Hamon-Gog

Kings Will Shut Their Mouths

Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand. (Isaiah 52:15)

The Jewish people have been telling the story of the War of Gog and Magog for about three thousand years. The prophecy has firmly embedded itself in Jewish eschatology and psychology. It varies from telling to telling as each generation adapts it to fit the geopolitical and socio-religious realities of its era. In his book, The Messiah Texts, Raphael Patai collates a few texts about the war, including an obscure eighth-century apocalypse titled Midrash Alpha Betot. In this text, Gog and Magog muster for seven years before making their advance:

For seven years there will gather great hosts and many peoples, offcers and charioteers, and riders on horses, and holders of shields and bucklers and spears, and shooters of bows and throwers of arrows without end and without number. (Midrash Alpha Betot, Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, [Wayne State University Press, 1988], 153)

The hour of the attack comes abruptly, catching the nation of Israel with its guard down. The invaders enter the land heavily laden with military equipment. Resistance melts away before their vast numbers and, in a short time, they control the entirety of the land. After the initial invasion, other nations rush to join them:

At the end of seven years up will go a great company and a huge army, with horses and chariots, with bows and arrows, with shields and bucklers, with shield and spear, to the Land of Israel from the ends of the North, like a devastation, and they will cover the whole Land of Israel, four hundred parasangs, they will cover the whole Land ... like a cloud which comes to cover the land … And when they reach the Land of Israel, the nations of the world will hear it, and many peoples will come up with them, and a great multitude, and they will conquer the land. (Midrash Alpha Betot)

We can imagine how it would happen in our day. On the floor of the United Nations, the successes of Gog and Magog are endorsed and applauded. Many nations volunteer their forces to join the occupation. Troops from around the world arrive as a combined multinational force of "peacekeepers" and "international observers." World leaders, politicians, diplomats, celebrities, and members of dynastic royalty arrive to participate in the self-congratulatory proceedings in Jerusalem. There are speeches to make, declarations to issue, and hypocritical pretentions to pronounce. The nations finally find peace through a shared vision (control of the Holy Land), a mutual objective (extermination of the people of God), and a one-world religion (slavish adoration of the Beast). The swollen numbers of their combined forces blanket the tiny land of Israel and spread through the greater Levant. As the final solution first introduced in the twentieth century by Hitler's Third Reich seems about to reach its final conclusion, the deafening voice of a shofar alerts the world to lift all eyes skyward.

The earth convulses and reels beneath the feet of the one who arrives on the clouds. The risen Messiah, who was dead and is now alive forever-more, carries the keys of death and Hades. He opens His mouth against His enemies and strikes them with a single word from His lips: "Death."

The Messiah will issue a decree over them, and in that hour, a thousand thousands and a myriad myriads of them will die. (Midrash Alpha Betot, Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, 153)

Terror, chaos, and mayhem sweep the fields of battle. A thousand thousands fall; myriad myriads perish. They fall on the hills. They fall in the open fields. They fall among the trees. They fall in desert wastelands. They clutter roads and highways, and they foul waterways.

The world's politicians, monarchs, and oligarchs regret their self-righteous posturing a few moments too late. As the power of the Messiah's single-word decree sweeps across the land, they try to hide themselves. No hiding place conceals, no route of escape delivers, no bunker shelters from the power of the word that goes forth from the mouth of the Messiah:

For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together. They saw it, then they were amazed; they were terrified, they fled in alarm. Panic seized them there, anguish, as of a woman in childbirth. (Psalm 48:5-7[4-6])

Feast of the Birds

You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. (Ezekiel 39:4)

The terrible cacophony of that hour gradually falls silent. Clearing smoke begins to reveal a scene of total devastation. A terrible, silent hush hangs over the land. Survivors, few and far between, rise from where they have fallen alongside the dead. Under the dim light of a red sunrise, they survey the aftermath. Abandoned vehicles, smoking wrecks, and heavy armor clutter the roads. Corpses of men strewn where they fell cover fields and hills. All that quiet morning, the angel of death and his reapers move swiftly and silently in smoke and mist to gather sheaves for Sheol on the day of harvest.

