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EZEKIEL XXXIX-GOG TO BE DESTROYED

Chapter 39

1 God's judgment upon Gog. 8 Israel's victory. 11 Gog's burial in Hamon-gog. 17 The feast of the fowls. 23 Israel, having been plagued for their sins, shall be gathered again with eternal favour.

HEREFORE, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:

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:

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 shalt 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.

5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

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.

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, saith 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:

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, saith the Lord GOD.

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 Hamon-gog.

12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.

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, saith the Lord God.

14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land, to bury with the passengers those that remain upon

The Mystic Measurements

BY J. GOEREE, A DUTCH ARTIST OF THE SEVEN

TEENTH CENTURY.

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"And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate."-Ezekiel, 40, 3.

T

HE fortieth chapter of Ezekiel begins that last and

most obscure portion of his book, the vision of the restored Jerusalem. Learned and religious men, both Christian and Hebrews, have believed these chapters to be full of deep and secret symbolism of great religious value. Outwardly they are a ritualistic account of exact measurements and priestly observances, supplying for the nation of the future some such formulæ as the Book of Leviticus had supplied for the nation under Moses and Joshua.

In a vision Ezekiel feels himself borne once more to Judah, where he beholds a new city of Zion, replacing that which the Babylonians had destroyed. Accompanying the prophet is a man "whose appearance was like the appearance of brass;" and this man, or spirit, measures with a rod each object which they view together. Ezekiel records the measurements of the city walls, of the gates, of the door posts, of windows, arches, chambers. Then they enter a Temple, like to the former Temple of God; and here the spirit measures, and Ezekiel records, each minute detail with special care.