Ezekiel 39:26, commentary and pictures

Ezekiel 39:26 promises Israel restoration after bearing the shame of unfaithfulness and trespasses against God, when they dwell securely in their own land with none making them afraid. It belongs to a conditional prophecy of what God would have done for literal Israel after the Babylonian captivity if they had yielded, obeyed and repented, defeating their northern enemies, cleansing them from sin, gathering them to Palestine and building the glorious sanctuary. Israel failed to meet those conditions and was not ashamed of sin, so the restoration was fulfilled only in very small part and the prophecy was never literally fulfilled in all its details. What remains will be fulfilled in broader and more glorious conditions under the gospel, when the true Israel of God is gathered from all nations, cleansed, raised from the dead and given the full immortal inheritance in the new heavens and new earth at the second coming of Christ. The safe dwelling stands against the invasion of Gog and the wicked northern confederacy that seeks to destroy God's people, who advance from the north and then perish in divine judgment.

Meaning and Context

After bearing the shame of unfaithfulness and all trespasses committed against God, Israel is restored to dwell securely in its own land with none making afraid. That safe dwelling comes after the shame is borne and the consequences of trespass are endured, when the people live without fear in the land given them. The restoration was what God was prepared to do for Israel after the return from Babylon, gathering those scattered through all nations and bringing them again out of their enemies' lands to their own land. After Israel has borne shame for the iniquity that caused captivity and has put away iniquities, God gathers them to dwell safely, cleanses them from sins, and they know that He is the Lord their God and He hides His face from them no more. That gathering cannot be complete while some of Israel remain in their graves, but is fulfilled when the dead are raised and gathered at Christ's return.

Dwelling safely means all of them living securely together as a people God calls His own, gathered out from all nations. It means living in villages without walls on the mountains of Israel, possessing property and cattle and goods. It means victory over enemies with the kings of the north and enemies far and near brought into subjection, God dwelling among His people with glory never seen before, a new and far greater sanctuary built, and God's glory manifest among His people in the sight of the nations.

The verse belongs to the last seven verses of Ezekiel 39 that declare the prosperity and favor in store for Israel on return from Babylon to live securely in Palestine in their own land. Those verses introduce the city and temple vision of chapters 40-48 as what lay in prospect after restoration, and the realization of that promised favor depended upon faithfulness in representing the truth in the earth. Ezekiel 39:25-29 describes the gathering of the true Israel of God from all the nations of the earth.

Conditional Promise Unfulfilled

Ezekiel 39:26 belongs to a conditional prophecy of what God would have done for Israel after the Babylonian captivity if the people had yielded to Him, obeyed Him, and met His conditions. Had they complied, He would have restored them to their land, defeated the northern enemies sweeping down upon them, restored the faithful who had died, made Jerusalem a praise, and built the wonderful sanctuary described in the last part of Ezekiel with its overpowering glory. That restoration belonged to Ezekiel 36-48, when Israel would have conquered and dwelt safely in their land with none making them afraid, with the fate of Ezekiel 38-39 falling on their enemies. The chapter's general outline still concerns the gathering for Armageddon.

The promised safety, cleansing, and glory required Israel to forsake sins and return to the Lord with all the heart, put away wickedness and iniquity, truly repent, be ashamed and confounded for their ways and bear their shame, be cleansed from sin and faithful to God, and represent the truth faithfully. The promise was given to literal, fleshly Israel under the old covenant in the first dispensation after the seventy years' captivity. Had they complied, God would have brought them back upon the mountains of Israel, done better to them than at their beginnings, made them great, brought about the resurrection pictured in chapter 37, destroyed the northern enemies with plagues upon them, enabled them to build the marvelous sanctuary where His glory would dwell in the city called Jehovah Is There, and brought them to possess the land of their fathers forever into the everlasting kingdom to the immortal state where David, Christ, will be king. In fact only about forty thousand returned from captivity, and the promises in their fullness were not realized.

Israel failed to meet God's requirements, was not ashamed of sins, did not put away iniquities or accept God's plan, and did not fully repent. The promised victory was therefore only partial and the restoration was fulfilled only in very small part, a feeble fulfillment with only the faintest shadow of the promised glory and prosperity. Instead of the wonderful structure shown to the prophet with its water of life and glory of God, only a mere shadow of the temple was built, and Israel did not become a light to the world. Because Israel was not ashamed and did not put away iniquities, the glorious subjection of the kings of the north and enemies far and near did not take place.

The closing prophecy of restoration was therefore never literally fulfilled and never will be literally fulfilled. It is a conditional mixed prophecy whose conditions were never met, so it was never fulfilled as described and cannot be pressed in all its details upon those times or later times. Some of its details will not be fulfilled at all and will not all be fulfilled as described.

Ultimate Future Fulfillment

What was left unfulfilled must come to pass in harmony with conditions actually existing upon the earth, for the last days under different, broader, and more glorious conditions without the local conditions of the prophet's day. The prophecy both does and does not picture the last days, for some events foretold occur before the second coming of Christ and some in the last great battle fought on the other side of the thousand years, while some details of the chapter will not be fulfilled at all. Because Israel did not fully repent and did not put away iniquities, the glorious restoration to dwell safely after bearing shame was not fulfilled as described, and its details will not all be fulfilled as described.

