Introduction: The Final Campaign of Gog
Chapter 39 in Yechezkel is a direct continuation of the prophecy of Gog and Magog from Chapter 38, but here we are dealing with an additional stage: after the downfall we witnessed in the previous chapter, Gog regroups and returns to the fray. Our Sages teach that Gog will come against the Land of Israel three times, and the campaign described here is the final one. The chapter describes his ultimate downfall, the plunder and subsequent burial, and the sanctification of Hashem's Name that will emerge from it all.
וְאַתָּה בֶן־אָדָם הִנָּבֵא עַל־גּוֹג וְאָמַרְתָּ כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה הִנְנִי אֵלֶיךָ גּוֹג נְשִׂיא רֹאשׁ מֶשֶׁךְ וְתֻבָל׃ - And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say: Thus said the Lord Hashem: Behold, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tuval.
We might ask: What is the meaning of this introduction, "And you, son of man, prophesy"? Let the Holy One, blessed be He, simply deliver the prophecy! The Malbim explains that there is a unique distinction here: the Holy One, blessed be He, is telling Yechezkel that this specific prophecy was designated exclusively for him, one that the other prophets did not prophesy and were not privileged to receive. And what is the novel element in it? That Gog, after the defeat we have already witnessed, will regain his strength and embark on an additional campaign - and this one will be his last.
וְשֹׁבַבְתִּיךָ וְשִׁשֵּׁאתִיךָ וְהַעֲלִיתִיךָ מִיַּרְכְּתֵי צָפוֹן וַהֲבִאוֹתִךָ עַל־הָרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And I will turn you back and lead you astray, and I will bring you up from the farthest parts of the north, and lead you to the mountains of Israel.
"Veshevavticha" (And I will turn you back) is related to rebellion, like a wayward child (shoveiv) who follows the stubbornness of his heart. That is: I will cause you to rebel, I will instill a spirit of defiance in your heart so that you insist on marching out. Naturally, you would have no reason to go to war, but I will spur you on, just as happened with Pharaoh. "Veshisheticha" is similar to "hishi'ani" - "The serpent deceived me (hishi'ani), and I ate" - I will entice you and place the scheme in your heart to go forth.
Our Sages also expounded "veshisheticha" as relating to the number six (shishah): At that time, I will bring upon you six plagues, six judgments by which you will be tried - pestilence, blood, torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur. The Malbim adds another explanation: Six camps will fight there, three against three, and he will be the sixth. For as we saw in the preceding chapters, the primary conflict will not be between us and them, but between the coalition forces and the forces of Yishmael: Yishmael and the three camps allied with him, against Edom, which includes the nations of Europe and America.
וְהִכֵּיתִי קַשְׁתְּךָ מִיַּד שְׂמֹאולֶךָ וְחִצֶּיךָ מִיַּד יְמִינְךָ אַפִּיל׃ - And I will strike your bow from your left hand, and your arrows from your right hand I will cause to fall.
A bow is held in the left hand, while the string is drawn with the right hand. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: I will fight you in such a way that you will not be able to shoot at all. I will strike the bow from your left hand and drop the arrows from your right hand. In modern terms: his artillery power will be neutralized, the missiles will fail to launch, and even the interception systems will not function.
עַל־הָרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל תִּפּוֹל אַתָּה וְכׇל־אֲגַפֶּיךָ וְעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר אִתָּךְ לְעֵיט צִפּוֹר כׇּל־כָּנָף וְחַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה נְתַתִּיךָ לְאׇכְלָה׃ - Upon the mountains of Israel you shall fall, you and all your hordes and the nations that are with you; to the birds of prey of every wing and to the beasts of the field I have given you as food.
"You and all your hordes" - all those who stand with you and assist you, all of them will fall. Their corpses will be given as food to birds and beasts. Seemingly, the pasuk is overly verbose: "birds of prey" (ayit), "bird" (tzippor), "every wing" (kol kanaf) - any one of these would have been sufficient! The Malbim explains that there are three levels here: "Ayit" refers to birds of prey, whose nature is to eat flesh. "Tzippor" includes non-predatory birds as well, even an ordinary sparrow that does not typically eat flesh. And why will it eat? Because the flesh will lie abandoned across the open field with no one to bury it, and a bird that cannot find food will come and peck at it. And "kol kanaf" includes even flies, mosquitoes, and wasps - all winged creatures. In simple terms: all of them will feast upon you and make a banquet of you.
