1 "Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:'"
The Seleucid Empire (Syria) covered the region that Magog, Meshech and Tubal occupied. This Empire came to power between Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire, about 312BC. They spent their time fighting with the Ptolemy’s in Egypt. Unfortunately for Judah, that meant frequent treks through Palestine, since the quickest route lay directly through the middle of their country.
This was especially hard on Judah during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanies IV (169-166BC), who was a total mad man. (Antiochus Epiphanies means “Antiochus the Great.” Behind his back he was known as Antiochus Epimanies; Antiochus the Madman.) He not only conquered Judah, but put her priests and anyone else who continued to worship God to death, set up an idol of Jupiter in the Temple and sacrificed a pig to it, and killed any babies who were circumcised. He demanded that all children were taught in his officially sanctioned schools.
The Maccabees rose up in rebellion. Josephus and the books of the Maccabees tell us of many miraculous events during this time that helped them (severe weather, hailstorms, earthquakes, etc)
Antiochus heard of another rebellion in his kingdom and decided to go take care of that, while leaving his tents set up and a good part of his army there in Judah to fight. On the way out he was stricken with a disease in his intestines that caused him to literally rot from the inside out. History tells us his stink got so bad he couldn’t even stand himself. He finally, simply, fell off his horse and died.
The Maccabees finished kicking the Seleucid army out of the country, cleansed the Temple, and rededicated it to God.
The holiday of Hanukah is a celebration of God’s hand fighting for Judah during this time (including miraculously keeping the lamps of the Temple burning for eight days when there was no oil), and the Feast of Dedication that the New Testament mentions Jesus attending is the anniversary of this rededication by the Maccabees.
2 "'And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:'"
The Seleucids were from the direct north of Israel. Most of the fighting took place in the mountains of Judah.
3 "'And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 "'Thou shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.'"
After three and a half years of occupation, the Maccabees kicked Antiochus’ army out.
5 "'Thou shall fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, says the Lord God.'"
Antiochus literally did this- fell of his horse and died in an open field.
6 "'And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord.'"
“The Isles” are the small islands in the Mediterranean Sea nearest Palestine.
God caused a good deal of unrest during this time in many parts of the Seleucid Kingdom.
7 "'So will I make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let them pollute My holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.
8 "'Behold, it is come, and it is done, says the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
9 "'And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:'"
Josephus (first century Jewish historian) tells us it took seven years to clean up all the mess from the Seleucids.
10 "'So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, says the Lord God.'"
Though the Seleucids had greatly robbed Judah during their occupation, when they left the country the Jews so slaughtered them that they recovered everything. And they didn’t have to gather wood to heat their homes or cook because they had so many weapons to burn.
11 "'And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.'"
The greatest slaughter of the war.
12 "'And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.'"
Josephus records this event. The land stank so bad from the dead soldiers it made people sick.
13 "'Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, says the Lord God.'"
The Jews STILL give God praise for this victory and celebrate it every year (Hanukkah).
14 "'And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.'"
There were people employed in nothing else but burying these dead soldiers.
15 "'And the passengers that pass through the land, when any see a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.'"
Hamongog means “Valley of the multitudes of Gog.”
16 "'And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.'"
Hamonah means “Horde.”
17 "And, thou son of man, thus says the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, 'Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
18 "'Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 "'And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 "'Thus ye shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, says the Lord God.'"
The scavengers got most of the soldiers, leaving just the bones.
21 "'And I will set My glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see My judgment that I have executed, and My hand that I have laid upon them.
22 "'So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.
23 "'And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against Me, therefore hid I My face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.'"
This event will prove that Israel/Judah was captured by the Assyrians and Babylon by God’s will and not because He was too weak to save them. The Seleucids were every bit as powerful, yet Judah eventually destroyed them and ran them out of the country.
24 "'According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid My face from them.'"
The captivity was obviously a punishment.
25 "'Therefore thus says the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for My holy name;'"
But God will restore them.
26 "'After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.'"
Israel sinned while being blessed by God….
27 "'When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;'"
Now they’ve been punished. When that punishment is over….
28 "'Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.'"
“I will prove I am God. I will bring them back to their land.”
29 "'Neither will I hide My face any more from them: for I have poured out My spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.'"