CHAPTER 29
1. In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the Word of YHWH came to me to say:
2. “Son of Adam, set your face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all of Egypt.
3. “Speak and say, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Indeed I am against you, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt—the great crocodile who stretches out in the midst of his rivers, who has said, ‘My Nile is my own, and I have made it for myself.’
Crocodile: tannim, the counterfeit of what Moshe’s rod became (Ex. 7:9, this being an alternate spelling of the same word, tannin). This arrogant one thinks that he created rivers just because he can divert them. The pope boasted that he had “changed” the Sabbath to Sunday just to prove he had the authority to do so! (Dr. Samuele Bacchiochi)
4. “‘“But I have put a hook in your jaws, and have caused all the fish of your rivers to cling to your scales, and I will bring you up from amidst your rivers, and all the fish of your rivers will stick to your scales,
Put a hook in your jaws: capture him by a means he cannot resist—in this case, possibly wealth, power, leverage, or worldly influence. Fish: long a self-imposed symbol for Christians. Cling to your scales: as even Protestants do without recognizing it, when the evidence is becoming stronger of their true identity as children of Israel. Those who keep following its calendar and its doctrines, though they recognize that they have no basis in Torah, will be removed with the “Pharaoh” when YHWH decides to clean up His “river”.
5. “‘“and I will leave you alone in the wilderness—you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall on the surface of the land; you will not be removed or gathered up. I have given you to the living things of the earth and the birds of the skies for food.
Surface of the land: an environment where the crocodile, and especially the fish, cannot survive. Only Israel survives in the wilderness because of the presence of YHWH dwelling with and forming a covering over us—not because we are somehow immune to the elements. It appears that this scenario has a latter-day application. (20:35; Hoshea 2:14) Compare the “Feast of Leviathan” (Rev. 19:17-18), the “king of the proud” (Iyov/Job 41:34).
6. “‘“And all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am YHWH, for you have been a support [made] of cane to the House of Israel.
7. “‘“When they took hold of you by your joint, you split and tore all the way through their shoulder, and when they leaned on you [for support], you shattered and caused all their hips to be paralyzed!”
Cane is strong only when not subjected to particular conditions, and is very sharp when it breaks. Hips…paralyzed: This “crodocile” removed Israel’s ability to “walk” (Ex. 18:20) by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the Torah (shades of Gen. 3:1 where we see another creeping thing doing the same). This also applies to modern political alliances on which Israel relies when they oppose something YHWH has stipulated.
8. “‘Therefore, this is what the Master YHWH says: “Watch as I bring a sword upon you and cut off from you human being and beast.
Beast: an idiom for the counterfeit Messiah and his regime. (Rev. 13) Removing this will leave sheep without a shepherd—but this is the condition in which Y’shua steps in with compassion for any who will listen to his teaching. (Mark 6:34)
9. “‘“And the land of Egypt will turn into a desolation and a ruin. Then they will know that I am YHWH, because he has said, ‘My Nile is my own, and I have made it.’
In saying this, he issued a challenge against YHWH which He will answer in an unmistakable way.
10. “‘“Therefore, here I come toward you and toward your rivers, and I will appoint the land of Egypt to be a ruin and an utter wasteland from the tower of Sweneh as far as the border of Kush.
Tower: Hebrew, migdol, identified with Magdalu in the 14th-century BCE Amarna Letters commissioned by Shuta—nearly contemporary with Moshe. Sweneh: later known as Elephantine, where Jewish immigrants built a replica of the Temple of Yerushalayim. Kush: in this case, Ethiopia. The area described here is what is known as Upper Egypt—the southern part, which is very sparsely populated compared to the delta area--little more than the home of Bedouin tribes. A ruin: compared to its former glory, all of Egypt is nothing today.
11. “‘“A human foot will not pass through it, nor will a beast’s foot pass through it, and none will inhabit [it for] forty years,
12. “‘“and for forty years I will make the land of Egypt a wasteland among lands that are made desolate, and her cities will become deserted among cities that are laid waste, and I will scatter [the] Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the lands.
This part of the prophecy does not yet appear to have been fulfilled, unless in conjunction with the events of verse 19. Will there be nuclear fallout or some natural disaster that renders that land uninhabitable, possibly as punishment for Egypt breaking its agreements with Israel?
13. “‘“Because this is what the Master YHWH says: ‘From [the time] the forty years end, I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were dispersed,
14. “‘“‘and I will bring back the Egyptians [who were] taken captive, and will cause them to return to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they will be a humble kingdom.
Pathros: “Pata resii”, the “south land”, and Egyptian name for Upper Egypt, along the Nile from today’s Zawty to Abydos. Pathros will be vacated by any Israelites living there the second time YHWH gathers us. (Yeshayahu 11:11) Return to the land of their origin: This is not just the case for Israel; it seems to be part of a pattern that YHWH intends for the whole world in the latter days. Compare Z’kharyah 5:8-11, in which wickedness is sent back to its proper base in Shinar, where the Tower of Bavel was built. During the “time of the restoration of all things” as foreshadowed by the yovel year (Lev. 25), the seventy nations of Genesis 10 will undoubtedly be restored to their original spheres of influence rather than the places they later took, unless their expansionism was granted by YHWH. Humble: removing the temptation for Israel to turn to her for aid:
15. “‘“‘It will be the humblest of kingdoms, nor will it [ever] again lift itself above the nations, and I will reduce them to keep them from dominating the nations.
16. “‘“‘And it will no longer serve as a refuge for the House of Israel, to bring their guilt [back] to memory when they turn [their faces] after them, and they will know that I am the Master YHWH.’”’”
Israel was never to return to Egypt (Deut. 17:16). Having to do so at times in both the Levites’ and Efrayim’s history has been a punishment. (Hoshea 8:13; 9:3) A sword will follow those who turn back to it for security. (Yirm. 42:13-18) Yet it is still given a place in the Age to Come because, unlike Edom (Num. 20:14), Moav, and Ammon (Deut. 23:3), which were relatives of Israel yet treated us badly (see chapter 25 above), it did on several occasions (Gen. 12:10; 46:6, et al) show hospitality to Israel and its patriarchs. Egypt and Assyria will be given a place in the Kingdom and be allied with Israel (Yeshayahu/Isa. 19:17)—apparently depending on it for strength, in a poetic-justice reversal of roles.
17. Then it came about in the twenty-seventh year on the first [day] of the first month that the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
18. “Son of Adam, Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, compelled his army to serve a massive task against Tzur. Every head was made bald and every shoulder-blade was rubbed bare. Yet there was no reward for him or his army from Tzur on account of the labor which he had compelled against it.
Serve: like slaves. Bald…rubbed bare: This may mean the besiegers were on the job so long (13 years) that their body armor chafed at them so much that they went bald! (Arthur Custance) They found little when they finally broke through, for during the siege the inhabitants had stealthily moved their wealth over to the island that sat off its shore! He did not besiege it as well, possibly because it was too well-fortified, though the on-shore part of the city fell into ruin.
19. “Therefore, this is what the Master YHWH says: ‘I will give the land of Egypt to Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, and he will carry off her population, and he will plunder her booty and seize her spoils, and this will serve as wages for his army.
20. “‘I have given it the land of Egypt for its hard labor that it had served against it, which it did for Me,’ declares the Master YHWH.
Because Nevukhadnetzar did not plunder Tzur (according to its own historian Menander), and therefore received no payment for his service to YHWH in humbling its arrogance, he was given Egypt as compensation.
21. “‘On that Day I will cause a horn to spring up for the House of Israel, and I will grant them the opening of the mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am YHWH.’”
A horn: symbol of strength; alt., a ray of light, which may better fit the context. Opening of the mouth: In 21:22 this is an idiom for a battle-cry and/or opening the city’s gates with a battering-ram—and horns are what a ram uses to accomplish its victories. In their midst: that is, Egypt’s. Though Y’hezq’el was silenced for a while (24:17-27), through the pattern of the Temple that he revealed in 43:10, Y’hezq’el’s mouth is again showing the house of Israel the way home. The gate is thus again open for the slaves to escape what first showed them hospitality but then held them in bondage, and return to their true inheritance. The next three chapters show just how strong a hold haSatan has on the religious system, as much as in the world economic system. But YHWH makes war on everything that holds us captive. All He wants is to set us at rest in His presence, but we cling to other “securities”, so He may have to destroy them in order to get us back.
CHAPTER 30
1. Then the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
2. “Son of Adam, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Howl, [all of] you! Alas for the day!
3. “‘“A day is near; indeed a day is approaching for YHWH—a cloudy day, a time of the Gentiles it will be.
Cloudy day: One would see “clouds” as an army approached, kicking up lots of dust. Thus they are a sign of coming destruction. This phrase, literally “day of clouds”, appears in Yoel 2:2 and Tz’fanyah 1:15 in reference to YHWH’s wrath upon Israel. But in Egypt’s memory, clouds would specifically evoke the pillar of cloud that protected Israel and spelled doom for Pharaoh in the Reed Sea. Time of Gentiles: alluded to by Y’shua in Luke 21:24, in the context of Yerushalayim being trodden underfoot by the Gentiles. When the last of such times is over, Yerushalayim will be restored to what she was meant to be.
4. “‘“When the sword comes into Egypt, there will be [anguished] writhing in Ethiopia; when the mortally wounded fall in Egypt and they have taken away her abundant wealth, her foundations will be overthrown.
Ethiopia: probably the case here, but the actual Hebrew term is Kush--the ancestor of both the Ethiopians and Nimrod the hunter of Bavel, so in the broader sense this may apply to Bavel as well--the greater Kush that would bring trouble upon the other part of Kush that was allied with Egypt. But on the metaphorical level, the collapse of the Church, which must come after YHWH removes all those who have provided its covering, will strike terror in the hearts of the commercial system that has formed such intricate ties with it. Abundant wealth: or, tumultuous multitude.
5. “‘“Ethiopia, Put, and Lud and the whole motley group, and Khub and the sons of the land of the covenant will fall by the sword with them.”
Khub: thought to be Libya. Sons of the land of the covenant: in this case, probably not Israel but those allied with Egypt.
6. “‘This is what YHWH says: “Those who lean on Egypt [for support], and the pride of her power will come down. From Migdol to Sweneh they will fall by the sword with her,” declares the Master YHWH.
