Глава 39

It was predicted already at the end of the previous chapter; but wishing, due to its special importance for the glory of the name of God, to present it in an even more stunning form, the prophet repeats the entire prediction about the invasion of Gog briefly (vv. 1–8), in order to then dwell exclusively on death; the great booty obtained from the death of the enemy army by Israel is described (9–11); since this production will be expressed in a lot of flammable material, then its use will actually be the cleansing of the earth from the remnants of the wicked army, which cleansing will require the burning of corpses (12–16); after the prey of Israel from the troops of Gog, the prey of the beasts of the earth from them is described (17–20); the depiction of the entire horror of the catastrophe consists of an indication of its purpose: for the pagans - the revelation of the glory of God (21-24), for Israel - its final restoration (vv. 25-29). Ezek.39:1. But you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosha, Meshech and Tubal! See the explanation of Ezek.38.2, which is abbreviated here, as is natural in repetition. Ezek.39:2. And I will turn you, and lead you, and bring you out from the ends of the north, and bring you to the mountains of Israel. “I will turn” - see the explanation of Ezek.38.4. - “I’ll lead you.” Heb. shishshetikha - a strange form from the verb shaa, which is not used anywhere, in which the meaning is assumed to be “to drive by the hand”; LXX καθοδηγησω, “I will instruct,” Vulg. education; others, assuming the root shesh, “six”: “I will punish you with 6 punishments” (listed in Ezek. 38.22), or: “I will leave you a sixth part.” Targ.: “I will seduce.” Peshito: “I’ll collect.” – “From the ends of the north” – see explanation of Ezek.38.6. – “Mountains of Israel” Eze.38.8. Ezek.39:3. And I will knock your bow out of your left hand, and throw your arrows out of your right hand. The Scythians were famous as archers, which is why Herodotus calls them ' ιπποτοξοται (IV, 46); Wed Jer 5.16, 6.23. “The threat is very specific: the bow is held with the left hand and the arrow with the right” (Bert.). “God will make Gog unable to fight” (Tr.). Ezek.39:4. You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your armies and the nations that are with you; I will give you to be devoured by all kinds of birds of prey and wild beasts. Ezek.39:5. In the open field you will fall; for I have said this, says the Lord God. We need to remember what it meant for an ancient person to lose a burial. It’s not the same in Christianity: St. Nilus of Sora bequeathed his body to be devoured by animals and birds. – “In the open field” – see explanation of Ezek.26.5. Ezek.39:6. And I will send fire on the land of Magog and on the inhabitants of the islands, who live carelessly, and they will know that I am the Lord. Punishment will befall not only the army of Gog that came to St. land, but also the country of his and his allies, no matter how remote the lands of the latter were, even if they were islands or sea shores (perhaps referring to the shores of the Black Sea, where the Scythians lived). Jehovah, unlike the pagan gods, is strong only in his own land. Wed. Am 1.4, 7, 10, etc. LXX on the contrary: “and the islands will be inhabited in peace,” that is, the destruction of Gog will pacify the earth to the most distant countries. – “Fire” must be war, extermination. - “Living carelessly”, as Israel lived during the attack of Gog: Ezek.38.8, 11, 14. Ezek.39:7. And I will make My holy name known among My people Israel, and I will not let My holy name be dishonored ahead, and the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. See explanation of Ezek.36.21. “Holy in Israel” - God is recognized and revered as holy by Israel and in relation to it mainly reveals His holiness. Ezek.39:8. Behold, this will come and will happen, says the Lord God, this is the day that I spoke about. “It will come and come true.” Confidence in the immutability of a prediction due to its special importance and apparent improbability. LXX is more precise: “behold, it is in time (the prediction is so immutable that it can be considered fulfilled - the prophetic past) and know what will happen” (are there signs of the onset?). – “Day” in the eschatological sense assimilated to the word from Am 5.18 (see explanation of Ezek. 13.5) is the day of God’s final judgment. – “Which I have spoken about” – both here and earlier through the prophets (Ezek.38.17–18). Ezek.39:9. Then the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will