Ezekiel 38-39 - Gog and Magog

Audio narrationAlso in your podcast app

This narration is from a previous version of the study. The text on this page is current.

Speed0.75×1×1.2×1.5×2×3×

Ezekiel 38-39 stands after the new heart, the dry bones made alive, and the two sticks made one. A vast hostile coalition now sees the restored people’s peace as an opportunity for plunder. The Lord intervenes, and the weapons of conquest become fuel. The security of God’s people rests in His holy name, not in the absence of enemies.

The aftermath matters as much as the battle. Bones must be sought out and buried; the land must be made clean. The vision ends not by lingering over the enemy’s corpse but with the Lord turning His face toward His people. Deliverance is for restored life.

Previous: Ezekiel 37 · Next: Ezekiel 40

Historical and Scriptural Context

These chapters close the restoration promises of 33-39 before the temple vision begins in chapter 40. Revelation 20:7-10 takes up Gog and Magog for the last gathering against God’s people, while Revelation 19:17-21 recalls the birds’ feast. Ezekiel’s ancient names do not identify modern states or give a timetable for current wars. The question is how a restored people can live without surrendering either to fear or to the conqueror’s appetite.

Geographical Significance ⛰️

The vision places the attack against a people living securely in the mountains of Israel. The geography is visionary rather than a literal invasion route. Gog comes from the far north, a traditional direction of threat in the ancient Near East. The coalition includes Persians, Ethiopians, Libyans, Gomer, and the house of Thorgama in Brenton 38:5-6. The Hebrew-based NKJV names Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, and the house of Togarmah. The coalition spans the ancient horizon. The point is not the specific map but the totality of opposition that God turns back by His own action.

The Characters 👥

The Lord is the sole defender. He brings Gog against the land to show His holiness, then destroys the coalition so that the nations know that He is the Lord.

Gog of the land of Magog is the archetypal last enemy. The name and titles are stylized; the figure represents hostile power that arises even after restoration.

The restored house of Israel lives securely in the land after the promises of chapters 35-37. Their security is not military invulnerability but the Lord’s presence and the removal of their former defilement.

The nations watch the Lord sanctify Himself in Gog’s defeat and in the burial of the multitude.

Gog summoned and the secure people attacked (Ezekiel 38:1-13)

¹ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² Son of man, set thy face against Gog, and the land of Magog, Rhos, prince of Mesoch and Thobel, and prophesy against him, ³ and say to him, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Rhos prince of Mesoch and Thobel: ⁴ and I will gather thee, and all thine host, horses and horsemen, all wearing breast-plates, with a great multitude, shields and helmets and swords: ⁵ Persians, and Ethiopians, and Libyans; all with helmets and shields. ⁶ Gomer, and all belonging to him; the house of Thorgama, from the end of the north, and all belonging to him; and many nations with thee. ⁷ Be thou prepared, prepare thyself, thou, and all thy multitude that is assembled with thee, and thou shalt be to me for a guard. ⁸ He shall be prepared after many days, and he shall come at the end of years, and shall come to a land that is brought back from the sword, when the people are gathered from many nations against the land of Israel, which was entirely desolate: and he is come forth out of the nations, and they shall all dwell securely. ⁹ And thou shalt go up as rain, and shalt arrive as a cloud to cover the land, and there shall be thou, and all that are about thee, and many nations with thee. ¹⁰ Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass in that day, that thoughts shall come up into thine heart, and thou shalt devise evil devices. ¹¹ And thou shalt say, I will go up to the rejected land; I will come upon them that are at ease in tranquillity, and dwelling in peace, all inhabiting a land in which there is no wall, nor bars, nor have they doors; ¹² to seize plunder, and to take their spoil; to turn my hands against the desolate land that is now inhabited, and against a nation that is gathered from many nations, that have acquired property, dwelling in the midst of the land. ¹³ Sabba, and Dædan, and Carthaginian merchants, and all their villages shall say to thee, Thou art come for plunder to take a prey, and to get spoils: thou hast gathered thy multitude to take silver and gold, to carry off property, to take spoils.

The Lord Himself summons Gog. The coalition is vast and from every direction. The restored people are described as living at ease, without walls, gathered from the nations, with cattle and possessions. Gog’s thought is plunder. The attack is not provoked by Israel’s aggression; it is the response of a hostile power to a people who have been restored by God.

