Valley of Hamon-gog

Biblical Text

The Valley of Hamon-gog appears near the end of the prophecy concerning Gog in Ezekiel 38–39. In this prophecy, "Gog, the land of Magog" leads many nations against the mountains of Israel but falls under God's judgment.

According to Ezekiel 39:11, God gives Gog a burial place in the land of Israel: "the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea." Because Gog and his multitude are buried there, the valley is called the Valley of Hamon-gog. The verses that follow describe the burial in detail.

• The house of Israel spends seven months burying the dead in order to cleanse the land (Ezekiel 39:12).
• Men are set apart to pass through the land and search for any remaining bones. Whoever sees a bone sets up a sign beside it, and the buriers bury it in the Valley of Hamon-gog (Ezekiel 39:14–15).
• The city that will be there is also to be named "Hamonah" (Ezekiel 39:16).

This passage is preceded by the account of Israel using the enemy's weapons as fuel for seven years (Ezekiel 39:9–10). It is followed by a scene in which birds and wild beasts are summoned to eat the flesh of the fallen (Ezekiel 39:17–20).

Name and Background

The Hebrew word hamon means "multitude" or "crowd." Hamon-gog therefore means "the multitude of Gog," and the city name Hamonah derives from the same word. The name itself conveys that the great multitude that swarmed in to devour Israel is ultimately buried in that land.

The detailed attention the text gives to burying the dead and gathering bones is understood to relate to the purity regulations of the Law, according to which corpses defile people and the land. Many interpreters also connect this concern with Ezekiel's background in a priestly family.

The location has not been determined. Scholars disagree even on whether "the sea" here refers to the Dead Sea or the Mediterranean. Some connect the Hebrew word translated "passengers" (or "travelers") with the Abarim mountains east of the Jordan. The clause in 39:11 rendered in the KJV as "it shall stop the noses of the passengers," and in other versions as a statement that the way of travelers will be blocked, is also difficult in the original, and its translation and interpretation vary widely. No site has been confirmed archaeologically.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The place name Hamon-gog does not reappear in the New Testament. The themes of the Gog prophecy, however, carry over into the Book of Revelation. Revelation 20:8 names "Gog and Magog" as the host that gathers against the saints at the end of the age (Revelation 20:7–15), and "the supper of the great God" in Revelation 19:17–18 closely resembles the scene in Ezekiel 39:17–20. For this reason, the Valley of Hamon-gog is read as a symbol of the final defeat of the powers opposed to God and of the cleansing and restoration of the land of God's people.

Interpretations and Issues

How the Valley of Hamon-gog is understood depends on how the Gog prophecy is read.

• Futurist interpretation in the dispensationalist tradition regards Ezekiel 38–39 as a prophecy of a war that will actually take place in the land of Israel in the future. In this reading, the Valley of Hamon-gog will also be a literal burial ground.
• Amillennial interpretation in the Reformed tradition, along with other symbolic readings, regards Gog's invasion as an apocalyptic picture of all the forces arrayed against God's people. In this reading, numbers such as seven years and seven months are understood as symbols of completeness (see also: Millennium, Eschatology).
• Historical-critical scholarship views this passage as transitional prophecy moving toward apocalyptic literature and reads it as a text intended to give the exilic community in Babylon hope of restoration.

The Valley of Hamon-gog is sometimes identified with the site of the battle of Armageddon, and Gog is sometimes linked with a particular modern nation. These connections, however, are not stated directly in the biblical text but are claims made by certain interpreters.