Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 39:21

And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

21. The great discomfiture of Gog will reveal Jehovah’s power to the nations. None but God alone could deal so wonderfully. Cf. Eze 38:16; Eze 38:23.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

I will set, I will advance and continue, my glory; the glory of power, justice, and wisdom against enemies, and of power, mercy, and faithfulness, with wisdom, toward his people.

The heathen, among whom my name was evil spoken of; they eclipsed, but God will clear up his glory.

The heathen, that are either in Gogs army, or in the countries to which the news shall come,

shall see, not be able to deny or doubt, my judgment; the punishment just and from heaven, called Gods

hand laid upon them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And I will set my glory among the Heathen,…. The glory of his divine perfections, particularly his power and his goodness, in destroying the enemies of his people, and saving them; which will be set in a clear point of view to the Heathen, that they cannot but observe it; and this is the ultimate end of this strange event, as it is of all that the Lord does, even his own glory, subordinate to which is his people’s good:

and all the Heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them; his vengeance and power, as the Targum; the punishment inflicted by his mighty hand on Gog and his army: these Heathens are the Pagan kingdoms of China, c. and of Tartary, Persia, and the whole Turkish dominions, being Mahometan, which are no better than Heathen these will be converted to the Christian religion, in consequence of this event; for this will be the passing away of the Turkish woe, which will make way for the sounding of the seventh trumpet; and when these kingdoms will become Christ’s, and way be made for the kings of the east to come over to him,

Re 11:14.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Result of this Judgment, and the Concluding Promise

Eze 39:21. T hen will I display my glory among the nations, and all nations shall see my judgment which I shall execute, and my hand which I shall lay upon them. Eze 39:22. And the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God from this day and forward. Eze 39:23. And the nations shall know that because of their wickedness the house of Israel went into captivity; because they have been unfaithful toward me, I hid my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their oppressors, so that they all fell by the sword. Eze 39:24. According to their uncleanness, and according to their transgressions, I dealt with them, and hid my face from them. Eze 39:25. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have pity upon all the house of Israel, and be jealous for my holy name. Eze 39:26. Then will they bear their reproach and all their faithlessness which they have committed toward me when they dwell in their land in security, and no one alarms them; Eze 39:27. When I bring them back out of the nations, and gather them out of the lands of their enemies, and sanctify myself upon them before the eyes of the many nations. Eze 39:28. And they will know that I, Jehovah, am their God, when I have driven them out to the nations, and then bring them together again into their land, and leave none of them there any more. Eze 39:29. And I will not hide my face from them any more, because I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. – The terrible judgment upon Gog will have this twofold effect as a revelation of the glory of God – first, Israel will know that the Lord is, and will always continue to be, its God (Eze 39:22); secondly, the heathen will know that He gave Israel into their power, and thrust it out of its own land, not from weakness, but to punish it for its faithless apostasy (Eze 39:23 and Eze 39:24; compare Eze 36:17.). (Eze 39:24), as in Eze 7:27, etc. But because this was the purpose of the Lord with His judgments, He will now bring back the captives of Israel, and have compassion upon all His people. This turn of the prophecy in Eze 39:25 serves to introduce the promise to Israel with which the prophecy concerning Gog and the whole series of prophecies, contained in Eze 35:1 onwards, are brought to a close (Eze 39:25-29). This promise reverts in ‘ to the prophet’s own time, to which Ezekiel had already gone back by mentioning the carrying away of Israel in Eze 39:23 and Eze 39:24. The restoration of the captives of Jacob commences with the liberation of Israel from the Babylonian exile, but is not to be restricted to this. It embraces all the deliverances which Israel will experience from the termination of the Babylonian exile till its final gathering out of the nations on the conversion of the remnant which is still hardened and scattered. , therefore, sc. because God will prove Himself to be holy in the sight of the heathen nations by means of the judgment, and will make known to them that He has punished Israel solely on account of its sins, and therefore will He restore His people and renew it by His Spirit (Eze 39:29). – In what the jealousy of God for His holy name consists is evident from v.7, and still more plainly from Eze 36:22-23, namely, in the fact that by means of the judgment He manifests Himself as the holy God. is not to be altered into , “they will forget,” as Dathe and Hitzig propose, but is a defective spelling for (like for in Eze 28:16): they will bear their reproach. The thought is the same as in Eze 16:54 and Eze 16:61, where the bearing of reproach is explained as signifying their being ashamed of their sins and their consequences, and feeling disgust thereat. They will feel this shame when the Lord grants them lasting peace in their own land. Raschi has correctly explained it thus: “When I shall have done them good, and not rewarded them as their iniquity deserved, they will be filled with shame, so that they will not dare to lift up their face.” – Eze 39:27 is only a further expansion of Eze 39:26. For the fact itself, compare Eze 36:23-24; Eze 20:41, etc. And not only will Israel then be ashamed of its sins, but (Eze 39:28, Eze 39:29) it will also know that Jehovah is its God from henceforth and for ever, as was affirmed in Eze 39:22, when He shall fully restore to their own land the people that was thrust into exile, and withdraw His favour from it no more, because He has poured out His Spirit upon it, and thereby perfectly sanctified it as His own people (cf. Eze 36:27).