As the first day of the Messianic Era wears on, the sun climbs to its zenith above the fields of the dead. In the heat of high noon, an angel standing in the sphere of the sun looks down on the mass of carnage laid out in every direction. He whistles to the four winds and cries aloud to all the birds of the sky, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great" (Revelation 19:17-18). He issues the same invitation also to the scavengers and predators of the field, summoning them to feast at the great sacrificial banquet the LORD has set before them:

Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. (Ezekiel 39:17-18)

The "rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan" are "kings, rulers, and governors all of them mighty men, rich in possessions" (Ezekiel 39:19, Targum Yonatan). Vultures, eagles, hawks, ravens, and every type of unclean bird written in the book of the LORD gather to eat the flesh of "kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men." They assemble from all directions. Similar to the manner in which the LORD drew the international coalition of Gog and Magog from the four corners of the earth, He gathers the unclean birds of foreign nations to join the dinner. Over the coming days and weeks, they arrive in such numbers that, at times, their wings darken the sky by their flight. For several days, they carry out the grisly business of their task. Not one is missing. None lacks its mate, "For His mouth has commanded, and His Spirit has gathered them" (Isaiah 34:16):

"So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. You will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war," declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 39:19-20)

All the winged birds and all the fowl of heaven and all the beasts of the field will eat their flesh and drink their blood, and lick their fat, until they sate and fatten their bones….. In that hour all the winged birds and all the fowl of heaven and all the beasts of the field will open their mouths in praise of their Creator and will say: The truth of the LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD! (Midrash Alpha Betot, Psalm 117:2)

To this feast of the birds, Yeshua alluded when He warned His disciples, "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather" (Matthew 24:27-28). "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left." In reply, His disciples asked Him, "Where, Master?" And He said to them, "Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered" (Luke 17:36-37).

Pruning Hooks and Plowshares

Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them. (Ezekiel 39:9)

The Torah prohibits the construction of the Temple until the LORD "gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security" (Deuteronomy 12:10). Unlike the false peace and security the nation briefly enjoyed prior to the War of Gog and Magog, the Prince of Peace brings a true and lasting peace to earth (at least until the end of the Messianic Era). The LORD promises, "I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble" (Leviticus 26:6). "He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire" (Psalm 46:10[9]). The land has rest from its enemies all around. The people live in security. The time for rebuilding the Temple has arrived.

For seven years after the war, the people of Israel gather the weapons and armaments left behind by the invaders and put them to use for domestic purposes. The abandoned equipment provides the land with fuel supplies sufficient for the duration of those first seven years of the Messianic Era. The people of Israel "take the spoil of those who despoiled them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them" (Ezekiel 39:10).

If we project that prophecy into the Modern Era, it implies that the armies of Gog and Magog will bring with them an enormous amount of arms, armaments, munitions, food supplies, fuel, tactical gear, vehicles, medical supplies, and valuables, which the people of Israel will utilize as emergency supplies during the aftermath of the conflict. They will repurpose the weapons of war for peacetime applications: "They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks"; they will fashion tanks into bulldozers and missiles into irrigation pipes (Isaiah 2:4).

The people spend seven years restoring the land, rebuilding infrastructure, removing the debris and clutter of battle, clearing away the pollution of the Modern Era, and cleansing the soil. Abandoned army surplus supplies sustain the nation and provide the equipment and raw materials needed to rebuild the land. Under the blessing of King Messiah, the land begins to blossom into a garden of Eden. The Jewish people rejoice during the "seven years of Gog," but those seven years are merely "a preparatory stage for the time to come." The Midrash Rabbah compares those seven years to the days of preparation before a wedding banquet: "Whoever helps prepare for the wedding banquet will surely partake of the banquet" (Leviticus Rabbah II:2). "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" (Revelation I9:9).

