Ezekiel Chapter 38 verse 4 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - I will turn thee back. שׁובַבְתִּיך (pilel of שׁוּב, and signifying "to cause to return") has by Hitzig, Havernick, Ewald, and Keil, been interpreted in the sense of "enticing," "misleading," decoying to a dangerous enterprise, as in Isaiah 47:10; but the ordinary meaning seems sufficient, that Jehovah would turn him back from his own self-devised career, or turn him about like a wild beast, putting hooks into his jaws (comp. Ezekiel 29:4; 2 Kings 19:28; Isaiah 37:29), and so compelling him to follow the lead of a power superior to himself. It is as evident that a turning back from the Holy Land cannot be intended, as it is that a turning back to the Holy Land is unsuitable, unless, with Hengstenberg and Ewald, one regards Gog as the Chaldeans, or, with Hitzig, and Schroder, as the Scythiaus, though these latter never were in Palestine, having left it unvisited in their campaign in B.C. 626, and had not as yet formed the design of invading Israel. Smend is not wide of the mark in suggesting that the thought expressed in the verb is simply that of the superior might of Jehovah. I will bring thee forth. That the power which stirs up Gog is here represented as that of Jehovah, while in Revelation 20:8 it is affirmed to be that of Satan, need occasion no more difficulty than the similar statements, in 1 Samuel 24:1, about God and in 1 Chronicles 21:1 about Satan, stirring up David to number Israel. The enumeration of horses and horsemen in Gog's army points to the Scythians, who, according to Herodotus (4:46, 136), were mostly equestrian tribes, although the Scythian remains discovered at Kerteh do not give an example of a Scythian horse-archer (see Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' vol. 3. p. 34, note 6). All of them clothed with all sorts of armor, better, clothed with perfection, i.e. splendidly attired, all of them. A characteristic of the Assyrian army (comp. Ezekiel 23:12; Nahum 2:3). The arms of the warlike host - a great company, as in Ezekiel 17:17 (comp. Revelation 20:8, "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea") - are described as consisting of bucklers, or shields large enough to cover the whole of the soldier, and not so suitable for cavalry as for infantry (comp. Ezekiel 23:24); shields, i.e. bucklers of smaller size than the proceeding, such as Assyrian warriors were accustomed to carry (Sayce, 'Assyria, its Princes, Priests, and People,' p. 126); and swords, or weapons for laying waste. The Assyrian soldiery employed "the short dagger, or dirk, and the sword, which was of two kinds. The ordinary kind was long and straight, the less usual kind being curved, like a scimitar" ('Assyria, its Princes,' etc.). In connection with the allied nations in ver. 5, only the small "shield" and "helmet" are mentioned.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) I will turn thee back.--This is the more common meaning of the word; but if this meaning be retained here, it is not to be taken in the sense of turning back from the holy land, but rather, in connection with the figure of the next clause, of turning away the wild beast from his natural inclination to the fulfilment of God's purpose. It is better, however, to take it in the sense in which it is used in Isaiah 47:10 (perverted) and Jeremiah 8:5 (slidden back; comp. Ezekiel 1:6), "I will lead thee astray." In Revelation 20:8, this leading astray of the nations is ascribed to Satan, just as in 2Samuel 24:1, God, and in 1Chronicles 21:1, Satan, are said to move David to number the people; in either case God is said to do that which He allows to be done by Satan. For the same Divine gathering of the nations against God's people see Joel 3:2; Zechariah 14:2-3. . . .