Ezekiel 39:18
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You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
This chapter continues and concludes the prophecy against Gog and Magog, in whose destruction God crowns his favour to his people Israel, which shines very brightly after the scattering of that black cloud in the close of this chapter. Here is, I. An express prediction of the utter destruction of Gog and Magog, agreeing with what we had before (Eze 39:1-7). II. An illustration of the vastness of that destruction, in three consequences of it: the burning of their weapons (Eze 39:8-10), the burning of their slain (Eze 39:11-16), and the feasting of the fowls with the dead bodies of those that were unburied (Eze 39:17-22). III. A declaration of God's gracious purposes concerning his people Israel, in this and his other providences concerning them, and a promise of further mercy that he had yet in store for them (Eze 39:23-29).
Open source ↗39:18-20 In most sacrificial feasts, humans dined on slaughtered animals. This feast would allow animals to dine on slaughtered humans as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls. This reversal of the great messianic banquet (Isa 25:6) features the enemies of God as the menu rather than as the invited guests.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.
I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and will not be taken away or gathered for burial. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air.
Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come— the time of their punishment.
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.”
‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead,
with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.
Rebuke the beast in the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations, until it submits, bringing bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war.
And the rest were killed with the sword that proceeded from the mouth of the One seated on the horse. And all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
This is what the Lord GOD says to you, My flock: ‘I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the goats.