Ezekiel 38:18

Eze 38:18 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.

Ver. 18. My fury shall come up in my face.] Though it do not presently break forth. Ira Dei quo diuturnior, eo minacior.

“ Poena venit gravior, quo mage tarda venit. ”

God delighteth to make fools of his enemies; he lets them prevail a while, and carry the ball on the foot, as it were, that they may fall with the greater disappointment.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 38:18-20. My fury shall come up in my face — An expression taken from human passions, which cause the blood to fly up into the face. So Isaiah describes Almighty God as burning with anger, his lips being full of indignation, and his tongue as a consuming fire, Eze 22:31-31, where see the note. For in my jealousy — My zeal for the salvation and happiness of my people, and for my own glory; have I spoken — Against my enemy Gog, and his herd. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking — A great commotion, as Dr. Waterland renders the expression; or a great disturbance, tumult, and confusion. Great changes and alterations in kingdoms and governments are often expressed in Scripture by shaking of heaven and earth, the sea and dry land: see the margin. So that the fishes of the sea, &c., shall shake at my presence — Every part of the creation shall bear its share of this calamity, as if there were a convulsion of the whole frame of nature. The prophets often describe God’s judgments upon particular countries or persons, as if a dissolution of the whole world took place, because his particular judgments are an earnest of the general judgment: see note on Isa 13:10. And the mountains shall be thrown down — The strong holds situate on the mountains, and the walls, towers, and other fortifications, shall be beat down and demolished.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18-23. “In that day, when Gog shall come against the land” (Eze_38:18, R.V.), Jehovah’s fury shall come into his “nostrils” (Psa_18:8). He shall breathe hard, and in his hot and “jealous” anger (see Eze_21:31; note Eze_5:13) he declares that the whole of Israel shall be shaken as with an earthquake (Eze_38:19), and all nature, sea and land, shall be terrified (Eze_38:20; compare Zep_1:14; Jer_4:23-26) when he appears in judgment against the enemy (Eze_38:21), turning each man’s sword against his brother and pleading with the foes of his people no longer with words, but with bolts from heaven (Eze_38:22; Gen_19:24; Gen_13:13; Psa_11:6) until the nations shall acknowledge him for what he is: the holy, the merciful, the mighty Jehovah (Eze_38:16). This is a most graphic and fearful description, full of the symbolism which is so characteristic of Ezekiel.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

38:18-20 Instead of being the agent of divine wrath, Gog would be subject to it. The Lord would vent on Gog the jealousy and blazing anger he had earlier visited on Israel. The scene would be so frightening that even innocent bystanders would quake in terror. The earth would also tremble, destroying mountains, cliffs, and walls.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

fury shall come up in my face--literally, "nose"; in Hebrew, the idiomatic expression for anger, as men in anger breathe strongly through the nostrils. Anthropopathy: God stooping to human modes of thought (Psa 18:8).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

18. come to pass at the same time] Rather: come to pass in that day, in the day when Gog &c.

come up in my face] lit. in my nostril. The idea is not that of the inflammation of the face from anger, but that of a fiery breath appearing in the nostrils. Deu_32:22; Psa_18:8.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For in my jealousy, and in the fire of my wrath, have I spoken,.... Not against his people Israel, but against Gog, who had thought evil against them, and now was about to put it in practice; and therefore in zeal for his own glory, and for the good of his people, and in indignation against his and their enemies, he declares, resolves, and determines:

surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; not a consternation among the people of Israel frightened at the armies of Gog, and the terrible appearance they shall make, and the devastations they threaten; but in Gog himself, and his army, through the wrath of God upon them, and the vengeance he will take of them in the land of Israel, they will enter upon to destroy; not but that there may be some dread in the minds of the Jews upon the appearance of so formidable an army in their land: this shaking, according to Jarchi, will be by thunder and lightning. Kimchi understands it of an earthquake, in a literal sense, and compares with it Zac 14:4, see also Rev 16:18, which speaks of an earthquake that will be about this time.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Gog cometh up in fury against Israel, and God’s fury, i.e. hot yet just displeasure, comes up in his face against both the attempt and the attempters, against Gog and all his power, who think to find a weak people, but they shall meet with an angry God.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 18-20. Vers. 18 and 19 are not, as Hitzig, Kliefoth, and others explain, on the ground of the perfect, "I have spoken" (ver. 19), which, however, is rather a prophetical present a free recapitulation of the earlier predictions, but a direct announcement through Ezekiel that when Gog should arrive upon the scene Jehovah should take the field against him, so that he should have to fight against Jehovah rather than against Israel. The expression, my fury shall come up in my face; or, my wrath ascends in rail nose, has parallels in Eze_24:8; Psa_18:9; and Deu_32:22, and describes the vehement breathing (inhalation and exhalation) of an angry man through his nose. The fire of Jehovah"s wrath (comp. Eze_21:3-6 Eze_36:5) should make itself known in that day by a great shaking in the land of Israel, which can hardly, as Kliefoth surmises, refer to the final judgment, or, as Keil thinks, to the trembling of the whole earth, with all the creatures, before the Lord, who comes to judgment, as in Joe_3:16 and Zec_14:4, Zec_14:5, since the locality in which this convulsion of nature is to happen is expressly defined as "the land of Israel;" but must be understood, with Schroder and Smend, as a figurative description of the terrible overthrow which Jehovah should inflict upon Gog, and which should produce within the heathen mind a feeling of consternation, as if the whole fabric of the globe were falling into ruin. Grounding upon what occurred at Sinai, (Exo_19:16-18) Hebrew writers generally depicted special interpositions of Jehovah as being witnessed to and accompanied by awe-inspiring natural convulsions (Psa_18:7, 15 46:2, 3 55:2; Isa_13:9-13 Isa_24:19-22; Jer_4:23-26; Nah_1:5; Zec_14:4) and in the same manner does Ezekiel delineate Jehovah"s intervention in behalf of Israel and against Gog, as so alarming that all living creatures, irrational as well as rationalfishes of the sea, fowls of the heaven, beasts of the field, creeping things that creep upon the earth (or, ground adamah), and men upon the face of the earth; or, ground (comp. Gen_1:26 Gen_7:21-23) should shake at its accompanying manifestations, and that even the mightiest objects in nature, such as the mountains, steep places, or, "reek-clefts" (Ewald), such elevations as can only be ascended by means of steps as by a ladder, (comp. Son_2:14) and walls, (comp. Jer_15:20) including natural ramparts as well as humanly constructed erections, should be overthrown (ver. 20).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.