Ezekiel 39:11

Ezekiel 39:11-16 . I will give unto Gog a place there of graves — Houbigant translates this passage, An illustrious place for sepulture, the valley of passengers opposite to the sea; through which the travellers shall pass, stopping their noses — According to the Chaldee, the scene here spoken of was the lake of Gennesareth. In the Hebrew language, all lakes are called by the name of seas. The same is called the eastern sea, ( Ezekiel 47:18 ,) to distinguish it from the Mediterranean, called the great sea westward, Joshua 23:4 . The valley near this sea is called the valley of the passengers, because it was the great road by which the merchants and traders from Syria, and other eastern countries, went into Egypt: see Genesis 37:17 ; Genesis 37:25 . And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them — For a long time after the battle, the inhabitants shall be employed in burying the bones of the slain, that the land might not be polluted by them. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them — See the note on the following verse. And it shall be to them a renown, &c. — Or, The day that I shall be glorified shall be to them a day of renown, or a remarkable day of joy and gladness.

And they shall sever out men, &c. — To cleanse the land thoroughly, men shall be set apart, and be constantly employed in picking up the bones of the slain that are scattered about, and burying them with the dead bodies of travellers who had happened to die on the roads; and they shall continue to do this, and be in daily search after the bones, for the space of seven months. The length of time assigned to this employment denotes the vast number of the slain, and the great care taken to cleanse the land from pollution. And when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign — A stone, or some other mark, that men may avoid passing over the bones, and that the persons appointed to bury them may take them from thence, and carry them to the proper burying- place. Also the name of the city shall be called Hamonah — Some render this verse, Also the name of the city, assigned to them who shall cleanse the land, shall be called Hamonah, that is, a multitude. The meaning seems to be, that the city where these appointed buriers should reside during the time they were employed in this office, and near which they should bury the dead, should afterward, in memory thereof, be called Hamonah; which, signifying a multitude, thereby denoted the greatness of the victory.

(11) The valley of the passengers.— The name cannot be derived from the Scythians, as if they were spoken of “as a cloud passing over and gone,” because the same word is used again in this verse, and also in Ezekiel 39:14-15 , evidently in a different sense. It simply denotes some (probably imaginary) thoroughfare, which is to be blocked up by the buried bodies of the slain. No definite locality is assigned to it, except that it is “on the east of the sea,” meaning the Dead Sea. It was to be, therefore, on the extreme south-eastern outskirts of the land. This is another of the features of the description which indicate some other than a literal interpretation; for how should such a host, invading the land from the north for purposes of plunder, be found in that locality, and how could such vast numbers of dead bodies be transported thither? Stop the noses.—The word “noses” is not in the original, and should be omitted. The meaning is simply that the bodies of the host shall so fill up the valley as to stop the way of travellers. The valley of Hamon-gog.—It is better to translate the word Hamon, as in the margin: The valley of the multitude of Gog. So also in Ezekiel 39:15.

Verses 11-16 contain a second proof of the completeness of Gog's destruction, viz. the length of time occupied in burying the slain and cleansing the land. Verse 11. - Gog, who should invade Israel in the hope of acquiring the entire mastery of her land, would obtain at Jehovah's hands only a place there of graves , i.e. either, as Hitzig, Ewald, Keil, and Smend suggest, a place where a grave might be possible - a place large enough to receive his slaughtered carcasses; or as Havernick proposes, "an altogether special grave as no other in Israel;" or as Schroder interprets, "a place where there is a grave for him and nothing else." Concerning both the designation and the site of this divinely provided sepulcher controversy has arisen. (1) As to its site . The notion of Michaelis and Eiehhom, that the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea was in some way related to the mountains of Abarim mentioned in Numbers 27:12 and Deuteronomy 32:49 , and that of Hitzig, that it signified "the valley of the opposite heights," as in 1 Samuel 17:3 , and was to be sought for in the "very great valley" of Zechariah 14:4 , may at once be dismissed - the former as untenable, and -the latter as far-fetched.