Its promises concerning true Israel will instead be fulfilled in the future in the manner shown by later revelations, and the faithful will receive the full immortal inheritance. The promise of subjection of the kings of the north and enemies far and near and of safe dwelling with none making afraid is faintly typical of what will take place in the new heavens and new earth when God restores all by His mighty power. All God's promises of a glorious future will still be fulfilled for His own people, but they must be read in the fuller revelation of the gospel and the clearer light of the New Testament that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. The sanctuary prophecy of Ezekiel 37-48 is conditional depending on Israel's acceptance or rejection and will never be literally fulfilled by building that sanctuary.

The restoration cannot be complete while some of Israel remain in their graves, for it is fulfilled when the dead are raised and gathered at Christ's return, after God has cleansed His people from their sins and they have borne their shame and the consequences of their trespasses. It will be fulfilled in greater glory at the second coming of Jesus Christ and events connected therewith, but without the local conditions of the prophet's day. Then there will be no burning of wooden bows and shields and no cleansing of the land by human hands, for the fires of the last day will consume sin out of the world and melt the earth with fervent heat. Part of Ezekiel 38 and 39 is fulfilled this side of the second coming in the clearer terms stated in Revelation, and part is fulfilled at the end of the thousand years and is understood better from the unconditional prophecies in Revelation, with Ezekiel's prophecy fulfilled only in a general, not detailed, sense in God's final judgment of those who destroy His people.

Gog Russia and Judgment

Ezekiel 39 is a prophecy about Gog, identified with Russia's ruler, and about Russia's part in the closing work of world history. It names Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, identified with Russia, Moscow, and Tobolsk, as referring to the land of the czar. Taken together, Ezekiel 38 and 39 present the descendants of Noah divided in the earth after the Flood by name and by country, and reveal the origin of the Russian Empire and Russia and her international policy and her ultimate destiny in the Russo-Eastern question.

That prophecy about Russia may apply to the closing years of world history. Part of it has been fulfilled, but much of it is yet to come to pass in the immediate and near future. It is given as warning and light concerning events of worldwide import now developing, which mean eternal salvation to some and everlasting destruction to others.

To use this prophecy to support the claim that the Jews would return to Palestine and dwell there safely is fanciful and arbitrary. The safe, prosperous dwelling described, when Israel dwells safely in their land with none making them afraid, means all of them living securely in villages without walls on the mountains of Israel as a people God calls His own gathered out from all nations, possessing property and cattle and goods. That cannot be literally fulfilled in the last days because Palestine is not inhabited by any such gathered people, with only few Jews there under Turkish control, and the people are not dwelling safely. Palestine is the poorest of lands without wealth to arouse the cupidity of the northern powers to think an evil thought and sweep down to take great spoil, and modern armies are not equipped with wooden shields and bucklers and hand staves and spears that Israel could burn for fuel.

The chapter belongs to a prophecy of judgments against wicked nations, controlled by Satan, that seek to destroy God's people. It foretells God's enemies advancing from the north against Israel, then perishing in divine judgment amid fire and brimstone, with birds feeding on their bodies, connected with the bloody conflict and destruction expected among nations in the last days.

Ezekiel 38 and 39 together describe the nations' evil design against Israel and invasion of its land: a great horde and confederacy from the north led by Magog coming down upon God's people in Palestine. That northern power is associated with Persia, and is connected with a future mighty northern confederacy that will come against the king of the south, whose head is identified with the power outlined in Revelation 17, and whose attack is a sweeping military assault. It predicts a final great northern apostasy sweeping into the Holy Land with great power and destruction. Gog and Magog are great northern ambitious powers whose spirit is that of Satan and whose ambition is to rule in place of all others.

Had Israel remained faithful and met the Lord's conditions, God's people would have occupied Palestine and the confederacy of evil would have invaded their territory and met the fate foretold in Ezekiel 38-39. In the present fulfillment God's people are scattered worldwide, but the evil plan still seeks both to gain the territory once occupied by Israel and to destroy them. The chapter's details may describe what could have happened if Israel had allowed God to establish them in their land, while its general outline concerns the gathering for Armageddon and a tremendous international struggle close at hand.

The conditional safe dwelling stands before Christ comes when divisions and aggregations of nations and national judgments still exist, with plagues falling on enemies. It cannot mean the rising of Gog and Magog at the end of the thousand years when all the dead of all ages come up and national boundaries and distinctions are completely eliminated. What remains to be fulfilled must be fulfilled in harmony with conditions existing upon the earth, with some events foretold occurring before the second coming of Christ and some in the last great battle fought on the other side of the thousand years, while some details of the chapter will not be fulfilled at all. The final doom pronounced upon Gog and Magog for oppressing God's people is carried out after the thousand years are expired, when Satan is loosed from his prison and the wicked are brought back, and Gog and Magog are gathered together to battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city, where they receive their doom.