The original context assures exiles that even after return, enemies will arise. The security described is not military; it is the security of having been gathered and cleansed by the Lord.

Brenton names “Rhos, prince of Mesoch and Thobel.” Similarity of sound is not historical evidence connecting Rhos with Russia or Mesoch with Moscow. The ancient names place Gog among powers beyond Israel’s borders; they do not supply a modern military roster. Verse 10 identifies the moral issue much more securely: Gog devises evil, and verse 12 names his purpose as spoil. The restored people’s apparent vulnerability becomes an invitation to predatory desire.

The Lord’s summons in verses 3-4 and Gog’s own evil design in verse 10 must be held together. Ezekiel gives God judicial sovereignty without excusing the attacker’s appetite. The chapter does not answer every philosophical question about providence and freedom; it does prevent us from treating a conqueror’s success or sense of destiny as proof of righteousness. A Christian who sees another’s unguarded life must ask how to protect it, not what can be taken.

The Lord defends His people (Ezekiel 38:14-23)

¹⁴ Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, Thus saith the Lord; Wilt thou not arise in that day, when my people Israel are dwelling securely, ¹⁵ and come out of thy place from the farthest north, and many nations with thee? all of them mounted on horses, a great gathering, and a large force? ¹⁶ And thou shalt come up upon my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land; it shall come to pass in the last days, that I will bring thee up upon my land, that all the nations may know me, when I am sanctified in thee before them. ¹⁷ Thus saith the Lord God, to Gog; Thou art he concerning whom I spoke in former times, by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel, in those days and years, that I would bring thee up against them. ¹⁸ And it shall come to pass in that day, in the day when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, ¹⁹ that my wrath and my jealousy shall arise, I have spoken in the fire of mine anger, verily in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; ²⁰ and the fish of the sea shall quake at the presence of the Lord, and the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the field, and all the reptiles that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are on the face of the earth; and the mountains shall be rent, and the valleys shall fall, and every wall on the land shall fall. ²¹ And I will summon against it even every fear, saith the Lord: the sword of every man shall be against his brother. ²² And I will judge him with pestilence, and blood, and sweeping rain, and hailstones; and I will rain upon him fire and brimstone, and upon all that are with him, and upon many nations with him. ²³ And I will be magnified, and sanctified, and glorified; and I will be known in the presence of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

The Lord brings Gog against the land so that the nations may know Him when He is sanctified in Gog’s defeat. The defense is not by Israel’s army but by earthquake, mutual slaughter, pestilence, flooding rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone. The Lord alone is magnified and sanctified. The passage protects the Church from placing final security in military strength or political alliances.

The vastness of the coalition does not make its purpose righteous, and its power does not give it the last word. The Lord’s holiness will be made known where the invader expected only spoil.

The terrible reversal reaches the coalition itself: in verse 21 each man’s sword turns against his brother. The force assembled for plunder cannot preserve its own solidarity. Earth, mountains, rain, and fire also answer the Lord. The scene deprives Gog of the power to control either the people he attacks or the world in which he attacks them.

There is no command here for Israel to imitate the heavenly judgment. The distinction matters whenever fear tempts a community to treat violence as its sacred vocation. Christians read the final defeat of evil through the crucified and risen Lord, not as permission to identify a neighbor as Gog. Revelation 20:7-10 takes up Gog and Magog for the final gathering against God’s people; that later canonical use enlarges the horizon beyond a single ancient campaign rather than giving us a timetable for current news.

The defeat and burial of Gog (Ezekiel 39:1-16)

Translation note. Brenton 39:11 calls the burial ground “a place of renown” and “the burial-place of Gog”; the Hebrew-based NKJV names the Valley of Hamon Gog. Both give the aggressor a grave where he had sought a possession.

