Ezekiel 39:1-16

Events following the defeat of the enemy 39:1-16

"Chapter 39 retells the story of Gog’s attack and defeat but with a slightly different emphasis from that of the prior chapter. Not much attention is given to the attack itself (merely Ezekiel 39:1-2), whereas a great deal of space is devoted to describing the massive slaughter of Gog’s forces. In a sense, then, Chapter 38 concentrates on the threat from the powers opposed to God and His people, while Chapter 39 concentrates more on the deliverance of God’s people from that threat. The end of the chapter dwells at length on Israel’s restoration (Ezekiel 39:21-29), especially on the immediate (pre-Gog) era of that restoration. Thus the chapter starts with the distant future but ends in the nearer future with the promise of return from captivity to the land of Canaan and the greater truths which that return points toward." [Note: Stuart, pp. 360-61.]