Ezekiel 38:5-7 - Exposition

These allied nations are depicted as coming from the four quarters of the globe. Persia (see Ezekiel 27:10 ), from the east; Ethiopia (see Ezekiel 30:5 ), or Gush ( Genesis 10:6 ), from the south; Libya , or Phut (see Ezekiel 27:10 ; Ezekiel 30:5 ), from the west; and Gomer (see Genesis 10:2 , Genesis 10:3 ; 1 Chronicles 1:5 ), the Cimmerians of Homer ('Odyss.,' Ezekiel 11:13-19 ), whose abodes were the shores of the Euxine and Caspian Seas, and the Gimirrai of the Assyrian Inscriptions; with the house of Togarmah , from the north, or the extreme regions of the north, as in Isaiah 14:13 (see Ezekiel 27:14 ). The first three are portrayed as armed with shield and helmet , or more accurately as being all of them shield and helmet , which might signify that they should serve as a shield and helmet to Cog, who in truth should be unto them and their confederates a guard; i.e; according to Keil and Schroder, one who keeps watch over them; according to Miehaelis and Havernick, one who gives them law; according to Hengstenberg, one who is their authority; according to Ewald and Smend, one who serves to them as an ensign, t.¢. acts to them as a leader or commander. The LXX . translation, with which Hitzig agrees, "And thou shalt be to me for a guard," is manifestly wrong.