Hamon-Gog

On that day I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off those who would pass by. So they will bury Gog there with all his horde, and they will call it the valley of Hamon-gog. (Ezekiel 39:11)

The Messiah designates a burial plot for the remains of all those who went up to make war against His people. An unburied body defiles the holy soil of Israel. Human remains transmit ritual impurity. So do graves and tombs. So long as the land of Israel is strewn with human bones, it will be impossible to maintain the ritual purity necessary to reinstate the Temple services and the Levitical system or to participate therein.

All the people of the land take part in the massive clean-up and burial effort. The people of Israel spend the first seven months after the Messiah's arrival attending to the dead by collecting and burying what is left of the dead. They pile the remains in a great burial mound in "the valley of those who pass by east of the sea." As the effort continues, the mound grows to such a massive size that it creates an obstacle for travel, and the highway needs to be rerouted.

Most commentaries consider the "valley of those who pass by east of the sea" to be the plain of the Jordan near the north end of the Dead Sea. Likewise, rabbinic tradition points to the plain of Jericho, where Gog and all his masses will fall (Sifre Deuteronomy 357). Targum Pseudo-Yonatan refers to the valley of Jericho as the place of "the punishment of Armilus the wicked and the battle of Gog" (Deuteronomy 34:3).

This parched wilderness area lies in the rain shadow of the Judean hills, removed from agricultural land and population centers. They name the valley Hamon-gog (בהמון גוג), which means "the Horde of Gog." A nearby city takes the name Hamonah, which means "The Horde."

After completing the seven-month mass burial, the people appoint a society that continues to comb through the land of Israel searching for human remains. When a member of the search team finds a human bone, he sets up a marker to indicate the location. The search teams are followed by burial teams that relocate the bones to the mound at Hamon-gog. "So they will cleanse the land" in preparation for the building of the Temple (Ezekiel 39:16). The purification of the land (Ezekiel 39) anticipates the Temple's restoration and the reinstatement of the Levitical services to which the remainder of the book of Ezekiel is dedicated (40-48):

The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it will not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever. (Jeremiah 31:40)

The Measure of the Plan

As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the plan. (Ezekiel 43:10)

In the twenty-fifth year of Ezekiel's exile from the land, fourteen years after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and burned the Temple, the prophet experienced a revelation of the future Temple. The LORD brought him on a visionary trip to the land of Israel and showed him the city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel saw an angelic being, a man "whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand" (Ezekiel 40:2, cf. Revelation II:I-2). The man with the measuring rod gave Ezekiel a guided tour through a stunning, future Temple in Jerusalem. Ezekiel saw the walls, the pillars, the stairs, the gates, the buildings, the courts, the porches, the storerooms, the chambers, the altar, and all the furnishings.

Ultimately, he beheld the presence of the LORD coming from the east, from the direction of the Mount of Olives, and entering through the Temple's eastern gate. "His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory" (Ezekiel 43:2). Ezekiel prostrated himself as the glory of the LORD entered the house and filled His Sanctuary. Then the voice of the LORD spoke to him from within the Sanctuary, saying, "Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever" (Ezekiel 43:7).

The LORD told Ezekiel to describe the future Temple to the exilic Jewish community in Babylon so that they would be ashamed of the sins that had brought about the destruction of God's house. If the people of Israel displayed a contrite heart, Ezekiel was to show them the details for the Temple. The LORD told Ezekiel to write out the entire plan so that the children of Israel could study "the design of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all its statutes, and all its laws" (Ezekiel 43:II).

When the exiles in Babylon finally did return to Jerusalem, they rebuilt the Temple, but the returnees did not attempt to build the Second Temple according to the design that the LORD had shown to Ezekiel. In Ezekiel's prophecies of the future Temple, the Messiah is already present and ruling over Jerusalem. The Temple depicted by Ezekiel requires the final redemption to have already occurred. It requires the participation of the Messiah in its services.

