Commento su Ezechiele 38:28

toward Gog So is the king’s name.

Magog The name of the nation, as Scripture states (Gen. 10: 2): “Gomer and Magog.”

And I shall unbridle you [Heb. וְשּׁוֹבַבְתִּיךָ.] I shall make you שׁוֹבָב a unbridled, backsliding, envoyzer in Old French, to unbridle. Whoever follows the dictates of his heart is called שּׁוֹבַב, as (Isa. 57: 17): “for he went rebelliously (שּׁוֹבֵב) in the way of his heart.”

and I shall put hooks into your jaws It is customary to lead out a beast with the hooks in its jaws because it does not want to go [voluntarily]. I, too, will put thoughts into your heart and an urge that will draw you from your land to come upon Israel.

and all its wings And all those around it.

Be prepared and make ready for yourself Prepare yourself, and make ready for yourself an army of others.

be prepared [as translated,] be prepared.

and you will be to them for a guardian It is the custom of kings to pay attention, concerning their armies, to how they will march forth, and to appoint guards so that a destroyer should not come upon his army at night.

From many days past you will be remembered From the many days past that you sinned against Me, you will now be remembered before Me, for [Me] to remember your iniquities and to pay you your recompense. And I shall entice you at the end of years into coming to the land of Israel, “returned from the sword” whose inhabitants returned from the exile wherein they had been exiled by the enemy’s sword.

which had been continually laid waste these many years, and [only] shortly before your coming upon them, they returned.

but it was liberated from the nations But you should have taken into consideration that it liberated from the nations, and He Who liberated it from the nations will not leave it in your hands.

like mist [Heb. כַּשּׁוֹאָה,] like darkness that covers the earth, שּׁוֹאָה is broine, bruine in Old French, fog, mist.

words will enter Thoughts will arise.

a thought of evil to wage war against Me.

upon a land of open cities [Heb. פְּרָזוֹת,] dwellers in villages without a wall, who trust in their might and are not [so] afraid as to gather into fortified cities.

פְּרָזוֹת is like (Deut. 3:5): “in addition to the very many open cities (עָרֵי הַפְרָזִי),” without a wall.

I shall come to the tranquil ones and see what they trust in.

to return your hand upon the resettled ruins To destroy a second time the cities that were in ruins until now, and now have been settled.

and to a people gathered from peoples, who now acquire livestock and possessions.

on the navel of the earth In the height and the strength of the earth, like the navel, which is in the center of a person and slopes downward from all its sides.

and all its magnates [Heb. כְּפִירֶיהָ,] shrewd merchants therein, who are accustomed to roam, like young lions (כְּפִירִים), in all the countries and who know where the place of riches is.

Are you coming to take spoil i.e., who told you the place of the riches? Did you know [for a fact] that you are going to a land full of spoil and loot, and that there you will really find powerful wealth?

you will know Jonathan renders: you will know the retribution of My might, i.e., you will know and recognize Who is their might and their stronghold.

Are you he In those days, the Holy One, blessed be He, will say, “Are you the one about whom I spoke in ancient days through My servants, the prophets of Israel, e.g. Ezekiel and Zechariah?” For he [Zechariah] too prophesied about the wars of Gog and Magog (Zech. 14:2): “And I will gather all the nations, etc.” Our Sages said (Sanh. 17a): Eldad and Medad they [also] prophesied about it. That is the שָּׁנִים stated here. Do not read שָּׁנִים, years, but שְּׁנַיִם, two. Two prophets prophesied one prophecy at one time (though not in the same style of expression).

a great noise [Heb. רַעַשּׁ,] through noise and thunder, as he states.

and the cliffs shall fall [Heb. הַמַּדְרִגוֹת.] I heard that they are perpendicular hanging rocks, which appear to be falling, but I say that they are mounds of the towers, for they dig around and cast up the earth in the center to raise the mound, and it is made into steps, eschelons, eschillons in Old French, steps, in order that the earth remain, and after it is pressed down well, they remove the forms that hold up the step.

And I will call the sword against him upon all My mountains for the sword to come upon them, against him. “And I will call” means, I will prepare. And what is the sword that I will call against him? Their own sword: “every man’s sword shall be against his brother.”

and great hailstones Hailstones that glisten like precious stones named גָּבִישּׁ, crystal, as the matter is stated (Job 28:18): “Coral and crystal (וְגָּבִישּׁ).” Our Sages said (Ber. 54b): עַל גַב אִישּׁ: Hailstones that started to fall on Egypt, and stood in the air over the man (עַל גַב אִישּׁ), Moses, who prayed that they not fall, as the matter that is stated (Exod. 9:33), לֹא נִתַּךְ אַרְצָה “[it] did not reach the ground.”