עַל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה תִּפּוֹל כִּי אֲנִי דִבַּרְתִּי נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - Upon the open field you shall fall, for I have spoken, says the Lord Hashem.
You will come upon the mountains of Israel, and as you descend from the mountains to attack, the Holy One, blessed be He, will strike you down and you will fall upon the open field. As we have seen in Zechariah, they will fall upon the open field.
The Fire Will Reach Their Homes as Well
וְשִׁלַּחְתִּי־אֵשׁ בְּמָגוֹג וּבְיֹשְׁבֵי הָאִיִּים לָבֶטַח וְיָדְעוּ כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה׃ - And I will send fire against Magog and against those who dwell securely in the islands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Not only here on the battlefield will fire and brimstone be sent against them, but in their own districts and cities as well. Destruction and plague will reach their homeland too, striking "those who dwell securely in the islands" - those who live on the islands without fear or apprehension, confident that the war is far from their doorstep. The prophet comes and warns: Do not think that because the war takes place far from you, your home is safe. The fire will reach your home as well.
וְאֶת־שֵׁם קׇדְשִׁי אוֹדִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ עַמִּי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְלֹא־אַחֵל אֶת־שֵׁם־קׇדְשִׁי עוֹד וְיָדְעוּ הַגּוֹיִם כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה קָדוֹשׁ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And I will make My Holy Name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not permit My Holy Name to be desecrated any more; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.
When the Holy One, blessed be He, takes retribution from the nations, His Name is sanctified in the world, as we saw in the preceding prophecy: "And I will manifest My greatness and My holiness before the eyes of many nations." Until now, there was a semblance of Chillul Hashem, for they saw the Jewish people battered and bruised while Hashem seemingly did nothing. Regarding this it is said, "and I will not permit My Holy Name to be desecrated any more" - such a state of affairs will no longer continue; rather, from now on, His Name, may He be blessed, will be sanctified.
"And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel" - all the nations will recognize that the Holy One, blessed be He, is exalted in Israel and guides them through supernatural providence. For all the punishments that will befall them - the pestilence, the blood, and the great hailstones - are miraculous afflictions that are not natural at all. When the nations witness this, they will understand that everything comes from Him, blessed be He. It will then become clear to all that the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not protect Israel until now was not due to any lack of ability, Heaven forbid, but because Israel was not yet deserving. We will see this explicitly in the verses later in the chapter.
הִנֵּה בָאָה וְנִהְיָתָה נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה הוּא הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתִּי׃ - Behold, it comes and it shall be brought about, says the Lord God; this is the day of which I have spoken.
This day is unknown to any prophet or seer. The Gemara states: "Liba lepuma lo galya" - as it were, the heart did not reveal it to the mouth; a matter so hidden that it did not even pass from the heart to the mouth. Therefore, explains the Malbim, it is impossible for this to be perceived in the realm of vision and prophecy. Only when the event actually takes place and becomes reality will all recognize: this is the day of which I have spoken. Until then, the matter remains sealed and hidden, as it says in Daniel, "for the words are shut up and sealed" - the end of days is concealed, and it cannot be prophesied in a clear and explicit manner.
The Weapons Will Become Fuel for Heating
וְיָצְאוּ יֹשְׁבֵי עָרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבִעֲרוּ וְהִשִּׂיקוּ בְּנֶשֶׁק וּמָגֵן וְצִנָּה בְּקֶשֶׁת וּבְחִצִּים וּבְמַקֵּל יָד וּבְרֹמַח וּבִעֲרוּ בָהֶם אֵשׁ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים׃ - And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go forth, and they will kindle fires and heat with weapons, small shields and large shields, bows and arrows, hand-staves and spears; and they will burn fires with them for seven years.