come out and kindle a fire and burn weapons, shields and armor, bows and arrows, and maces and spears; They will burn them for seven years. Ezek.39:10. And they will not carry wood from the field, nor cut down from the forests, but will only burn weapons; and they will rob their robbers, and rob their extorters, says the Lord God. “The enormous magnitude of the catastrophe is vividly represented in the multitude of weapons that were obtained, in comparison with which the rest of the production can only be thought of as accidental” (Smend). Weapons are generally considered the most valuable spoils of war, since they can in turn be used against the enemy. But this is not the case: what would Israel do with weapons when in that glorious future she will not wage wars (see explanation Eze. 38.11, just as there will be no wars on earth at all: Is 9.5), just as now the outcome of the war was decided for him by God alone. So, with weapons there is nothing better to do than to use them as fuel instead of looking for it in the field (from where they got lighter material for fuel - “firewood”) or in the forests (firewood in the proper sense), “which is so useful in a forest-poor country” (Krech.). To enhance the impression, the weapons are listed in detail, forming with their generic concept 7 (the symbolic number of completeness and infinity) members, corresponding to 7 years of burning them (such a bulk of them for the whole country for 7 years!). This burning will at the same time cleanse the country of the last remnants of enemy, pagan defilement (cf. v. 14 and Num. 31.20). “Arms” is most likely the intended meaning of the Hebrew. cinna, which LXX and Vulg. they convey “spear”, due to which the latter is named twice (even lastly: “sulitsa”). – “Mace” – lit. “sticks of hands”, shepherd’s sticks (Numbers 22.27), clubs, which, therefore, also served as weapons, of course, among wilder peoples (in general, all weapons here seem to be more wooden than metal, if they are used for fuel). - “And they will rob their robbers,” as during the exodus from Egypt. - “Says the Lord God,” whose justice demands this vengeance. Ezek.39:11. And it will happen in that day: I will give Gog a place for a grave in Israel, the valley of the passers-by on the east of the sea, and it will detain the passers-by; and they will bury Gog and all his hordes there, and they will call it the valley of Gog’s hordes. Gog will find his grave in the country where he sought prey; but this grave will not be sacred like all others, but a place of special disgust. – “Place for a grave in Israel” lit. “the place where the grave is” (where there could be a grave for him); "where" Heb. sham LXX read shem, a name, which is why they have “a deliberate place,” “famous,” or what is more natural, as we will see now, “named,” “so-called.” – “Grave in Israel” in Hebrew. keber be-Israel. Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky in op. “Megalithic Monuments of the Holy Land” (Orthodox Palestine. Collection, vol. XIV, century 2, St. Petersburg 1895, p. 281 etc.) draws attention to the coincidence with these words of the name that the dolmens of northern Transjordan have in Palestine: Kubur beni-Israel. In this name beni (“sons”) is a spoiled be (“in”). This place was called that way, obviously because it served as a cemetery for foreigners on the land of Israel, specifically for those foreigners who died in trade caravans that passed through the very places where these dolmens are located. "The Valley of Passers-by to the East of the Sea". There is no known area with the same name “valley of passers-by”. If by sea we mean the Mediterranean, then such a valley could be Megiddo, through which the main military and trade road between Egypt and the Euphrates passed; this valley was famous in history as a place of battles (Josiah fell here); but by sea one cannot mean the Mediterranean, because in that case the country to the east of it would be all of Palestine. It is more natural to understand the Dead by the sea; and if at the same time passers-by read Overim as Avarim, then we would receive here an indication of the mountainous region of Avarim with Mount Nebo, so dear to the Jews (Deut. 32.49), which actually lies to the east of the Dead Sea; but this was a mountainous region, and not a valley (ge), which is required here. Therefore, it is most likely that under the sea we mean the Lake of Gennesaret with the Targum, and the valley (LXX: πολυανδριον, famous. multi-burial, according to the blessed. Jerome, a large