Ezekiel 39:8-10 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Behold, it is come, it is done, saith the Lord The time appointed for this great destruction is come, and it is the last and finishing stroke of God's justice upon the enemies of his church and truth. The prophet here speaks in the rapture of prophecy of this event, determined and fixed in the counsels of God, as already completed: see the margin. They that dwell in the city shall set on fire and burn the weapons In token of an entire conquest, and that such a lasting peace should ensue that there should be no more need of warlike preparations. Weapons here include all the instruments of war, engines, carriages, wagons, &c. Bishop Lowth observes, on Isaiah 9:4, that some heathen nations burned heaps of arms to the supposed god of victory, and that among the Romans this act was an emblem of peace. Among God's people it might show their trust in him as their defender. And they shall burn them with fire seven years The victory shall be so great, that, during this period of time, they shall suffice for fires on the mountains and in the open fields, where the slain shall fall, and whither the inhabitants of the adjoining cities shall occasionally go forth. Or by seven years we may understand a long time, a certain number being put for an uncertain one. And the meaning may be, There shall be in the country so great a quantity of military weapons, that they shall serve the people a long time for fuel. We should remember that they do not make very large fires in those hot countries. Mariana, in his Spanish History, b. 2. c. 24, relates, that after the victory which the Spaniards gained over the Saracens in 1212, they found so many spears and other warlike weapons of wood, as served them four years for fuel: see Calmet. They shall spoil those that spoiled them See the margin.