Ezekiel 39:17

Eze 39:17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, [even] a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.

Ver. 17. Speak unto every feathered fowl.] A further explanation of that which had been said. {Eze 39:4}

Assemble yourselves.] Jer 12:9 Rev 19:17;

To my sacrifice.] To this great slaughter of enemies whom I do sacrifice, as it were, to my justice.

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 39:17-22. Thou son of man, speak unto every feathered fowl, &c. —

It was the custom of persons that offered sacrifice, to invite their friends to the feast that was made of the remainder: see Gen 31:54; 1Sa 9:13. So here the prophet, by God’s command, invites the beasts and fowls to partake of the sacrifice of his enemies slain. The slaughter of God’s enemies is called a sacrifice, because it is offered up as an atonement to the divine justice: see the margin. A great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel — Where this great army was to be destroyed. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes — Rather, of the chief ones, of the earth, of rams, &c. — By the names of these several animals, all wont to be used in sacrifices, are here signified men of all orders and ranks, as princes, generals, captains, and common soldiers. All of them fatlings of Bashan — All of them in the prime of life and strength, like young fatted beasts. And drink blood till ye be drunken — Or, be satiated. Ye shall be filled at my table — At the table which is, as it were, spread by me. The allegory is continued. “The table of God is the field covered with dead bodies, the place of the slaughter of Magog. It is impossible to conceive how unbelievers could quote this verse to prove that the Jews of old times ate the flesh of horses, and even of men. Voltaire, though cautioned that not the Jews, nor men, but wild beasts and birds, were invited to this feast of slaughter, that is, to the consumption of the slain, yet resisted to the last on his strange accusation.” — Michaelis. And all the heathen shall see my judgments — Shall see the punishments which I have executed on those who despise my name. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God — Both by my acts of mercy, in bringing them out of their captivity, and gathering them from their dispersions, and by my judgments executed upon their enemies.

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

17-20. “Among the Semites the law of the sacrificial feast was open-handed hospitality; no sacrifice was complete without guests, and portions were freely distributed to rich and poor within the circle of a man’s acquaintance.” — W.R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 236. The heathen hosts who had come against Israel had been accustomed to such feasts, at which, surrounded by their invited guests, they mocked at Jehovah and praised their idols; but now they themselves are the victims sacrificed (Eze_39:18), and the invited guests (their only friends now) are the unclean and ravenous birds and beasts of prey (Eze_39:17; compare also Zep_1:7-8; Isa_34:6; Rev_19:17-21; and Milligan, Expositor, 6:17, 129). Perhaps the “chariots” upon which the vultures feed (Eze_39:20) is a term used for “riding beasts,” as in Isa_31:7; Isa_31:9 (Davidson).

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

Section 6 (Eze 39:17-21).

The mighty a prey

The sacrifice of judgment provides a feast for bird and beast. It is spread upon the mountains of Israel which had been laid waste when the nations surfeited themselves with the spoil of Jehovah’s people; but there now the rich and mighty of the nations fall to utter destruction. Where once they had spoiled, they are now taken for a spoil. Such is the sowing and the reaping.

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

39:17 God would also provide his own disposal team of birds and wild animals, which he would gather for his great sacrificial feast.

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

Whereby he signifieth the horrible destruction that should come upon the enemies of his Church.

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

(Rev 19:17).

sacrifice--Anciently worshippers feasted on the sacrifices. The birds and beasts of prey are invited to the sacrificial feast provided by God (compare Isa 18:6; Isa 34:6; Zep 1:7; Mar 9:49). Here this sacrifice holds only a subordinate place in the picture, and so is put last. Not only shall their bones lie long unburied, but they shall be stripped of the flesh by beasts and birds of prey.

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

Verse 17. Gather yourselves - to my sacrifice] This is an allusion to a custom common in the east: when a sacrifice is made, the friends and neighbours of the party sacrificing are invited to come and feast on the sacrifice.

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

(17) Every feathered fowl.—Compare Eze_39:4, also Eze_17:23; Eze_29:5. The birds and beasts of all kinds represent all nations.