Migdol: means “a tower”, and the text could as well read “[the] tower of Sweneh”.
7. “‘“And they will be appalled in the midst of the lands that are made desolate, and her cities will be among the cities that are laid waste.
8. “‘“Then they will know that I am YHWH when I appoint a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers will be shattered.
9. “‘“On that day, messengers will go out from My presence in naval vessels to terrify the confident Ethiopia, and [anguished] writhing will come upon them, as in Egypt’s day, because indeed, it is coming.”’”
10. This is what the Master YHWH says: “I have put a stop to the noisy confusion of Egypt by the hand of Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel.
11. “He and his people with him, who strike the nations with terror, will be brought to ruin the land, and they will draw their swords over Egypt and fill the land [with the] mortally wounded.
12. “And I will dry up the rivers and sell the land into the hand of malicious [ones], and I will ravage the land and what fills it through the hand of strangers. I, YHWH, have spoken.”
Sell the land: as in Yosef’s day, but into the opposite hands. Strangers: literally, those who have become estranged or alienated—i.e., those who were once part of it, but have parted ways from it and not amicably. Remember that Egypt is a picture of the Church, whose main focus is on preparing for life after death. These strangers could also be those who sneak into its ranks with their own private agendas and pretend to be benefactors. With its “Come one, come all”, over-friendly stance, the Church is not on the alert for the wolves in sheep’s clothing who come in to devour the flock, and this could be its downfall; at best, its energies are co-opted and diverted from their intended course.
13. This is what the Master YHWH says: “I will also bring judgment on their rolling idols, and remove their worthless [images] from Nof, and there will no longer be a ruler in the land of Egypt, and I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
Rolling idols: possibly the Egyptian amulets shaped like a scarab beetle, which rolls a ball of dung to serve as the feeding place for its larvae. Worthless: empty or vain, things that do not really exist. Nof: also known as Memphis.
14. “I will also leave Pathros deserted, and appoint a fire in Tzoan, and carry out judgments in No.
No: also known as Thebes.
15. “Then I will pour out My rage on Sin, Egypt’s stronghold, and I will cut off No’s noisy confusion.
16. “And I will set a fire in Egypt; Sin will writhe in anguish, and No will be split open, and Nof will be in tight spots daily.
17. “The prime young men of Aven and Pi-Beseth will fall by the sword, and their [women] will go into captivity.
18. “At T’khapenkhes, the day will grow dark when I break the yokes of Egypt there, and the pride of her strength will come to an end in her. [As for] herself, a cloud will conceal her, and her daughters will go into captivity.
19. “Thus I will carry out judgments on Egypt, and they will know that I am YHWH.”
This is ultimately a positive outcome, because He promises to preserve Egypt (29:14) and even give them a place as possibly the “least in the Kingdom”. She will have no authority but some restoration. This is because there is a remnant of His people there (Yeshayahu/Isa. 19:25), and because it deserves some honor for the initial hospitality it offered to Yaaqov’s family because of Yosef’s being set in place ahead of time. (Gen. 47:5-6)
20. Now it came about in the eleventh year, on the seventh of the first month, that the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
21. “Son of Adam, I have broken the arm of the king of Egypt, and it has not been bound up to provide healings—to put a bandage to bind it up to strengthen it to wield a sword skillfully.
The leader of mystical “Egypt” is the pope, and his power was broken by the Protestant Reformation.
22. “Therefore, this is what the Master YHWH says: ‘Watch Me [come] toward Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and I will shatter his arms—the strong one as well as the broken one--and I will make the sword fall out of his hand!
The pope has been seeking the restoration of both aspects of his power—the physical (temporal, political) as well as the spiritual. But YHWH is saying that not only will the one that was lost not be restored; in the end he will lose the other as well.
23. “‘Then I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations, and sow them throughout the lands,
The Catholic system sent armies to conquer, but the Protestants sent missionaries to capture the hearts of the nations and the governments they were allied with did not have to fight to gain influence there for the sake of commerce. Yet still it spread the “mother church’s” teaching, while appearing to be separate from it. It was a house divided against itself. Israel has been a sojourner among both, but it is now obvious that she never fit in either.
24. and I will strengthen the arms of the king of Bavel, and put My sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan with the groanings of the mortally-wounded before him.
On the physical level, most of this has taken place millennia ago, but YHWH left tiny bits unfulfilled to remind us that “what has been is what will be” (Eccles. 1:9)—that there is another level still to be fulfilled. Bavel (the system of commerce) had already brought the system of Tzur (wealth) under his control, so YHWH gives Egypt (the religious system) over to him as well, so that He can destroy both of them at once, for they were all trying to rebuild the original Bavel. The crown passed from one conqueror to another, and now the United States, which has been the leader of the commercial world since World War II, has militarily taken over the literal Babylon, so now the heirs to both aspects of Babylon are unified again for the first time. This will undoubtedly cause eventual friction with the Israelites living under that crown. Oddly enough, the unification of all mankind that Bavel has always sought is also one of the Christian doctrines, though it is not in agreement with the Torah, which specifies that Israel is to be set apart from all other nations. Only thus can it bring about the true unification, which haSatan can only counterfeit. HaSatan can only act when YHWH “writes the check”. YHWH never promises that weapons will not form against Israel, only that they will not prosper. YHWH allows other systems to come into being, and uses them for His purposes. In the process they may benefit Israel, but they she is never to trust in them or promise her heart to them. When He is done with them, they will be set in the order He chooses for them—whether exalted or humbled. Though they have our respect insofar as they inhibit other evils, their authority over us ends once they cross YHWH’s will. Y’shua declared Israel a nation again, though its war of independence as a nation under Torah again has still not been fought. He said that if we merely got one thing right, we would have our inheritance back. So HaSatan has put up deceitful signposts directing our conquest toward the wrong goals, saying that if we capture this or that, we will have succeeded in be a nation again. Y’shua said it is to be brought about by loving one another and keeping YHWH’s commandments—things we have set as lower priorities than more measurable results such as numbers of poor (outside Israel) being fed or numbers of souls claiming to want to go to heaven. Only as we refocus where He told us to focus will these other things be able to be resolved in the proper way as well.
25. “‘And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Bavel, but the arms of Pharaoh will fail. Then they will know that I am YHWH, when I put My sword into the hand of the king of Bavel and he stretches it out toward the land of Egypt.
We hardly see Egypt fighting back, for the Church has little by little surrendered to Babylon because is global connections have appealed to the Church as a way to gain a broader ministry base. But anytime something is brought in from another nation, the spiritual forces that drive it gain a foothold as well. Bavel was the most benevolent of masters, giving a broad range of freedom and even honor to those worthy of it among those that surrendered to it—which is why so few Jews returned from there when they could after the 70-year captivity. The Church, too, has found the system of commerce so comfortable that she does not wish to leave it behind when YHWH has said He wants those within her who are truly His to be known as Israel again instead, and to make all the lifestyle changes that entails. But when He says, “Come out of her My people”, it is so they will not partake of the plagues that must come upon her. (Rev. 17-18)
26. “Then I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations, and sow them throughout the lands. Then they will know that I am YHWH.”
By the repetition here of elements of vv. 19 and 23, we can see an example of the common practice of prophets singing out their prophecies.
CHAPTER 31
1. Then in the eleventh year on the first of the third month, the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
2. “Son of Adam, say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his crowd, ‘To whom do you compare in your greatness?
3. “‘Indeed, Ashur [was like] a cedar in Levanon, beautiful [in] branch, peaceful from shade, and lofty in height, and his top was among the interwoven foliage.
Though Ashur (Assyria) and Egypt were two different nations, here they both represent the same thing, because Ashur means “advanced” or “making progress”. The Pope claimed the power to change the Torah by making Sunday the “new Sabbath”. In the mind of many Christians, the “New Testament” is more advanced than the “Old”, rendering the latter antiquated and inferior, when in fact it was intended to renew our connection to the former. This abuse or counterfeit of the Kingdom renders “Pharaoh” another of many scepters of the adversary (Heb., Satan).
4. “‘The waters made him great; the churning deep raised him up with her rivers running all around her plantation, and sent out her ascending-channels to all the trees of the field.
5. “‘For this reason his height was raised above all the [other] trees of the field, his boughs grew large and his branches long due to the abundance of waters while he was shooting [them] forth.
6. “‘All the birds of the heaven made nests in his boughs and all the wild animals gave birth under his branches, and in his shadow lived all [the] great nations.
Y’shua alluded to this passage when making a comparison about the Kingdom of Heaven. (Mat. 13:32) It is in context of the parable of the wheat and tares, showing that there are two aspects to those that appear to be in the Kingdom. This mustard seed parable, like the one that follows about the leaven hidden in three measures of flour, shows that the Kingdom should indeed multiply itself like the stone that becomes a mountain in Nevukhadretzar’s own dream (Daniel 2:35), but there is a contrast. The Holy of Holies is a small place that remains hidden like the leaven until all is ready; a mustard plant is not supposed to grow big enough to be considered a tree. The Kingdom is not meant to be so all-encompassing and ostentatious while still being built that its enemies are able to use it as their covering, for the fowls of the air that nest in it are often idiomatic of demons in Scripture. The Church—the outward appearance of the beginning of the Kingdom—allowed just that, and became a haven for the Beast’s system, and thus must be cut down like the tares before the true Kingdom can function properly.
7. “‘In his magnificence and the length of his branches, he was fine-looking, because his roots came to many waters.
8. “‘Cedars in a garden of Elohim could not eclipse him, and the fir-trees could not compare with his boughs, nor were the oriental maples like his shoots. No tree in a garden of Elohim could compare with his beauty.
This strongly suggests an allusion to the forbidden tree in Eden (see v. 9), whereby the one who aspired to the highest position (v. 5) tempted Adam and Chavvah to have the same ambition.
9. “‘I have made him beautiful through the abundance of his branches, so all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of Elohim envied him.
10. “‘Therefore, this is what the Master YHWH says: “On account of [the fact] that you were exalted in stature and he has positioned his highest branch among the interwoven foliage, and his heart is magnified in his haughtiness,
11. “‘I have also handed him over to the hero of the nations, and he will certainly deal with him. I have expelled him in his wickedness!
Hero: in this case, Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel.