cemetery) look for passers-by (otherwise: wanderers, caravans) in that part of Transjordan adjacent to this lake, where the dolmen graves bearing the mentioned name Kubur-Beni-Israel are located. This identification receives even greater strength from the fact that it was in these places that most of the Scythians were founded, with whom there is some evidence to compare Gog, so that it was near this lake that the whole city, ancient Betsan, was renamed Scythopolis. This area is suitable for the burial of Gog in that it is located outside of St. the land of the future (which, according to Chapters XLVII and XLVIII, extends only to the Jordan), so that Gog’s tomb would not desecrate St. land, which the prophet is so concerned about here. LXX: “many burials (see above) who came to the east of the sea,” i.e., according to the blessed. Theodoret: where many of those who attacked the earth from the east, that is, the Assyrians, are buried. “And she will detain passers-by.” Ave. Olesnitsky draws attention (op. cit. p. 283) to the fact that on the main caravan road of Transjordan, the so-called “royal” road, going from Lake Gennesaret to Damascus, in the place where this road crosses the bridge of the er-Rukad stream, and where this already blocks the path of passing caravans, we encounter a huge field of dolmen-tombs, stretching for many miles on both sides roads, protruding all the way to the road and in the literal sense; blocking her. A less likely explanation is: “detain” Heb. Khosemet was used in Deuteronomy 25.4 about preventing the threshing ox from using the grain, i.e., about blocking its mouth; on this basis, here too the word is given the meaning of shutting up the mouth and nose; the valley will make passers-by cover their noses from the stench. LXX, reading somewhat differently, have: “and they will block the mouth of the wilds,” that is, “to make this valley more like a tomb and to block it from the sacred land” (Hitzig). – “The Valley of the Hordes of Gog” LXX: multi-burial (large cemetery) πολυανδριον Gog; euro gay-gamon-gog. In Latin, the horde could be rendered “legio” (Hengstenberg); but more precisely it is transmitted in Russian. horde (Olesnitsky, ibid.). Ezek.39:12. And the house of Israel will bury them for seven months to purify the land. A corpse defiles (Ezek. 44.25), especially the corpse of an unclean pagan. The only purpose of this burial is thus to cleanse the earth. And the latter is necessary for the possibility of committing on the future St. a land of godly worship and the preservation of God's blessing upon it. Here again the number “7” appears: Art. 9, but already months, not years: 7 months of burial indicates a rather terrible number of corpses. Ezek.39:13. And all the people of the earth will bury them, and the day on which I will glorify myself will be famous among them, says the Lord God. The matter of burying corpses, or more precisely, their removal from the surface of the earth, is clearly left not to the priests, whom the law carefully protects from the desecration resulting in this way (Ezek. 44.25), but to the “common people” (“the people of the earth” - see the explanation of Eze. 7:27, 12:19) of the theocratic state of the end of times. The whole class will have to take care of the matter. Since by this the people perform the cleansing of St. earth (see explanation in the previous article), then this deed will constitute a means of glorification for those who do it (“and the day will be famous among them”, glory. “and it will be famous for them”); it will introduce the people to the glory of the victory over Gog, which will actually be the work of God alone. Ezek.39:14. And they will appoint people who would constantly walk around the earth and, with the help of passers-by, would bury those remaining on the surface of the earth, to cleanse it; after seven months they will begin to search; And it will be impossible for “all the people of the earth” to cope with such an enormous work even in 7 months (there will be so many fallen). Therefore, it is necessary to appoint (lit. “to separate”) a kind of special “commission” (Krech.; anoshey tamid, “permanent people”) for the final cleansing of the earth from all the dead remains of unclean pagans. – “With the help of passers-by” - not those mentioned in Art. 11, but who will be discussed in Art. 15. under the name of “those who go around the earth,” that is, people specially appointed to search for corpses and bones; Therefore, it would be necessary to translate not “passers-by”, but “walkers”, “walkers”, “watchmen”. LXX