Ezekiel 38:5

38:1-13 These events will be in the latter days. It is supposed these enemies will come together to invade the land of Judea, and God will defeat them. God not only sees who are now the enemies of his church, but he foresees who will be so, and lets them know by his word that he is against them; though they join together, the wicked shall not be unpunished.

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 (g), 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 (h) relates. (g) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2.((h) Cyropaedia, l. 6. c. 14. & l. 7. c. 11.

(5) Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya.— Having summoned the nations from the extreme north, the prophet now turns first to the east, and then to the south and west. No neighbouring nations are mentioned at all, but only those living on the confines of the known world are summoned to this symbolic contest. The supposition of a literal alliance of nations so situated is out of the question.

Verses 5-7. - These allied nations are depicted as coming from the four quarters of the globe. Persia (see Ezekiel 27:10 ), from the east; Ethiopia (see Ezekiel 30:5 ), or Gush ( Genesis 10:6 ), from the south; Libya , or Phut (see Ezekiel 27:10 ; Ezekiel 30:5 ), from the west; and Gomer (see Genesis 10:2, 3 ; 1 Chronicles 1:5 ), the Cimmerians of Homer ('Odyss.,' 11:13-19), whose abodes were the shores of the Euxine and Caspian Seas, and the Gimirrai of the Assyrian Inscriptions (see Schrader, 'Die Keilinschriften,' etc., p. 80); with the house of Togarmah , from the north, or the extreme regions of the north, as in Isaiah 14:13 (see Ezekiel 27:14 ). The first three are portrayed as armed with shield and helmet , or more accurately as being all of them shield and helmet , which might signify that they should serve as a shield and helmet to Cog, who in truth should be unto them and their confederates a guard; i.e. , according to Keil and Schroder, one who keeps watch over them; according to Miehaelis and Havernick, one who gives them law; according to Hengstenberg, one who is their authority; according to Ewald and Smend, one who serves to them as an ensign, t.¢. acts to them as a leader or commander. The LXX. translation, with which Hitzig agrees, "And thou shalt be to me for a guard," is manifestly wrong. Ezekiel 38:5

Persia; the land for the people who a Mahometans, and enemies to the name of Christ. Ethiopia; not the African, which is Abyssinia, or Nubia, or both the old Macrobii, but the Asiatic or Arabian Ethiopia, posterity of Cush, Mahometans too. Libya; a people of Africa, either now subjects of, or confederates with, the Turks, and who are near enough to join, when the effect shall demonstrate this Gog who he is. With shield and helmet; prepared to save themselves what they can, though they slay their enemies. Now some of all these were in the armies of Antiochus against the Jews, and many more will serve in the last army of Gog.

Introduction Preparation of Gog and his army for the invasion of the restored land of Israel. - Ezekiel 38:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ezekiel 38:2. Son of man, set thy face toward Gog in the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, Ezekiel 38:3. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with thee, Gog, thou prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, Ezekiel 38:4. And will mislead thee, and will put rings in thy jaws, and lead thee out, and all thine army, horses, and riders, all clothed in perfect beauty, a great assembly, with buckler and shield, all wielding swords; Ezekiel 38:5. Persian, Ethiopian, and Libyan with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Ezekiel 38:6. Gomer and all his hosts, the house of Togarmah in the uttermost north with all his hosts; many peoples with thee. Ezekiel 38:7. Be prepared and make ready, thou and all thine assembly, who have assembled together to thee, and be thou their guard. Ezekiel 38:8. After many days shalt thou be visited, at the end of the years shalt thou come into the land, which is brought back from the sword, gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which were constantly laid waste, but now it is brought out of the nations, and they dwell together in safety; Ezekiel 38:9. And thou shalt come up, come like a storm, like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy hosts and many peoples with thee. - Ezekiel 38:1 and Ezekiel 38:2.

Command to prophesy against God. גּוג, Gog, the name of the prince against whom the prophecy is directed, is probably a name which Ezekiel has arbitrarily formed from the name of the country, Magog; although Gog does occur in 1 Chronicles 5:4 as the name of a Reubenite, of whom nothing further is known. The construction גּוג ארץ מגוג, Gog of the land of Magog, is an abbreviated expression for "Gog from the land of Magog;" and 'ארץ מג is not to be taken in connection with שׂים פּניך, as the local object ("toward Gog, to the land of Magog"), as Ewald and Hvernick would render it; since it would be very difficult in that case to explain the fact that גּוג is afterwards resumed in the apposition 'נשׂיא וגו. מגוג, Magog, is the name of a people mentioned in Genesis 10:2 as descended from Japhet, according to the early Jewish and traditional explanation, the great Scythian people; and here also it is the name of a people, and is written with the article (המגוג), to mark the people as one well known from the time of Genesis, and therefore properly the land of the Magog (-people). Gog is still further described as the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. It is true that Ewald follows Aquila, the Targum, and Jerome, and connects ראשׁ with נשׂיא as an appellative in the sense of princeps capitis, chief prince.