12. “‘And strangers—the ones [among] the Gentiles who strike terror—have cut him down and abandoned him. His branches have fallen on the mountains and in the valleys, and his boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the land have come down from his shade and forsaken him.
13. “‘All the birds of the heavens will sit on his fallen remains, and all the wild beasts will come onto his branches,
14. “‘in order that none of the trees of the waters might be lofty in stature, nor position their highest branches among the interwoven foliage, nor their mighty trees remain standing in their haughtiness—any that drink water, because all of them are appointed for death to the lowest land, among the sons of Adam—to those descending [into] a pit.’
That drink water: an idiom for studying YHWH’s Word, but just as goats are clean animals but are separated from the sheep by their behavior, looking to the wrong leader for protection will get them destroyed along with him. They are meant to look on his downfall and learn this before they “go down with him”.
15. “This is what the Master YHWH says: ‘On the day he went down to the underworld, I brought about a mourning. I spread the churning deep over him and restrained her streams, and great waters were withheld. Then I made Levanon dark on his account, and all the trees of the field withered away on his account.
Withered away: or, were encrusted, enwrapped, disguised, overlapped.
16. “‘From the sound of his downfall, I made the nations tremble—when I brought him down to the underworld with those who descend [into] a pit. Then all the trees of Eden—the choicest and best of Levanon, all that drink water on the lowest land—will be consoled.
Consoled: because Adam had to stop tending them when he was ousted from the Garden.
17. “‘They, too--those among the nations who sat in his shade--went down along with him into the underworld (to those slain by the sword and his arm).
18. “‘Who can be compared to you in weightiness and size among the trees of Eden? Yet you have been brought down to the lowest land with the trees of Eden. You will lie with those pierced by the sword among the uncircumcised—that is, Pharaoh and the whole motley crowd,’ declares the Master YHWH.”
Compare the similar description of haSatan in the context of Bavel in Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 14:12-22.
CHAPTER 32
1. Now what took place in the twelfth year, on the first of the twelfth month, was that the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
2. “Son of Adam, take up a lament over Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and tell him, ‘You were comparable to a young lion of the nations, but now [you are] becoming like a crocodile in the sea, and you burst forth into your streams and stirred up the waters with your feet and fouled their streams [by trudging through them].
Recall that Pharaoh is a type of the pope and his Catholic system, which includes the Protestants which are still in their orbit. The young lion is symbolic of Yehudah, which the “church” was comparable to when it began, but it came to look more like the beast, for it troubled the waters of Torah by its feet (another name for holy festival days in Ex. 23:14, where “three times a year” literally reads “three feet each year” in Hebrew). The Church’s festivals confused truth with pagan error and clouded every definition of holiness for those truly righteous who were caught within its realm of influence for lack of being taught YHWH’s true appointments. (Compare 34:19.)
3. “‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “So I will spread my net over you by a company of great peoples, and they will bring you up in my caging.
4. “‘“Then I will let you loose on the land, and hurl you down on the surface of the field, and cause all the birds of the heavens to sit on you, and from you I will make the living creatures of the whole earth full to satisfaction.
This is the background for the feast of Leviathan as described in Rev. 19:17-21.
5. “‘“And I will set out your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys [up to] your level.
I.e., you will no longer stand out in prominence.
6. “‘“I will also make the land drink your blood which overspreads it [up] to the mountains, and the ravines will be filled up with you.
7. “‘“And when I extinguish you I will conceal the heavens and make their stars grow dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.
According to Yoel 2:10; 3:15; Yeshayahu/Isa. 13:10; 24:23; Mat. 24:29, and Rev. 8:12, the time frame for this scenario is the “latter days” after the time of “Great Tribulation”.
8. “‘“I will darken all the luminaries of light in the skies over you and appoint darkness over you land,” declares the Master YHWH.
9. “‘“And I will provoke the hearts of many peoples to anger when I bring your shattering among the nations, over the lands that you have not known.
You: Egypt, and by metaphor, the Church. So these lands must be those that have not accepted the authority of the pope or, possibly, simply the “Gospel” in the Christian sense.
10. “‘“Indeed, I will cause great peoples to be stunned in regard to you, and their kings will bristle with horror about you when I brandish My sword over their faces, and they will tremble for moments, [each] man for his own life, on the day of your downfall,”
I.e., “If this is what befalls those who are supposed to be most righteous of all, what on earth will become of us?”
11. “‘because this is what the Master YHWH says: “The sword of the king of Bavel will enter you.
The commerce with which she allied herself will turn on her.
12. “‘“By the swords of the valiant I will cause your confused crowd to fall—all of whom terrify the nations—and they will devastate the pride of Egypt, and its whole motley crowd will be exterminated.
13. “‘“I will also make all her beasts disappear from over the great waters, and the foot of a human being will not trouble them any longer, nor will the hoofs of beasts stir them up.
Beasts: evil usurpers of Y’shua’s position. The foot of a human being: see note on v. 2.
14. “‘“Then I will make their waters subside and cause their rivers to run like oil,” declares the Master YHWH.
Run like oil: slowly. But in Scripture, the imagery of water represents the Torah—or in this case, the Church’s substitute for Torah, which must stop flowing for the anointing oil to begin flowing instead. One can study all one’s life but unless he lives it out, there is nothing for the Spirit to work with, and so there is no anointing.
15. “‘“When I make the land of Egypt a wasteland, then the land will be stripped of what filled it; when I cause all those who inhabit it to be struck down, then they will know that I am YHWH!
16. “‘“This is a dirge, and they will chant it [to lament] her; daughters of Gentiles will wail [for] her. On account of all of Egypt and all her confused crowd they will lament [over] her,” declares the Master YHWH.
17. Now what took place in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, [was that] the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
Assumedly this is the fifteenth of the twelfth month (based on v. 1).
18. “Son of Adam, wail for the confused crowd of Egypt, and bring it down—her and the daughters of majestic nations—to the lowest parts of the earth, along with those who are going down to a pit.
19. “‘Who are you more pleasant than? Go down and be laid out with the uncircumcised!’
How is the Church any different from others in the world? There are now acting just like others who also live for self. There is nothing set-apart about that! Uncircumcised: a few literally circumcised Egyptians have been found by archaeologists, but very few. But in the metaphorical sense, most Christian nations now consider circumcision normal, though it is rarely done on the eighth day as YHWH commanded. Christians do not consider themselves uncircumcised, though they think physical circumcision profits nothing. If the heart is not circumcised and the selfishness removed, they are right. But YHWH wants His people to be circumcised in both ways, and those who do not obey His Torah will indeed be surprised to find themselves cast out with the evildoers with whom they think they have nothing in common.
20. “Amid those mortally wounded by the sword they will fall; she is appointed [for the] sword. Drag her and all her confused crowds away!
21. “The strongest among the valiant will speak to him from within the underworld. They have sunk down with those who help him. They have lain down [as] uncircumcised, mortally wounded by a sword.
22. “Ashur and all its congregation are there, surrounded by her graves; all of them are mortally wounded—those felled by the sword--
23. “whose graves are set in the recesses of a pit, and her congregation has surrounded her grave, all of them mortally wounded, felled by the sword by which they perpetrated terror in the land of the living.
24. “Eylam is there, and her whole confused crowd surrounds her grave, all of them mortally wounded, felled by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the land of the lowest [things], who perpetrated their terror in the land of the living, yet carried their disgrace along with those going down into a pit.
25. “In the midst of the slain they have placed a bed for her among all of her confused crowd. Her graves are all around him, all of them uncircumcised, mortally wounded by a sword; though their terror was perpetrated in the land of the living, they also carried their disgrace along with those going down into a pit. He is appointed [to be] among the slain.
A pit: not merely the grave, for they have caused Israel trouble, and they are being stored up for a resurrection to judgment. (Rev. 20:5-6)
26. “Meshekh is there, surrounded by Tuval and her whole confused crowd. Her graves are all around him, all of them uncircumcised, mortally wounded by a sword because they perpetrated their terror in the land of the living.
27. “Nor will they lie down with fallen heroes from among the uncircumcised who have gone down to the underworld with their weapons of war. They have even put their swords under their heads, but their perversions will be over their bones, because they [were] the terror of the mighty ones in the land of the living.
28. “And you yourself will be shattered in the midst of the uncircumcised, and will lie with those mortally wounded by a sword.
29. “Edom is there—her kings and all her rulers, who despite their bravery are appointed with those mortally wounded by a sword. They themselves will lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who are going down into a pit.
If Egypt and Edom both picture the church, why are they listed separately in the same chapter? Because Pharaoh is more symbolic of the head of the Church (the pope)—the aristocracy and the religious system--and Edom symbolizes the masses who are led around and enslaved by the Church but are actually kindred with Israel, for Israel will one day take possession of a remnant of them (Amos 9).
30. “The anointed ones from the north are there—all of them—and all Tzidonians who have gone down with the mortally wounded in their terror. They are ashamed of their bravery, and they will lie uncircumcised with those slain by a sword and carry their disgrace along with those who are going down to a pit.
31. “Pharaoh will see them and be consoled on account of his whole confused crowd [who are] mortally wounded [by] a sword—Pharaoh and all his army,” declares the Master YHWH,
32. “because I had permitted his terror in the land of the living, but he will be lain out among the uncircumcised, with those slain by a sword—Pharaoh and his whole confused crowd,” declares the Master YHWH.
None of these nations have given YHWH credit when He used them to chastise Israel at one time or another; they took the credit for themselves. Egypt also defeated these peoples, yet now she comes to the same end as they, so where is her advantage? She surrounds herself with graves as well; the centerpiece of her culture is preparation for the afterlife (much as it is in the Church). They took pride in their crypts, but their actual experience after death will involve no such glory. Instead, they are placed in a hole in the ground! What they have stored up for was not the kingdom, so moth and rust will devour it before they can receive any dividends from it. But those who walk out Torah with confidence in YHWH, and give Him the credit for their successes, will be resurrected to a reward.
CHAPTER 33
1. Then the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
2. “Son of Adam, speak to the sons of your people and tell them, ‘When I bring a sword over a land and the people of the land take one man from [within] their borders and employ him as their watchman,
Borders: literally, extremities. Those whom others consider extreme are often the ones who are best at guarding the territory, and this is done best on its edges. They are usually not those known as leaders and rarely popular, but like half the tribe of Menashe who were better at overseeing the tribes who wanted to live east of the Yarden, YHWH positions those who are best at the task where they will be most useful.
