(6) A fire on Magog.--Magog is the country of Gog (Ezekiel 38:1), and the Divine judgment is to fall therefore not only upon the army in the land of Israel, but also upon the far-distant country of Gog. In Revelation 20:9 this fire is represented as coming "down from God out of heaven."

In the isles.--This common Scriptural expression for the remoter parts of the earth is added here to show the universality of the judgment upon all that is hostile to the kingdom of God.

39:1-10 The Lord will make the most careless and hardened transgressors know his holy name, either by his righteous anger, or by the riches of his mercy and grace. The weapons formed against Zion shall not prosper. Though this prophecy is to be fulfilled in the latter days, it is certain. From the language used, it seems that the army of Gog will be destroyed by miracle.And I will send a fire on Magog,.... On the land of Magog; see Ezekiel 38:2, while Gog is in the land of Israel, and he and his army perish there, his country shall be destroyed by fire, or by some judgment or judgments of God, which shall consume like fire. The Septuagint version renders it, "I will send a fire on Gog"; but he before is said to fall upon the mountains of Israel; his country is meant; it designs the destruction of the Ottoman empire:

and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: that belong to the Turkish dominions; not only the habitants of the Continent shall be consumed, but those that dwell in islands, and think themselves safe and secure, and so live carelessly; or such who live on the sea coasts, it being usual in Scripture to call such places isles; and may intend those who dwell near the Exine and Caspian seas:

and they shall know that I am the Lord: by his judgments executed upon them.