Ezekiel 38:18-20 - Exposition

Ezekiel 38:18 and Ezekiel 38:19 are not, as Hitzig, Kliefoth, and others explain, on the ground of the perfect, "I have spoken" ( Ezekiel 38:19 ), which, however, is rather a prophetical present—a free recapitulation of the earlier predictions, but a direct announcement through Ezekiel that when Gog should arrive upon the scene Jehovah should take the field against him, so that he should have to fight against Jehovah rather than against Israel. The expression, my fury shall come up in my face ; or, my wrath ascends in rail nose , has parallels in Ezekiel 24:8 ; Psalms 18:9 ; and Deuteronomy 32:22 , and describes the vehement breathing (inhalation and exhalation) of an angry man through his nose. The fire of Jehovah's wrath (comp. Ezekiel 21:1-32 :36; Ezekiel 36:5 ) should make itself known in that day by a great shaking in the land of Israel , which can hardly, as Kliefoth surmises, refer to the final judgment, or, as Keil thinks, to the trembling of the whole earth, with all the creatures, before the Lord, who comes to judgment, as in Joel 4:16 and Zechariah 14:4 , Zechariah 14:5 , since the locality in which this convulsion of nature is to happen is expressly defined as "the land of Israel;" but must be understood, with Schroder and Smend, as a figurative description of the terrible overthrow which Jehovah should inflict upon Gog, and which should produce within the heathen mind a feeling of consternation, as if the whole fabric of the globe were falling into ruin. Grounding upon what occurred at Sinai ( Exodus 19:16-18 ), Hebrew writers generally depicted special interpositions of Jehovah as being witnessed to and accompanied by awe-inspiring natural convulsions (comp. Psalms 18:7 , Psalms 18:15 ; Psalms 46:2 , Psalms 46:3 ; Psalms 55:2 ; Isaiah 13:9-13 ; Isaiah 24:19-22 ; Jeremiah 4:23-26 ; Nahum 1:5 ; Zechariah 14:4 ); and in the same manner does Ezekiel delineate Jehovah's intervention in behalf of Israel and against Gog, as so alarming that all living creatures, irrational as well as rational— fishes of the sea, fowls of the heaven, beasts of the field, creeping things that creep upon the earth (or, ground—adamah ), and men upon the face of the earth; or, ground (comp. Genesis 1:26 ; Genesis 7:21-23 )—should shake at its accompanying manifestations, and that even the mightiest objects in nature, such as the mountains, steep places , or, "reek-clefts" (Ewald), such elevations as can only be ascended by means of steps as by a ladder (comp. So 2:14), and walls (comp. Jeremiah 15:20 ), including natural ramparts as well as humanly constructed erections, should be overthrown (verse 20).