3. “‘and he has seen the sword coming upon the land and he blows the shofar and sends out a warning [to] the people,
4. “‘then whoever has heard the sound of the shofar but does not take warning, then a sword comes and captures him, his blood will be upon his own head.
Take warning: or, receive teaching, accept the light shone upon him, be admonished.
5. “‘He has heard the sound of the shofar but did not take heed; his blood will be on himself, while the one who took heed will preserve his life.
Preserve his life: literally, let his soul escape.
6. “‘But if the watchman should see the sword coming and not blow the shofar so the people are not enlightened and the sword comes and takes a life from them, he is taken away [as a consequence of] his guilt, but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’
His guilt: It seems that ideally, in Israel, only those who are being punished will be killed in war or siege.
7. “Now you, son of Adam, I have appointed as a watchman for the House of Israel; when you hear a word from My mouth, then you must warn them from Me.
Compare 3:17ff. He is given the task of warning people who have long been exiled from the Land. How could he communicate with them when he himself was a captive in Bavel? This dilemma points to the main thrust of this message being for those of the “lost sheep of the House of Israel” (the Northern Kingdom) who would later read his writings, brought to them by Y’shua’s disciples hundreds of years later. As with Yirmeyahu, Y’hezq’el is a prophet to the nations, though he did not go out to the nations in his lifetime. Both of their prophecies are very much focused on the regathering of the House of Israel that is taking place right now.
8. “When I tell the wicked one, ‘O wicked one, you will die the death!’, but you do not speak to warn the wicked one from his path, he, the wicked one, will die in his guilt, but his blood I will require from your hand.
Compare Lev. 19:16-17. Warn…from his path: literally, shine a light to guide; i.e., to make him realize that the path he is on is the wrong one. This should be all that it takes, as the adage says, “A word to the wise is sufficient.”
9. “But if you do shine the light on a wicked person’s path to turn him back from it, but he does not turn back from his path, he will die in his guilt, but you will have rescued your soul.
10. “So you, son of Adam, say to the House of Israel: ‘This is what you have said: “Since our [deliberate] crossings-of-a-line and missings-of-the-target are upon us and we are being consumed away by them, then how can we survive?”
11. “Tell them, ‘“[As] I live,” declares the Master YHWH, “if I would take pleasure in the death of the wicked…! Rather, that the wicked one [should] turn back from his path and survive! Turn back, turn back from your wicked ways—then why would you perish, O House of Israel?”’
If I would: an idiomatic way of swearing, “I will not!” in Hebrew.
12. “Now [as for] you, son of Adam, tell the sons of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous one cannot save him on the day he [deliberately] crosses a line, and the wicked will not be tripped up by his wickedness on the day he repents from his wickedness. But the righteous will not be able to live by it on the day he misses the target.’
13. “‘When I tell the righteous, “You will live for sure!”, and he is bold about his righteousness and commits [flagrant] injustice, none of his righteousness will be remembered, but for his injustice that he has committed—for it, he will die.
Bold: feeling secure that he has done enough that merely one wrongdoing will not outweigh all he has done in the past, even if it is a major sin. YHWH says in effect, “What I meant was, you will live if you keep going in the right direction! Christianity says that what we do is irrelevant, but YHWH will not accept excuses if the general trend and lifestyle are now wrong. “Don’t rest on your laurels” is essentially the idea here. If one brought last season’s firstfruits to the priest, but did not do so this year, he is considered guilty. It takes many times the equivalent amount of added white paint to cover up a single drop of black that one mixes into the original white.
14. “‘And though I tell the wicked, “You will die the death!”, then he turns back from his missing of the target and carries out a just ruling and righteousness--
15. “‘the wicked brings back what he had held as a pledge, brings compensation for what he had taken by force, he walks in the prescribed customs of life without committing injustice--then indeed he will live; he will not die.
YHWH places much more value on one’s current attitude than on the history of what he has practiced in the past. This gives the lie to the Christian idea that grace entered the picture after the “Old Testament”. Repentance is the pivot point that tips the scale But the first three phrases in this verse are the specifics of what is meant by “turns back” in verse 14. It is not enough to say, “I’m sorry” or even “Yes, I’m guilty.” Repentance entails doing something about it—repairing what we broke.
16. “‘None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered for him. He has carried out a just ruling and righteousness; he will live indeed.’
Compare Y’shua’s parable of the two sons. (Mat. 21:28ff) The one who did the right things was counted righteous, no matter what he had said he would do.
17. “Yet the sons of your people have said, ‘The Master’s way cannot be meted out fairly’, when theirs is the way that cannot be meted out fairly!
Meted out fairly: i.e., measured the same way to one as to another; balanced. Our way is to think a tiny bit of iniquity should be overshadowed by many better deeds. But the goal of one’s path is what is counted, not how far he has traveled down it. One may be doing exactly the same thing outwardly, but if it is being done for self, he is on the wrong path.
18. “When the righteous turns away from his righteousness and carries out injustice, by them he is put to death,
19. “while if the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, on account of them he will live--
20. “‘yet you say, “The Master’s way cannot be meted out fairly”?! I will judge each of you by his own ways, O House of Israel!’”
By his own ways: to prove His own way righteous, YHWH related to us as individuals in our exile. But now He wants to deal with us as a unit again (See v. 24.).
21. Now it came about that in the twelfth year, on the fifth of the tenth month of our exile, that a fugitive [who had escaped] from Yerushalayim came to me to say, “The city has been captured!”
22. Now YHWH’s hand had come to me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and opened my mouth by the time he arrived in the morning; when my mouth was opened, I was no longer bound by silence.
23. And the word of YHWH came to me to say,
24. “Son of Adam, those who inhabit the desolate places—the ones on the soil of Israel—are saying, ‘Avraham was [only] one, yet he was inheriting the land, but we are numerous, and the Land has been given to us as an inheritance!’
Desolate places: or, ruins. Numerous: as if they deserved more because of greater numbers. These people were living in the land of Israel, but wanted to inhabit the “real Land”, like Yehudah today, for though they are on the soil, it is not the inheritance of Avraham if they are not keeping the Torah. Like Avraham, we must again become as one man in order to truly inherit what he received. Otherwise, we are merely trespassers on His Land.
25. “So tell them, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “You eat [meat] with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your [rolling] idols, and shed blood—and you would take possession of the Land?
Eating meat with blood (even if clean types of meat) is considered worse by YHWH even than idolatry! The life (soul, self, or motivation) is in the blood. Meat with the blood still in it, in Hebraic metaphor, symbolizes a “Gospel with one’s own soul still in it”—i.e., with self at the center, emphasizing “personal salvation”. The main reason we cannot possess the Land is if we want it for our own purposes, not YHWH’s. Shed blood: the ultimate contrast with loving one’s neighbor as himself.
26. “‘“You have delayed over your sword, you produce a disgusting thing, and each one has defiled his fellow [man]’s wife—and you would take possession of the Land?”’
27. “Tell them this: ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “[As] I live, if those who inhabit the desolate places do not fall by the sword…! And whoever is in the field, I will give him to the animals to eat, and those in the strongholds and in the caves will die by the plague,
28. “‘“and I have made the Land a wasteland and a [horrifying] desolation, and the arrogance of her strength has been stopped, and the mountains of Israel are deserted since no one crosses over.
No one crosses over: “Crossing over” is the root meaning for “Hebrew”. If we are not acting as Hebrews, we cannot live in the Land of Israel.
29. “‘“Then they will know that I am YHWH, when I have made the Land deserted, a [horrifying] desolation on account of all their disgusting things that they have done.”’
This reality reached its peak in the mid-19th century when Mark Twain epitomized it with his comment that not even a chicken could scratch out a living in that desolate place.
30. “As for you, son of Adam, the sons of your people are talking about you among themselves beside the walls and in the entryways of the houses. And one speaks to [another], [each] man to his brothers, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word that comes forth from YHWH is!’
31. “And they come to you like the arrival of a nation [of kinsmen], and they sit in front of you as My people, and they listen to your words, but they do not carry them out, because they are acting affectionate with their mouth [while] their heart is going after profit acquired unjustly.
As if he were just one of many spectactular novelties, they say, “Hey, you’ve got to come hear this speaker!” But they leave out the crucial element of being “doers” of the word he brings. (Compare Yaaqov/James 1:22.) As My people: thus this warning applies to those who today know they are Israel, not just Christians.
32. “And look, you are to them like a love song—a beautiful voice, performed well [with] a stringed instrument; when they hear your words, none of them are carrying them out.
33. “So when it comes—indeed, it is coming—then they will know that a prophet has been among them!”
CHAPTER 34
1. Then the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
2. “Son of Adam, prophesy about the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them—to the shepherds, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Alas for the shepherds of Israel, who have been pasturing themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds pasture the flock?
3. “‘“You eat the choicest part and clothe [yourselves] with the wool! You slaughter the best-fed; you do not feed the flock.
Slaughter the best-fed: i.e., as their own food. Modern pastors (the Latin word for shepherds) often take advantage of the willingness of the best-taught to be the hardest workers. Slaughtering in a present-day context often involves discrediting those who might call their bluff. Remember that Y’shua said that if they persecuted Him, they certainly would do so to His followers.
4. “‘“You have not strengthened those that have become weakened, nor have you healed the sick [ewe]; you have not bandaged the crippled, restored the banished, or sought out the lost. Rather, with force and harshness you have dominated them.
Force and harshness: This is the prophet’s domain, but the pastor/shepherd is in the position of first gently loosening YHWH’s people from the stalk they grew on and acclimating them to new standards. (Eph. 4:11ff as correlated to the counting of the Omer) These lazy shepherds have not shaken the people loose or, like Moshe, brought them to the border of the Promised Land, but have kept them wherever they are comfortable. But sheep will use up the entire pasture if they do not keep moving on.
5. “‘“They are also being scattered due to lack of any shepherd, and as they have scattered they have come to serve as food for all the wild animals.
