Ezekiel 39

Gog too has his own trinity, 'Ros' and 'Mosoch' and 'Thubal', that is, 'head' and 'madness' and 'all things', so that there is no vice that does not stand in Gog's possession.

But you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of the head (or Ros) of Meshech and Tubal; and I will turn you about (or gather you) and lead you astray (or lead you down), and make you go up from the sides (or from the uttermost parts) of the north, and bring you upon the mountains of Israel. And I will strike (or destroy) your bow in your left hand (or from your left hand), and your arrows from your right hand, and I will cast you down upon the mountains of Israel. And you will fall, you and all your troops, and the peoples (or nations) that are with you; to the wild beasts, to the birds and to every winged thing and to the beasts of the earth I have given you to be devoured: on the face of the field (or plain) you will fall, for I have spoken, says the Lord God. And I will send fire on Magog, and on those who dwell in the islands confidently (or and the islands will be inhabited in peace), and they will know that I am the Lord. And I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not pollute (or it will not be polluted) my holy name any more, and the nations will know that I am the Lord God, the holy one of Israel. Behold, it comes, and it has been done (or you will know that it will be), says the Lord; this is the day of which I have spoken. And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go forth, and will kindle and burn the weapons, the shield and the spears (or the targes and the pikes), the bow and the arrows, the hand staves and the pikes (or lances), and they will kindle them with fire seven years. And they will not carry (or will not take up) wood from the regions (or from the fields), nor cut it down from the forests, since they will kindle the weapons with fire; and they will plunder those whose prey they had been, and despoil their despoilers, says the Lord God. And it shall be, on that day, I will give Gog a renowned place, a sepulcher in Israel, the valley of the travelers east of the sea, which makes those who pass by stand aghast (or the πολυάνδριον [common burial ground, literally "place of many men"] of those who will come to the sea, and they will build round about the mouth of the valley); and there they will bury Gog and all his multitude, and it will be called the valley (or 'ge') of the multitude of Gog. And the house of Israel will bury them, to cleanse the land (or that the land may be cleansed) for seven months; and all the people of the land will bury them, and it will be for them a renowned day on which I was glorified, says the Lord God. And they will appoint men continually going through (or going round) the land, to bury and to search out those who remain upon the face of the land, that they may cleanse it; and after seven months they will begin to search, and they will go round traversing the land; and when they see a man's bone, they will set up a marker beside it, until the undertakers bury it in the valley (or 'ge') of the multitude of Gog. And the name of the city is Amona (or Πολυάνδριον), and they will cleanse the land (or the land will be cleansed). These things the heirs of the Jewish tradition and the disciples of endless fables contend will come to pass after the reign of a thousand years: that Gog, prince of Ros, Meshech and Tubal, is to be slain in the borders of Israel and to be devoured by all the winged creatures and the beasts; and that the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will for seven years by no means have the use of wood from the cutting of forests, but from the weapons of Gog, namely shields and spears and arrows and staves or pikes; and that Gog himself is to be buried in the valley which in Hebrew is called 'ge', and the name of his sepulcher is to be called πολυάνδριον, namely where a multitude of men has been buried; and that he is to be buried by the house of Israel for seven months so that the land may be cleansed, and that the day when Gog was slain will be renowned, and that men are to be appointed to search diligently for the bones and bury them, so that, namely, nothing remains unburied in the land; and that after the seven months, or within the seven months, the land is to be traversed, and wherever they observe a man's bone lying, it is to be pointed out by a marker set beside it, so that afterward those who have been put in charge of this work may bury it; and that the name of the city is to be called 'Amona', which in Greek is called Πολυάνδριον, that is, 'a multitude of buried men', and that in this way the land is to be cleansed. This is what they have said; but let us, holding to the sense of the explanation we have begun, discuss one by one the things we have set forth.