A great sacrifice.—The representation of a destructive judgment upon the Lord’s enemies as a sacrifice is found also in Isa_34:6; Jer_46:10. The figure is not to be pushed beyond the single point for which it is used—“to fill out and heighten the description of an immense slaughter.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. to my sacrifice] The eating of flesh was of rarer occurrence in ancient times than it is now. All slaughtering of animals was a sacrificial act. The blood and some parts of the victim were given to Jehovah; and the rest eaten before him by the company. Hence the terminology here: Jehovah’s slaughter of his enemies is to afford a sacrificial feast. Cf. Zep_1:8; Isa_34:6.

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 thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord God,.... What the prophet is ordered by the Lord to say is to creatures not then in being, nor yet; and, were they, they could not understand his words; but however, when the time comes, partly by an instinct in nature, and partly by a particular direction of Providence, they will be gathered together upon so great a slaughter of men; for what follows, though mentioned in this place, will be between the slaughter of Gog's army, and the burial of it, as Kimchi well observes; after the burial such an invitation would be impertinent; and which is made not for the sake of creatures, but of men, to denote the certainty of this great carnage that shall be made:

speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field; this must be understood of such fowls, and such beasts, as devour dead carcasses, for all will not feed on them; a like invitation is given after the battle at Armageddon, the same with this here, Rev 19:17 only with this difference, there an angel is said to cry, here the prophet; there to the fowls only, here to the beasts of the field also; no doubt respect there is had to this passage:

assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifices that I do sacrifice for you; such a slaughter of men is called a sacrifice, because there is a likeness between that and the killing of beasts for sacrifice; besides, these enemies of God and his people will fall a victim to his justice, as well as be a repast for fowls and beasts, who are invited, as to a feast, to feed upon them; and there being so much of the power and providence of God in all this, it is ascribed to him, and is called "the supper of the great God", Rev 19:17,

even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel; where Gog's army will fall, Eze 39:4, and in such vast numbers, that it may well be called a great sacrifice; the sacrifice of a great army by the great God, and for such great number of creatures:

that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood; the flesh and blood of the sacrifices, even of slain men, which carnivorous creatures delight in. The Targum is,

"draw near everywhere round about to the slain, which I slay for you with a great slaughter upon the mountains of Israel, and ye shall eat the flesh, and drink the blood.''

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

The purposes of the past dispensation shall be made clear to God’s people themselves and to the pagan. His judgments were the consequence of their sins; and these sins once abandoned, the favor of their God will return in yet more abundance.

Eze 39:29

Compare Act 2:17. Peter distinctly appropriates these prophecies (marginal references) to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and the inauguration of the Church of Christ by that miraculous event. This was the beginning of the fulfillment. They shall find their consummation when time shall be no more.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Speak; though they understand not thy word, yet speak. for they will understand my word, which shall go out with thine.

Unto every feathered fowl; to all sorts of carnivorous birds, every kind of those that eat flesh.

To every beast, that are for the prey, little or great, which either by craft or power get their food out of the flesh of others.

Assemble yourselves; come in whole companies, flocks and herds too; and this repeated twice more,

come, gather yourselves: they have an earnest invitation, from all sides.

To my sacrifice: when sacrifices were offered, there usually was a feast to the priest the sacrificer, and for what guests were invited; now God is about to make such, he invites his guests, resolved to entertain them plentifully.

That I do sacrifice: the punishment of these God calls a sacrifice, which he doth offer, i.e. to his own justice, to satisfy that.

For you: it was for higher ends, yet since God intends to fill them with the flesh and blood of it, he is pleased to tell them he hath slain for their entertainment.

A great sacrifice, where more thousands are offered at once than ever were at any time offered; it is a sacrifice so great, that none ever was or will be like.

The mountains of Israel; the land of Canaan.

Eat flesh; the flesh of the sacrifice.

And drink blood; the blood of it: this was entertainment fitting these invited guests.

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

Verses 17-20 exhibit in a third way the severity of Gog"s overthrow by setting forth the bloody carnage which should attend it.

Expanding the thought of ver. 4, and borrowing the imagery of the older prophets, Isaiah (Isa_34:6 Isa_56:9) and Jeremiah, (Jer_46:10 Jer_51:40) Ezekiel represents Gog"s destruction as a great sacrifice literally, slaying; hence a sacrificial feast or simply banquet (as in Gen_31:54) upon the mountains of Israel, prepared by Jehovah for the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field, which he, therefore, invites to come from all quarters to eat flesh and drink blood.

Vers. 17-20Degradation and reversal.

