God of justice and mercy 공의와 자비의 하나님

Ezekiel 39:1-29


 “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^[a] and Tubal. ² And I will turn you about and drive you forward,^[b] and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. ³ Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. ⁴ 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. ⁵ You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. ⁶ I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
⁷ “And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ Behold, it is coming and it will be brought about, declares the Lord God. That is the day of which I have spoken.
⁹ “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them, shields and bucklers, bow and arrows, clubs^[c] and spears; and they will make fires of them for seven years, ¹⁰ so that they will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any out of the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons. They will seize the spoil of those who despoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord God.
¹¹ “On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.^{[d] 12} For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. ¹³ All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day that I show my glory, declares the Lord God. ¹⁴ They will set apart men to travel through the land regularly and bury those travelers remaining on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it. At^[e] the end of seven months they will make their search. ¹⁵ And when these travel through the land and anyone sees a human bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. ¹⁶ (Hamonah^[f] is also the name of the city.) Thus shall they cleanse the land.
¹⁷ “As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, of bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan. ¹⁹ And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. ²⁰ And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors,’ declares the Lord God.
²¹ “And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. ²² The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. ²³ And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. ²⁴ I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.

The Lord Will Restore Israel

²⁵ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶ They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, ²⁷ when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies' lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. ²⁸ Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. ²⁹ And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”


Thinking and understanding

As prophesied(38:17-23), Gog of Magog and his coalition army would be defeated and destroyed. The Israelites would cleanse the land by burning the weapons abandoned by their enemies and burying the bodies of their enemies for seven months (vv1-16). In addition to Gog's destruction, God promised the restoration of Israel. God, who 'before' had hidden his face from his people in anger, would 'now' turn his face to his restored people and pour his spirit on them(vv. 17-29).

이미 예고된 대로(38:17-23) 마곡의 곡과 그 연합군의 패배와 멸망의 날이 이를 것입니다. 이스라엘은 패배한 적들이 버린 무기를 불태우고, 그들을 일곱달 동안 매장하며 그 땅을 정결하게 할 것입니다(1-16). 곡의 멸망에 이어, 이스라엘의 회복을 약속하십니다. '이전에' 자기 백성을 향해 진조하며 얼굴을 가리셨던 하나님이, 이제는 회복된 그들에게 얼굴을 향하고 자신의 영을 부어주실 것입니다.


Who is God?

VV.17-29 God is the God of justice and mercy. Through God's destruction, God accomplished justice, glorified his name by bestowing mercy through the restoration of Israel. Do we only think of God as the God of grace and mercy? Remember that God also executes justice. 

정의와 자비의 하나님이십니다. 하나님은 곡의멸망을 통해서는 정의를 이루시고, 이스라엘의 회복을 통해서는 자비를 베푸시며 영광을 받으십니다. 나는 하나님을 자비와 은혜의 하나님으로만 생각하고 있습니까? 하나님은 정의를 이루시는 분임을 기억하십시오.


What lesson is God teaching us?
 
 Vv. 9-16All the Israelites did for the war was clear away the debris and dead bodies. God personally fights on our behalf today. In the face of what battles in our lives are we floundering rather than relying on the Lord? 


이스라엘이 전쟁을 위해 한 일은 시체를 치우고 잔해를 정리한 것뿐입니다. 하나님은 오늘도 우리를 위해 직접 싸우십니다. 아직도 주님께 맡기지 못하고 허둥대는 내 삶의 전쟁은 무엇입니까?