The promise with which the prophecy concerning the destruction of Gog is brought to a close, namely, that in this judgment all nations shall see the glory of God, and all Israel shall know that henceforth Jehovah will be their God, and will no more hide His face from them, serves to confirm the substance of the threat of punishment; inasmuch as it also teaches that, in the destruction of Gog and his gathering of peoples, the last attack of the heathen world-power upon the kingdom of God will be judged and overthrown, so that from that time forth the people of God will no more have to fear a foe who can disturb its peace and its blessedness in the everlasting possession of the inheritance given to it by the Lord. Gog is not only depicted as the last foe, whom the Lord Himself entices for the purpose of destroying him by miracles of His almighty power (Eze 38:3-4, Eze 38:19-22), by the fact that his appearance is assigned to the end of the times, when all Israel is gathered out of the nations and brought back out of the lands, and dwells in secure repose in the open and unfortified towns of its own land (Eze 38:8, Eze 38:11-12); but this may also be inferred from the fact that the gathering of peoples led by Gog against Israel belongs to the heathen nations living on the borders of the known world,since this points to a time when not only will the ancient foes of the kingdom of God, whose destruction was predicted in Ezekiel 25-32, have departed from the stage of history and perished, but the boundaries of Israel will also stretch far beyond the limits of Palestine, to the vicinity of these hordes of peoples at the remotest extremities on the north, the east, and the south of the globe. – So much may be gathered from the contents of our prophecy in relation to its historical fulfilment. But in order to determine with greater precision what is the heathen power thus rising up in Gog of Magog against the kingdom of God, we mut take into consideration the passage in the Apocalypse (Rev 20:8 and Rev 20:9), where our prophecy is resumed. Into this, however, we will not further enter till after the exposition of Ezekiel 40-48, when we shall take up the question as to the historical realization of the new temple and kingdom of God which Ezekiel saw.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(21) My glory among the heathen.In this and the following verse the ultimate effect of the Divine judgments in the world is spoken of, and then, in Eze. 39:23-24, this is applied to the present captivity of Israel. But the effect is too far-reaching to be limited to the latter, and the kingdom of God was never so established among the restored exiles, either by external triumphs over their enemies or by its internal development in the hearts of men, that the Divine glory was generally recognised among the heathen. In the time foretold the judgments shall be of such a character that all shall perceive that they are from God. Yet it must not be forgotten that the restoration from the exile was one step, and an important one, in the course of events leading to this end.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

21-24. This awful judgment shall indubitably prove, both to the heathen in the farthest limits of the south (Eze 39:6; Eze 39:21) and to the Israelites (Eze 39:22), that the former defeats of God’s chosen people were due wholly to their own sin and uncleanness (Eze 39:23-24; compare Eze 39:12; Eze 39:15). They shall know Jehovah as the one who is all powerful, who protects the righteous and punishes the wicked.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see my judgment which I have executed, and my hand which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their God from that day, and forward. And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them. So I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword. I did to them according to their uncleanness and according to their trespasses, and I hid my face from them.”

Three primary points are made here. Firstly that the judgment on Gog will bring God glory in the eyes of the nations who have been judged, secondly that it will bring home to Israel that He is Yahweh their God, and thirdly that the nations will be made to recognise why Israel really went into captivity, that it was because of their sinfulness and unfaithfulness to the covenant, and not because He could not protect them. Thus God will be vindicated.