Even if they wanted to, the returnees did not have the resources to build a grand-scale Temple. The prophets of that day (Zechariah and Haggai) instructed the people to go ahead and build the Second Temple to the best of their ability without feeling deflated by its lack of glory. They told the people not to despise "the day of small things" (Zechariah 4:10), even if the humble edifice they created appeared to them as "nothing in comparison" to the First Temple (Haggai 2:3). The prophets assured the people of that generation that the future Temple of the Messianic Era would surpass even the glory of Solomon's:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory," says the LORD of hosts. (Haggai 2:6-7)

Priesthood of the Messianic Era

Then bring near to yourself Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, to minister as priest to Me-Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons (Exodus 28:1)

Ezekiel's prophecies also describe the Levitical priesthood of the Messianic Era. Only those descended from the priestly family of Zadok are privileged to serve in the priesthood and apply the blood of the sacrifices to the altar (Ezekiel 43:19, 44:15). Zadok was the high priest after Abiathar in the days of David, and the first high priest of Solomon's Temple. The family of Zadok receives the privilege because "they kept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me" (Ezekiel 44:15). The rest of the priesthood is disqualified from applying blood to the altar (Ezekiel 44:12-13), but they can fulfill Levitical duties such as gatekeeping, ministering before the people, and slaughtering the sacrifices brought by the people (Ezekiel 44:10-I1).

Ezekiel describes the laws that will apply to the restored Aaronic priesthood in the Messianic Temple (Ezekiel 44:17-25). The priests are to wear priestly garments made of linen while serving, and they are not to wear those garments outside the Temple courts. They must keep their hair trimmed, and they cannot drink alcohol in the Temple. They must not marry proselytes. They may marry only virgin daughters of Israel or the widows of other priests. They are responsible for teaching and keeping the Torah and overseeing the liturgical calendar. They conduct the observance of the Sabbaths, holy days, and festivals. They must not allow themselves to be defiled by a dead body except in the case of close relatives. They enjoy exclusive rights to grain offerings, sin offerings, first fruits, and devoted things brought by the Israelites. They conduct the various purification rites and rituals necessary to reinstitute the Temple services, and, thereafter, must conduct the daily sacrifices. In all these details, they carry on the work of the priesthood as described in the Torah.

Does it seem like a surprise to see the Levitical priests restored to their jobs in the future Temple? It should not be a surprise. The new covenant promises the restoration of the Levitical priesthood in the same breath that it promises the coming of the Messiah:

In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our righteousness. For thus says the LORD, "David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices continually." (Jeremiah 33:15-18)

The Messiah as High Priest

They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him. (Exodus 28:43)

Perhaps it's even more surprising for modern readers to find the animal sacrifices restored in the Messianic Era. What would be the purpose of restoring the sacrifices after the cross? Moreover, even if the Temple is restored, should not Jesus act as high priest over it? If Christ serves as the high priest in the heavenly Sanctuary, why would God reinstate the weak and imperfect Levitical priesthood on earth? It seems like an enormous step backward. Does not Christ's role as high priest in the order of Melchizedek obviate the Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 5:10)? If there is such a thing as a Temple in the Messianic Era, why shouldn't Jesus be the acting priest?

These are legitimate questions and objections. To properly address the entire topic is far beyond the scope of the material in End of Days, but you can find a full discussion on those questions in the two-volume commentary Holy Epistle to the Hebrews and the much shorter booklet What About the Sacrifices?, both available from First Fruits of Zion.

For now, it will be sufficient to remember that the writer of the book of Hebrews says, "If He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Torah" (Hebrews 8:4). In other words, the Messiah serves in the capacity of high priest only in the venue of the heavenly Temple. "For the Messiah did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself" (Hebrews 9:24). The Levitical priesthood, on the other hand, serves in the "copy and shadow of the heavenly things," which has been made "according to the pattern which was shown [to Moses] on the mountain" (Hebrews 8:5).