He will be led out, or turned about, and he will be stroked and coaxed so that, hoping for victory, he may be led to battle to be slain; and he will go up from the sides, or from the uttermost parts, of the north, from which evils blaze up over all the earth, and by that very one he will be brought upon the mountains of Israel, which we ought to understand as the apostles and apostolic men and men of the Church, so that, after he has been brought to the mountains of Israel, then the bow that is in his left hand may be struck, and the arrows that are held in the right hand: for he too imitates, in order to kill those whom he has deceived, the having of weapons on the left and on the right, through good report and bad — these are the arrows and these the darts of which the psalmist too speaks: For behold, sinners have bent the bow, they have made ready arrows in the quiver, to shoot in the dark at the upright of heart, which fiery darts of the devil are to be quenched with the shield of faith —.

And Gog, who had gone up upon the mountains of Israel, is cast down, or will fall, on those very mountains with all his army and all his troops; and he will be food for the wild beasts, the birds and every winged thing and the beasts of the earth, namely the adverse powers that ate the seed by the wayside, and the bloodthirsty beasts — for as it is written of the dragon: You gave him as food to the Ethiopian peoples, so all who are deceived by the heretics are the food of demons —: and Gog will fall either in the breadth of the plain or in that of the field which has been tilled by God's husbandmen; for it cannot be that the Lord's words should be void.

Then fire will be sent on Magog, namely on those who received Gog's teaching, and on those who, like islands, are beaten by the waves of the world and think that they ought to be secure — that fire of which the Lord speaks: I came to send fire upon the earth, and how I will that it burn —: 'that all may know and understand that I am the Lord'.

'And let my holy name be made known in the midst of my people, which was by no means led astray by the authority of Gog, and let my name no longer be polluted among the heretics on the pretext of the knowledge falsely so called, and let the nations that are round about know that I am the Lord'.

But what follows, Behold, it comes, and it has been done, is said of the judgment of Christ, who coming will come and will not delay; and this is the day of punishments and vengeance of which the Lord has spoken through all the prophets.

And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go forth: the peoples of believers; and by the cities of Israel we understand the Church of right faith. And they will kindle and burn the weapons — of which it is written in another place too: He will crush the bow, he will shatter the weapons, and he will burn the shields with fire —, shields and spears, bow and arrows, hand staves — with which they celebrated a perverse Passover —, lances or pikes — with which they inflicted the broad and incurable wounds of their doctrines —, and shields, bows and arrows, of which it was said above. And what follows, And they will kindle them with fire seven years, is to be taken from Exodus and Leviticus, in which it is commanded by the law that in the seventh year, of release, when liberty is restored to Hebrew slaves and all debts are cancelled and the ancient possession returns to its owners, rest too is granted to the land and all the crops are given over to the poor; so that, namely, in seven years, a sacred and perfect number, the armor of the heretics may perish utterly, and the men of the Church may by no means cut wood from the fields and regions and woods and forests of the nations, whom they desire rather to save than to destroy, but from those of the heretics whom they have conquered, from shields, spears, arrows, staves and pikes and lances: for they too have various weapons for attacking the Church of Christ, which are to be set on fire by learned men with the fire of the Holy Spirit — namely by the Church's word, and whoever has it will be able to say: Was not our heart burning on the way, when Jesus opened the Scriptures to us? —; nor can we have full peace and confidence in our dwelling unless we plunder all the gear of our adversaries, so that everything may perish and be burned to ashes, and we plunder those who had earlier plundered us, and lay waste those who had first laid waste the Church.

On that day — in the clear light of preaching — I will give, he says, Gog a renowned place, a sepulcher in Israel, according to the Hebrew: the valley of the travelers east of the sea, which makes those who pass by stand aghast; the sense of this saying is this: The sepulcher of Gog will not be on the mountains but in low valleys and rugged places — which in Hebrew are called 'ge'; and the heretics, though they are situated in the west, pretend that these are places of the east —, in order to deceive the travelers, namely those who pass through this world and are not inhabitants but sojourners — saying that prophetic word: I am a stranger and a sojourner, as all my fathers were —. For which of those passing by — of whom it is written: And those who passed by did not say: The blessing of the Lord be upon you! — does not marvel and stand aghast when he sees the valley of the travelers, which to the travelers seems a valley, to the inhabitants a mountain? This is according to the Hebrew. But the Seventy translated: the πολυάνδριον of those who will come to the sea, and they will build round about the entrance of the valley: for it is the labor of those who go out from the cities of Israel to shut and build round every entrance and exit of the heretical depravity, of those who had come to the sea and delighted in its bitterness, in the masses of its waves and in the cruelty of shipwreck, and to bury them in the chasms of the earth, so that they may no longer be able to go out and deceive anyone by their fraud. There, therefore, they will bury Gog and all his multitude, in which the heretics always delight; and the name of that valley in which Gog was buried will be called 'ge of the multitude', or πολυάνδριον, that is, 'the sepulcher of a very great multitude'.

