"Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog." - Ezekiel 39:1-15
Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 talk about an alliance of nations coming against Israel during the Tribulation period. This prophecy, on the surface, is pretty simple to understand. God will destroy all but 1/6 of the attacking nations armies, their losses will be so great that Israel will be able to burn their weaponry for seven years, it will take over seven months to bury the dead bodies of the attackers, and Israel will need to lay down markers for some of the dead bodies.
The book of Ezekiel was written by the prophet himself while in Babylonian exile between 593 and 571 B.C. There are a few parts to this prophecy that could not be understood until modern times. For example, how could their ancient weaponry burn for seven years? Again, we have to understand that these ancient prophets were trying to describe weapons that would not exist for over 2,000 years.
I am not going to focus on the attackers as that will be an entire lesson of its own. This lesson will focus solely on the odd weapons that can burn for seven years and the signs that are to be placed by certain dead bodies.
"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God." - Ezekiel 39:9-10
Ancient weapons consisted of materials made out of gold, silver, bronze, iron, copper, and wood for example. None of those materials can burn for seven years; however, you can burn uranium for up to 100 years. Uranium can be used not only to power nuclear power plants and create nuclear bombs, but when depleted, can create weapons that would resemble items such as bows and arrow. It can also create armor (shields and bucklers).
Depleted uranium can be used to create ammunition for aircraft, artillery, and ground weapons.
When multiple nations attack Israel in an all-scale assault, they will lose. This prophecy is clear that only 1/6th of the attacking nations will survive. With this much uranium, Israel will be able to power their nation for free for decades!
There will be so many dead bodies that it will take over seven months to bury the dead. The prophet stated "And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog" (39:14-15). Not only will Israel be saved from total annihilation, but they will see an economic boom!
There is a protocol that Ezekiel mentions for burying the dead. The first group of bodies will be buried throughout the land. The second group of bodies will be marked and then buried in the valley of Hamongog. Why? Radioactive contamination! In times past, dead bodies were always cleaned up immediately to prevent diseases from spreading and to prevent wild animals from showing up. However, certain bodies have to be marked and left until a special group can remove the bodies safely.
The nature of this war could not have been understood until recent times. Ezekiel had no way of comprehending HAZMAT protocols or how an "arrow" could burn for so long, but we can understand what this man of God saw in his vision.