Yechezkel 39:12

12 And seven months shall Bais Yisroel be burying them, that they may make ha’aretz tahor.

Yechezkel 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.

Yechezkel 39:12 In-Context

10 So that they shall take no wood [for fuel] out of the sadeh, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with eish; and they shall plunder those that plundered them, and pillage those that looted them, saith Adonoi Hashem.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a makom kever (burial place) there in Yisroel—the valley of those who pass by, east of the yam; and it shall block the path of the passersby; and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it Gey Hamon Gog.
12 And seven months shall Bais Yisroel be burying them, that they may make ha’aretz tahor.
13 Indeed, kol Am Ha’Aretz shall bury them; and it shall give them renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith Adonoi Hashem.
14 And they shall set apart anshei tamid (a regular detail of men) to work at passing through ha’aretz to bury those passing through, those bodies remaining upon the face of ha’aretz, to make it tahor; for the whole of seven months shall they make the search.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.