What is the context?
Those living in Israel’s cities will use the invaders’ weapons as fuel for seven years. Instead of carrying off Israel’s possessions, the attackers leave behind resources for the people they intended to plunder. The reversal is made explicit: the plundered become those who take the spoil.
Gog and his forces receive a burial place in the land they invaded. The people spend seven months burying the dead to cleanse the land, followed by a continuing search for remains. Anyone finding a human bone marks it so that the buriers can collect it.
The concern with cleansing has a background in Numbers 19:11–22, where contact with a corpse, human bone or grave brings ritual uncleanness. Here, even overlooked remains are to be dealt with. The victory includes putting the land in order after the devastation.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Cambridge explains the weapons as fuel and the continuing search as care for remains missed during the first burial work. Wesley draws attention to the reversal: Gog receives a place in Israel, but as a grave rather than a conquered possession.
Henry also draws a lesson about persistent work to remove the reproach left in the land. The readers differ in how far they apply the details as pictures of spiritual renewal, but agree that the aftermath displays the completeness of God’s victory.
The passage gives seven years for burning weapons and seven months for the initial burials. Those details deserve attention when considering a proposed timetable; they do not, by themselves, establish the date of the battle or a particular modern technology.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.