Page images
PDF
EPUB

him like a whirlwind, with chariots and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, and shall overflow, and shall pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land (the land of Palestine), and many countries shall be overthrown." The Turkish forces were in fact composed of a vast colluvies of barbarous nations, which, disdaining infantry as unsuited to the rapidity of their movements, poured themselves down in immense bodies of cavalry from the mountains and fastnesses of the north, sweeping like a torrent, a tempest, or a whirlwind over the Asiatic provinces of Rome.

"Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarter," etc. This is a further specification of the various tribes and people who were to range themselves under the Turkish banner, forming a constituent part of the grand confederacy of Gog and Magog. We here see them flocking from the north, the east, and the south, this fulfilling the terms of the Apocalyptic prediction, that after the expiration of the thousand years, the nations which were in the four quarters of the earth' should be gathered together in that fatal enterprise.

[ocr errors]

"Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company," etc. We have before remarked that the prophecy of Ezekiel now under consideration contemplates precisely the same series of events with that of the sixth trumpet of the Apocalypse, and that both refer to the period and the power of the post-millennial Gog and Magog. We have therefore a triple announcement of the same momentous issue by which a particular period of the world was to be distinguished; and if to these we add certain predictions in Daniel touching upon the same occurrences, it may be said that they are set forth in a fourfold diversity of representation.

Now it is worthy of especial note, that in the vision of

the sixth trumpet, when the four Euphratèan angels, that is, the four Turkish sultanies, were to be loosed from their previous restraint, it is said, Rev. 9: 15, that the four angels were loosed, which were prepared (oi rooμvo) for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year,' by which we are inclined to believe is simply intended, that they should all of them be ready precisely at one and the same time, even on the very same year, month, day, and hour, to perform their appointed work. The accumulation of these four terms seems designed merely to make the language more emphatical, and to represent it as a wonderful occurrence, that these different principalities should be prepared in the providence of God, simultaneously to break the bonds by which they had hitherto been impeded, and to do it also at that precise point of time which had been predetermined in the divine counsels. We conceive, therefore, that the expression 'prepared' carries in it a direct allusion to the same phraseology in the Old Testament prophet: Be thou prepared (étoiμάσ&ŋtı);' i. e. be thou ready at the appointed time. It is in this sense of being ready that the original term occurs in the following passages: Ex. 19: 11, 15, And be ready (Etouoi) against the third day.' Josh. 8: 4, 'Go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready (osos άves too).' And so elsewhere. The import, then, of the words may be supposed to be, that whatever might be the purposes or attempts of these northern invaders, their menacing might was to be held in abeyance up to the completion of a certain definite period, when the providential restraints which had hitherto curbed their operations should be removed, and that then, being fully ready, every barrier should be burst, and nothing further should oppose them in the accomplishment at once of their own designs and those of heaven. Accordingly, as if to explain this intimation, it is immediately added:

[ocr errors]

6

"After many days thou shalt be visited; in the latter

years thou shalt come from the sword, etc.

into the land that is brought back Thou shalt ascend and come like a

[ocr errors]

storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land," etc. This must certainly be considered as throwing forward the date of the fulfilment of this prophecy to a period very far removed from the age of the prophet by whom the oracle was uttered. The phrase-' in the latter years,' literally, in the posteriority of years,'-when occurring in the Old Testament, almost invariably refers to the period of the Gospel dispensation, and generally to the concluding part of that period, so that it is evident we are to look for the completion of the prophecy to a date considerably subsequent to the Christian era. The inspired assurance is, that after this long tract of time has been passed over, Gog and Magog shall in some sense, 'be visited.' The question is, in what sense? The term taken by itself is ambiguous; for in the scripture idiom God is said to visit ' both when he executes his purposes of judgment and of mercy. Thus it is said of the fulfilment of the promise made to Sarah respecting the birth of a son, Gen. 21: 1, that 'the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.' On the other hand, in speaking of the punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, it is said, Num. 16: 29, 'If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me.' So also Is. 26: 14, "Therefore thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.' In the present instance, however, this latter acceptation of the term seems less pertinent, as the object in these verses is mainly to describe the warlike apparatus and the annihilating purpose of Gog, while the intimation of his punishment is deferred to the 18th verse; 'And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.' A

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

more appropriate signification then must be sought for the word in this connection. By recurrence to scriptural usage we find a number of instances where the Hebrew P pakad, to visit, is used in the sense of appointing as an overseer, giving in charge, entrusing with a commission, and in the passive, of being thus appointed, designated, or empowered. Thus Gen. 34: 4, And he made him (Joseph) overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. Here the original is literally he made him to visit.' So Num. 3: 10, And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priests' office.' 2 Chron. 36: 23, 'Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me, and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem.' Job 34: 13, Who hath given him a charge over the earth?' Job 36: 23, 'Who hath enjoined him his way ?' Neh. 7: 1, 'And when the porters, and the singers, and the Levites were appointed' (Heb. 'were visited'). Neh. 12: 44, ' And at that time were some appointed (Heb. 'visited') over the chambers for the treasures,' etc.

Guided by this clew we apprehend the genuine import of the term before us to be, that after many days,' or when the destined era had elapsed, Gog and Magog should, in the deep counsels of heaven, be appointed, commissioned, and receive it in charge, to execute, as the organs of the divine will, a great and momentous work; and this work the prophet immediately goes on to describe. The degenerate nations of Christendom had, by their sins, rendered themselves obnoxious to the judgments of God, and these rude but powerful tribes were to be the instruments by which they should be inflicted. They are accordingly apostrophized to this effect, as were Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus when employed for a similar purpose. "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff

in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, etc. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few." In either case the agents employed were intent upon the accomplishment of private ends of their own, and never dreamt that they were bringing to pass the pre-determined and pre-announced counsels of Him who sways the hearts of kings and the movements of armies at his pleasure. This view of the passage is confirmed by the renderings of some of the ancient versions. The Chal. Targum has it; 'After many days thou shalt prepare thy forces;' and the Syriac, Thou shalt receive charge, or commandment.' The Septuagint, Ez. 38: 8, employs rouao9osra, he shall be in readiness;' i. e. in readiness to act in subserviency to the will of the Most High.

[ocr errors]

6

In this connection we cannot but advert to a remarkable but obscure passage in the prophecy of Isaiah, of which we imagine the true key is to be found in the burden of Ezekiel now under consideration, and in the parallel prediction of the Apocalypse. Is. 24: 21, 22,‹ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.' We regard these two verses as an epitome of the twelfth and twentieth chapters of the Revelation; the first containing the war in heaven and the overthrow of the Dragon and his angels; and the second, the binding of Satan as a prisoner in the pit of the abyss, and his release in the person of Gog and Magog at the close of the thousand years. It would subject us to too wide a di

« PreviousContinue »