is not read at all. Ezek.39:15. and when one of those who go around the earth sees a human bone, he will put a sign near it until the buryers bury it in the valley of the hordes of Gog. And after 7 months - if not with the corpses of enemies, then with dried skeletons (“bones”) there will be so many of them that the work will have to be divided between people who would just look for bones, and those who would bury and bury them. This is because it is necessary to remove all unclean remains from the ground, taking care that a hidden bone somewhere does not desecrate the saint. the earth is like leaven at Easter. “Sign” – transl. according to LXX (“sign”) and Vulg. (titulus) of later Heb. tsiyun, back in 2 Kings 23.17; Jer 31.21. “Nowadays in the deserts of Syria and Arabia, where sand covers road paths, small guidepost piles of stones are poured,” probably in ancient Palestine, special designs of stones “marked suspicious places that required attention and caution” (Olesnitsky A. A. op. cit. 109); - in this case, the index stone could warn about possible desecration. – “In the valley of the hordes of Gogov” - see the explanation of Art. 11. Ezek.39:16. And the name of the city will be Gamona [horde]. And so they will cleanse the land. The city in this place, or rather the one adjacent to it, will be named after the burial place of Gog’s army (cf. Isa. 19.18). "Gamona" from Hebrew. gamon, horde (“legion” see explanation of Art. 11) with the addition of a feminine ending. Perhaps, under the influence of this place of Ezekiel, Bethsan (to the west, however, of the Jordan, and not to the east, as is necessary here on the basis of Article 11) was called Scythopolis in memory of the attack of the Scythians in the 7th century. BC LXX: “multi-burial fall” (free translation). Thanks to the combination of all the unclean remains in one Gamon, the entire St. the land of the future will be clean. Ezek.39:17. But you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, say to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: gather together and go, come together on all sides to My sacrifice, which I will kill for you, to the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel; and you will eat flesh and drink blood. The magnitude of the catastrophe is depicted in a different way - in the picture of devouring corpses by birds of prey and animals. Such devouring, of course, can take place before the previously described burial and removal from the St. land, which will require so much time. This eating of corpses by animals is presented under the guise of a sacrificial feast (“My sacrifice”), because initially in ancient times each sacrifice was accompanied by a feast of its remains (1 Kings 9.13; 2 Kings 6:19, 15:11; Nehemiah 8.10), which expressed the closest unity between the sacrificer and the Divine. To this feast, Jehovah himself summons birds and animals as his guests (collaborators in the extermination of enemies), now he is calling them through the prophet: so undoubtedly this is still likely a distant event. The sacrifice with its feast will take place in the mountainous land of Israel, “on the mountains of Israel,” just as in ancient times sacrifices were primarily made on the mountains (“high places”). Perhaps a reminiscence of ancient sacrificial customs is the invitation to “drink the blood” of the victim (not just eat its meat), just as the Deity was represented as eating the blood of the victim through obligatory spilling it on the ground or stone. The image of a sacrificial feast with such meaning is loved and frequent in the Old Testament: Ezek.21:15, 29:5; Isa 34:6; Zeph 1:7; Jer 12:9, 46:10, 51:40; Wed. Mark 9.44; Rev. 19.17 etc. etc. Ezek.39:18. You will eat the meat of mighty men, and you will drink the blood of the princes of the land, rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all those who were fattened in Bashan; The bloody feast seems all the more honorable and pleasant because, in addition to ordinary people, nobles and princes (kings) will be slaughtered for it. All types of sacrificial animals are listed to depict the different classes of society that made up Gog’s army. The “rams” are placed separately from the lambs and in first place, as leaders of the flock. LXX does not call sheep twice, but oxen three times: “rams and calves and goats and oxen” (in Greek both times μοσχοι). “Those who were fattened in Bashan” – see the explanation of Ezek.27.6 – the rich and powerful. LXX Vasana is not read. Ezek.39:19. And you will eat the fat until you