Ezekiel 38:14-16 meaning

Review Status

Ezekiel 38:14-16 records how God asks Ezekiel to relay this message to Gog, that Gog will come from the north with his mighty host, covering the land in darkness, in the last days of history. But this is all as God wills. God is waiting for Gog, bringing him and his evil forces to Israel, to show the nations of the earth that He is God. In defeating Gog, all other nations will come to know God.

Ezekiel 38:14-16 declares the LORD's purpose in the invasion, announcing that He will bring Gog from the far north against His secure people in the last days so that the nations will come to know the LORD when He is shown holy through the defeat of Gog. God pronounces judgment on Gog: "Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it?"'" (v 14).

The LORD turns Gog's invasion against him. "On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it?" (v 14). Gog will indeed notice the defenseless prosperity of the land--that noticing is the trigger for his plan in Ezekiel 38:11. The phrase My people Israel carries the covenant ownership the previous chapter had hammered home; the people Gog eyes as prey belong to the LORD by name. Their security is the LORD's guarantee. Gog's observation of their living securely is the bait that draws him in.

The origin of this invading host is described again: "You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army;" (v 15). The far-northern home of Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah is restated as the staging ground. The force is described in full scale--many peoples, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army (v 15). The repetition across the oracle of this vast cavalry coalition keeps the human threat genuinely large, so that the LORD's victory over it is unmistakably His.

God's purpose of the whole campaign is stated, that the nations may know Him: "and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog" (v 16). The timing is the last days, and the LORD is sovereign over these events: I will bring you (Gog) against My land. It is notable that God claims Israel as His land, His to own and His to protect.

The aim for God's drawing Gog to attack is the nations' knowledge of the LORD: "so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes" (v 16). The LORD will be shown holy--set apart, vindicated as the true God--through Israel. It will be the public defeat of this great army assembled by the nations that God will use to reveal Himself to them.

God uses the recognition formula "to know Me" more than seventy times through Ezekiel for Israel and now He widens it to the whole watching world. Ezekiel 37:28 promises that the nations will know the LORD when His sanctuary stands in Israel's midst. The invasion becomes the stage on which every nation sees who the LORD is.

As Jesus states in John 17:3, the very definition of life is to know God, and Jesus whom He sent. This act of judgment and war by the LORD has as its primary aim to bring life to the world, which comes through the knowledge of Him.

Ezekiel 38:14-16

14 “Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it?

15 “You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army;

16 and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.”