Commentary - Ezekiel 39:9-10

Bird's-eye view

Here in Ezekiel 39, we are looking at the aftermath of a great and decisive battle. God has just overthrown the vast armies of Gog and Magog, this teeming horde from the north that came to destroy the people of God. What we see in these verses is not just a cleanup operation. This is a picture of total victory, of lasting peace, and of the righteous plundering the wicked. The imagery is graphic and powerful, and it points to a reality far greater than a merely historical skirmish in ancient Israel. This is a prophecy about the victory of the Church of Jesus Christ over her enemies. When God’s enemies are defeated, their power is not just nullified, it is transferred. Their weapons become our fuel. Their plunder becomes our inheritance. This is the logic of the gospel. Christ has won the decisive victory, and we, His people, are now living in the long aftermath, gathering the spoils.

The central theme is the completeness and finality of God’s triumph. The sheer amount of weaponry provides fuel for seven years, a number signifying divine perfection and completion. This isn’t a short-lived victory; it’s a settled, long-term state of affairs. The peace is so profound that the ordinary means of gathering firewood are suspended. The instruments of war are rendered so obsolete that they are good for nothing but burning. This is a picture of the peace that Christ brings. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire (Ps. 46:9). And in this victory, the tables are turned completely. Those who came to plunder are themselves plundered. This is the great reversal of the gospel, where the meek inherit the earth and the spoilers are spoiled.

Outline

Context In Ezekiel

These verses come at the climax of a major section in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, which detail the assault of Gog of Magog against the restored people of Israel. This is not just any enemy; Gog represents the archetypal enemy of God's people, the final and ultimate worldly opposition to the kingdom of God. God draws this enemy out for the express purpose of destroying him and thereby glorifying His own name among the nations. The destruction is not accomplished by Israel's military might, but by the direct intervention of God Himself, through earthquake, pestilence, and fire from heaven.

So, what we are reading in verses 9 and 10 is the direct result of God’s mighty act of salvation. The people of God are not depicted as warriors cleaning their swords, but as civilians enjoying the fruits of a victory won for them. This fits squarely within the broader context of Ezekiel, which promises a new covenant, a new heart, and a new Spirit, all accomplished by God's sovereign grace. The victory over Gog is the external, political manifestation of the internal, spiritual renewal God has promised His people. It is the security and peace that flows from being in covenant with a God who fights for you.

Verse by Verse Commentary

Ezekiel 39:9

“Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and large shields, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears; and for seven years they will make fires of them.”

Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out... Notice who is doing the work. It is the inhabitants of the cities, the ordinary citizens. This isn't a specialized military detail. This is the whole populace participating in the fruits of victory. After the terrifying threat, there is such peace and security that everyone can leave the protection of the city walls and wander out onto the battlefield. This points to the comprehensive nature of the peace Christ won. It’s not a specialized peace for a spiritual elite, but a robust, earthy peace for all God's people to enjoy in their ordinary lives.

and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and large shields, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears... The instruments of death and rebellion against God are now converted into fuel for warmth and cooking. This is a beautiful picture of redemptive transformation. What the enemy intended for evil, God has turned into a domestic blessing. The very tools designed to destroy God's people now serve them. This is what the gospel does. It takes the very thing that was meant to condemn us, the cross, and turns it into the source of our life and warmth. All the threats, all the accusations, all the spiritual artillery of the evil one, are gathered up by the victorious Christ and used as fuel for the glory of His kingdom.

and for seven years they will make fires of them. Here we have the number seven. In Scripture, seven is the number of perfection, of divine completion. Think of the seven days of creation. This is not a literal seven-year period we should be looking for on a timeline. Rather, it signifies the completeness and the enduring nature of this peace. The victory is so total that its benefits last for a perfect, God-appointed era. In our postmillennial framework, we see this as descriptive of the long age of the gospel, the era in which the kingdom of Christ grows and fills the earth. The weapons of God's enemies are being progressively turned into fuel for the church's hearth fires for the entire duration of this gospel age, which is a complete and perfect age.

Ezekiel 39:10

“They will not carry wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who made them into spoil and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,” declares Lord Yahweh.”

They will not carry wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons... This detail emphasizes the sheer scale of the victory. The supply of captured weapons is so immense that it completely displaces the normal economy of fuel gathering. For a complete era, they don't need to do it the old way. This speaks to the sufficiency of Christ's victory. The provision that comes from His triumph is so abundant that we are not left wanting. We don't need to go back to the "forests" of the old covenant, or the "fields" of human effort to find our spiritual warmth and sustenance. The victory of our God provides everything we need. The world's threatening postures are now our provision.

and they will take the spoil of those who made them into spoil and seize the plunder of those who plundered them... This is the great reversal. It is the central dynamic of the gospel story. The plunderers are plundered. The spoilers are spoiled. Satan, who plundered Adam and Eve in the garden, was decisively plundered by Christ at the cross. The world system, which seeks to make a spoil of the church, will itself be spoiled as the kingdom of God advances. This is the promise given to Abraham, that his seed would possess the gate of his enemies (Gen. 22:17). We are not destined to be victims. We are destined for victory. And that victory includes taking back the territory, the wealth, the culture, the institutions that the enemy has illegitimately claimed for himself.

declares Lord Yahweh. And it all ends with the divine signature. This isn't Ezekiel's bright idea or a nationalist pipe dream. This is the sworn word of the covenant-keeping God, Yahweh. He declares it, and therefore it is as good as done. Our confidence in the ultimate triumph of the church and the plundering of the wicked is not based on our own strength or cleverness, but on the unshakeable declaration of the sovereign God. He has spoken, and He will bring it to pass.

Application

The application for us is straightforward, but profound. First, we must learn to see the world through the lens of this victory. The daily news may look like Gog is assembling his forces, and indeed he is. But we know how the story ends. God is drawing them out for judgment, not for the church's destruction. We should not be a fearful people, hunkered down in our cities. We should be a confident people, ready to go out and gather the spoils.

Second, we must learn to use the enemy's weapons as fuel. When the world throws its philosophies, its accusations, its threats at the church, our task is to show how Christ has disarmed them. We take their arguments, their art, their technology, and we burn them in the service of the truth. We show how the very things they thought would destroy faith actually serve to warm the household of faith. This is what robust, confident Christian engagement with the culture looks like.

Finally, we must live in the reality of the great reversal. We are not the plundered, we are the plunderers. We are not called to a theology of retreat, but to a theology of dominion. Christ has spoiled the principalities and powers, and we are now, in His name, to spoil them as well. This means building Christian families, Christian schools, Christian businesses, and a Christian culture. It means taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. The Lord Yahweh has declared it, and our job is to believe it and to act on it.