Though there are people in the position of shepherds, they are not truly shepherds, and the end result is the same. When Israel needed to be rescued from Egypt, YHWH made Moshe a shepherd first. When it was time for Israel to have a king, YHWH chose one who had been a shepherd, for he would know how to lead YHWH’s people in the proper way. 1 Kefa 5:1-3 and Hebrew 13:17 outline the characteristics YHWH wants in those who shepherd His flock. Wild animals: literally, animals of the field, which can mean a place with no boundaries. By not keeping the standards high and enforcing them, the sheep are prey to any religion, philosophy, or temptation.
6. “‘“My flock is wandering on all the mountains and atop every raised-up hill; over the face of the whole earth my flock has been scattered, with no one to search for them and no one to find them.”
Mountains…hill: places typically used for pagan worship.
7. “‘Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of YHWH:
8. “‘“[As] I live”, declares the Master YHWH, “If My flock has not become spoils and my sheep, food for any wild animal because of having no shepherd and [because] My shepherds did not search for My flock, but the shepherds pastured themselves and did not pasture My flock.”
At this time, only Yehudah had one foot on form footing to rescue the kinsmen who had lost their land, but they were failing to look for Efrayim because they had “become nothing but Gentiles” now.
9. “‘Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of YHWH!
10. “‘“This is what YHWH says: ‘Here I come toward the shepherds, and I will require My sheep from their hand, and make them stop pasturing a flock. Then the shepherds will no longer pasture themselves, and I will snatch My sheep from their mouths, and they will not be food for them [to devour].’
This snatching of His sheep from the jurisdiction of pastors is being done right now.
11. “‘“Because this is what YHWH says: ‘Look! I Myself will seek out My sheep and find them.
12. “‘“‘As a shepherd is concerned for his flock on the day he comes to be among the sheep clearly distinguished as his, so I will care for My sheep and will recover them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and heavy darkness.
Clouds and heavy darkness: the same phrase is used to describe Mt. Sinai. (Deut. 5:19)
13. “‘“And I will bring them out from the peoples and collect them from the lands and will bring them onto their soil and pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements of the Land.
Settlements: literally, sitting-places or places of assembly.
14. “‘“I will feed them in a pleasant pasture, and their home will be on the high mountains of Israel; there they will stretch themselves out in a pleasant meadow, and they will feed in a robust pasture toward the mountains of Israel.
Home: or, resting-place. The word for meadow here is the same in Hebrew. This term is also used of Yerushalayim, as the place where righteousness is at home. (Yirmeyahu 31:23)
15. “‘“I Myself will feed My flock and I Myself will let them stretch out,” declares the Master YHWH.
16. “‘“I will search out the lost and bring back those that were chased away. I will bandage the crippled and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the stubborn I will destroy; I will feed them with judgment!
17. “‘“And [as for] you, My flock, this is what the Master YHWH says: Here I come as judge between lamb and lamb, between rams and he-goats.
Between lamb and lamb: not only the shepherds are to blame for His flock’s condition. Y’shua came to make His sheep responsible for the other sheep that were not of the same fold. (Yoch. 10:16) Anyone who does not help Him bring back the sheep is culpable. Rams and he-goats: the root words mean “prominent ones” and “prepared ones”. This is the background for Y’shua’s prophecy that when He comes back He will separate between the sheep and the goats. (Mat. 25)
18. “‘“Isn’t it enough for you to have grazed on the best pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? Or to have drunk of the settled waters? Must you also foul the remaining [water] with your feet?
Settled waters: those that are not frothy from constant motion, but are still and deep, easy to drink from. Flock animals do not enjoy drinking from rougher waters. (Compare Psalm 23:2.) This water would also give a better reflection. (Compare Yaaqov/James 1:23ff) Feet: an idiom for YHWH’s festivals (Ex. 23:14), so here it would symbolize the confusion that resulted when pagan holidays were mixed in with the biblical ones, then eventually replaced them altogether within the Church. There is no pure water (also an idiom for Torah) left there to drink. And even goats will not eat what has been underfoot.
19. “‘“So My flock must eat what you have trampled, and drink what is fouled by your feet!”
20. “‘Therefore, this is what the Master YHWH says to them: “Here I come! I Myself will judge between the fatter lamb and the leaner lamb.
21. “‘“Since you have shoved with side and shoulder, and gored the weaker ones with your horns until you have made them scatter to the outside,
Outside: of the feeding area. They are barred from the best food and water by the stronger bullies.
22. “‘“I will rescue My flock, and they will no longer be plunder, and I will judge between lamb and lamb,
23. “‘“and I will raise up over them one Shepherd, and He will pasture them—that is, My servant David. He will feed them, and he will serve as a Shepherd for them.
Y’shua said He was this very Shepherd, who would work out in the physical realm what YHWH said He would do. (Luke 19:10; Yoch. 10) The Messiah in one sense is actually David, being his seed, which keeps David’s line alive after each generation dies. He is also the one who sits on David’s throne.
24. “‘“And I, YHWH, will serve as an Elohim for them and My servant David as a ruler among them. I, YHWH, have spoken!
No one may dispute it! Among them: as one of them, though their leader.
25. “‘“And I will cut a covenant of peace with them, and exterminate harmful animals out of the [whole] Land, and they will settle securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.
Wilderness…forests: usually places unsafe due to the wild animals YHWH has just banished.
26. “‘“And I will make them and the environs of My hill a blessing, and I will cause the rain to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing.
Showers of blessing: neither too soft a rain, which provides inadequate water, not too driving a rain, which causes flooding and erosion.
27. “‘“And the tree of the field will yield its fruit, the earth will yield its produce, and they will come to be on their soil in safety. Then they will know that I am YHWH, when I have broken the rods of their yoke and rescued them from the hand of those who serve themselves at their [expense].
28. “‘“And they will no longer be booty for the nations, and the land animal will not devour them, but they will dwell in safety, and no one will make them tremble.
29. “‘“And I will raise up for them a plantation for renown, and they will no longer be those gathered away from famine in the Land, and they will no longer bear the reproach of the Gentiles.
Gathered away from famine: as we see in the book of Ruth, it was common to leave the Land when it no longer produced crops. The city of Carthage was founded as a place to gather tens of thousands of people wanting to flee the famine called down by Eliyahu in the days of King Ahav. Reproach of the Gentiles: a phrase used to describe why they could not leave the altar intact after the Greeks defiled it by sacrificing a pig on it, though stone cannot become ritually impure. (1 Maccabees 4:44-46) It reminded them of this act of humiliation and insult. The term for reproach can also mean “confusion”, for we once thought we were Gentiles, but that error has been cleared up in our thinking!
30. “‘“Then they will know that I, YHWH their Elohim, am with them, and they, the House of Israel, are My people,” declares the Master YHWH.
My people: a reverse of the temporary curse placed on the Northern Kingdom in Hoshea 1:9-10.
31. “‘“And you, My flock, flock of My pasture, you are Adam, and I am your Elohim,” declares the Master YHWH.’”
You: plural, but Adam is singular. The unification of Israel into “one man” will be complete, and the Adam who fell from grace will be restored! There was a teaching common in Y’shua’s day that only the Jews were human beings, or Adam. To a great extent, there were very few other truly righteous people in the world, but there were some, and the returnees from the Northern Kingdom were becoming too numerous to be excluded with the rest. In the Talmud, there is argument over whether or not Efrayimites were truly human. Here, YHWH emphasizes that this group, too, is part of Adam. They are Y’shua’s “other sheep” (Yoch. 10:16) and the “men” for whom Y’shua sent “fishers” (Mat. 4:19).
CHAPTER 35
1. Then the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
2. “Son of Adam, set your face on Mount Seir, and prophesy about it,
Mount Seir is the home of Edom, the descendants of Esau. (Gen. 32:3; 36:8ff; 36:19, 43) Its name means “shaggy goat”, and as such represents those who are clean animals, yet resist being brought together in true, unified flocks like sheep. The Jews have traditionally seen a link between Edom and Rome or Christianity.
3. “and say to it, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Here I come toward you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out My hand over you and turn you into a devastation and a horror!
4. “‘“I will lay your cities waste, and you will become deserted. Then you will know that I am YHWH,
5. “‘“because you had a permanent enmity and poured out the descendants of Israel onto the hands of a sword in the time of their calamity—in the time perversion was cut off.
Permanent: long-lasting and constant since antiquity. The Church (with a few notable exceptions) has done this to the most recognizable aspect of Israel (the Jews) throughout its history, and though it is no longer conducting physical crusades against them, it involved in character assassination of both the Jews and those formerly within its ranks who are awakening to the fact that they are meant to be Israel instead.
6. “‘“Therefore, [as] I live,” declares the Master YHWH, “when I prepare you for blood, blood[shed] will dog you. Since you have not hated blood[shed], blood[shed] will chase you down.
7. “‘“I will also turn Mount Seir into a ruin and a desolation, and will cause the one who passes through and the one who returns to be cut off from it.
The one who passes through and the one who returns: literally, the Hebrew and the repentant. These are the people that YHWH has already begun taking out of the Church.
8. “‘“Then I will fill his mountains with his mortally-wounded; your hills and your valleys and all your ravines—those mortally wounded by the sword will fall in them.
9. “‘“I will assign you perpetual ruins, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am YHWH.
10. “‘“Because you have said, these two nations and these two lands will become mine, and we will dispossess them—though YHWH was there--
These two lands: Israel and Yehudah. The Church’s goat-like nature (see note on v. 2) has dovetailed nicely with democracy, which keeps both the Land of Israel and the United States, in which much of the northern Kingdom is assembling, from seeing who they really are. Mine: Esau tried to get Yaaqov to come back with him so he could control him. The Church tolerates us as long as they can keep us where they want us. If Israelites meet in a church building, we are to some extent under the authority of the system that we are renting from.
11. “‘“therefore, [as] I live,” declares the Master YHWH, “I will act according to your anger and according to your passion [by] which you dealt due to your hatred of them, and I will be known among them when I have judged you.
12. “‘“And you will know that I am YHWH. I have heard all the contemptuous things you have said about the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘[They are] deserted! They are given to us for food!’
Food: what was foremost in Esau (Edom)’s mind and what he sold his birthright for. He later tried to steal back what he had sold away. The Church has claimed to have replaced Israel (swallowing it up), since YHWH supposedly terminated His covenant with them. But He will prove one day that the opposite is the case.
13. “‘“So with your mouth you [boast] great things against Me, and have made your words abound against Me; I have heard [them]!
