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,’
The critical expositors have enough to do here to enquire out Gog and Magog. We cannot pretend either to add to their observations or to determine their controversies. Gog seems to be the king and Magog the kingdom; so that Gog and Magog are like Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Some think they find them afar off, in Scythia, Tartary, and Russia.
Commenting on Ezekiel 38:1-13
To take a spoil, and to take a prey,.... These are the words of Gog continued; suggesting that he should have no occasion to fight; should have nothing else to do but to seize upon the goods and plunder the substance of these people: to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited: such as were before desolate, and had lain long...
dwell safely--that is, securely, without fear of danger (compare Est 9:19). Antiochus, the type of Antichrist, took Jerusalem without a blow.