Ezekiel 39:3

Eze 39:3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.

Ver. 3. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand.] I will disarm thee. As Herodotus {a} reporteth of Sennacherib and his Assyrians in Egypt, that their quivers, bow strings, and targets were gnawn to pieces by mice and rats in one night, so that they were forced to flee for their lives. And as our chroniclers {b} tell us, that in the battle between Edward III of England and Philip of France, there fell such a piercing shower of rain as dissolved their strings, and made their bows unuseful.

{a} Lib. ii.

{b} Dan, 237.

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 39:3-7. I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand — There shall be no might in thy hand, as Moses threatens the Israelites, Deu 28:32; thou shalt not be able to use thy weapons to any purpose. I will give thee unto the ravenous birds, &c. — See Eze 39:17; and Eze 33:27. And I will send a fire on Magog — That is, into the country of Gog. This fire seems to signify that the land, after the army of Gog had left it, should be laid waste by the neighbouring people. Fire frequently signifies God’s fierce judgments. And among them that dwell carelessly in the isles —

That is, among the inhabitants of the sea-coast, who dwell securely, and think no harm can come upon them. All countries lying upon the sea-coast are called islands in the Hebrew language. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people — I will give evident displays of my power and goodness among them; and I will not let them pollute, &c. —

In the Hebrew it is, I will not pollute my holy name any more; that is, I will not suffer it to be polluted: verbs active often signifying only permission. The sense is, I will not suffer my name to be dishonoured any more, nor let it be said among the heathen that I was not able to rescue my people out of the hand of their enemies.

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

39:3-4 This fearsome foe, Gog, would be left helpless; his corpse would be food for the vultures and wild animals, like that of Goliath (cp. 1 Sam 17:44-46).

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

bow--in which the Scythians were most expert.

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 3. I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand] The Persians whom Antiochus had in his army, Eze 38:5, were famous as archers, and they may be intended here. The bow is held by the left hand; the arrow is pulled and discharged by the right.

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

3. The northern warriors were bowmen.

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 I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand,.... In which it is usually held, to have the arrow fitted to it:

and I will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand; where they are commonly held when put into the bow, and then the bow is drawn with it; signifying hereby, that though he should come into the land of Israel, he should not succeed; he would be stripped of his armour, and it would be useless to him: bows and arrows are put for all kind of warlike instruments; and are particularly mentioned because they were chiefly used in war when this prophecy was delivered.

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

Arrows. Cambyses thought himself the most skilful at shooting. This was the usual weapon of the Persians (Calmet) and Parthians. (Haydock)

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).

I will smite thy bow; make thy hand weak, not able to hold the bow, and thy heart faint, not daring to take it up again. What is said of the bow rendered useless, is to be understood of all other weapons of war. This one kind, the bow, being most in use with these Scythians, is mentioned for all the rest.

Thy left hand; the hand for holding the bow, while the right fits the arrow to the string, and draws to shoot.

Thine arrows to fall; thou shalt throw away thine arrows, that thou mayst the better flee for escape.

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

I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand. Bows and arrows were characteristic weapons of the Scythians, whom Herodotus (4:46) styles ippotoxotai . (comp. Jer_5:16 Jer_6:23; and see note on Eze_38:15)

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Ver. 3. Divine interposition.

God would smite the bow out of the left hand and cause the arrows to fall out of the right hand of the impious invader. He would disarm him; he would interpose to break his purpose, to arrest him in his evil course. We have here

I GOD"S RIGHTEOUS INTERPOSITION. God Permits evil in the form of bad institutions, wicked governments or powers, unprincipled men to go certain lengths, and when they think they have finally establishedthemselves he lays his hand upon them, takes away their weapons, reduces them to helplessness and humiliation. "A fool doth not understand it," but the very prosperity of the wicked is only a preparation for their utter and irrecoverable downfall; "When the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever". (Psa_92:6, Psa_92:7) God interposes to smite the weapons out of the hand of the disloyal and of the mischievous when:

1. He causes death to overtake the guilty before his time. And he is continually doing this; for under the action of his laws, which are at once severe and beneficent, the vicious man is the victim of his vice and the violent man of his violence. The one can sow no more of his pernicious seed, and the other can do no more of his lawless harm, because God has smitten them, and their weapons fall from their hand.

2. He makes the unprincipled adventurer to suffer an irretrievable disaster; when the man who has climbed to a throne by usurpation and bloodshed, and wielded authority in the exercise of despotic power, suffers some disaster which sends him to the lonely rock or to the quiet country house for the rest of his days.

3. He breaks the schemes of the wily plotter; when some dissatisfied, and consequently malignant and even (it may be) murderous citizen determines to wreak his vengeance on those whom he takes to be his enemies, and when, in the midst of his machinations, his plans are discovered and overthrown.

(1) Let the wicked pause before they begin their wicked course. They take many things into the account; let them not leave us, is one out of their reckoning, that when they have reached the field of their proposed achievement, though they may reach it well armed and eager for the fight, there may come down upon them, out of the heavens, a blow which will smite their weapons out of their hand, and leave them "naked to their enemies.

(2) Let the righteous hope, even if they be outnumbered and out-weaponed. It is not every well-equipped army that wins the battle. Victory does not necessarily go with the latest rifles and the cannon that carry the furthest. There is one Power that presides over all the forces that are at work; when he will and at he will, he will interpose on behalf of his children, and those who seemed so strong and so invincible will stand like a disarmed soldier in the midst and in the power of his enemies. It is worth while, by way of contrast, to glance at

II GOD"S GRACIOUS RESUMPTION. He who "smites the bow out of the hand" of the enemy is the One who gently and graciously takes the sword out of the hand of his own soldiers, that he may place on their head the "crown of righteousness," the "crown of life." When God sends the feebleness which can do no more active work below, or when he comes to us in death, he resumes the weapon he once put into our hands, and either (in the one case) bids us wait his time and our reward, or (in the other) he takes us where a stronger and a wiser hand will wield a far better weapon in a much nobler sphere. C.

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

Thy bow - What is said of the bow rendered useless, is to be understood of all other weapons of war; this is one kind, the bow, being most in use with the Scythians, is mentioned for all the rest.

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