‘I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see my judgment which I have executed, and my hand which I have laid on them.’ God’s glory will have been set among the nations by His judgments, which the nations will be forced to recognise. They will therefore have to acknowledge His supremity, and bow the knee to Him.

‘So the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their God from that day, and forward.’ The true people of God will have had demonstrated to them that He is truly their God Who watches over them and cares for them for ever.

‘And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them.’ God’s vindication and protection of His people will evidence the fact to the nations that the captivity was not due to His not having been able to protect His people, but to His having to deal with their sinfulness and rebellion by judgment. They would recognise that that was why He had hidden His face from them, and not because of His being unable to help them.

‘So I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword. I did to them according to their uncleanness and according to their trespasses, and I hid my face from them.’ The reason for God’s behaviour towards Israel, and the reason why He hid His face from them, is now detailed. What had happened to them in the destruction of Jerusalem and of their country had been due to their behaviour. They had made themselves unclean by their idolatry and casual attitude towards God and holy things, and they had trespassed against God’s laws and covenant.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Vindication of Yahweh ( Eze 39:21-29 ).

Ezekiel sees the future in terms of the vindication of Yahweh. He will be glorified in the eyes of the nations when they see His judgments. Israel will also know that He is Yahweh. For having punished them He will again gather them and His Spirit will be poured out on them. And their deliverance will bring home to the nations that He is all-powerful and supreme.

This would begin when Cyrus, His shepherd who did not know Him (Isa 44:28 to Isa 45:4) decreed the return to Jerusalem and the building of the temple (Ezra 1), it would continue when Nehemiah once again established Jerusalem as a ruling city, and on through history as Israel grew in stature and expanded with the exiles returning, until the coming of the Messiah, Who having established the beginnings of the Kingly Rule of God would be cut off (Dan 9:26) and smitten (Zec 12:7), and the Spirit would be poured out on His people. This would then lead on to the growth of the Kingly Rule of God and its final triumph, and the final judgment. All this lies behind the prophecies of Ezekiel and are their fulfilment.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Effect of God’s Judgment

v. 21. And I will set My glory among the heathen, by carrying out this judgment upon Gog, representative of all the hostile forces of the earth, and all the heathen shall see My judgment that I have executed, and My band that I have laid upon them, they are bound to see the heavy hand of God’s punishment, unable to deny His sovereign interference.

v. 22. So the house of Israel, as a second result of the Lord’s judgment upon the enemies of His spiritual Israel, shall know that I am the Lord, their God, from that day and forward, the interposition of the Lord in their interest strengthening their confidence in Him.

v. 23. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel, here chiefly representative of the Church of God in the Old Testament, went into captivity for their iniquity, not because the enemies, in their own power, overcame them; because they trespassed against Me, therefore hid I My face from them, withdrawing His merciful and almighty presence from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies, so that their captivity at that time, and all the evils which befall them at any time, are the punishments of the Lord; so fell they all by the sword.

v. 24. According to their uncleanness, that of their idolatry, of their rebellion against the God of the covenant, and according to their transgressions, the wickedness of their perfidious acts, have I done unto them, treating them as they deserved, and hid My face from them. It was not Israel’s helplessness that delivered Israel into the hands of the enemies, but the judgment of God upon a disloyal people. The enemies, therefore, were not to take the credit for the present situation for themselves; for God had brought it about in order to carry out his plans regarding those who belonged to His people in truth.

v. 25. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, in restoring His people from the calamity of the exile, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, to all those who truly were members of His own people, who in simple faith placed their confidence in Him, and will be jealous for My holy name, which, as a result of the misfortunes that had come upon His people, was in danger of being blasphemed,

v. 26. after that they have borne their shame and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, namely, by being thoroughly ashamed of their former unfaithfulness and idolatry, by loathing themselves for their perfidiousness, when they dwelt safely in their land and none made them afraid. Eze 16:54-61. That is the effect which the realization of God’s unmerited goodness has upon the repentant sinner: it causes him to be all the more conscious of his own unworthiness.

