Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 39:4
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.
4. Cf. Eze 39:17, Eze 38:21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou shalt fall; thy army shall be overthrown and slain. Thou, Gog himself the leader of this army, and all thy bands; thine own soldiers, the old trained soldiers.
The people; the several nations that had joined in this enterprise with Gog. Their unburied carcasses shall be torn and mangled by every ravenous bird of the air? and the wild beasts, that range over the mountains for their prey, shall eat them; so many of them shall be denied a burial. See a like place Eze 32:4,5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4, 5. (Compare Eze39:17-20).
upon the mountains ofIsraelThe scene of Israel’s preservation shall be that of theungodly foe’s destruction.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, De 28:26 and to the wicked Jews in the times of Jeremiah; and to that evil king of Judah, Jehoiakim, Jer 16:4 and is lamented as one of the greatest evils that could befall good men, Ps 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) Unto the ravenous birds.Compare the account of the destruction of Pharaoh in Eze. 29:4-5.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your hordes, and the peoples who are with you, and I will give you to the ravenous birds of every kind, and to the beasts of the field, to be devoured. You will fall on the open field, for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.”
The mountains of Israel were the backbone of Israel. They were its strength, but they were also the site of Israel’s abominations. Thus the hordes of darkness would be broken on them, and it was fitting that those mountains that had been used for idolatry and sinful abominations, should now be the recipient of the dead bodies of those evil hordes, just as previously they had received the bodies of the slain when God punished Israel (Eze 6:5; Eze 6:13).
‘And I will give you to the ravenous birds of every kind, and to the beasts of the field, to be devoured.’ Compare Eze 32:4; Eze 29:5; Eze 31:13; Jer 7:33; Jer 16:4; Jer 19:7; Jer 34:20. See also Rev 19:21. This was considered to be an horrific death (see Psa 79:2). Left unburied to have their bodies mauled and their bones picked by scavenging bird and scavenging beast.
‘You will fall on the open field.’ The open field was the description given to areas away from cities, outside in the open away from men’s dwellings (Eze 16:5; Eze 29:5; Eze 32:4; Eze 33:27 (where it parallels ‘wastes’); see also Lev 14:7 ; 2Sa 11:11; Num 19:16; Jer 9:22). Their mission to capture the cities of Israel will have proved a total failure. God’s people will be safe.
‘For I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh.’ Their destruction will occur because God has said it and determined it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 39:4 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.
Ver. 4. Thou shalt fall upon, the mountains of Israel. ] Thither thou shalt come indeed, as Antiochus did into the temple, antichrist into the Church of God, 2Th 2:4 but there thou shalt take thy end.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
people = peoples. Some codices, with Aram, and Syriac, read “many peoples”. Compare Eze 38:22.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
fall: Eze 39:17-20, Eze 38:21
I will: Eze 32:4, Eze 32:5, Eze 33:27, Isa 34:2-8, Jer 15:3, Rev 19:17-21
sort: Heb. wing
to be devoured: Heb. to devour
Reciprocal: Gen 40:19 – and the birds 2Sa 21:10 – the birds Psa 63:10 – a portion Psa 76:3 – There Psa 110:6 – fill Isa 14:25 – I will Isa 34:3 – slain Isa 46:11 – a ravenous bird Jer 7:33 – General Jer 25:33 – they shall not Eze 29:5 – I will leave Eze 30:11 – and fill Eze 31:12 – upon Eze 35:8 – General Amo 4:2 – he will Nah 3:3 – and there Zec 14:12 – the plague wherewith
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 39:4. Fall upon the mountains of Israel might seem like something unfavorable was to happen to Israel. The context shows it to have been opposite to that in its meaning and that the damage will have come to one who falls. (See a similar use of language in Mat 21:44.) It is like the result when a man would get a fall and light upon some injurious substance. That sense is intended in our verse for the result of the fall is to give the bodies that fall as prey to ravenous birds and beasts. The fall so bruised the victims that they were fit for nothing but to be used as food by other creatures that live on flesh.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
39:4 Thou {b} shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy troops, and the people that [are] with thee: I will give thee to the ravenous birds of every sort, and [to] the beasts of the field to be devoured.
(b) Meaning that by the virtue of God’s word the enemy will be destroyed wherever he assails his Church.