¹ And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, Rhos prince of Mesoch and Thobel: ² and I will assemble thee, and guide thee, and raise thee up on the extremity of the north, and I will bring thee up upon the mountains of Israel. ³ And I will destroy thy bow out of thy left hand, and thine arrows out of thy right hand, and I will cast thee down on the mountains of Israel; ⁴ and thou and all that belong to thee shall fall, and the nations that are with thee shall be given to multitudes of birds, even to every fowl, and I have given thee to all the wild beasts of the field to be devoured. ⁵ Thou shalt fall on the face of the field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord. ⁶ And I will send a fire upon Gog, and the islands shall be securely inhabited: and they shall know that I am the Lord. ⁷ And my holy name shall be known in the midst of my people Israel; and my holy name shall no more be profaned: and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ Behold it is come, and thou shalt know that it shall be, saith the Lord God; this is the day concerning which I have spoken. ⁹ And they that inhabit the cities of Israel shall come forth, and make a fire with the arms, the shields and spears, and bows and arrows, and hand-staves, and lances, and they shall keep fire burning with them for seven years: ¹⁰ and they shall not take any wood out of the field, neither shall they cut any out of the forests, but they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall plunder those that plundered them, and spoil those that spoiled them, saith the Lord. ¹¹ And it shall come to pass that in that day I will give to Gog a place of renown, a tomb in Israel, the burial-place of them that approach the sea: and they shall build round about the outlet of the valley, and there they shall bury Gog and all his multitude: and the place shall then be called the burial-place of Gog. ¹² And the house of Israel shall bury them, that the land may be cleansed in the space of seven months. ¹³ Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a place of renown in the day wherein it was glorified, saith the Lord. ¹⁴ And they shall appoint men continually to go over the land, to bury them that have been left on the face of the earth, to cleanse it after the space of seven months, and they shall seek them out. ¹⁵ And every one that goes through the land, and sees a man’s bone, shall set up a mark by it, until the buriers shall have buried it in the valley, the burial-place of Gog. ¹⁶ For the name of the city shall be Burial-place: so shall the land be cleansed.

The defeat is total. The Lord destroys the weapons, sends fire upon Gog, and gives the multitude a mass grave in the land of Israel. The seven years of burning weapons and seven months of burial emphasize the completeness of the victory and the thorough cleansing of the land. The Lord sanctifies His name in the midst of His people. The nations know that He is the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

The aftermath occupies years and months. The inhabitants burn the weapons, while appointed people search the land and mark remaining bones for burial. Ezekiel does not stop at the thrill of an enemy falling: the land must be made habitable and clean. The weapons that promised mastery become fuel, and the invaders who intended to seize a country receive a burial place instead.

These large, repeated periods communicate the extent of the defeat and its aftermath; the text does not invite us to calculate a date for the end of the world from them. Burial also keeps the cost of violence visible. The spiritual response to deliverance is patient restoration, not an appetite for more enemies. After a conflict in family or parish life, reconciliation may require practical repair long after the public confrontation has ended.

The feast for the birds and the restoration of Israel (Ezekiel 39:17-29)

Translation note. Brenton 39:29 says the Lord has poured out His “wrath”; the Hebrew-based NKJV reads “My Spirit”. The promise of the Spirit is explicit in Brenton 36:27 and 37:14, but these two endings should remain distinct.

¹⁷ And thou, son of man, say, Thus saith the Lord; Say to every winged bird, and to all the wild beasts of the field, Gather yourselves, and come; gather yourselves from all places round about to my sacrifice, which I have made for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, and ye shall eat flesh, and drink blood. ¹⁸ Ye shall eat the flesh of mighty men, and ye shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth, rams, and calves and goats, and they are all fatted calves. ¹⁹ And ye shall eat fat till ye are full, and shall drink wine till ye are drunken, of my sacrifice which I have prepared for you. ²⁰ And ye shall be filled at my table, eating horse, and rider, and mighty man, and every warrior, saith the Lord. ²¹ And I will set my glory among you, and all the nations shall see my judgment which I have wrought, and my hand which I have brought upon them. ²² And the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from this day and onwards. ²³ And all the nations shall know that the house of Israel were led captive because of their sins, because they rebelled against me, and I turned away my face from them, and delivered them into the hands of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. ²⁴ According to their uncleannesses and according to their transgressions did I deal with them, and I turned away my face from them. ²⁵ Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Now will I turn back captivity in Jacob, and will have mercy on the house of Israel, and will be jealous for the sake of my holy name. ²⁶ And they shall bear their reproach, and the iniquity which they committed when they dwelt upon their land in peace. Yet there shall be none to terrify them ²⁷ when I have brought them back from the nations, and gathered them out of the countries of the nations: and I will be sanctified among them in the presence of the nations. ²⁸ And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, when I have been manifested to them among the nations. ²⁹ And I will no more turn away my face from them, because I have poured out my wrath upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

The birds and beasts are invited to the feast of the slain. The Lord sets His glory among the nations by the judgment. Israel will know that the Lord is their God. The nations will know that Israel’s earlier captivity was for iniquity, not because the Lord was weak. Now the Lord turns back the captivity, has mercy for the sake of His holy name, and will no more turn His face from them because He has poured out His wrath.