The Messiah remains in the role of "a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 6:20), but not on earth. His role in Jerusalem of the Messianic Era is that of the Davidic Messiah "descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests" (Hebrews 7:14). He does not come to abolish the Torah or the Levitical priesthood, nor does His priestly work involve offering "the blood of goats and bulls" (Hebrews 9:13). Instead, He presented His own blood when He "offered Himself without blemish to God" (Hebrews 9:14). He who sits at the right hand of Glory has no need of Levitical ministrations to draw men and women near to the Almighty.

Moreover, the Messiah cannot serve in the role of the earthly priesthood because He no longer shares in the common mortality for which the Levitical priesthood functions. It should go without saying that anyone who has already entered the imperishable and immortal state of a resurrected being does not qualify for the Levitical priesthood, "for the Torah appoints men as high priests who are weak," not immortals (Hebrews 7:28). The resurrected Yeshua is a perfected immortal made "like the angels"; He is not subject to ritual impurity of the flesh or any uncleanness, nor does He rely on the blood of animals to atone for mortal weaknesses when He draws near to the Almighty. The undefiled and imperishable resurrected do not need "the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer" to "sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh" (Hebrews 9:13). Asking why Yeshua does not serve as high priest in the Temple of earthly Jerusalem is a category error. It's like asking why the Pope is not also acting as the mayor of New York.

The Messiah's priestly job is to atone for His people in the heavenly Temple, not in the earthly Temple. He ministers in spiritual realms. He accomplishes His priestly function as God's representative on earth and humanity's representative before God. He does not abandon His post as high priest in the order of Melchizedek when He returns to earth for the duration of the Messianic Era. Instead, He comes to prepare the earth to receive the heavenly Temple in the form of New Jerusalem, in which there is no Temple, "for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" (Revelation 21:22).

The Prince in the Temple

It shall be the prince's part to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the drink offerings, at the feasts, on the new moons and on the sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel. (Ezekiel 45:17)

As mentioned above, Ezekiel's prophecies about the Third Temple limit participation in the priesthood to the Levitical family of Zadok. The Davidic Messiah from the tribe of Judah does not qualify for the job. Nevertheless, the Messiah has a big role in the Temple and its services. When describing the Messiah's relationship to the Third Temple, Ezekiel refers to the Davidic Messiah as the Prince (nasi, נָשִׂיא):

I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince (nasi) among them; I the LORD have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:24)

They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince (nasi) forever. (Ezekiel 37:25)

The nasi plays an enormous role in Ezekiel's Third Temple, so much so that Rashi found the implications uncomfortable. When Ezekiel talks about the Prince's role in the Temple services, Rashi's commentary tries to steer the identity of the Prince over to the Levitical high priest, but that's not how Ezekiel uses the term nasi. Except for Rashi, most traditional Jewish commentaries on Ezekiel identify "the Prince" as King Messiah.

The Prince is responsible for providing the animals for all the required offerings and sacrifices of the appointed times: the Sabbath, the new moons, and the festivals (Numbers 28-29). He will provide the animals from a special terumah (sacred gift) offered to Him by the people of Israel (Ezekiel 45; see also Voice of the Prophets, "Shabbat HaChodesh" [533-549] on Ezekiel 45:16-17 for discussion about the terumah given to the Messiah, his role in providing the festival sacrifices, and their purpose).

Not only does the Messiah provide the priesthood with the animals for the sacrificial services, but He also enters the Temple to worship the LORD on the holy days. Ezekiel 46 describes how the Messiah will enter the Temple through a special east-facing gate on every Sabbath and new moon to worship the LORD. No one else is allowed to use that particular eastern gate. The gate is shut except on Sabbaths, new moons, and festivals when the Messiah enters the Temple to worship. If He desires to enter the Temple at any other time of the year, the gate is specially opened for him, "and the gate shall be shut after he goes out" (Ezekiel 46:12). On those occasions, the Prince presents the priesthood with additional animals to offer up as burnt offerings, peace offerings, and sin offerings (see lesson 24).

