Page images
PDF
EPUB

shall be with them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28. And the nations shall know, that I the Lord do sanctify Israel *, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

xxxviii. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto ine, saying, son of man, set thy face against Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Mesech, and Tubal †, and prophesy against him: 3. And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am

*. The nations shall know, that I the Lord do sanctify Israel.] "The conversion of the Jewish nation, and their being restored "to their former state of favour and acceptance with God, "will be a work of Providence taken notice of by the heathens "themselves, who shall join themselves to the Jews, as the "church of God and temple of truth. See Chap. xxxvi. 23." Mr. Lowth in loc.

+ Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Mesech, and Tubal.] So the LXX. Afxorta Pws, Mecox, xaι Deber. Our translation takes W to be a common name, and thence reads chief prince, which is a manifest tautology: whereas WNY is the name of a people, like Mesech, and Tubal. The Russians and Muscovites seem to be colonies of Rosh and Mesech or (as the name may be pronounced) Mosch; but I know not, that we have any reason for supposing that they are here intended (See Bochart. Geog. Sacr. L. iii. C. 12, 13. or Well's Geography of the Old Testament. Vol. i. p. 78.). We may infer from Daniel, that we ought to look for the confederacy of Gog and Magog within the ancient territories of the three first beasts: there, accordingly we find the original settlements of all the nations enumerated by Ezekiel. But let us forbear to speculate` on this obscure subject, further than we have the express warrant of Scripture. See Abp. Newcome's Ezek. in loc.

[blocks in formation]

against thee, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Mesech, and Tubal. 4. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, with them; all of them with shield and helmet; 6. Gomer and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands; and many people with thee. 7. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

8. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the futurity of years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and gathered out of many peoples, against the mountains of Israel, which have been perpetually for a desolation: yet it is brought forth out of the nations, and they are dwelling in confident security all of them. 9. Thou shalt ascend, and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands, and many people with thee. 10. Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought. 11. And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages: I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell in confident security, all of them

dwelling

dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; 12. To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the once desolate places that are now inhabited, upon the people gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. 13. Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish* with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

14. Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say unto Gog; Thus saith the Lord God; Shalt not thou know in that day when my people Israel

* The merchants of Tarshish.] I know not who can be here intended except the great maritime nation of faithful worshippers, which had so vigorously opposed the tyranny of Antichrist, and which had been so instrumental in bringing back the converted division of Judah. It is pleasing to behold them, at the end of the Millennium, still preserving their ancient character, and refusing to cast in their lot with Gog and Magog, as they had heretofore refused to do with Edom. Faithful to their old principles and their old alliance, they ask, in astonishment at this new impiety, "Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou 66 gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great "spoil?"

+ Shalt not thou know.] Abp. Newcome translates this passage Shalt thou not rise up? instead of Shalt thou not know? reading n on the authority of the LXX. who translate the word, as it stood in their copy, eyeponon.

dwelleth

dwelleth in confident security? 15. Yea, thou shalt come from thy place out of the north-parts, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army. 16. And thou shalt come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land in the futurity of days it shall be that I will bring thee against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. 17. Thus saith the Lord God, Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time' by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years, that I would bring thee against them? 18. And it shall come to pass at the same time, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. 19. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; 20. So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. 21. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother. 22. And I will plead against him with pestilence

and

and with blood: and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

A

t

xxxix. 1. And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Mesech, and Tubal: 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 on those that dwell in the isles in confident security; and they shall know, that I am the Lord. 7. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my eople Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 8. Behold,

« PreviousContinue »