The scene before us is painful; it hardly befits description; we cannot dwell upon it without turning from it with repulsion. But we may so far realize it in our thought as to learn two lessons respecting the issue of evil, the sad and painful consequences of sin. These are

I DEGRADATION. The unclean birds of the air and the foul beasts of the field eating the flesh and drinking the blood "of the princes of the earth"! To what a miserable and shameful death has human greatness, human dignity, fallen! For those who had sat on the loftiest seats of honor, and moved in the highest spheres of action, to lie unburied on the enemy"s soil, and to furnish a meal for carrion birds and for "four-footed beasts"! Could dishonor or degradation go further than this? And is not degradation the constant end of persistent wrong, of willful and wanton disobedience to the Word of God? And shall we not acknowledge, when we think of it, that some of those things which seem to most men allowable, and some which seem even honorable and desirable, are, in the sight of God, deplorable and condemnable, because they are really a degradation and a descent? This is so when:

1. The powers of the human soul are exhausted upon very small things; when men seek their chief satisfaction, not in their relationship to God, in their service of Christ, but in the petty honors and conventional proprieties, and sensuous gratifications of this passing world. To allow the things of utter unimportance to absorb the manifold and noble powers of heart and mind, leaving no room for the heavenly and the Divine, is surely a pitiful degradation. Men do not know, they cannot see, how they are lowering their life, how they are dishonoring themselves. Similarly and more obviously when:

2. The lower passions tyrannize over the soul; when covetousness, or the craving for alcoholic or for social excitement, or the demon of lust, or jealousy, or overweening and maddening ambition, possesses the soul and leads it astray; any one of these passions wilt lead a man down into very dark depths; he has become the prey of the spoiler.

3. Human life is reduced to a pursuit of mere amusement or passing gratification.

4. The forces of a country are employed, not in the enrichment and the elevation of the people, but in fighting the armies and despoiling the strength and wealth of neighboring powers.

II REVERSAL. Ordinarily and naturally birds and beasts provide the sacrifice for men. Here, however, the case is reversed, and men provide a sacrifice for them. Properly, men sit down to the table on which bird and beast are set forth for food; here, however, men are placed upon the table, and bird and beast are the partakers. What a strange and pitiful reversal! But under the dominion of sin, what do we look for but anomalies and reversals?

1. Instead of man moving constantly upward, we find him moving steadily downward.

2. Instead of habit being the faithful and valuable servant of man, it becomes its tyrannous and unrelenting master.

3. Instead of asking how we can serve men at every turn and in every possible way, we ask how we can use them, how we can make them serve us.

4. Instead of our seeking God with the eagerness that will not be denied, we hold aloof or wander away, and he is seeking us with a patience that does not fail and that follows us through many rebellious years.

5. Instead of the felt nearness of God being a heritage and a joy, it becomes an inconvenience and an intrusion.

6. Instead of death being regarded as the beginning of the larger and better life, it is treated as the melancholy end of the life on earth. But Christ comes to revolutionize and reverse the anomalies and the reverses of sin; and thus to bring again the primeval blessedness. Happy they who learn of him and follow him, for they will be restored to the truth and the life which they have lost! C.

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

I do sacrifice - The punishment of these God calls a sacrifice, which he offers to his own justice. Upon the mountains - Where more thousands are offered at once, than ever were at any time offered; 'tis a sacrifice so great, that none ever was, or will be like it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

speak unto

See Armageddon note, (See Scofield "Rev 19:17").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh gives Ezekiel a message for the birds and the wild animals about what they will do to Gog.

son of man

"son of a human being" or "son of humanity." God calls Ezekiel this to emphasize that Ezekiel is only a human being. God is eternal and powerful, but humans are not. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 2:1. AT: "mortal person" or "human"

to the sacrifice

"to the feast" or "to the slaughter." Yahweh means that he will give the birds and animals a very good meal and not that he is worshiping them.

they will be rams, lambs, goats, and bulls

Yahweh is speaking with irony. Normally people sacrificed animals to God. Here, God is sacrificing people to animals. AT: "as if they were male sheep, lambs, goats, and bulls" (See: Irony)

they were all fattened in Bashan

That can be stated in active form. AT: "they all became fat while grazing in Bashan" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

Lord Yahweh

sacrifice

flesh

blood

prince

ewe

lamb

goat

Bashan

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