A Kingdom of Priests

You will be called the priests of the LORD; you will be spoken of as ministers of our God. (Isaiah 6I:6).

When God brought the children of Israel to Mount Sinai, He told the tribes that, if they accepted the terms of His covenant, He would make them into a holy nation and a "kingdom of priests" (Exodus 19:6, cf. I Peter 2:9). That does not mean every Jew is a Levitical priest. Instead, it means that the Jewish people are tasked as a priestly nation in the midst of the other seventy nations of the world.

A priest functions as an intermediary between the gods and human beings. The priests of the ancient world approached the gods on behalf of others, offered sacrifices for their devotees, and interceded for them. Moreover, they represented the specific gods in whose priesthood they served. They brought their people revelation and instruction on behalf of the deity. For example, the Bible assigns the Levitical priests the responsibility of teaching the Torah to the people of Israel. They are supposed to act as the custodians of the Torah who instruct the laymen in its requirements: "For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek [Torah] from his mouth" (Malachi 2:7).

The LORD designated the nation of Israel to act as intermediaries in a similar way. When the Jewish people serve God, keeping His commandments and worshiping Him as He instructs, they represent humanity before the LORD. Moreover, they represent the LORD before humanity. People who do not know the LORD should be able to learn about God and how to serve Him from the Jewish people (cf. Deuteronomy 4:5-9). Israel has already fulfilled this vocation by gifting the world with the Bible. But the priestly role of the nation is not merely a past ideal; it is a future destiny.

In the future, the Jewish people will fully enter into the priestly vocation. Isaiah says, "You will be called the priests of the LORD; you will be spoken of as ministers of our God." In the Days of the Messiah, the restored nation of Israel functions as mediators of blessing, revelation, instruction, worship, and the propagation of the knowledge of God for the rest of humanity.

The nations stream to the holy city of Jerusalem to receive teaching from Israel "concerning His ways" and how to "walk in his paths" (Isaiah 2:3). People from the nations will esteem the Jewish people as conduits for God's blessing and revelation. Zechariah foresees a time when "ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'" (Zechariah 8:23). They will beg the Jewish people to take them to Zion, where they can enter the presence of God. In that day, the Torah will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

The holy city will become the center of the world for spiritual instruction. The nations will make pilgrimage to Jerusalem "to worship the King, the LORD of hosts" on the Jewish holy days and festivals (Zechariah 14:16). They will bring "the flocks of Kedar" and "the rams of Nebaioth" to Jerusalem where "they will go up with acceptance" on the altar so that God's House is glorified (Isaiah 60:7). The Jewish people will facilitate the participation of the nations, guiding them in the worship of the LORD, just as the Levitical priesthood guides the Jewish people. Then the "burnt offerings and their sacrifices" of the nations "will be acceptable" before the LORD, and the Temple will become "a house of prayer for all the peoples" (Isaiah 56:7).

At the head of the Jewish nation, the Messiah presides like Melchizedek of Salem, a righteous King and priest of God most high (albeit not a Levitical priest). Under His leadership, Israel performs its ancient calling to serve as God's representatives on earth. By means of Israel's ministry, the nations learn God's ways, the world experiences God's presence, and humanity receives God's blessing.

More Tribute From the Nations

Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations and set up My standard to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. (Isaiah 49:22)

The nations that once oppressed Israel will be eager to make amends. In addition to "the flocks of Kedar" and "the rams of Nebaioth" and whatever other tribute they bring to Jerusalem, the nations "will bring the Israelites themselves as a gift to the Messiah" (Song of Songs Rabbah 4:19). Over the course of the seven years after Gog and Magog, the nations bring the lost and scattered sheep of Israel who remain among them back to Zion "on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels" (Isaiah 66:20). In this way, they atone for the long history of deportations, banishments, and Crusades.

