancient world, states the plain motive in commercial language even his own trading partners recognize: silver, gold, cattle, and goods. Gill notes the irony that the merchants ask the very question the reader is meant to ask, whether so vast a muster can be for anything but plunder.
Ezekiel 38:10, 2 voices
Ezekiel 38:10
“Shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought - Antiochus purposed to invade and destroy Egypt, as well as Judea; see Dan 11:31, Dan 11:32, Dan 11:36. This Calmet interprets of Cambyses, his cruelties in Egypt, and his evil design to destroy the Israelites.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:10
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 38:11, 1 voice
Ezekiel 38:11
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 38:12, 1 voice
Ezekiel 38:12
“To take a spoil - and a prey - When Antiochus took Jerusalem he gave the pillage of it to his soldiers, and spoiled the temple of its riches, which were immense. See Josephus War, B. 1. C. 1.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:13, 3 voices
Ezekiel 38:13
“Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish,.... These are not any of the people that shall come along with Gog on his expedition; but some neighbouring nations bordering on Judea, who will address him in the following manner, as he passes through them, or by them.”
Ezekiel 38:13
“Sheba, and Dedan - The Arabians, anciently great plunderers; and Tarshish, the inhabitants of the famous isle of Tartessus, the most noted merchants of the time. They are here represented as coming to Antiochus before he undertook the expedition, and bargaining for the spoils of the Jews. Art thou come to take a spoil, to carry away silver and gold, cattle and goods?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:13
“Sheba, &c.--These mercantile peoples, though not taking an active part against the cause of God, are well pleased to see others do it. Worldliness makes them ready to deal in the ill-gotten spoil of the invaders of God's people. Gain is before godliness with them (1 Maccabees 3:41). young lions--daring princes and leaders.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2. (vv. 14-16)
a.dwelleth safely: The timing clause returns, in that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, binding the invasion to the restoration just promised in the chapters before it rather than to any moment still to be located on a calendar. It shall be in the latter days names the oracle's own horizon without dating it further, and the purpose clause turns the invasion itself into revelation: that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. The recognition formula that has run through the whole book lands here on the nations watching Gog's own defeat, the same purpose the book has stated for judgment and for restoration alike.
Ezekiel 38:14, 1 voice
Ezekiel 38:14
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 38:16, 2 voices
Ezekiel 38:16
“When I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog - By the defeat of his troops under Lysias, his general. 1 Maccabees 3:32, 33, etc., and 6:6.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:16
“I will bring - I will permit thee to come. Sanctified - Confessed to be a great God over all, a gracious and faithful God to his people, and a dreadful enemy and avenger against the wicked. Before - ln the sight of all the heathen that are with Gog, and much more in the sight of God's own people.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
C. Earthquake, sword, hail, and fire magnify the LORD
1. (v. 17)
a.in old time by my servants the prophets: The Lord's question, art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, asks whether Gog is the figure earlier prophets already pointed toward without naming him. The commentators name candidate texts without settling which one is meant: Joel's northern army and day of the Lord oracle, Isaiah's northern invader, and Jeremiah's foe from the north are each proposed, and the bench differs on whether the question closes any of them out. The verse states a connection to prior prophecy as a fact and leaves the specific referent an open question among the positions named.
Ezekiel 38:17, 3 voices
Ezekiel 38:17
“Gog - is not mentioned by name in any existing prophecy before Ezekiel’s time. The reference here shows (1) that the conflict with Gog does not represent a particular event, but one of which the prophets in general had to speak; (2) that in the interpretation of Old Testament prophecy we are to look beyond special fulfillments. Events in the world’s history come within a prophet’s ken as parts of the divine administration whereby evil struggles against but is overcome by good.”
Ezekiel 38:17
“Isa 27:1; compare Isa 26:20, 21; God is represented as addressing Gog at the time of his assault; therefore, the "old time" is the time long prior, when Ezekiel uttered these prophecies; so, he also, as well as Daniel (Da 11:1-45) and Zechariah (Zec 14:1-21) are included among "the prophets of Israel" here. many years--ago.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 38:17
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 18-20)
a.my fury shall come up in my face: The anger is described in the most bodily terms the book uses for it, fury coming up in the face, jealousy and the fire of wrath, language the older commentators read as accommodation to human speech for what cannot literally be a face or a fire in God. The shaking that follows reaches every order of creature named in Genesis's own categories, fish, fowl, beasts, creeping things, and men, with mountains thrown down and every wall falling to the ground. Henry sets the scene beside Sinai's own trembling mountain, a theophany answering an invasion with the whole created order as witness.
Ezekiel 38:18, 1 voice
Ezekiel 38:18
“And it shall come to pass at the same time, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God,.... As before prophesied of and described: that my fury shall come up in my face; as a man's blood rises up in his face, and his colour appears, when he is wroth and angry: or, "in my nose" (s); as men when they are angry puff and blow, expand their nose, breathe through it; but against whom is all this wrath and fury?”
Ezekiel 38:19, 2 voices
Ezekiel 38:19
“For - For my own people, and for mine own glory. Have I spoken - Against mine enemies Gog, and all his herd. A great shaking - A great disturbance and tumult, like an earthquake.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:19
“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?”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3. (vv. 21-23)
a.every man’s sword shall be against his brother: The sword called for throughout the mountains turns the invading host against itself, every man's sword against his brother, the same panic that scattered Gideon's Midianites and Jehoshaphat's enemies in the historical books, where the Lord needed no human sword to finish what he had set in motion. The plagues that follow, pestilence, blood, an overflowing rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone, gather the language of Sodom's own judgment into one sentence, fire and brimstone naming the same pair Genesis uses of the cities of the plain. The oracle closes where the book always closes, I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord, Gog's defeat made into the same revelation every judgment in this book has been.
Ezekiel 38:21, 3 voices
Ezekiel 38:21
“I will call for a sword against him - Meaning Judas Maccabeus, who defeated his army under Lysias, making a horrible carnage. - Martin. Cambyses had no wars in the mountains of Israel.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:21
“Throughout - From all parts of the land, which was full of mountains. Every man's sword - As it was in Jehoshaphat's time; and these swords may be meant by the sword God will call for through all, for they ranged all over his mountains.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:21
“And he has swords always at command, that are bathed in heaven, Isa. xxxv. 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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 38:22, 1 voice
Ezekiel 38:22
“Great hailstones, fire, and brimstone - These are probably figurative expressions, to signify that the whole tide of the war should be against him, and that his defeat and slaughter should be great. Abp. Newcome supposes all the above prophecy remains yet to be fulfilled. Where such eminent scribes are divided, who shall decide!”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 38:23, 1 voice
Ezekiel 38:23
“Magnify - Undeniably prove that I am the mighty, just, faithful, wise, holy, and merciful God. Sanctify - Declare I am holy, and true to my word.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Ezekiel 38. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 10 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Chuck Missler, The Magog Identity (article) (2002); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765); Matthew Henry and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.
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