Here the prophet describes the magnitude of the defeat: the sheer quantity of weapons left behind after the war will be so enormous that the weaponry itself will serve for heating and cooking. The buckler, the shield, the bow, the arrows, the hand-staff, and the spear - with all of them they will kindle fires for seven years, and they will not need to chop wood from the forests. In modern terms, one might say that these explosives and armaments will be utilized to generate energy, such as for electricity, for seven years, and there will be no need for wood at all.
And why will they use the weapons for fuel rather than for their original purpose? Because we will reach the era of which it is said, "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore," and "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." We have already seen something akin to this in our own times: there was an agreement between America and Russia to destroy certain ballistic missiles, and from their metal they manufactured all kinds of items, including special pens made from expensive materials. In a play on words: "They shall beat their swords le'ittim (into plowshares)" - into pens (le'etim).
וְלֹא־יִשְׂאוּ עֵצִים מִן־הַשָּׂדֶה וְלֹא יַחְטְבוּ מִן־הַיְּעָרִים כִּי בַנֶּשֶׁק יְבַעֲרוּ־אֵשׁ וְשָׁלְלוּ אֶת־שֹׁלְלֵיהֶם וּבָזְזוּ אֶת־בֹּזְזֵיהֶם נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - They shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests, for they shall make fire of the weapons; and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, says the Lord God.
A person who wants to heat his home goes out to gather wood from the field, and in a place where there is no forest, people gather thorns and branches. The verse states: they will not carry wood from the field, nor will they chop down trees even where there are forests, because all the heating needs for seven years will be supplied by the weapons. "And they shall spoil those that spoiled them" - since they will go out to the field anyway to take spoil and seize plunder, they will also take the weapons left there, "and rob those that robbed them."
The Burial of Gog - The Reward of Yefet
וְהָיָה בַיּוֹם הַהוּא אֶתֵּן לְגוֹג מְקוֹם־שָׁם קֶבֶר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל גֵּי הָעֹבְרִים קִדְמַת הַיָּם וְחֹסֶמֶת הִיא אֶת־הָעֹבְרִים וְקָבְרוּ שָׁם אֶת־גּוֹג וְאֶת־כׇּל־הֲמוֹנֹה וְקָרְאוּ גֵּיא הֲמוֹן גּוֹג׃ - And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give to Gog a place there for burial in Israel, the valley of the travelers east of the sea; and it shall block the travelers; and there they shall bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall call it the Valley of Hamon-Gog.
Here the prophet foretells that we will treat Gog in a manner far beyond how one normally treats an enemy, with genuine humanity: "I will give to Gog a place there for burial." Chazal ask: By what merit did Gog and his soldiers earn a burial? They answer that when the nakedness of Noach was uncovered and Canaan was cursed, Shem and Yefet took the cloak to cover their father's nakedness. Shem acted with alacrity in performing the mitzvah, and therefore merited the mitzvah of tzitzit, which is practiced here in this world. Yefet, by contrast, was somewhat sluggish - he joined, but sluggishly, without enthusiasm. And because he hesitated, his reward likewise comes sluggishly and late: not in this world and not during his lifetime, but only in the future in the days of Gog, long after his death, that his descendants will merit burial. From here we learn how crucial alacrity in performing a mitzvah is. Shem, who acted with zeal, merited tzitzit, through which one merits beholding the Divine Presence, and which also serves as protection for a person in this world.
And where will this burial place be? "The valley of the travelers east of the sea." Rashi explains, based on the Targum, that this was the place where people would cross the Sea of Galilee (the Kinneret) to bring the fruits of Ginosar - fruits that the Gemara in Berachot attests were extraordinarily delicious and luscious. "East of the sea" means east of the Kinneret. Thus, the main battle and their primary downfall will occur in the region of the Kinneret, along what had been a route of transit.
"And it shall block the travelers" - there are two explanations for this. The first is that because of the sheer abundance of corpses and bodies there, it will be utterly impossible to pass through; the immense quantity of the fallen will block the road. The second is that passersby will block their noses, unable to breathe from the horrific stench of the rotting corpses, so that anyone who comes there will be forced to plug his nostrils.