14. “‘“This is what the Master YHWH says: ‘As the whole world rejoices, I will prepare devastation for you!
Though today the world tolerates the Church since it is much “closer to home” than Israel, it hates her as well, and will rejoice when its “oppressive” presence is no longer there.
15. “‘“‘As you rejoiced for the House of Israel’s property on account of [the fact] that it was laid desolate, I will do the same to you. You will become a desolation, O Mount Seir and all of Edom—all of it! Then they will know that I am YHWH!’”’
It will actually be the other way around! Israel will possess the remnant of Edom. (Amos 9) As the Church thinks it was grafted into the vine in place of Israel rather than simply at the place where it was split, since it has not borne worthy fruit, it will be removed to make room for the part of Israel it had forgotten existed. (Rom. 11:17-24)
CHAPTER 36
1. “And [as for] you, son of Adam, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, listen to the words of YHWH!
2. “‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Because the enemy has said about you, ‘Aha! Even the ancient heights have come to be a possession for us!’
Heights: may refer to the Golan and the mountains of Shomron (Samaria), both territories being sought by Israel’s enemies as high ground from which to launch attacks on the rest of Israel. Alt., cultic platforms.
3. “‘“Therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Because—because indeed—they have ravished and swallowed you up from all around so that you might become a possession for the rest of the nations and have been taken up on the language of the tongue and the slippery slander of a people,
Rest of the nations: perhaps an allusion to an alliance of them all such as we are seeing form today—the unification which counterfeits the one man seen in 34:31 and in the remainder of this chapter below; alt., the remnant of the Gentiles. Language: literally, lip. Slander: including the idea that the Torah has become a relic of the past.
4. “‘“‘“Therefore, O mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Master YHWH! This is what YHWH the Master says to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys, to the deserted ruins and to the cities that are abandoned, which have become spoils and a laughingstock for the remnants of the nations that are from all around [her]--
He is speaking to the Land itself, giving it the hope that one day it will no longer have to suffer defilement. One who goes there does indeed have the sense that this Land has a living soul. But allegorically, the Land of Israel is made up of the united dust of the descendants of Avraham (Gen. 13:16)—especially those who, like mountains, rise up.
5. “‘“‘“therefore this is what the Master YHWH says: ‘If I have not spoken in the fire of My jealousy about the remnant of the nations—that is, about Edom, all of it, which have given themselves My Land as a possession with joy of the whole heart, with rude passion in order to run [them] off it so it can be stolen.’
All of it: thus this prophecy can apply on different levels to the literal Edom, the symbolic Edom (Rome), and its extension, the Church. Rude: or contemptuous, spiteful, scornful, from a word meaning to shove another aside. Stolen: not rightfully dispossessed as was done by ancient Israel and will be done again by Israel. Give themselves: in contrast with YHWH giving it to Avraham. (Gen. 12)
6. “‘“‘“So prophesy concerning the Land of Israel, and say to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Here I am! I have spoken in My jealousy and My rage because you have [all] borne dishonor from the nations.
7. “‘“‘“‘“So this is what the Master YHWH says: ‘I have lifted up My hand [to swear]: if the nations that surround you will not themselves bear their own disgrace…!
8. “‘“‘“‘“‘But you, O mountains of Israel—you will send out your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel, because they are about to arrive!
Are about to: literally, have come close to. The fruit needs to be already being borne by the time we get there.
9. “‘“‘“‘“‘Because look! I am [coming] toward you and will turn to face you, and you will be tilled and sown [with seed],
10. “‘“‘“‘“‘and I will cause humanity to increase upon you—the whole House of Israel, all of it! Then the cities will be lived in and the ruins rebuilt!
Humanity: actually the singular “Adam”—the real unified man, not the nations’ counterfeit. This is what Y’shua was referring to when he said he would send his students out as “fishers of men”. (Mat. 4:19)
11. “‘“‘“‘“‘Indeed, I will cause man and beast to multiply on you, and they will grow and be fruitful. And I will let you live as you did in your ancient past, and I will do better than [in] your earliest times. Then you will know that I am YHWH!
Ancient past: before the late eighth century B.C. E., when the climate was much greener and somewhat cooler, and the nation of Israel had not yet been exiled.
12. “‘“‘“‘“‘I will have Adam walk on you—My people Israel, and they will take possession of you, and you will become their inherited property, and you will never again add to their childlessness.’
13. “‘“‘“‘“This is what the Master YHWH says: ‘You are a devourer of humanity, and you have bereaved your nations [of their children].
14. “‘“‘“‘“‘Therefore you will no longer devour humanity, and you will no longer cause your nations to stumble,’ declares the Master YHWH.
Humanity: again, Adam in Hebrew. Your nations: Israel and Yehudah.
15. “‘“‘“‘“‘Nor will I let you hear the insults of the nations any longer, or bear the scorn of the peoples anymore, nor will I let your nations stumble again,’ declares the Master YHWH.”’”’”’”
16. Then the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
17. “Son of Adam, [when the] House of Israel lived on their soil, they defiled it with their ways and by their practices. Their habits were in My face, like the uncleanness of a woman’s [time of] separation.
18. “So I poured out My rage on them on account of the blood that they had shed on the Land and because of their rolling idols [by which] they defiled it.
19. “And I scattered them among the nations and they were sown on the lands; according to their habits and practices I judged them.
20. “And wherever they went among the nations, there they profaned My set-apart Name by saying [in regard] to them, ‘These are YHWH’s people, yet they have left His Land.’
21. “But I spared My set-apart Name, which the House of Israel had profaned wherever they went among the nations.
Spared My Name: partly by allowing it to be substituted with other names so it would not be used flippantly as they have come to be. He thus separated His true Name from His reputation (though in Hebrew a name and a reputation are one and the same) in order to preserve it unbesmirched to the end of the age.
22. “So tell the House of Israel, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “I am not acting for your sake, O House of Israel, but rather for the sake of My set-apart Name, which you have profaned wherever you went there among the Gentiles,
Name, which you have profaned: compare Luke 15:12-16. This time He allowed us to recognize we were Israel before He revealed His Name on a wide scale in order to safeguard it from the start. Yehudah has been extremely cautious with His Name since after the Hasmonean era, but Efrayim, who again uses it, has the special responsibility of being watchful about its sanctity. (v. 23) Since He has restored it after such a long time of being hidden to all but a few, the bar is raised and everything we do either upholds or profanes His Name.
23. “‘“and I will cause My great Name, which was intensely profaned among the nations—which you profaned in their midst--to be treated as holy, and the Gentiles will know that I am YHWH,” declares the Master YHWH, “when I am treated as set-apart by you before their eyes.
As at the Exodus, when it was obvious to all that YHWH was in a category of His own.
24. “‘“Then I will take you out from the nations, and collect you from all the lands and bring you into your own Land,
Then: The above sanctifying of His Name is a prerequisite to returning to our Land.
25. “‘“and I will sprinkle pure water over you and you will be purified from all your defilements and I will ceremonially cleanse you from all your rolling idols,
Pure water: required for ritual cleansing.
26. “‘“and I will give you a renewed heart and I will put a renewed spirit in your innermost part, and I will remove the stony heart from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.
Heart of flesh: i.e., one that is sensitive and pliable, not callous and all but dead.
27. “‘“Then I will bestow My breath on your innermost part, and ordain that you will walk within My prescribed limits, and you will guard My legal procedures and carry them out.
Bestow My breath (or spirit): as in Gen. 2:7 and Yochanan 20:22.
28. “‘“Then you will settle on the Land that I gave to your ancestors, and you will become My people and I will serve as an Elohim for you.
You will settle: a return after coming previously (v. 24), possibly to fall in love with it as the ten “spies” were to do (Num. 13:16-17), then going back out to prepare ourselves to be the right kind of people it deserves as its citizens. When Israel is established within us as a people, then we can go into the physical Land with the same name.
29. “‘“I will also deliver you from all your defilements, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant, and not appoint a famine on you,
30. “‘“and I will increase the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, in order that you may no longer receive the shame of being hungry among the Gentiles.
This appears to take place while we are still in exile.
31. “‘“Then you will remember your evil ways and your practices that were not beneficial, and you will detest yourselves in your own presence on account of your perversions and your disgusting [habits].
32. “‘“I am not doing [this] for your sake,” declares the Master YHWH. “Let it be clear to you! Be ashamed and humiliated from your own ways, O House of Israel!
Nowadays "identity" is usually associated with "pride", but as Israel regains its sense of who we really are, YHWH ensures that this concurrent "identity movement" will be distinctly without pride, but characterized by humble gratitude for what He has done for us though we did not deserve it.
33. “‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “On the day I purify you from all your perversions, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt.
On the day: possibly a Yom haKippurim. Or simply, at the time…
34. “‘“And the Land that had been made desolate will be cultivated in the place where it had been laid waste in the sight of every passer-by.
35. “‘“And they will say, ‘The Land that had been laid waste has become like the Garden of Eden! And the cities that had been laid waste, made desolate, and broken down have become fortified and inhabited!’
Even now the Land is becoming much more fruitful after having been a desert for centuries. A large part of this is Yehudah’s doing.
36. “‘“And the nations that remain around you will know that I, YHWH, have rebuilt what was broken down and replanted what was deserted. I, YHWH, have spoken, and have accomplished [it].”
37. “‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “I will still let Myself be consulted this [way] for the House of Israel to act on their behalf: I will multiply them like a flock of men--
38. “‘“like a set-apart flock, like the flock of Yeruyshalayim at her appointed times. This way the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of humanity. Then they will know that I am YHWH.”’”
Flocks: i.e., crowds. Like Yerushalayim at her appointed times: So full of people—and with so holy a purpose!
CHAPTER 37
1. Then the hand of YHWH came upon me and brought me out by YHWH’s wind and set me down in the middle of a level valley, and it [was] full of bones.
2. And He caused me to pass over them, around and around, and indeed, [there were] very many on the surface of the plain, and they were amazingly dry.
Amazingly dry: As long as there is some marrow left in the bones or teeth, DNA samples can be taken from even ancient mummies, but these bones are too dry for that. Y’hezq’El could not tell whose they were. There is no genetic evidence left that they were once Israel. But DNA and ancestry are not the main things needed to constitute our claim to be Israel, but, as always, the fact that we live as Israel now.
