The Judgment of Gog's Armies - Ezekiel Part 4

One can’t help but wonder at response from other nations around the world toward this attack. The only insight provided in that regard is that “Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions” make verbal protest, but do nothing to intervene. Sheba and Dedan are associated with Arabia, including Yemen. The identity of Tarshish is speculative—from India to Spain to the British Isles. The British connection is often used to identify “the young lions” as including a reference to the United States as one of the British colonies.

Verse 14 indicates that Gog will recognize the time as opportune and attack with his massive coalition of forces. They are pictured as a cloud that covers the land of Israel. “When” that happens, not “if,” YHWH will be provoked to great fury. The demonic forces have no clue that they are playing directly into God’s hand. It is truly amazing how God works through man’s choices in response to the desires of his flesh and the influence and deception of the enemy to bring about His sovereign plan and that He can foretell these events thousands of years in advance. What a mighty God we serve!

God is going to intervene with a “great shaking” in Israel which I assume to be a great earthquake. It will be so intense that there will be worldwide repercussions and men will know it is from the hand of God and will be afraid. The mountains of Israel will be thrown down and every wall will fall to the ground. Gog’s coalition will turn on each other. God will then strike them with the plague, great loss of life, and a torrential rain that includes hail, fire, and burning sulphur. I’m not sure how the Lord chooses to bring all this about, but it will be such that He is magnified and sanctified and “will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

At the beginning of chapter 39 there is a statement regarding the impact on Gog’s army. The natural reading of verse 2 tells me that only 1/6 of Gog’s army will survive, but none of the other translations I read even include that information. Whether no survivors or but few, the destruction of his army is complete.

In verse 6 God declares that He will also send “fire” upon the land of Magog and those that dwell carelessly in other countries. The question then becomes---What kind of fire? Of supernatural origin, the forces of nature, the results of war, etc. Whatever the “source,” it will be coming from the hand of God. It’s at this point that many in Israel will recognize that God is defending the honor of His name. In fact, in verse 22 God says, “the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.”