Gog's Destruction and Burial. This chapter does little more than repeat, with variations, the message of the last. The slain hordes lie thick upon Israel's mountains and fields, to be devoured by beasts and birds. Yahweh, whose power is not limited to His own land, will send His destructive fire upon the enemy's land and his islands in the Black (or Mediterranean?) Sea. This is the great day (Ezekiel 39:8) of which the prophets have spoken, and its doings will convince the world of the uniqueness of Israel's God. So great would be the destruction that Israel, which was poor in wood, would find weapons enough of the invaders to burn as fuel for seven years. Thus the spoilers would be spoiled a precious thought to later Judaism, as we see from the sanguinary and vindictive temper of the Book of Esther.
Ezekiel 39:1-10
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort,a and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the openb field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelesslyc in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves,d and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.