3. Then He said to me, “Son of Adam, can these bones come [back] to life?” And I said, “O Master YHWH, [only] You know!”
4. So He said, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, “O dry bones, listen to the word of YHWH!
5. “This is what the Master YHWH says to these bones: ‘Watch! I will make breath enter into you, and you will come to life!
6. “‘Then I will put sinews on you and make flesh come up onto you, and spread skin over you [as a covering], and I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am YHWH!’”
He tells them twice that breath (spirit) will come into them. The first time, with the coming of the Messiah, we were reborn as individuals. He was authorized to give life to whomever He chose. (Yochanan 5:21; compare Yoch. 20:22) The second time, it must be corporately. This infusion of breath came with the departure of YHWH’s wrath from the Northern Kingdom only a few years ago, and indeed the knowledge of His Name has grown abundantly since that time.
7. So I prophesied as I was ordered, and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a rattling, and the bones began to come together, a bone to its [corresponding] bone!
Bone to its bone: compare Adam’s realization that “at last this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” (Gen. 2:23) It could also be read, member to its corresponding same; i.e., YHWH puts us in the right order, e.g., not expecting an eardrum to function correctly if attached to a finger. What holds them all together is the exercise of the giftings YHWH has given each of us to supply the rest of the Body so it can function properly. (Eph. 4:16)
8. Then, as I watched, sure enough, sinews and flesh came up and skin spread over them from above, but there was no breath in them.
Flesh: from the same root word as “Gospel” (glad news). So the Gospel is not all YHWH intends for us. We are the ones who must flesh out the remains of our scattered ancestors by keeping the particular commands of the Torah.
9. So He told me, “Prophesy to the wind! Prophesy, son of Adam, and say to the wind, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Come, O wind, from the four winds, and blow on these slain ones, so they may come to life!”’”
This third time, it is Y’hezq’El’s responsibility to call the breath into them. This is the spirit of Eliyahu—that of the restoration of all things. (Mal.4:5ff; Mark 9:12) Even many of those who have the true Gospel and know they are Israel are still lacking in the area of living according to the Torah, and we are not ready to return to the Land until all three stages are complete. Four winds: In the shakharit morning prayers, we blow the shofar to call Israel back from all four directions. Slain ones: an allusion to a tradition in the Book of Yasher that 30,000 Efrayimites, knowing redemption was coming and that they were meant to go back to the Land of Israel, left Egypt on their own before Moshe came, and came as far as a valley in the Promised Land, but were killed there by the Filistines. This re-emphasizes the fact that this passage is not referring to Yehudah, whose ancestral connections were never lost, but the Northern Kingdom. Verse 16 uses the same terminology as v. 11 (“the whole House of Israel”) and associates it with the House of Yosef (Efrayim). This is also a warning to those of us who would try to go back to the Land too early—before all Israel is ready to go together, especially since the Palestinians call themselves Filistines too!
10. So I prophesied as He had ordered me, and the breath began to come into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet—a very, very vast army!
The root word from which the Hebrew word for “bone” is taken actually means vast, mighty, or numerous!
11. Then He told me, “Son of Adam, these bones—they are the whole House of Israel. Indeed, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we have been separated to ourselves!’
Bones…dried: or, members…withered away [for lack of water]. Our hope is lost: or, our rope has been cut. The word for bone also means “to tie tightly together”; bones have no value otherwise. Separated: or, divided in two. To ourselves: to living as individuals and even letting our spiritual lives and salvation focus on that level alone.
12. “Therefore, prophesy and tell them, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Watch as I open your graves and make you come up from your graves, My people, and bring you to the soil of Israel.
13. “‘“Then you will know that I am YHWH, when I open your graves and cause you to ascend from your graves, My people!
The bones were on the surface of the ground; now the imagery changes to graves, because not all who are to constitute Israel are still living. Those who died in the hope of the Kingdom, though they did not even know they were physical Israel, are to be included in the Kingdom when it comes as well.
14. “‘“And I will put My breath in you and you will come to life, and let you remain on your own soil. Then you will know that I, YHWH, have spoken and have carried it out,” declares YHWH.’”
Spoken: This is how YHWH created the first time, infusing Adam with His breath, and how He now re-creates us. (Compare Ps. 104:30.)
15. Then the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
16. “As for you, son of Adam, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Yehudah and for the sons of Israel, his companions.’ Then take one [more] stick and write on it, ‘For Yosef, the stick of Efrayim, and the whole House of Israel, his companions.’
Yehudah’s companions would appear to include those who, though identifying themselves as descendants of such tribes as Menashe, immigrate to Israel by converting to Judaism, and thus come under the “umbrella” of Yehudah. But Efrayim’s companions include the whole House of Israel—i.e., some from every tribe, apparently even Yehudah. These may be the Messianic Jews, who, though still practicing Torah, are seen by other Jews as no longer Jews, but Christians, so they seem to fit more with Efrayim. While Yehudah and Yosef are the more clearly-represented entities already today, there are many who will not fit either of these two categories exactly who will be able to join and benefit from this pan-Israel alliance by virtue of association with one or the other.
17. “Then bring the one close to the [other] one for yourself as one stick, and they will come to be united in your hand!
This stick was once united before, and it represented the brotherhood of Yehudah and Israel. (Zekharyah 11:10-14; compare Numbers 17:2.)
18. “Then when the sons of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Won’t you inform us what these [mean] to you?’,
19. “tell them, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Watch Me take the stick of Yosef, which is in the hand of Efrayim, along with the tribes of Israel, his companions, and I will put them on it--the stick of Yehudah--and make them into one stick, and they will become one in My hand.”’
This is the prominent theme of nearly all the prophets as pertains to our day. Compare Yeshayahu 11:13; Zekharyah 10:6.
20. “Now the sticks on which you write must be in your hand for their eyes [to see].
21. “And tell them, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Watch! I am taking the descendants of Israel from among the nations into which they have gone, and will collect them from every side and bring them onto their own ground.
The descendants of Israel: specifically the Northern Kingdom, which had already been scattered; Yehudah was concentrated in Babylon at this time, and some may still not have even been exiled yet.
22. “‘“Then I will make them into one nation in the Land—on the mountains of Israel—and one king will be king to all of them, and they will never again become two nations, nor will they any longer be halved into two kingdoms ever again.
This makes little sense if we think of it only in terms of the Jews. They are already able to live on the Land again, but there is more of Israel still to come. While Efrayim may at some point coalesce into a nation as Yehudah has in our day, ultimately we will become one people, which means YHWH will have to make some changes in the hearts of both sides which, though experimenting with some tentative rapprochement, each still seem very nervous about accepting the other party as fully YHWH’s people.
23. “‘“And they will no longer be defiled with their rolling idols or their detestable things, or by any of their rebellions, but I will deliver them out of all their places of assembly in which they have sinned, and I will purify them so they can become a people for Me and I will come to be an Elohim to them,
Places of assembly: literally, places of sitting; does this refer to churches?
24. “‘“with My servant David as king over them all, and they will walk in My legal procedures and guard My prescribed customs and carry them out.
David: possibly resurrected, or possibly through his descendant who has the right to the throne. (Compare 34:23.)
25. “‘“And they will dwell on the Land that I have given to My servant—to Yaaqov—on which your ancestors lived. Indeed, they will settle on it—they and their children and grandchildren forever, with David, My servant, as their leader forever.
Leader: a different term from “king” in v. 24. If Yeshua is king over all the earth and David only over Israel, might this be the answer to Yeshua’s question of why David should call his own descendant “Master”? (Mat. 22:43-45)
26. “‘“And I will cut a covenant of peace for them. It will be an eternal covenant with them, and I will set them in place and cause them to greatly increase, and I will put My sanctuary perpetually in their midst.
Covenant of peace: see 34:25 and Yeshayahu 54:10. The first time this terminology is used, it was of Pin’has (Num. 25:12), who, though a Levite priest, was given land in the region of Efrayim. (Y’hoshua 24:33)
27. “‘“When My dwelling-place is over them, I will serve as an Elohim for them, and they will function as a people for Me.
Over them: He may have a permanent sign of His presence above them, possibly the pillar of cloud and fire that stood over the tabernacle in times of antiquity.
28. “‘“Then the Gentiles will know that I, YHWH, am setting Israel in a separate category, when My sanctuary comes to be perpetually in their midst.”’”
This event will be so miraculous, overshadowing even the first Exodus by far (Yirmeyahu 16:14ff), that there will be no way anyone could give credit to anyone but YHWH for it.
CHAPTER 38
1. Then the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
2. “Son of Adam, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, leader of the head of Meshekh and Tuval, and prophesy about him,
Magog was originally a son of Yafeth (Gen. 10:2). Later it was known as a great and powerful people inhabiting the extreme recesses of the north. From ancient times the writers of the Pseudepigrapha (a mostly-eschatological part of the Apocrypha) recognized that this war of Gog and Magog was related to the coming of the Messiah. The ancient Sybilline Oracles identified Gog and Magog as from the region called Assyria. By tradition, this is what Eldad and Medad were prophesying about in Numbers 11, when Moshe told Y’hoshua not to forbid them to prophesy. Joseph Good notes that the ancient Jewish view is that the battle of Gog and Magog would cause every war that they encountered before then, but that this war would make all the rest insignificant (even Sennacherib, Babylon, Antiochus, and the Romans!) Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (a believer in Y’shua) connected this battle with the Birthpangs. (Shabbat 118a in the Babylonian Talmud, et al.) The Jewish Encyclopedia (s.v. "Gog and Magog") traces the “legend” all the way back to the Babylonian-Assyrian creation accounts (the fight with and defeat of the Dragon). Magog is also identified in the Yerushalmi Magillah (3:9) as the one who destroyed the Scythians, which, historically, was the Goths, who were Scandinavian. St. Petersburg, Russia is thought to have originally been a Goth fortress. Targum Yonatan on Genesis 10:2 (the table of nations) identifies Magog as Geramemia or Germaniah, a nomadic people who then lived in the Caucasus Mountains. We can easily see the similarity to "Germany" in this name.
3. “and say, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Here I come toward you, O Gog, leader of the head of Meshekh and Tuval!
