Ezekiel 39:4

4 You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples that are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every kind and to the wild animals 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 I will turn you around and drive you forward, and bring you up from the remotest parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel.

3 I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand.

4 You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples that are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every kind and to the wild animals to be devoured.

5 You shall fall in the open field; for I have spoken, says the Lord God.

6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who live securely in the coastlands; and they shall know that I am the Lord.