“Meshech-Tubal is there, and all her multitude, her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread their terror in the land of the living.
Ezekiel's long lament over Egypt turns into a roll-call of the dead. Assyria, Elam, and now Meshech-Tubal lie in their graves. Two questions follow. Who were these people? And why does the prophet keep repeating that they once spread terror among the living?
Meshech and Tubal Identified
These are not famous nations. Writers place them near the Black Sea, far from Israel, and say their story is not yet over.
Morrish Bible DictionaryTubal was a son of Japheth. His descendants are thought to have settled on the south-east side of the Black Sea, and were known as the Tibareni. They sent slaves and brass to Tyre. Their descendants, with Rosh and Meshech, will be among the enemies of the Jews in a future day, and will be destroyed… The Assyrian inscriptions link the Moschi and the Tibareni again and again, under the names Muskai and Tuplai, and Tuplai is very close to Tubal.
What "Uncircumcised" Means Here
Ezekiel keeps calling these nations uncircumcised. The word says something about where they stood with God.
J. N. DarbyAll had already fallen like the uncircumcised — that is, like people God did not own, and so did not uphold. All must give place to this new power in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.
A View Into the Unseen World
The chapter opens a window on where these nations now are, and what became of their glory.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWe look here into sheol and see the nations gathered there, stripped of their glory, in deepest abasement and shame. Their bodies are in the pit, the grave, and their souls in sheol, the unseen regions. God's patience with them ran out. The measure of their wickedness became full. Then judgments swept them off the earth, and they passed away and went down into sheol. And what irony there is connected with it! "Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised."
Terror Returned to the Terrifying
The verse gives the reason for their grave: the terror they once spread. What they handed out, they now receive.
William KellyAssyria, Elam, Meshech and Tubal (though Ezekiel 38 and 39 explain more fully something unusual about them), Edom, Sidon and others north of Palestine all lie there in utter weakness and humiliation. They are ashamed of the might they were once so proud of, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit. Jehovah's terror lasts on, and it falls most on those who dealt out the most terror here with the sword.
One Dirge Repeated for All
Meshech-Tubal gets almost the same wording as Assyria before it and Edom after it. That sameness is deliberate — and it flattens every distinction the nations prized.
Numerical Bible NotesAssyria, Elam, Meshech and Tubal, Edom and the Sidonians are all caught up in one hopeless ruin. This is a judgment not of single people, but of nations… the circumcised along with the uncircumcised. Egypt was outwardly a circumcised people, but for whom it meant nothing. Now all are made equal in the thing that merges every distinction: the common nervelessness and shadow of death. This monotonous dirge, the same for all of them, is part of the lesson. It is meant to impress us with the common blank and desolation in which so many energies, so many kinds of human character and activity, all come into one ruin that cannot be told apart.
A Name That Reappears Later
One name in this list is picked out for special mention. The reason lies in what is still to come.
J. N. DarbyWe have already seen that Ezekiel mentions the fate of Meshech on its own, perhaps in view of what will happen to it in the last days, which he announces later (Ezek. 39:5).
How to Read It Without Gloating
An Israelite reading this could have enjoyed the downfall of old enemies. Kelly refuses that, and marks what makes the Christian's position different.
William KellyThe godly Jew knew from God the judgments of the nations before, and why they came. His heart was not to be unfeeling, and still less was he to insult his fallen enemy and snare, old and recent. The Christian feels for people in view of eternity. But, thank God, he carries the gospel, the ministry of reconciliation. It rests on the atonement of the One who was once here, revealing God in perfect grace, but despised and rejected by men.
Summary
- Terror sown. Meshech-Tubal lies in the pit because they spread terror in the land of the living. God's terror outlasts theirs, and falls hardest on those who dealt it out most.
- Terror stripped. In sheol the nations have lost their glory. Their bodies are in the grave, their souls in the unseen world, brought low and ashamed.
- Terror levelled. Ezekiel repeats one dirge over Assyria, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom and Sidon. Death merges every distinction into one ruin.
- Terror unowned. "Uncircumcised" marks a people God did not own and did not uphold. That is why their power could not save them.
- Terror still ahead. Meshech and Tubal get a mention of their own, pointing on to what will happen in the last days (Ezekiel 38–39). Meanwhile the Christian carries the gospel, and does not gloat.