The suggestion of Hengstenberg and Kliefoth, that by the burial-place of Gog was meant the valley of Megiddo, where Josiah fell in battle against Pharaoh-Necho ( 2 Kings 23:29 ), derives support from these considerations, that the very name of Megiddo points to battles, that in its vicinity are found such passes as are here described, and that its modern designation Lejun ( Leqio ), in all probability contains a reminiscence of the present passage. It is, however, open to the obvious objections that the place of Gog's burial was not contiguous to the field of his overthrow, and that the clause locating it "on the east of the sea ," by which on this hypothesis must be understood the Mediterranean, is rather descriptive of the entire land than of any particular spot therein. Hence the view of Havernick, Ewald, Keil, and Smoud, which finds the valley in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea, is to be preferred, though, even with agreement as to this, interpreters are not unanimous as to the spot intended. Ewald thinks of "the horrible, unwholesome valley over against the sea, i.e. (comp. Ezekiel 47:8 ) the Dead Sea, that valley which covers the ancient overbearing ones ( die Zerreisenden ), the Sodomites, who resemble these;" Keil, translating kidmath as "in front of," holds by "the valley of the Jordan above the Dead Sea;" Havernick and Smend advocate "a place outside the Holy Land," though the clause, "a grave in Israel," seems against this. Dr.

11 . Gog’s burial—place shall be east of the Dead Sea. a place there of graves ] a place for a grave , lit. a place where a grave may be. For “there” LXX. reads name —a place of renown (name), a grave in Israel. valley of the passengers ] In Ezekiel 39:14-15 the word is used of those appointed to go through the land in search of the scattered bones. The term cannot have that sense here. Ew. conjectured that it was a term applied to the hosts of Gog, the invaders , from their overflowing the country ( Isaiah 8:8 ). The reading of Ezekiel 39:14 , however, which would be the strongest support of this view, is doubtful. The expression is probably a proper name; the “valley of the passers through” may have been so named as the usual route of communication between the east and west of the sea. Others by altering the points read “the (or, a) valley of Abarim” (Hitz. Corn.). shall stop the noses] it shall stop them that pass through (or, the passengers). The valley shall be filled up with the graves of the innumerable hosts of Gog, so that the way of passers through shall be barred. A.V. has no probability. Neither LXX. nor Syr. read the words “those that pass through;” the former renders: and they shall build up the mouth of the valley round about. Hamon-gog ] i.e. Gog’s multitude.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give to Gog {f} a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the travellers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the {g} noses of the travellers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. (f) Which declares that the enemies will have a horrible fall. (g) For the stink of the carcasses.

The prophet pictures to himself some imaginary valley (compare Zechariah 14:5 ) at the "east of the sea," the Dead Sea, a place frightful in its physical character, and admonitory of past judgments. He calls it "the valley of the passengers" (or, passers-by), because they who there lie buried were but as a passing cloud. In Ezekiel 39:11-15 there is a play upon words - there were "passengers" to be buried, "passengers" to walk over their graves, "passengers" to bury them; (or, a play upon the treble meaning of passing in (invading), passing by, and passing through.) Stop the noses - The word thus rendered occurs only once more in Scripture Deuteronomy 25:4 where it is rendered muzzle. See Isaiah 34:3. Hamon-gog - See the margin, compare Ezekiel 39:16.

At that day; when God shall have destroyed this prince, and his formidable army. Give unto Gog; and to many of those who were with him, for some were given to the birds and beasts to be devoured, Ezekiel 39:4 . A place there of graves: beside many other reasons for burying these slaughtered multitudes, the humanity that religion is full of would guide the Jews to it, and God tells us that Gog shall have a grave in Israel. He came to take possession, and so he shall, but not as he purposed and hoped, but as God intended; Gog shall possess his house of darkness in that land which he invaded to make a prey of. He shall have one place there, a grave, as the Hebrew. The valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: this valley hath here its name and situation; the name from the frequent travels of passengers through it from Egypt and Arabia Felix into the more northern parts, and from these again into Egypt and Arabia. By its situation it is on the east side of the Dead Sea, to distinguish it from the valley that is on this side Jordan westward, in which is Dothan. Now in this valley did the Jews discomfit the Ammonites, Moabites, Tyrians, and Sidonians, /APC 1Ma 5 . This might be a type, or firstfruits, and assurance of this great victory, but no more; for this was of a few against a few, and in this fight of some but few fell, &c. It shall stop the noses; the stink of the putrefying carcasses should make travellers stop their noses, offended with the ill smells.

There shall they bury; partly in doing the office of humanity, though to dead enemies; and let their enemies live, who would not (for want of others) be so civil to them when dead; but chiefly to remove the nuisance of eye and nose, and to prevent diseases, that rise many times from such smells. Gog: this prince, whoever it is, shall there fall, and be buried with his multitude. They shall call it: this shall give name to the valley, which is to be called The valley of Hamon-gog: which appellation I do not know to be given to any valley as yet, probably because this prophecy is not yet fully accomplished.