are full and drink the blood until you become drunk from My sacrifice, which I will kill for you. The luxury of the feast, equal here to its horror, is especially strongly depicted by the fact that the guests will be drunk with blood. That at sacrificial feasts they reached excesses is evidenced by 1 Samuel 1.13; Isa 28.8. Ezek.39:20. And at My table you will be satisfied with horses and horsemen, mighty men and all kinds of men of war, says the Lord God. The mountains, filled with the corpses of the defeated army, are represented as a banquet table. It is as if the prophet cannot part with the image, making the latest additions to it here. Ezek.39:21. And I will show My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see My judgment that I will execute, and My hand that I will lay on them. “Among the nations” is more in keeping with the context than “in you” LXX. – “All nations” – In the person of Gog, judgment (and extermination) was carried out on all pagan peoples, since he is their representative. – “My hand which I will lay” – destruction. Ezek.39:22. And the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from this day forward. “And he will know”, thanks to intercession for him. Ezek.39:23. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel was carried away because of their iniquity; Because they acted treacherously against Me, I hid My face from them and gave them into the hands of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. “Because of their unrighteousness,” and not because of Jehovah’s powerlessness to deliver Israel from their enemies. - “I hid My face from them.” Deut. 31:18, 32:20. Ezek.39:24. Because of their uncleanness and because of their iniquity I did this to them, and hid My face from them. “Uncleanness” and “iniquity” are probably, as everywhere else, two types of sins in Ezekiel: religious (idolatry) and moral; see explanation of Ezek.36.17 and others. Ezek.39:25. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Now will I restore the captivity of Jacob, and will have mercy on all the house of Israel, and will call upon my holy name. The significance of Gog's defeat for Israel is depicted, with which the speech returns to the main subject of this part of the book - the restoration of Israel and the transition is made to Chapters XL-XLVIII. – “I will call upon My holy name” – see explanation of Ezek.36.21. Ezek.39:26. And they will feel their dishonor and all their iniquities that they did before Me, when they live safely in their land, and no one will frighten them, See explanation of Ezek.16.63. Ezek.39:27. when I will bring them back from the nations, and gather them from the lands of their enemies, and will show my holiness in them in the sight of many nations. Israel, like the pagans, could doubt the power of Jehovah in view of their captivity and dispersion: the return from this captivity will finally restore in Israel the correct and firm concept of God, the honor (holiness) of His name. Ezek.39:28. And they will know that I am the Lord their God, when, having scattered them among the nations, I will gather them again into their land and will no longer leave one of them there; “The trials of Israel, as well as the blessings they received from God, will elevate his thoughts to God and show him that everything happens to him according to the will of God” (Tr.). - “Scattering them among the nations.” LXX: “I will always appear to them among the nations.” – “And I will not leave any of them there anymore.” “After the fall of Babylon, all the Israelites could return to their country and those who voluntarily remained in a foreign land had, at least, their homeland in Canaan and a place of their cult in the Temple of Jerusalem” (Geng.). Ezek.39:29. And I will no longer hide My face from them, for I will pour out My spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord GOD. Through the influence of the Spirit of God on Israel, the latter will have the opportunity to live in strict conformity with the will of God (Ezek. 11.19–20), there will be no more room for sin, and therefore God will not need to turn His angry face away from Israel. Thus, this verse is a good transition to chapters XL-XLVIII, which set out precisely those requirements of the will of God in which Israel will walk under the theocracy of the end of times and which will make it inviolably blessed. - “For I will pour out My spirit.” LXX: “before I poured out my wrath” - should be according to Lamentations 4.22; Isa 40.2, but against the context. You might be interested in: