Ezekiel 38:16

16 And thou shalt come up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land -- it shall be at the end of days -- and I will bring thee against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be hallowed in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

Ezekiel 38:16 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 38:16

And thou shall come up against my people of Israel
Which is repeated for the certainty of it; and not for his comfort, but his ruin; not to the terror of Israel, but for the glory of God: as a cloud to cover the land;
the land of Israel, so great should be his army; (See Gill on Ezekiel 38:9), it shall be in the latter days;
of the Gospel state, or kingdom of the Messiah, when the Jews shall be converted, and are returned to their own land, ( Hosea 3:5 ) : and I will bring thee against my land;
not to possess it, nor to hurt it, or to any injury to the people of it: but that the Heathen may know me;
the Pagan kingdoms of China, and others; who by God's judgments on the Turks will come to the knowledge of the true God, and acknowledge him, and will become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, ( Revelation 11:15 ) ( 16:12 ) : when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes;
that is, when God shall appear to be a holy and just God, in inflicting deserved punishment on the enemies of his people; when his omniscience and omnipotence, his power and faithfulness, and other perfections of his will be displayed, in fulfilling those prophecies concerning Gog or the Turks; infidels will be convinced of the truth of divine revelation; of the God of Israel being the true God; of Jesus being the Messiah; and of the Christian religion being of God, and shall profess the same. The, Targum is,

``that the people may know the vengeance of my power, when I shall be sanctified in thee, who shall see thy vengeance, O Gog.''

Ezekiel 38:16 In-Context

14 Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In that day when my people Israel dwelleth in safety, shalt thou not know [it]?

15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the uttermost north, thou and many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great assemblage and a mighty army.

16 And thou shalt come up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land -- it shall be at the end of days -- and I will bring thee against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be hallowed in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

17 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Art thou not he of whom I have spoken in old time through my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days, for [many] years, that I would bring thee 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 Jehovah, [that] my fury shall come up in my face;