Ezekiel 39:4

4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

Ezekiel 39:4 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 39:4

Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel
Be slain, and his carcass lie there; so the Targum,

``upon the mountains of the land of Israel thy carcass shall be cast:''

thou and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee; Gog and his army, auxiliaries and allies: I will give thee to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts
of the field to be devoured:
a great part of his army being slain, should not be buried, but be devoured by birds of prey, and savage beasts; such as eagles and vultures of the former sort, and lions, bears, wolves of the latter. This was always reckoned a very sore judgment and dreadful calamity, not to have a burial, but to be exposed to birds and beasts of prey; this was threatened to the Israelites, in case of disobedience to the law of God, ( Deuteronomy 28:26 ) and to the wicked Jews in the times of Jeremiah; and to that evil king of Judah, Jehoiakim, ( Jeremiah 16:4 ) ( Jeremiah 22:18 Jeremiah 22:19 ) and is lamented as one of the greatest evils that could befall good men, ( Psalms 79:2 ) , and nothing was more dreadful among the Heathens themselves; hence Homer ^F26, among the many calamities Achilles was the cause of to the Grecians, mentions this as one, that he was the means of giving the bodies of a great number of their heroes to the dogs, and to the fowls of the air; so Virgil ^F1 represents the want of a burial, and being left to be fed upon by birds of prey, as severe a punishment of a wicked man as can be wished for.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Iliad. 1. l. 4, 5.
F1 "----non te optima mater Condet humi, patriove onerrabit membra sepulchro Alitibus linquere feris". Aeneid. l. 10.

Ezekiel 39:4 In-Context

2 And I will turn thee back , and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:

3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.

4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Footnotes

• [a] sort: Heb. wing