Verses 4-6. - I will give thee unto ravenous birds of every sort; or, wing. The language depicts an army on the march, followed by jackals, vultures, and other birds of prey, ready to feast upon the corpses of slaughtered men (comp. Ezekiel 33:27; 1 Samuel 17:46; and Homer's 'Iliad,' 1:4, 5). In addition to destroying Cog, causing him to fall upon the mountains of Israel and upon the open field; literally, upon the face of the field, Jehovah engages to carry the fire of war and generally of devastation (cf. Ezekiel 33:22; Amos 2:2, 5; Revelation 20:29) into Cog's own land, Magog (see on Ezekiel 38:2), and among them that dwell carelessly (better, securely) in the isles; or, coast-lands (Ezekiel 27:7); i.e. not merely the merchants of Tarshish or the "isles" of the trading nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38:13, as Hengstenberg and Plumptre prefer, but, as Smend, Schroder, and Keil explain, all the distant peoples of the coast-lands from whom Gog's armies were drawn (Ezekiel 38:5, 6), and in whom were many of Gog's sympathizers.
39:1-10 The Lord will make the most careless and hardened transgressors know his holy name, either by his righteous anger, or by the riches of his mercy and grace. The weapons formed against Zion shall not prosper. Though this prophecy is to be fulfilled in the latter days, it is certain. From the language used, it seems that the army of Gog will be destroyed by miracle.
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, &c. 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 and is lamented as one of the greatest evils that could befall good men, Psalm 79:2, and nothing was more dreadful among the Heathens themselves; hence Homer (z), 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 (a) 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.
(z) Iliad. 1. l. 4, 5. (a) "----non te optima mater Condet humi, patriove onerrabit membra sepulchro Alitibus linquere feris". Aeneid. l. 10.
"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, &c. 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 and is lamented as one of the greatest evils that could befall good men, Psalm 79:2, and nothing was more dreadful among the Heathens themselves; hence Homer (z), 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 (a) 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.
(z) Iliad. 1. l. 4, 5. (a) "----non te optima mater Condet humi, patriove onerrabit membra sepulchro Alitibus linquere feris". Aeneid. l. 10.