Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_200.lzh/6_205.TXT

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selves, when converted; but from natural pollution,
before mentioned.
Vet. 13. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury
them, &c.] That is, a great number of the common
people of the land of Israel, especially of those that
dwell near the field of battle, shall be employed in
burying the slain; and which they will be very ready
to do, for the reasons above mentioned: and it shall be
to them a renown; or, lots names; they.shall be com-
mended for their humanity to their enemies, and shall
be spoken of with honour, as being the peculiar peo-
ple of God, whom he has so remarkably appeared tbr,
protected, and defended: the day that 1 shall be glo-
rified, saith the Lord God; the day that will be re-
nown to them will be to the glory of God; whose
greatness, goodness, power, and wisdom, will be seen
in saying his people, and destroying their enemies.
Vet. 14. And they shall sever out men of continual em-
ployment, &c.] That is, the principal of the house of
Israel, their magistrates and governors, shall select
certain persons, to be daily employed in the following
work, till ended: passing through the land to bury with
the passengers those that remain upon the .face of the
earth, to cleanse it; these men will be appointed to go
through the !and of Israel, to gather up such carcasses
and bones of dead men as remain anywhere after the
seven-months' burial before observed; and all passen-
gers or travellers sha{l be assisting to them in it, both
in directing where any such carcasses and bones may
lie, and in bringing them to the common place of
burial; th,t so the !and may he thoroughly cleansed
frown su,'h disagreeable objects: after the end of seven
months shall they search or begin to search, as the
'Fargum; when seven months are ended, in which the
people in general will be employed in burying the
_d; dead; these men before ntentioned will be sent out
into the several parts of the land, to search in caves,
anti dens, and .ditches; an,ong thickets, thorns, and
briers, whe,'e the slain may fall; or where soldiers,
being wounded, might betake themselves and die; or
their carcasses or bones be dragged and left by beasts
and fowis; to find them out, and bring them to the
place of interment.
Ver. 15. And the passengers that pass through the
land, &c.] Not along with the searchers, but that
travel through it upon business in it, or in other lands:
when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign
by it; as he passes along, if he happens to see a h u-
man bone in the way, or hard by, he shall stop and
laya stone, or a heap of stones, by it, or some such
mark or token, signifying that a man's bone lies
there: till the buriers have buried it in the valley
.Hamon-gog. that is, which sign shall continue till
searchers come that way and take up the bone, and
carry it to be buried in the valley of Hamon-gog; for
carcasses and bones were notto be buried in the place
where they were found, but to be brought and interred
in this common place of sep4fiture.
Ver. 16. And also the name of the city shall be Ha-
toonab, &c.] The name of the city nearest to this place,
where Gog and his multitude shall be buried, shall be
called Hamonah from thence, which signifies a multi-
tude; or Polyandrion, as the Septuagint version, a
place where many graves are; or perhaps a new city
will be built near this place, and so called, to perpe-
tuate the memory of it; or else, as Kimchi observes,
Jerusalem will be so called, from the multitude of
those that will be slain near it; but, however, neither
that nor any other city in the land of Israel have ever
bore any such name; from. whence it may be con-
cluded that this prophecy does not refer to the times
of Antiochus, or any yet past, but to time to come:
thus shall they cleanse the land; thoroughly and com-
pletely, so that not a bone shall be left unburied.
Vet. 17. And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord God,
&c.] What the prophet is ordered by the Lord to say
is to creatures not then in being, nor yet; and, were
they, they could not understand his words; but how-
ever, when the time comes, partly by an instinct in
nature, and partly by a particular direction of Provi-
dence, they will be gathered together upon so great a
slaughterof men; for what tbllows, though mentioned
in tiffs place, will be between the slaughter of Gog's
army, and the burial of it, as Kimchi well observes;
after the burial such an invitation would be imper-
tinent; and which is made not for the sake of creatures,
but of men, to denote the certainty of this great carnage
that shall be made: speak unto everyfeathered fowl, and
to every beast of thefield; this must be understood of
such fowls, and such beasts, as devour dead carcasses,
for all will not feed on them; a like invitation is given
after the battle at Armageddon, the same with this
here, Rev. xix. 17. only with this difference, there an
angel is said to cry, here the prophet; there to the
fowls only, here to the beasts of the field also; no doubt
respect there is had to this passage: assemble yourselves,
and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacri-
fices that I do sacrifice for you; such a slaughter of men
is called a sacrifice, because there is a likeness between
that and the killing of beasts for sacrifice; besides,
these enemies of God and his people will fall a victim
to his justice, as well as be a repast for fowls and
beasts, who are invited, as to a feast, to feed upon
them; and there being so much of the power and pro-
vidence of God in all this, it is ascribed to him, and
is called the supper of the great God, Rev. xix. 17: even
a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel; where
Gog's army will fall, yet. 4. and in such vast numbers,
that it may well be called a great sacrifice; the sacri-
fice of a great army by the great God, and for such
great number of creatures: that ye may eat flesh, and
drink blood; the flesh and blood of the sacrifices, even
of slain men, which carnivorous creatures delight in.
The Targum is, "'draw near everywhere round about
"to the slain, which I slay for you with a great
"slaughter upon the mountains of Israel, and ye shall
"eat the flesh, and drink the blood."
Vet. 18. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, &c.]
Of the soldiers, men of strength and courage, and fit
for war, with which the army of Gog will abound: and
drink the blood of fib e princes of the earth: both t he princes
of his own family and court, and those of his allies
and auxiliaries that will come along with him: of rams,
of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks; which the Tar-

{g} \^Mvl\^ in nomen, Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Cocceius, Starckius.