Ezekiel 39:12

12 The people of Israel will be burying them there for seven months to make the land clean.

Ezekiel 39:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 39:12

And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them,
&c.] So long time will the burial of Gog's army take up, because of the multitude of it, and by reason their bones will be scattered here and there; which will require time to gather them together, and bring them to one place: the reason of the burial of them will be, partly out of humanity, which the Christian religion, which will then be embraced by the Jews, teaches and encourages; and partly because of the disagreeable sight and ill smell of the carcasses of the slain, and to prevent the air being infected therewith, which might cause noxious diseases. Jarchi gives the reason of it, because Gog is of the seed of Japheth, who covered his father's nakedness, and therefore worthy of a funeral: but a better reason follows, that they may cleanse the land:
not from ceremonial uncleanness, a place being unclean, by the ceremonial law, where dead carcasses, or the bones of dead men, lay; for the ceremonial law, as it is abrogated, will now be disused by the Jews themselves, when converted; but from natural pollution, before mentioned.

Ezekiel 39:12 In-Context

10 They will not need to get wood from the field or cut down trees in the woods. They will make fires with the weapons. They will loot those who looted them, and they will grab things back from those who grabbed their things, declares the Almighty LORD.
11 "'When that day comes, I will give Gog a burial place in Israel. It will be in Travelers Valley, east of the Dead Sea. It will block those who travel [through the valley]. Gog and his whole army will be buried there. So it will be called the valley of Gog's troops.
12 The people of Israel will be burying them there for seven months to make the land clean.
13 All the common people will be burying them. The people of Israel will be honored on the day of my victory, declares the Almighty LORD.
14 "'People will be chosen to go through the land and make it clean. With the help of others they will bury the dead soldiers that are still on the ground. At the end of seven months they will begin their search.
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