The chapter ends where the restoration promises began: the Lord acts for His holy name, cleanses, gathers, and dwells with His people. The final enemy is defeated not by Israel’s strength but by the Lord’s intervention. The security of the people is the Lord’s faithfulness, not the absence of Gog-like threats.

The feast for birds reverses the conquerors’ appetite. Those who came to consume another people’s wealth become the consumed; the sacrificial vocabulary intensifies the shame of imperial pride. It is a dreadful image of judgment, not a scene for Christian pleasure in corpses. Revelation 19:17-21 reuses the bird-feast imagery in its account of evil’s defeat, again placing final judgment in God’s hands.

The closing explanation looks backward as well as forward. Israel’s exile was not evidence that its God had been defeated, and its future gathering is not a prize for superiority over other nations. The Lord reveals His holiness through judgment and mercy. Brenton’s closing promise that He will no longer turn away His face answers the exile’s deepest fear: judgment will not become God’s permanent absence.

The hope left with the reader is the Lord’s restored face toward His people. Fear can make us spend more attention naming enemies than receiving God’s mercy. Christ frees His Church to live faithfully under threat, pray for those who persecute her, and leave the final destruction of evil to Him.

Gems from the Fathers 💎

St Athanasius, in On the Incarnation §27, describes death as a tyrant defeated and bound by the Saviour. The victory is received “by the sign of the Cross and by faith in Christ”.¹ He points to Christians’ endurance as witness to the Resurrection. This is the Christian courage with which to hear Gog’s defeat: not the confidence to become another destroyer, but freedom to remain faithful when threatened. Grief, fear, and prudent protection still have their place; death does not have the right to demand our worship.

The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪

At the Night of the Apocalypse on Bright Saturday, the Church reads the whole Book of Revelation between the Sixth and Ninth Hours. Within that proclamation she hears the birds’ feast of Revelation 19:17-21 and the last gathering of Gog and Magog in Revelation 20:7-10. These are passages of Revelation heard through the whole-book reading, not an appointment of Ezekiel 38-39. Beside the Lord’s tomb, the final defeat of evil is heard through the victory of the crucified and risen Christ.

At the Third Hour of the Agpeya, Psalm 46:9 (LXX 45:10) praises the Lord who breaks weapons and ends wars. The Church’s prayer is not delight in a battlefield but hope for an end to its devastation. On the Tout 19 Feast of the Cross, the Liturgy reads Colossians 2:6-19: the triumph over hostile powers belongs to the Cross, not to the invader’s appetite.

We do not need to copy the conqueror’s violence to believe that the Lord will defend His people.

Ezekiel’s long burial work turns victory toward a cleansed land. Let thanksgiving after deliverance include care for the injured, prayer for the departed, and the slow repair that allows a community to live again. The river that follows this vision is told in Ezekiel 47.

Iconography Connection 🖼️

Christ enthroned is the fitting center of the vision’s victory. The One who rules is also the crucified and risen Lord; His reign frees the Church from measuring hope by the size of an army. His triumph calls us to faithful endurance and prayer, not enjoyment of another’s destruction.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

1. Place final security in the Lord’s name, not in the absence of enemies. The restored people still face Gog. Their security is not that no enemy will ever arise, but that the Lord will defend them for the sake of His name. Ask where you are tempted to place ultimate trust in political arrangements, military strength, or personal safety rather than in the Lord’s faithfulness.

2. Do not turn hostile powers into an excuse for despair or for hatred. Gog is real. The text does not deny the threat. But the response is not panic or revenge; it is the confession that the Lord is magnified in the defeat of the enemy. The Church prays for the conversion of enemies and trusts the Lord’s judgment when conversion does not come.

3. Remember that the Lord acts for His holy name. The repeated purpose is that the nations may know that He is the Lord. Personal and corporate restoration is never merely for our comfort. It is for the revelation of who God is. Let that shape how you pray for the Church’s renewal.

