Ezekiel 39:12

Eze 39:12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.

Ver. 12. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them.] That is, a long while; like as the Reformed Churches were in rooting out Popery, those damnable doctrines, ceremonies, images, relics, bulls, and books. Here in England, the Romish religion stood a whole month and more after the death of Queen Mary, as before. December 27, it was permitted that the Epistles, Gospels, Ten Commandments, Lord’s Prayer, Creed, and Litany should be used in the Vulgate tongue. March 22, when the Estates of the realm were assembled, by renewing of a law of Edward VI, was granted the whole use of the Lord’s Supper - that is, under both kinds. June 24, the sacrifice of the mass was abolished, and the liturgy in the English tongue established. In July, the oath of supremacy was ministered; and in August, images were removed out of churches, broken or burnt. {a}

“ Tantae molis erat Romanam abscondere gentem. ”

{a} Camden’s Elisabeth.

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.

39:12-16 The body count would be so large that everyone in Israel would be involved in the clean-up process for seven months. Even after that initial period, there would be a continuing need for teams of professional morticians to go through the land, tagging remains so that they could be properly disposed of.

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

Meaning, a long time.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 12. And seven months] It shall require a long time to bury the dead. This is another figurative expression; which, however, may admit of a good deal of literal meaning. Many of the Syrian soldiers had secreted themselves in different places during the pursuit after the battle, where they died of their wounds, of hunger, and of fatigue; so that they were not all found and buried till seven months after the defeat of the Syrian army. This slow process of burying is distinctly related in the three following verses, and extended even to a bone, Eze 39:15; which, when it was found by a passenger, the place was marked, that the buriers might see and inter it. Seven months was little time enough for all this work; and in that country putrescency does not easily take place: the scorching winds serving to desiccate the flesh, and preserve it from decomposition.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. It shall take all Israel (Eze_39:13) seven months to bury Gog’s dead. The bones scattered over the land defiled it, for it was holy to the Lord, and they must be gathered and interred, cf. Eze_39:14; Eze_39:16.

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.

And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them,.... So long time will the burial of Gog's army take up, because of the multitude of it, and by reason their bones will be scattered here and there; which will require time to gather them together, and bring them to one place: the reason of the burial of them will be, partly out of humanity, which the Christian religion, which will then be embraced by the Jews, teaches and encourages; and partly because of the disagreeable sight and ill smell of the carcasses of the slain, and to prevent the air being infected therewith, which might cause noxious diseases. Jarchi gives the reason of it, because Gog is of the seed of Japheth, who covered his father's nakedness, and therefore worthy of a funeral: but a better reason follows,

that they may cleanse the land: not from ceremonial uncleanness, a place being unclean, by the ceremonial law, where dead carcasses, or the bones of dead men, lay; for the ceremonial law, as it is abrogated, will now be disused by the Jews themselves, when converted; but from natural pollution, before mentioned.

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

Land, to prevent infection, and to comply with the law, Numbers xix. 16.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Seven months shall the house of Israel, many of the house of Israel, some voluntarily, others by appointment, be burying of them; a little time would not suffice to bury so great multitude, make what haste they could.

Cleanse the land; not in a legal sense, but in a natural, to clear the land of hurtful stinks.

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

12-15. It shall take seven months to gather up all the bones which defile the holy soil (compare Eze_19:11-12; Eze_32:19; Eze_36:33) and bury them, and they shall get for themselves great “renown,” not only because of this victory of Jehovah, but because of their holy zeal in cleansing the land.

Men shall be chosen who shall do nothing else than “to bury them that pass through the land,” that is, probably the invaders (A.V., passengers, Eze_39:14). Modern commentators generally suppose that the special search party (Eze_39:14) was divided into two parts, one to find the bones and the other to bury them; but this is very unnatural and is not suggested by the amended text of Eze_39:14. The search party was authorized also “to bury” the unburied (Eze_39:14), and certainly when “a man’s bone” was found it would have taken longer to set up (Hebrews, build) a sign by it (Eze_39:15)

than to bury the bone! It is easy to see, however, that the ordinary Israelite, who would hesitate to touch one of the bones, but who was now zealous for the land’s purification (Eze_39:13), would be very likely to set up such a sign. “They that pass through the land” (R.V.) may therefore refer to “passengers” (A.V.), who did not belong to the official burial party. Toy repudiates R.V. and translates the passengers (Eze_39:15) as searchers, declaring there were two parties, and that the expression “those who pass through” cannot be understood of the invaders. For Hamon-gog see Eze_39:11.

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

Vers. 12, 13 The time that should be occupied in Gog"s funeral should be seven months so great should be the number of the dead the sacred number seven recalling the seven years consumed in the burning of the weapons (ver. 9), and reminding one of the "seven times heated" furnace into which the Hebrew children were cast, and of the "seven times" of Nebuchadnezzar"s humiliation. (Dan_3:19 Dan_4:23) The parties who should conduct his obsequies should be the house of Israel, even all the people of the land, indicating the common joy occasioned by the barbaric chieftain"s overthrow. The motive which should impel them in their work would be a desire to cleanse the land from the defilement it had contracted from the corpses of the slain; (comp. Num_19:11, 22 31:19 35:33) and the end should be that the work should be to them, not for "a remembrance" (Ewald), but a renown, not because they should have helped to bury Gog (Hengstenberg), or through burying Gog should have proved themselves his conquerors (Smend), and in virtue of Jehovah"s protection the possessors of his grave (Hitzig), but because in the day when Jehovah glorified himself through Gog"s destruction, he (Jehovah) should also be glorified by their (Israel"s) zeal "to show themselves a holy people by sweeping all uncleanness away" (Keil).

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

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues to tell Ezekiel what will happen to Gog.

seven months

"7 months." (See: Numbers)

the house of Israel

The word "house" is a metonym for the family that lives in the house, in this case the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob over many years. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 3:1. AT: "the Israelites" or "the Israelite people group" (See: Metonymy)

will bury them in order to purify the land

In Jewish law, a dead body defiled anything it touched and made it "unclean." Burying these bodies is spoken of as cleansing or purifying the land. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

bury them

"bury the soldiers of Gog's army"

this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 5:11. AT: "this is what the Lord Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

translationWords

month

house

Israel

pure

people group

glory

Lord Yahweh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.