God loves to prophesy in advance. Sometimes thousands of years in advance.
Which creates a problem.
The original prophesy must be grounded in the language of the people who first receive. They must be able to understand it in order to trust it and pass it on.
But as thousands of years go by, the world changes. Things that seemed commonplace when the prophesy was first made now seem quaint, antiquated, impossible. What the ancient world did the modern world no longer does.
Critics love to wave these passages around in mockery. Wouldn’t God know that things are going to change? Why would an all-knowing God describe the future like it’s still the past? Can’t you see this is just ancient people guessing about the future?
Ezekiel 38-39 is one of these passages.
In these chapters, Ezekiel records a prophesy of a massive land invasion of Israel. But it depicts the invasion as if it occurred two and a half thousand years ago: marching armies on foot, bows and arrows, soldiers falling on the open field.
If this was a real prophecy for the future, wouldn’t God know that this isn’t how armies would fight in the 21st century? Our armies use planes, tanks, and troop carriers, not marching on foot. Our soldiers don’t form lines and run at each other in open fields anymore; they hide behind cover to shoot guns and call in missile strikes.
Once modern warfare started to break away from the conventions of ancient warfare, commentators and critics alike stopped seeing this passage as literal. Commentators argued that it was metaphorical. Critics argued that it meant there was no God involved in its conception.
This kind of trouble follows any prophecy that feels like it doesn’t fit in the modern world.
But what happens when the prophecy becomes realistic again?
What happens when modern warfare continues to advance, suddenly making the ancient conventions of warfare relevant again?
What happens when the kind of warfare depicted in Ezekiel 38-39 is also depicted on the nightly news?
You might start to think that God knew what He was talking about.
Let’s study the prophecy again. Pay attention to how it describes the invading forces:
“Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’ (Ezekiel 38:10–13 ESV)
This is not a foreign army launching missiles from hundreds of miles away.
This is an invading army, a mass of soldiers descending upon villages without walls to kill their people and carry off their belongings. This is an army of invading foot soldiers looting the corpses and houses of Israelites.
“Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. (Ezekiel 38:14–16 ESV)
This invasion force is a massive army of foot soldier and mounted calvary. This is not units of paratroopers dropping behind enemy lines, or special forces deploying in targeted strike missions.
This is a giant invasion of land-based troops, just as the ancient world fielded constantly.
“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 39:1–6 ESV)
This invading force will march through the mountains of Israel before God strikes them down.
All of this seems somewhat anachronistic and ancient, in the modern world.
Why would these nations (Turkey, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Russia) rely on sending ground troops?
In today’s day, they have access to missiles carrying nuclear warheads. They have fighter planes. They have drones. They have satellites. They have biological weapons, chemical weapons, electronic warfare weapons.
Why would they send a mass of soldiers?
Let’s look to the news for answers.
In 2021, Russian troops began massing on the borders of Ukraine. The number troops continued to grow, soon eclipsing 100,000 soldiers. Ukraine was understandably worried, as were the watching nations of the world. Russia downplayed any threat, with Putin himself saying, “These military exercises, drills, are purely defensive and are not a threat to any other country. They were planned and all the objectives of these drills have been achieved.”
Immediately thereafter, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Their tactics mirrored what Ezekiel 38-39 describes: a massive force of soldiers invading on land, swooping into unprotected towns, killing their people and looting their belongings.
Russia had access to all the advanced weaponry listed above: nukes, jets, drones, tanks. Yet its primary force was over a hundred thousand troops marching across the land.
Why?
Because of their goal: to occupy the territory, kill its people, and loot its belongings.
Exactly the same goals as the nations in Ezekiel 38-39.
Drones, airstrikes, and missiles can weaken defenses, but they can’t conquer towns. They can’t loot buildings. They can’t hold territory.
If Russia wanted to conquer Ukraine and add its territory to their own, they had to send in a massive army of troops.
This is doubly true in Israel.
Israel possesses some of the greatest defenses on earth. They are better prepared than any other nation to intercept and shoot down missiles, drones, and jets. If foreign nations want to conquer Israel’s land and hold it, they can’t come through the sky. They have to come by land.
This raises the question: wouldn’t Israel see it coming? Wouldn’t Israel see the masses of troops assembling?
Of course.
They’ll see it in the same way that Ukraine saw Russia massing its troops.
Just as Russia denied any threat from its troops, so will the nations deny that Israel faces any threat from them. They’ll use the same lines Putin used: these are training exercises, they threaten no one, there’s no cause for alarm.
And then they’ll attack, just as Russia did.
Israel won’t be able to strike first, just as Ukraine couldn’t. If Ukraine had launched a preemptive strike against the Russian troops, the world would have turned on Ukraine. Russia would continue to spout its claims that these were innocent training exercises. The world would view Russia as the victim and Ukraine as the war-mongering attacker. Russia would then use this provocation as all the excuse it needed to strike back, putting its full military force into a retaliatory invasion into Ukraine.
It’s a no-win scenario. If Ukraine sits back and waits to be invaded, it loses. If Ukraine strikes first, it loses.
It’s the same scenario Israel will face when hundreds of thousands of troops start massing near its own borders.
Israel can defend against all the modern tools of warfare. Drone strikes, missiles, nukes, and fighter planes can’t do much against the best-defended nation on earth.
But the ancient tactic can.
The ancient strategy of massing as big an army of soldiers as possible and marching them into enemy territory will work in Israel just as it worked in Ukraine.
Ezekiel 38-39 is starting to make a lot more sense.
But still we must ask: what about the horses? What of the bows and arrows? Aren’t those hopelessly ancient, instead of modern?
That’s where we’re going next time.
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