Kings do not deem it beneath their dignity to serve as babysitters for Jewish children. Queens and princesses do not think it beneath their station to serve as wet-nurses to the suckling infants among the exiles (Isaiah 49:23). If necessary, the nobles of the nations carry the children in their arms and atop their shoulders all the way to Jerusalem and up to the Holy Temple. They bring them "just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD" (Isaiah 66:20).

Who are these exiles carried to Jerusalem by the nations? Other prophecies seem to indicate that Messiah Himself will gather in the exiles of the nations at the time of His coming, "rapturing" them, so to speak, straight to Zion. They will "fly like a cloud and like the doves to their lattices" (Isaiah 60:8). If the Messiah has already gathered the exiles of Israel, who are these that the nations convey (see lesson Revelation, Rapture and Resurrection)?

One explanation suggests that those carried to Jerusalem are the Jewish people who had lost faith in exile, that is, the sinners and lost sheep of Israel who did not merit to fly to Jerusalem at the time of the coming of Messiah. They are the atheists, agnostics, secular, and assimilated of the Jewish people. They are Jewish in name only, people outside of relationship with God who have been "left behind" by the ingathering that occurred at the time of the Son of Man's appearance:

[They] did not have sufficient merits to be miraculously redeemed and conveyed "on eagles' wings" to Yerushalayim with Mashiach's arrival. Hashem will cause the gentile leaders to provide honorable, dignified means of transportation for them. In this way the gentiles hope to find atonement for having wronged the Jews. (Moshe Weissman, The Midrash Says on the Weekly Haftaros, vol. I, 358 [B'nay Yakov])

This idea can be compared to what Paul says regarding his "brethren" and "kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites" but fall outside God's favor in the Messiah: "For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants" (Romans 9:6-7). Even though many Jewish people have lost faith in God at the time of His coming (Luke 18:8), and many more who are estranged from Yeshua will be unprepared for His coming, God still has covenant obligations to Abraham that He must fulfill on their behalf. "They are beloved for the sake of the fathers" (Romans II:28). Even if there are children of Israel who do not merit the ingathering, resurrection, or the World to Come, they will still return to Zion during the Messianic Era. Then their eyes will be opened. In that day, all Israel will be saved (Romans II:26):

How have they merited this? For the sake of the faith displayed by Abraham, as it says, "Then he believed in the LORD and He reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Song of Songs Rabbah 4:19, Genesis 15:6)

Some For Priests and Levites

"I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites," says the LORD. (Isaiah 66:21)

The people of the world "bring all your brethren from all the nations" and present them before King Messiah (Isaiah 66:20). Then the LORD says, "I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites."

This statement could be construed to imply that God will take some of the Gentiles from the nations and make them into priests and Levites, but that interpretation seems untenable. It contradicts the law prohibiting foreigners from serving in the Third Temple (Ezekiel 44:6-14). Even a Jew is barred from the priesthood unless he is from the house of Aaron, how much more so a non-Jew. Rashi was so startled by Isaiah 66:21 that he called it a "mystery [sod] of God for the future."

Some propose that it means only that the Messiah selects people from the nations to become servants of the priests and the Levites. A better solution suggests that the pronoun in Isaiah 66:21 refers not to the nations but to the Jewish people they bring up to Zion. It turns out that some of the Jews among the returnees have priestly ancestry. Having lost touch with Judaism, they also lost touch with their Levitical heritage. The Messiah reveals their forgotten identity and puts them to work in the Temple. (Compare modern DNA testing that can identify ancestry from the priestly line.)