Head: or, Rosh, also the proper name of a northern nation, called Rus or Rusians by the Greeks who lived on the Volga River. Meshech (Strong's #4902) was a barbarous people inhabiting the Moschi Mountains between [eastern] Iberia, Armenia, and Colchis (Ps. 120:5), almost always joined with the neighboring Tibareni (also called Tubal, Gen. 10:2; Ezk. 27:13; 32:26; 39:1). Herodotus (a Greek historian, called the "father of history"; iii.94; vii.78) calls them the Moschi and Tuboroni. In the Latin Vulgate they are called the Mosoch. Tuval (Strong's #8422, or the Tubalkites) was a nation in Asia Minor near the Euxine Sea, to the west of the Moschi (Isa. 66:19), from which we derive the name “Moscow”. Their capital became Tobolsk (a city in Russia east of the Ural Mountains and the capital of Siberia).
4. “‘“And I have turned you back and put hooks in your jaws and led you out, along with your whole army, horses and horsemen, all of them arrayed in perfect attire—a huge company of buckler and shield, every one of them a wielder of swords!
5. “‘“Persia, Kush, and Put are with them, all of them [with] shield and helmet!
Russia's allies are thus Persia (Iran), Ethiopia (which was also Marxist), and Libya (Qaddafi was well-supplied by the USSR). If this is to take place close to our own day, this attack may be carried out to fulfill a political promise of help with an Islamic jihad against Israel in order to buy their alliance because of oil reserves.
6. “‘“Gomer and all her hordes [ready to strike], the house of Thogarmah of the recesses of the north and all his hordes—[strong and] numerous peoples are with you!
“Gomer and all her hordes" are Ashkenazic (Germanic)—not necessarily Germany, but possibly the Czechs, Finns, etc. "The House of Togarmah" is Turkey, though not necessarily today's Turks. It could be those who came from that region in the past (as it borders right on Russia at Mt. Ararat): the Huns, who became the Hungarians, Bulgars (Bulgaria), Slavs (Slovaks, Yugoslavians), and the Serbs, all of whom have been satellite nations of Russia.
7. “‘“Be prepared and make yourselves ready—you and all your company that are assembled about you, and become a guard[post] for them.
8. “‘“From many days you will be mustered; in the last of years you will enter the Land that is [intensely] brought back from a sword and collected together out of many peoples on the mountains of Israel that had been constantly laid waste, but she has been brought out from the peoples, and they will all be dwelling securely.
Mustered: 1 Enoch 56:5 says, "In those days [a term for the day of YHWH], the Angles will assemble and thrust themselves to the east at the Parthians and Medes. They will shake up the kings (so that) a spirit of unrest shall come upon them, and stir them up from their thrones, and they will break forth from their beds like lions." This may indicate the identity of some of these peoples. This takes place not just in the latter days in the broad sense, but the very last. Rev. 20:7-9 tells us Gog and Magog will be involved in the very final war earth ever sees, centuries after any other war has taken place, when haSatan is loosed at the end of the Messianic Kingdom, having been bound for 1,000 years, which is a big reason they can dwell securely.
9. “‘“When you come up, you will come like a rushing [devastation]; you will become like a cloud to cause the Land to be concealed—you and all your hordes, and many peoples along with you.”
Rushing: the same term used in Hebrew for the Holocaust (sho’ah). Thus we would expect at least parallel threats.
10. “‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “But on that day [this is what will] take place: words will come up onto your heart, and you will devise an evil plan,
11. “‘“and you will say, ‘I will go up to a Land of unwalled towns lying still, all of which sit securely, where there is no wall or bar or doors,
No wall or bar or doors: This may only mean the cities will have no gates, since at that time the Torah will have gone out so far and wide with a Y’shua’s rod of iron that no one would dare rob another, and possibly by this time such defenses will have been forgotten, being a relic of the ancient past. But could it also mean the houses have none either? A hallmark of Israel is living in tents, which have no doors as such. This is supported by Revelation 20:9, where Gog and Magog "surround the camp of the set-apart ones", suggesting either that this takes place at Sukkoth, that they have anticipated the battle and gotten into army formation, or that when the Messiah came and was ready to distribute the tribal inheritances, these people decided they would rather stay in close proximity to the Temple and Messiah than enjoy their own separate existence in houses, which was somewhat of Israel's downfall the first time.
12. “‘“‘to take spoils and seize booty, to turn your hand against the ruins [that are now] inhabited and toward the people [fully] gathered out of the nations, who have put cattle and acquisitions in order, who dwell over the center of the earth.
Center of the earth: the Land where three continents converge and which YHWH chose as a place to influence them all; alt., highest part of the land, the navel of the earth. The Targumim (Aramaic paraphrases) say that the Messiah son of Efrayim (ben Yosef) will assist them in conquering Gog, but the ingathering of the exiles would come only after the victory. However, this verse casts doubt on that view, and Rev. 20 (see note on v. 8) does too. There may be earlier fulfillments of this prophecy, however—possibly soon after the return of the exiles, while there are still other nations left that oppose Israel. Psalm 2 (a coronation song for the kings of Israel) seems to describe this assembly.
13. “‘“Sh’va and D’dan and the traders of Tharshish with all her villages will say to you, ‘Is it to take plunder that you have come? Have you assembled your company to seize a spoil? To carry away silver and gold? To take away livestock and possessions? To take great plunder?’”’
None of the peoples who come with Gog and Magog are descendants of Shem.
14. “Therefore, prophesy, son of Adam, and tell Gog, ‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “On that day, when My people Israel dwells securely, won’t you know [it]?
15. “‘“So you will come out of your place—from the recesses of the north—you and many peoples with you, all of them mounted on horses, a vast company and a huge army!
16. “‘“And you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the Land; it will come about in the lattermost of days. And I will bring you onto My Land, so that the nations may know Me when, before their [very] eyes, I am honored as in a category of My own because of you, O Gog.”
Compare Psalm 2.
17. “‘This is what the Master YHWH says: “Are you the one of whom I spoke in ancient days by the hand of My servants, the prophets pf Israel who prophesied for years in those days to bring you against them?
We are hard put to find any such prophecies other than this one. Somewhere we should have major information on it, but it must be in some other way, or under some other name. Joseph Good points out that the same things said here about Gog are also said about Ashur (Assyria) in Micha 5:3-6. So there appears to be an identification of some sort between them, or at least a scepter passed from one to the other. In Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 10:12 we see a remarkably similar situation when Assyria attacks King Hizqiyahu. So every time Assyria appears in the ancient prophets prior to this, it is also telling us something about the battle of Gog and Magog--and all of Yeshayahu, Mikha, Hoshea, and Amos deal with the Assyrian wars! Leonard Cohen, in the section of Everyman's Talmud on "Eschatology", tells us Sennacherib stands for Gog and Magog. 2,000 years ago, the compilers of the Talmud realized this. They say Hizqiyahu stands for the Messiah, because he is thrown against Sennacherib and keeps the people together. He is a picture of Messiah ben Yosef. He also sifted the faith of the Jews, showing them how many pagan forms were mixed into their worship to YHWH, and removed the high places on which they did this.
18. “‘“So it will be in that day—on the day Gog arrives on the soil of Israel,” declares the Master YHWH, “My rage will rise up in My nose,
19. “‘“and in My jealousy, in the fire of My overflowing fury I have promised, ‘If there will not be a great earthquake on the soil of Israel on that day,
20. “‘“‘so that the fish of the sea and the birds of the skies and the things living in the field and all the creeping things that teem on the ground and all the human beings on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence…!’ And the mountains will be thrown down and the steep places will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.
Fish…birds…living things…creeping things…humans: all the categories of living beings listed at creation (Gen. 1) and that we are commanded not to worship. (Deut. 5:8) Mountains thrown down: This is a catastrophic event of ancient proportions rather than a typical earthquake as we experience them today. They used to be anticipated due to regular bypasses of Mars when its orbit crossed earth’s, so that sieges could be timed to coincide with them so the huge crustal tides could do all the work of breaking down the walls, but since we have not experienced this phenomenon for nearly 3,000 years, it will take them by surprise.
21. “‘“And I will call to all My mountains, ‘A sword upon him!’,” declares the Master YHWH. “[Each] man’s sword will be in his own brother!
The name Gog means “mountain”. YHWH may be saying, “So you think you’re a mountain? Wait until you see what My mountains can do!” A sword: After a thousand years in which the nations have not learned war (Yeshayahu 2:4), they are being forged again. In his own brother: as with Yehoshafat’s battle (2 Chron. 20:23), as well as Gid’ons (Judges 7:22), YHWH may have these armies kill one another rather than having Israel fight them.
22. “‘“Thus I will judge him through a plague and through blood and a rain that overflows [and sweeps away] and hailstones. I will rain fire and sulfur on him and all of his hordes and on the many peoples that are with him.
Hailstones associated with fire are not the tiny ice pellets we are familiar with, but probably meteors.
23. “‘“And I will magnify Myself and distinguish Myself [as separate], and I will become known in the sight of many nations, and they will know that I am YHWH!”’
INTRODUCTION: Y’hezq’el’s name means “Elohim strengthens”. His activities began five years after Yehoyakhin, the second last king of Yehudah, was carried into exile in Bavel (Babylon) in the eighth year of his reign (597 B.C.E.) by Nevukhadnetzar and replaced by a puppet ruler (2 Kings 24), Tzidqiyahu, who ruled for eleven years until, because of his rebellion, Nevukahdnetzar besieged and took Yerushalayim and destroyed the Temple (586 B.C.E.)—six years after this account begins and two years after he began the siege (the same day Y’hezq’el’s wife died, 24:1). Thus he prophesied while the Temple still stood, though its days were numbered. However, his target audience was the Northern Kingdom (2:3), which had been exiled 130 years earlier (722 B.C.E.). Y’hezq’el was from a priestly family, exiled along with the choicest people of the land (2 Kings 24:14-16), and thus apparently from an important priestly family. Based on 44:15-16, he is thought to have been Tzadoqite, and may have been named for the Y’hezq’el who was among the heads of the priestly orders as chosen by David. (1 Chron. 24:16) The book was included in the Hebrew “canon” as listed by Ben Sira in the second century B.C.E. (Ecclesiasticus 49:8) It speaks of YHWH’s plans to restore His people despite their horrendous rebellion.
THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHET
Y'hezq'El (Ezekiel)