And as we said above that the weapons of the adversaries are kindled through seven years, so through seven months the land will be cleansed of the filth of the heretics; for from the first month — when we celebrate the Lord's Passover and escape the destroyer of Egypt by the blood of the lamb on our doorposts —, up to the end of the year — that is, up to the seventh month, when we pitch tabernacles and, among the other foliage, are sheltered also by branches of palms, so that a perfect victory over the enemies may be shown —, we fulfil all the festivals among the peoples; and not only the teachers but the whole people too will do this eagerly, to bury Gog, and cover him with earth, and by no means allow him to take in the free air.

After the peace, however, and the slaying, or the burial, of Gog, men of the Church will be chosen who have this as their concern: that nothing of the former filth remain in the land of Israel, nothing of carrion; men to go through the land and search out the dead and bury them, so that, namely, the land of the Church may be cleansed. But if after seven months, when all things ought to have been purged, those who traverse and go round the land see that in anyone a man's bone — that is, the hardness of heretical depravity — or something of the carrion of the former doctrine has remained, they will set up, or build, a marker beside it, so that, after those who are of this kind have been marked, they may then either be corrected or be buried with Gog and thrust away into the throng of his burial.

And the name of the city where the victory of the servants of the Lord is, and where the adversaries lie and the whole multitude of his enemies has been laid low, will be called 'Amona' or Πολυάνδριον, so that the end of all things may be the restoration of purity. Finally there follows: And they will cleanse the land, doubtless those of whom it is written above: They will begin to search, and will go round traversing the land.

But we, following the tropology we have begun, say this: that the Lord calls together all the birds and all the beasts, to hand over to them the princes of the heretics to be devoured as the fattest offerings — and those to whom the adversaries are handed over are called birds and beasts either for their swiftness in running about into all things or for their savagery and cruelty: For the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved, and that they may learn not to blaspheme —; and they will eat a great and very fat victim: not elsewhere, but upon the mountains of Israel, which we ought to understand as the prophets and apostles and holy men — for upon them the teachers of contrary dogmas fall in ruin, and by them they perish wounded —, upon whom the Church is built, and, to speak more truly, upon the mountain of mountains — of which Isaiah speaks, and Micah: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will announce to us his way —. And these birds and these swift and cruel beasts will eat flesh and drink blood — which cannot possess the kingdom of God —.

Therefore you, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Say to every bird and to all the fowl and to all the beasts of the field (or plain): Assemble and hasten, run together from every side (or round about) to my victim, which I have sacrificed for you, a great victim upon the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of the mighty (or of giants), and you will drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs and of he-goats, and of fatted bulls and of all fat things; and you will eat fat to the full, and drink blood to drunkenness from the victim which I have sacrificed for you. And you will be filled at my table with horse and with mighty horseman (or giant), and with all men of war, says the Lord God. And I will set (or give) my glory among the nations (or among you), and all the nations will see my judgment which I have done, and my hand which I have laid (or brought) upon them; and the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day and thereafter, and all the nations will know that the house of Israel was taken captive for their iniquities, because they forsook me, and I hid (or turned away) my face from them, and delivered them into the hand of the foes (or of their enemies), and they all fell by the sword. According to their uncleannesses and their crimes (or iniquities) I dealt with them, and I hid (or turned away) my face from them. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will bring back the captivity of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will take up zeal for my holy name. And they will bear their confusion (or ignominy), and all the transgression by which they transgressed against me, when they dwell in their own land confidently (or in peace), fearing no one. And when I have brought them back from the peoples (or nations), and have gathered them from the lands of their enemies (or from the regions of the nations), and have been sanctified in them in the eyes (or in the sight) of very many nations, they will also know that I am the Lord their God, since I have carried them over into the nations (or since I have appeared to them among the nations), and have gathered them upon their own land, and have not left any of them there. And I will no longer hide (or turn away) my face from them, because I have poured out my spirit (or fury) upon the whole house of Israel, says the Lord God. (What we have translated according to the Hebrews: I will gather them upon their own land, and I will not leave any of them there, is not found in the Seventy; and again, where according to the Hebrews a blessing is set at the end: Because I have poured out my 'spirit', the Seventy translated 'fury', which pertains to anger, especially since in the Hebrew 'ruhi' is written, which properly means 'my spirit' and by no means 'my fury'.) But everything up to the place where the building of the temple follows, those we spoke of above, the Jews and our own Judaizers, refer to the last time: that the birds and the beasts are to be sated with the flesh of Gog and of all his army as with the fattest offerings, and that Israel is to be restored to its former state and by no means be assailed any longer by the nations, but that God will pour out his spirit upon them so that they may dwell in their own land: not all the nations, but properly the house of Israel.

