Ezekiel 39:12

12 et sepelient eos domus Israhel ut mundent terram septem mensibus

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 et non portabunt ligna de regionibus neque succident de saltibus quoniam arma succendent igne et depraedabuntur eos quibus praedae fuerant et diripient vastatores suos ait Dominus Deus
11 et erit in die illa dabo Gog locum nominatum sepulchrum in Israhel vallem Viatorum ad orientem maris quae obstupescere facit praetereuntes et sepelient ibi Gog et omnem multitudinem eius et vocabitur vallis Multitudinis Gog
12 et sepelient eos domus Israhel ut mundent terram septem mensibus
13 sepeliet autem omnis populus terrae et erit eis nominata dies in qua glorificatus sum ait Dominus Deus
14 et viros iugiter constituent lustrantes terram qui sepeliant et requirant eos qui remanserant super faciem terrae ut emundent eam post menses autem septem quaerere incipient
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.