Ezekiel 38:5

5 Persia, Sudan, and Put will be with you. They, too, will have shields and helmets.

Ezekiel 38:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 38:5

Persia, Ethiopia, and Lybia with them
These are the confederates or auxiliaries of the Turks, which shall join with them in this expedition. Persia is a neighbouring kingdom to the Turks, and may fall into their hands before this comes to pass; and is in a fair way for it at this time, through the internal divisions in it; however, it will be confederate with them. Ethiopia or Cush does not design the country of the Abyssines in the dominions of the Great Mogul, but Arabia Chusea, which lay between Judea and Egypt, and is now in the hands of the Turks; and Lybia or Phut is the name of one of the sons of Ham, ( Genesis 10:6 ) who, according to Josephus F7, founded Lybia; and from him the inhabitants of it were called Phuteans (as they are here by the Targum); and he observes that there is a river of his name in Mauritania. Lybia is a country in Africa, to the west of Egypt and subject to the Turks: all of them with shield and helmet;
the Lybians are described by Jeremiah, ( Jeremiah 46:9 ) , as those that handle the shield;
and the Egyptians, to whom the Lybians were near neighbours, and whom they might imitate in their warlike arms, as in other things, wore shields down to the feet, as Xenophon


FOOTNOTES:

F8 relates.
F7 Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2.
F8 Cyropaedia, l. 6. c. 14. & l. 7. c. 11.

Ezekiel 38:5 In-Context

3 Tell him, 'This is what the Almighty LORD says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
4 I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws. I will lead you out with all your military forces, with horses and riders. Your soldiers will be fully armed. They will carry large and small shields and be able to use swords.
5 Persia, Sudan, and Put will be with you. They, too, will have shields and helmets.
6 Gomer will come with all its troops and with the nation of Togarmah from the far north. There will be many armies with you.
7 "'Be prepared! Be prepared, you and all the soldiers assembled around you. You will be their leader.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.