Ezekiel 38:5

5 Persia, Cush, and Phut, with them, All of them [with] shield and helmet.

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 and thou hast said: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I [am] against thee, O Gog, Prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal,
4 And I have turned thee back, And I have put hooks in thy jaws, And have brought thee out, and all thy force, Horses and horsemen, Clothed in perfection all of them, A numerous assembly, [with] buckler and shield, Handling swords -- all of them.
5 Persia, Cush, and Phut, with them, All of them [with] shield and helmet.
6 Gomer and all its bands, The house of Togarmah of the sides of the north, And all its bands, many peoples with thee,
7 Be prepared, yea, prepare for thee, Thou and all thine assemblies who are assembled unto thee, And thou hast been to them for a guard.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.