4. Live as a people who have been gathered and cleansed. The security described is the security of a people who have been brought back from the nations and cleansed from their former transgressions. Do not claim the promise of protection while clinging to the old idols and divisions.

5. Hope in the final victory of Christ over every Gog. The last enemy will be defeated. The Church lives between the resurrection of Christ and the final putting down of all hostile powers. This hope is not escapism; it is the strength to live faithfully when threats arise.

The weapons lie useless, but the work of restoring the land remains. Lord, deliver us from both the enemy’s violence and the appetite to become like him. Give us courage for today’s duty, mercy toward those we fear, and patience to leave the last judgment in Your hands.

Teaching Notes

Ezekiel 38:1-13 - Gog summoned and the secure people attacked

• Ask: What does it mean that even a restored people still face hostile powers?
• Emphasize: The attack is not provoked by Israel’s aggression. Gog sees secure living as an opportunity for plunder.
• Watch for: Mapping Gog onto modern nations or using the chapter to fuel fear or hatred.
• Connect: The security of the people is the Lord’s restoration, not military invulnerability.
• Practice: Protect one person whose life is unguarded: a newcomer, child, widow, or isolated neighbor.

Ezekiel 38:14-23 - The Lord defends His people

• Ask: Who actually defeats Gog?
• Emphasize: The Lord alone intervenes with natural and supernatural means. The purpose is that the nations may know that He is the Lord.
• Watch for: Turning the passage into a military or political program.
• Connect: The Church’s final security is the Lord’s holy name.
• Practice: Pray for an end to war, asking the Lord to break both weapons and the appetite to use them.

Ezekiel 39:1-16 - The defeat and burial of Gog

• Ask: Why does the text emphasize the complete burial and cleansing of the land?
• Emphasize: The victory is total and the land is cleansed. The Lord sanctifies His name in the midst of His people.
• Watch for: Using the burial imagery for anything other than the completeness of God’s judgment on the last enemy.
• Connect: The Lord is magnified and sanctified in the defeat.
• Practice: After a conflict, do one practical act of repair even if you were in the right.

Ezekiel 39:17-29 - The feast for the birds and the restoration of Israel

• Ask: What is the final purpose of the whole event?
• Emphasize: The Lord turns back the captivity, has mercy for the sake of His holy name, and will no more turn His face from His people.
• Watch for: Reading the chapter as if it promises the absence of all future conflict rather than the Lord’s defense when conflict comes.
• Connect: The end of the chapter returns to the restoration promises: gathered, cleansed, and dwelling with the Lord.
• Practice: Pray by name for someone you fear, asking Christ for their conversion and for safety from harm.

Glossary

• Gog of the land of Magog: The archetypal last enemy in Ezekiel’s vision. The name is stylized; the figure represents hostile power that arises even after restoration.
• The restored house of Israel: The people living securely after the promises of chapters 35-37. Their security is the Lord’s presence and cleansing, not military strength.
• Sanctify my name: The Lord’s purpose in both judgment and mercy: to reveal who He truly is before the nations.
• Final enemy imagery: Prophetic language that reappears in Revelation 20. Revelation expands the vision toward the last defeat of evil.

Translation and Source Notes

Brenton’s names, verse labels, and the ending of 39:29 are retained. Its names should be read within the ancient vision. The two local translation notes distinguish the burial-place name and the closing promise from Hebrew-based wording.

Sources

Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX).

• Brenton, Ezekiel 38-39; Revelation 19:17-21; Revelation 20:7-10; Colossians 2:15; Matthew 5:44.
• St Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation §27, newadvent.org.
• H.G. Bishop Youssef, Night of the Apocalypse, sections Background and The Holy Book of Revelation, published by St John the Baptist Coptic Orthodox Church, Miami, stjohnmiami.org.
• St Bishoy Coptic Orthodox Church, Book of Agpeya, Third Hour, Psalm 45 (46), printed pp. 72-73; weapons cross-reference Psalm 46:9 (LXX 45:10), saintbishoy.ca.
• Coptic Katameros, Tout 19 Feast of the Cross, Liturgy, Pauline, Colossians 2:6-19.

Footnotes

1. St Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation §27.1-4, newadvent.org. ↩