In addition to Jews who might have forgotten their priestly ancestry, the Messiah identifies Jews from among the nations who have forgotten their Jewish ancestry altogether. These people come up to Jerusalem unaware that they actually are the seed of Jacob, sons and daughters of Jewish families that failed to pass on that identity to their children:

Mashiach will even reveal that some of the 'gentiles' who brought the Jews to Yerushalayim are in reality Jews, who inadvertently became assimilated and don't even know of their Jewish origin! Such Jews will also be returned to the fold, and the [priests and Levites] among them will be reinstated in their proper positions. (Weissman, The Midrash Says on the Weekly Haftaros, vol. I, [Benay Yakov], 358, citing Rashi and Midrash Shocher Tov.)

Priests of God and of the Messiah

Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Messiah and will reign with Him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)

In the Messianic Era, the Jews who trusted in the LORD and remained loyal to His covenant will finally be vindicated. World leaders will come bowing before them. "Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame" (Isaiah 49:23). The Apostle Paul echoes that promise from Isaiah but broadens its scope out to all the disciples of Yeshua when he declares, "For I am not ashamed [by] the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans I:16). What will life be like in the Messianic Era for the Gentile disciples of Yeshua? Those who have hopefully waited for Him will not be put to shame.

When the shofar of the Messiah wakes the sleepers from their graves and gathers the elect from the four winds, Yeshua's faithful servants from among the nations will also be caught up with the Messiah in the air "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." They will be changed and transformed, "for this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality" (I Corinthians 15:52-53). They number among "those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead" (Luke 20:35). Such people will no longer be counted among mortal men; "they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection" (Luke 20:36). This does not mean that they become discarnate spiritual entities. Instead, they will be clothed in their own physical human bodies, now regenerated and transformed by the power of God into the likeness of the Messiah's resurrected body.

The martyrs who perished "because of their testimony of Yeshua and because of the word of God" also come to life to reign with the Messiah for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4). They "will be priests of God and of the Messiah and will reign with Him for a thousand years" (Revelation 20:6). They "will reign upon the earth" (Revelation 5:10).

In what capacity do the righteous resurrected form a priesthood of God and the Messiah? And in what capacity do they reign on the earth with the Messiah? The resurrected do not become Levitical priests or take up roles within the earthly Temple. Instead, they enter into the mysterious and transcendent priesthood of Melchizedek that serves in the heavenly Temple not made with hands. They assist with administering the earth and preparing it to receive the heavenly Temple.

Entrance into the order of Melchizedek is not based on "a law of physical requirement" such as Levitical ancestry "but according to the power of an indestructible life" (Hebrews 7:16). In other words, to qualify for that priesthood, a person needs to be resurrected into the immortal state to fulfill the words, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7:16-17). This exalted caste of priests serves beneath the high priest of their order: the resurrected Yeshua. Although God created human beings as mortal animals "a little lower than the angels," He now crowns the resurrected "with glory and honor" and appoints them over the work of His hands in the place of the angels (Hebrews 2:7).

The Levitical priesthood shadows and reflects the heavenly angelic priesthood, for the priest "is the [angel] of the LORD of hosts" (Malachi 2:7). Every son of Aaron serving in the capacity of a priest does so in imitation of the angelic priesthood, but in the Messianic Era, the resurrected replaces the angels because they have become "like angels in heaven" (Matthew 22:30). God exalts them above the status of the angels in heaven (Hebrews 2:5-9): "For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking" (Hebrews 2:5).

The priests serving in the resurrected order of Melchizedek act as the hands and feet of the Messiah on earth. They carry out His administration, ruling and reigning with the Messiah over all the earth. Those who proved themselves "faithful in a very little thing" in their lifetimes will receive authority over great things, such as "five cities" and "ten cities" on earth (Luke 19:16-19).

Clothed with priestly garments of heavenly brilliance, the righteous resurrected arrest the spiritual ruling forces of this current age. They supplant the seventy angelic princes that currently hold authority over the seventy nations of the world, and they replace all their underlings as well. The order of Melchizedek replaces the spiritual hierarchies of fallen earth by dislodging the rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places that currently hold power (Ephesians 6:12):

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? ... Do you not know that we will judge angels? (I Corinthians 6:2-3)