וּקְבָרוּם בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמַעַן טַהֵר אֶת־הָאָרֶץ שִׁבְעָה חֳדָשִׁים׃ - And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.
Why must they be buried? "That they may cleanse the land." A place where a corpse lies is a place of ritual impurity (tumah). And just as the Torah commands that anyone who is stoned is hanged, and immediately afterward they are buried, and it is forbidden to leave the body on the tree overnight because "a hanged body is an affront to God" - for man was created in the image of God, and humiliating the body is, as it were, a desecration of the Creator of the universe - so too here. Moreover, the quantity of corpses will be so massive that the burial societies will work for seven full months to purify the land. In addition, not one of the enemies will remain to bury their brothers. Only we will remain, and we will be the ones to bury them.
וְקָבְרוּ כׇּל־עַם הָאָרֶץ וְהָיָה לָהֶם לְשֵׁם יוֹם הִכָּבְדִי נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - And all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall bring them renown on the day that I am glorified, says the Lord God.
It is well known that people stay far away from a body that has lain unburied for a long time. In every major natural disaster, one of the most difficult challenges is finding someone willing to bury the dead, because a body that begins to decompose poses an immense hazard of epidemics and disease. Such was the case in the tsunami, where there was an urgent need to bury the dead quickly before plagues broke out, especially in underdeveloped areas lacking vaccines, where more people could ultimately die afterward than had died initially. And yet here, the people of Israel will bury them for seven months, meaning there will be bodies in an advanced state of decomposition. Who would be willing to bury such corpses?
And when the nations see that Israel is burying them without any fear of contracting illnesses or the plague - "it will bring them renown," for renown and glory. They will praise and honor Israel, saying: Look at what devotion, what high character they possess, going and engaging in this even though they are placing themselves in danger, just so that the corpses do not remain like dung upon the face of the earth. And they will say: There is no nation as merciful as this one! Is there any man who buries his enemy who rose up to kill him? That is Rashi's language. In this, they will praise Israel for their virtue and their greatness.
And what is "the day when I am glorified"? When they see that the entire nation of Israel touched and handled corpses in a condition that would certainly cause harm, and yet not a single Jew was harmed - the plague and diseases do not affect them - the Name of Hashem will be glorified in the world. Everyone will say: We see Hashem's providence over them; Hashem protects their lives. Through this, the honor of Heaven will be magnified.
Permanent Workers and the Task of Purification
וְאַנְשֵׁי תָמִיד יַבְדִּילוּ עֹבְרִים בָּאָרֶץ מְקַבְּרִים אֶת־הָעֹבְרִים אֶת־הַנּוֹתָרִים עַל־פְּנֵי הָאָרֶץ לְטַהֲרָהּ מִקְצֵה שִׁבְעָה־חֳדָשִׁים יַחְקֹרוּ׃ - "And they will set apart men for continual employment to pass through the land, burying those passing through who remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it; at the end of seven months they will search."
"Men of continual employment" - not volunteers brought in for a single day for a one-time operation, but people whose permanent job will be burying the dead. These will be set apart and designated for this task. And they will "pass through the land," wandering from place to place. For while there will be a central location where most of the slain are found, where it is not difficult to bury them, there will also be many dead scattered across the land, requiring searching, investigating, and checking where they are. For this purpose, they will designate special individuals, like detectives, to go search for the corpses. "Burying those passing through" - those who were not found at the battlefield itself, but were passing through other places and died there.
And why specifically seven months and no more? The Malbim explains: not because no corpses will remain, but because after seven months the flesh will have already decomposed. And as mentioned, the birds of the sky will not rest either, and the beasts of the earth will do their part, for the Holy One, blessed be He, summoned every beast of the field and bird of the sky to consume their flesh. Consequently, nothing will remain to bury except bones, and bones are what the next verse addresses.