The flesh of the mighty, or of giants, who rebelled against the knowledge of God, and the blood of the princes, not of heaven but of the earth, who savored all earthly things, they will drink: the blood of rams, of lambs and of he-goats, or, according to the Seventy, of rams, of calves and of he-goats, so that it signifies three living creatures that are sacrificed among the victims of God: for the heretics too imitate the gentleness of the Church, but their oblation serves not for the worship of God but for the food of demons, and this is their fattest offering; and they are sated as if with fat, and they drink the blood of the deceived to drunkenness; but God sacrifices this victim through the men of the Church, so that the most wicked guests may be sated with the multitude of the deceived, and drink to vomiting and drunkenness.

When you see holy men, learned in the divine Scriptures, cutting down the horses of the heretics and their riders — of which it is written: The horse and the rider he has cast into the sea —, and hewing down all the rebels and giants with their own blade, and shedding the blood of all the warriors of the knowledge falsely so called, then know that the table of the Lord has been prepared, that he may set his glory among all the nations that believe in his name.

And the churches of the saints will understand his judgment which he has executed upon the adversaries, and the strong hand with which he struck them; and let the house of Israel know and recognize that he is the Lord their God — who said: I am the Lord your God — from the day of the Lord's victory for ever, and let them reflect that the house of Israel was once taken captive by the heretics and scattered through the whole world of perverse dogmas for this reason: that they forsook him who for a little while hid, or turned away, his face from them and delivered them into the hand of the heretics, and they fell, pierced through by their blade, because of their uncleannesses and iniquities; and this was the cause of his hiding and turning away his face from them.

And having set forth the reasons — according to that which is written: There must also be heresies, so that those who are approved may be made manifest — for the captivity of Israel, that is, of the Church, in which those dwell who see God, he now promises that he will bring back into the Church the captivity of Jacob, who had supplanted the Jewish people and afterward was himself supplanted by the frauds of the heretics; and that he will have mercy on the whole house of Israel, not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. And I will take up, he says, my zeal for my holy name, which was blasphemed among the nations because of the heretics, so that, after he has set them free, they may blush and be confounded because, having abandoned the faith of the Church, they transgressed against me. Let them be confounded, then, and blush very swiftly, when they dwell in their own land, the land of the meek and the land of the saints, and dwell confidently, or in peace, by no means fearing the snares of the heretics.

Then they will be brought back from the peoples, and gathered from the lands of their enemies into their own land, and the Lord will be sanctified in them in the sight of very many nations, which themselves too are going to believe in the Lord; and let this be the end of blessedness: to know and recognize that he is the Lord their God, because he appeared to them among the nations, or carried them over from the nations, and gathered them upon their own land, the land of Judea, the land of confession, the land of the meek and the land of the living, and left not even one to heretical depravity.

And let him no longer hide his face from them nor turn away from them, because he has poured out the spirit of his grace — of which the prophet Joel too speaks: In the last days I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh —; and he has poured it out upon the whole house of Israel. But if instead of 'spirit' we read 'fury' according to the Seventy, which is not found in the Hebrew, it is to be understood thus: that he no longer hides his face from those upon whom he had earlier poured out his fury.