Ezekiel 38:4 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

I will turn thee back: the words seem to imply a diverting him from some other enterprise, or else intimate to us, when that mighty power come out, that they are still under God's control, and he will turn them back from what they intended, that they shall not effect it. Hooks: see this expression Ezekiel 29:4. I will bring thee forth; so dispose affairs, thou shalt leave thine own country to invade, and spoil, and destroy. All thy army; the whole power thou canst make. Horses; those nations, Sarmatee, or Scythians, Cappadocians, &c., or which comprise all the Turks and Tartars, are to this day strong in horse, and their armies consist much of horsemen. All of them clothed; their leaders both rich and gaudy, yet well armed, and their soldiers well provided too, and we know how they and other antichristian soldiers march with all warlike provisions. A great company; in vast armies, far greater than any of their neighbours can bring out against them. Bucklers for their foot, and shields for their horsemen, as Servius observes the difference between the two Latin words scutum and clypeus, if not misreported. I doubt whether the Hebrew words do so differ; however, these were for defence of those that bear them, and to this day the Tartars use oblong shields for defence on horseback, as the figures represent them to our eye. Handling swords; that is, very ready, expert, and strong in using the sword; this to slay the enemies, as the other to save themselves.