וְעָבְרוּ הָעֹבְרִים בָּאָרֶץ וְרָאָה עֶצֶם אָדָם וּבָנָה אֶצְלוֹ צִיּוּן עַד קָבְרוּ אֹתוֹ הַמְקַבְּרִים אֶל־גֵּיא הֲמוֹן גּוֹג׃ - "And as those who pass through the land pass through, and anyone sees a human bone, he will build a marker beside it, until the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-Gog."
"And as those who pass through pass through" - the Radak explains that this does not refer to those permanent workers whose job this is, but to ordinary people passing through the land. When someone passes by and sees a human bone cast upon the field - for as mentioned, nothing but bones will remain - he will erect a marker beside it.
What is a tziyun (marker)? It comes from the word for a sign. In their times, it was not customary to erect a tombstone with a name, date, and eulogistic praise. They would bury the person, place a stone over his burial site, and whitewash it with lime, purely as a sign and marker. A similar concept is found in the phrase "metzuyanim sham" (distinguished there) said of Israel in Egypt - not that they received good grades (tsiyunim) on exams, but that they were marked and distinct; anyone who saw them said: This is a Jew, bearing the name of Israel.
In Yemen as well, in many cemeteries they did not write names on graves at all. They would bury the deceased and set down a stone, without any engraving or tombstone. Nor was the practice of visiting graves customary there, except in times of distress: when trouble arose, the entire synagogue would go out to the cemetery, pray, weep, and repent, and on their way back the rain would already catch up to them. That was a regular occurrence for them. But repeatedly visiting graves for no particular reason was not their custom.
Why, then, is it so important to mark the location of a grave if we do not know who is buried there anyway? Because of the laws of ritual purity and impurity (tumah and taharah). A Kohen is forbidden to pass over a grave, and indeed no person may step on a grave. In particular, if someone carrying ritually pure foods passed there, they would become defiled, as he forms an overshadowing tent (ohel) over the corpse. Therefore, they would make markers and signs - beware, there is a grave here, go around it. And a place where a grave once existed but was lost so that its location is unknown is called a beis hapras: a grave that was crushed and plowed over, such that the bones of the deceased might be scattered across the entire area, and a Kohen cannot enter there. Thus, markers are set up so that the whole land is not rendered an uncertain burial ground; rather, people will know that a grave is here and bypass it without becoming defiled.
וְגַם שֶׁם־עִיר הֲמוֹנָה וְטִהֲרוּ הָאָרֶץ׃ - "And the name of the city shall also be Hamonah; and they will cleanse the land."
Just as the valley will be called the "Valley of Hamon-Gog", and the bones will be gathered there as much as possible (and if they cannot, they will place a marker by that spot), so too the city where they pitched their tents near that valley when coming to wage war against us will also be named after them, "Hamonah", after the vast multitude (hamon) that came against us. And as the Targum phrases it: "אף לתמן יתרמון קטילי רומי, קרתא דסגיאין איתרגישתה, ויתדכון ארעא" - there too the slain of Gog will be cast, that city from which a vast multitude was stirred up to come and wage war in the Land. The naming of the place is intended to alert people to take caution, knowing that this site is ritually impure. "And they shall cleanse the Land" - for they will know that the dead are concentrated specifically in that place and not in the rest of the city.
In summary:
In this chapter, Yechezkel describes, in a prophecy uniquely granted to him, the final campaign of Gog: The Holy One, Blessed is He, will Himself spur him on and entice him to come up from the far reaches of the north, neutralize his weaponry, and fell him upon the mountains of Israel as food for birds of prey, fowl, and beasts of the field; fire will even fall upon his own land and the coastlands. Through all of this, the Name of Heaven will be sanctified: no longer will there be a desecration of Hashem's Name through a battered and bruised people, but rather a worldwide recognition that the Holy One, Blessed is He, is holy in Israel and guides them through supernatural providence. The quantity of spoils will be so immense that the weapons will serve as fuel for fire for seven years, and the number of fallen so great that their burial will take seven months. Even so, the Jewish people will bury them - in the merit of Yapheth's alacrity in covering his father's nakedness - and through this very dedication and compassion, and in the reality that not a single person of Israel will be harmed, it will be "the day I am glorified", bringing about the sanctification of His blessed Name throughout the world.