Ezekiel 39:17-20 meaning

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Ezekiel 39:17-20 shows that the LORD will summon bird and beasts to His "sacrificial feast" on the mountains of Israel. Animals of all kinds will eat the flesh of the dead men who came to invade Israel. God uses sacrificial language, describing the corpses of the enemy as though they were lambs, goats, and cattle made to be offerings on an altar. The birds and beasts will eat and drink of the dead, to the shame of the defeated, who were once strong princes of the world, and now are food for vultures and wolves.

Ezekiel 39:17-20 presents the defeat of Gog's army as the LORD's own sacrifice, in which He calls every predatory bird and beast from every direction to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the fallen soldiers, described in the vivid terms of a sacrificial feast of fatlings.

This passage presents the same scene in Revelation 19:17-21 when an angel summons carrion birds to attend "the great supper of God" at the return of Christ. As previously discussed, these could be the same events, different events, or both, since prophecies typically have multiple fulfillments. God now calls the earth's scavengers: "As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, 'Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, "Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood (v 17).

The LORD instructs the prophet to summon birds and beasts to His sacrifice. The language is deliberately sacrificial: the LORD Himself describes the fallen army as My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you (v 17). Ezekiel 39:4 had already announced that Gog's army would be given "as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field"; here the LORD elaborates the scene.

The sacrifice happens on the mountains of Israel; the same mountains where the army fell, the same mountains Ezekiel 36 promised would be peopled again with the restored nation. The inverted sacrifice enacts the judgment announced in Ezekiel 38:22-23.

The Revelation parallel uses the same language. John wrote that he saw an angel standing in the sun who cried with a loud voice to all the birds flying in midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great" (Revelation 19:17-18). The beast and the false prophet are then seized (Revelation 19:20), and the rest are killed with the sword from the mouth of the One seated on the horse, who is Jesus (Revelation 19:21).

The birds of Revelation 19 could also be the birds of Ezekiel 39:4 and 17—the same prophetic scene viewed from both its prophetic announcement and its New Testament fulfillment. They could also depict other events, such as the war at the end of the messianic reign in Revelation 20:7-10. And it could be both.

The feast for the scavengers is described in sacrificial terms: You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan (v 18). The fallen soldiers are mighty men and princes of the earth, yet the LORD catalogs them as sacrificial animals—rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. Bashan is the highland plateau east of the Sea of Galilee, and was known for its well-fed cattle (Amos 4:1).

The comparison places the powerful army in the category of livestock destined for slaughter, inverting the military hierarchy entirely.

The feast is abundant: So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you (v 19). This excess measures the scale of the defeated army. The phrase My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you (v 19) closes the circle: the sacrifice is the LORD's own act, performed for the benefit of the carrion birds and beasts who are themselves instruments of His judgment.

The scene closes with You will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war," declares the Lord GOD (v 20). The LORD claiming the battlefield as His own sacrificial table. The full extent of the military force, the horses and charioteers, the mighty men and all the men of war (v 20) are consumed there. The army that assembled to plunder Israel's cattle and goods (Ezekiel 38:12-13) becomes the feast for a host of scavengers.

Ezekiel 39:17-20

17 “As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, “Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.

18 “You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

19 “So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.

20 “You will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war,” declares the Lord God.