Ezekiel 39:11-16. I will give unto Gog a place there of graves Houbigant translates this passage, An illustrious place for sepulture, the valley of passengers opposite to the sea; through which the travellers shall pass, stopping their noses According to the Chaldee, the scene here spoken of was the lake of Gennesareth. In the Hebrew language, all lakes are called by the name of seas. The same is called the eastern sea, (Ezekiel 47:18,) to distinguish it from the Mediterranean, called the great sea westward, Joshua 23:4. The valley near this sea is called the valley of the passengers, because it was the great road by which the merchants and traders from Syria, and other eastern countries, went into Egypt: see Genesis 37:17; Genesis 37:25. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them For a long time after the battle, the inhabitants shall be employed in burying the bones of the slain, that the land might not be polluted by them. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them See the note on the following verse. And it shall be to them a renown, &c.
Or, The day that I shall be glorified shall be to them a day of renown, or a remarkable day of joy and gladness. And they shall sever out men, &c. To cleanse the land thoroughly, men shall be set apart, and be constantly employed in picking up the bones of the slain that are scattered about, and burying them with the dead bodies of travellers who had happened to die on the roads; and they shall continue to do this, and be in daily search after the bones, for the space of seven months. The length of time assigned to this employment denotes the vast number of the slain, and the great care taken to cleanse the land from pollution. And when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign A stone, or some other mark, that men may avoid passing over the bones, and that the persons appointed to bury them may take them from thence, and carry them to the proper burying- place. Also the name of the city shall be called Hamonah Some render this verse, Also the name of the city, assigned to them who shall cleanse the land, shall be called Hamonah, that is, a multitude. The meaning seems to be, that the city where these appointed buriers should reside during the time they were employed in this office, and near which they should bury the dead, should afterward, in memory thereof, be called Hamonah; which, signifying a multitude, thereby denoted the greatness of the victory.