v. 27. When I have brought them again from the people, from the countries where they were living in exile, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations, who would be bound to acknowledge the power of the one true God and yield him the respect due Him,

v. 28. then shall they know that I am the Lord, their God, the true Israelites once more accepting Him as the God of the covenant, as the God of their salvation, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen, namely, with the express intention of bringing them to a realization of their foolishness and of their helplessness when they forsook Him; but I have gathered them unto their own land and have left none of them any more there. This applies to all those who were Israelites in truth, not only to those who actually returned to Canaan and took an active part in establishing the true worship, but also to those who remained in foreign lands, but were believers in the true God; for the latter had free access to their native land and to the Temple at Jerusalem as their spiritual dwelling-place.

v. 29. Neither will I hide My face any more from them, from those who are His children by faith in the Redeemer; for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God. It is the Spirit of God who works conversion in the Old Testament as well as in the New. Without his illumination no member of Israel could believe in time coming Messiah and without His power no person at time present time can believe in the Redeemer. Cf 2Co 1:23; Eph 1:14; Php_1:6 .

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Eze 39:21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

Ver. 21. And all the heathen shall see my judgment. ] Antiochus did so, and Maximinus the emperor, and other tyrants, when seized upon by such judgments of God as they could neither avoid nor abide.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 39:21-24

21And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them. 22And the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day onward. 23The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because they acted treacherously against Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword. 24According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them, and I hid My face from them.’

Eze 39:21-24 YHWH will reveal Himself! He was revealed by Israel, but in an inappropriate way. His people were not exiled because of His lack of power or interest, but because of their covenant disobedience. Now He will reverse this misinformation (cf. Eze 38:22-23) by restoring His people (cf. Eze 39:25-29) and destroying all opposing human armies!

Israel was meant to be a light to the nations, a kingdom of priests, but they failed. See Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan .

Eze 39:23 I hid My face from them This is a metaphorical way of asserting that YHWH would not hear their prayers (cf. Deu 31:17-18; Isa 1:15; Isa 54:8; Isa 57:17; Isa 59:2). YHWH will reverse this in Eze 39:29. This phrase is an antithetical parallel to I shall pour out My Spirit! Prayer sent, received, and acted on was a concrete sign of the covenant.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Eze 39:21-24

Eze 39:21-24

“And I will set my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment which I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God, from that day and forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them.”

“And the nations shall know …” (Eze 39:23). “The big lesson the nations needed to learn was the fact of Israel’s having been abandoned by their God, delivered to the sword of the invader; and taken into exile, was not because of Jehovah’s inability to protect them, but because of their wickedness which had caused God to hide his face from them.

Most of the nations had already found out that God was mightier than their pagan deities.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

I will set: Eze 36:23, Eze 38:16, Eze 38:23, Exo 9:16, Exo 14:4, Isa 26:11, Isa 37:20, Mal 1:11

and my: Exo 7:4, Exo 8:19, 1Sa 5:7, 1Sa 5:11, 1Sa 6:9, Psa 32:4

Reciprocal: Psa 79:10 – let him Psa 94:10 – chastiseth Isa 25:3 – General Isa 45:6 – General Isa 66:18 – and see Eze 25:11 – I will Eze 30:19 – General Eze 30:25 – they shall know Eze 39:13 – the day Mic 2:9 – my glory Mal 1:5 – The Lord

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Eze 39:21. The slaughter of the men and horses of the army of Gog will be known to the other heathen or other nations. And especially, as there will be such a great number that it will take 7 months to bury the men, the witnesses will be impressed with the glory of the Lord who has wrought such an Imposing scene.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eze 39:21-29.The Purpose of the Judgment.The effect of this decisive judgment is to bring glory to Yahwehs name: for the world must now see that it is not His impotence but His horror of sin that accounts for the calamities and exile of His people. But now their redemption is complete: they will forget (rather than bear in Eze 39:26) the shame of bygone days, and they will live secure and blessed in their own land for ever, because Yahweh has put His spirit within them. The way is now completely prepared for the reconstruction with which the book closes (Ezekiel 40-48).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

God’s judgment of Gog would glorify Him greatly in the eyes of the rest of the world. Israel too would learn in a fresh way that He was their God (cf. the Exodus).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)