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April 25, 2010 |
| Ezekiel's Battle | ||
In a speech1 at Auschwitz on January 27, 2010, Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, stated that the prophecy of Ezekiel 37 had been fulfilled, when he said
As Ezekiel prophesized:
"Then He said unto me: These bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.'
Prophecy, therefore, and say to them: Thus said the Lord God: I am going to open your graves and lift you out of your graves, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel."
Armed with the Jewish spirit, the justice of man, and the vision of the prophets, we sprouted new branches and grew deep roots.
Dry bones became covered with flesh, a spirit filled them, and they lived and stood on their own feet.
In this study we will look at the prophecies of Ezekiel 38 and 39 which many people believe are next to be fulfilled and soon. But interpreting prophecy is very difficult and results in many disagreements between interpreters. So the purpose of this study is to make sure that you know of the existence of these prophecies, understand the general theme, and are aware of the key elements. The purpose is also to provide some insights into looking for the subtleties of prophecy.
The few times that I have come in contact with a well camouflaged location, I have felt my eyes "tugging" as though they are struggling to understand what they are seeing. While the image they bring to my brain seems unremarkable, I can feel my eyes telling me something is wrong.
When analyzing prophecy we should always be looking for similar pieces of the text, text that "feels" wrong or seems out of place. Often these small pieces of text seem unimportant but are really telling us something important.
We also need to be watchful that the prophecy is using artful language and can't always be taken literally. As an example, look at Isaiah's prophecy about the John the Baptist.
3 A voice of one calling:
In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.
"Prepare the way for the Lord" was not John's message it was his mission. His message was "Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand". Also note that John's mission was not to build a road in a desert or wilderness. That is where he lived. His mission was to prepare a road through the spiritual desert that the people of Israel were in at the time.
As a result, we must always be extremely careful not to buy-in to a particular interpretation of a prophecy. Instead we should frequently weigh the words of the prophecy against reality and be prepared to think in different ways.
Ezekiel was a prophet who prophesied from about 593 B.C. to 573 B.C. About 13 years into that period his prophecies of warning came true when Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple, Solomon's temple. After that event Ezekiel, then one of the captives taken to Babylon, continued to prophesy of events to come. Some of those have come true but others are as yet unfulfilled. Many Jews and Muslims believe his is buried not far from Babylon in Iraq.
f you have never read the book of Ezekiel, you can hardly be faulted. For the past almost 2000 years there hasn't been much reason to. So if you aren't familiar with it, each chapter of the book of Ezekiel contains a prophecy. But many of the prophecies deal with same event or with each individual player involved in the event.
For this reason and because of the similarity between them, most people agree that chapters 38 and 39 describe the same event.
Some people believe that these prophecies are about the pre-millennial battle or post-millennial last battle between good and evil, the battle of Armageddon, but there are many good reasons to believe that interpretation is not correct. Some of these will be covered as we work through the verses.
We first look at Israel in our current time to give us some context to determine if the conditions are right for this prophecy to be fulfilled. Israel has had enemies in her geographic region from the time God brought his people to the promised land, roughly 3500 years ago. That continues to be true from the rebirth of Israel in 1948. But in the past 12 months some very important changes have happened and Israel finds itself almost friendless.
An evil wind is blowing: U.N. approves anti-Israel resolution backing the Goldstone Report2 The U.N. has been moving in a pro-Palestinian / anti-Israel direction for quite a while but endorsing the obviously biased Goldstone report was a significant step forward in that direction. In so doing they eliminated any pretense of giving Israel fair treatment.
Suddenly and as a complete surprise, Turkey has changed from being a friend of Israel to an enemy. For a long time Turkey has been a pro-Western country but an increasing Muslim population has forced the government to change its position on Israel.
President Barack Obama has displayed a significant bias against Israel, requiring them to meet standards that he does not apply to Palestine. Though the Congress has displayed a solidarity with Israel, the President and his advisors have made many statements that indicate they do not support Israel.3
The current world situation relating to Israel and these changes bring us to the words of Ezekiel.
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him 3 and say: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords.
This a typical start to the prophecies of Ezekiel. The Lord tells Ezekiel, who is referred to as "Son of man", to "set your face against" some group. This means to prophecy of coming punishment for some group. In this case the group is led by Gog, the leader of the country of Magog, and the horde that accompanies him.
Note what the Lord plans to do to him. "I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army". The Lord plans to create circumstances that will cause Gog to choose to bring out his army when he wouldn't have otherwise chosen to do so.
Also note that Ezekiel describes an army of horses, horsemen, shields, and swords. Very few interpretations expect that the world will have returned to primitive combat by that time. Most accept that Ezekiel could not have known what a tank was or any modern military hardware. Instead he was given words from the military of his time so that he could understand.
But who is Gog? And where is Magog? "The first thing we need to understand is that Gog is probably not actually a personal name, but more likely a title, like czar or pharaoh. Thus we are not looking for the rise of a specific person whose first or last name is Gog so much as a "prince" who will arise in the land of Magog, a geographic territory in the 'remote parts of the north (38:15)'. […] A quick check of any world map reveals that there are only five such countries [that are north of Israel] today. The one farthest north, of course, is Russia.
"Curiously, one clue comes from Voltaire, the eighteenth-century French philosopher. […] He was a self-declared enemy of Christ […] yet, for some reason, he was intrigued with solving the ancient riddle of Gog and Magog, and through his own research he became convinced – nearly 150 years before the rise of Russia as a major world power – that Magog was Russia.
"'There is a genealogical tree of the events of this world,' he wrote in The Philosophical Dictionary, noting that 'it is incontestable that the inhabitants of Gaul and Spain are descended from Gomer, and the Russians from Magog, his younger brother.'"4
There is additional evidence to support the idea that Magog is Russia. But the exact locations of Meshech and Tubal are less clear. There is a Tobol River in Siberia near to a city called Tobol'sk, known for oil production. Meshech may be a reference to Moscow or perhaps the root word for that name. More than likely the names Tubal and Meshech were the names of tribes and the areas where they lived.
5 Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, 6 also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.
Persia is easy to locate. It is now known as Iran. Gomer was mentioned above. The Gomerites probably lived in the area now known as Turkey but there is evidence that they moved to Germany and perhaps as far as Gaul (France) and Spain. Cush appears to be an area that includes Ethiopia and Sudan, and perhaps Eritrea. Put appears to have been an area that included the countries of Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. Beth-Togarmah refers to the area including Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
As interesting as it is to see who is on the list of countries involved, noting who is not on the list is just as interesting. While Ezekiel mentions "many nations with you" it is believed that this covers countries or peoples that could not be described to Ezekiel. Perhaps the countries never existed in Ezekiel's time. Perhaps the Lord just didn't want to give us some of the information.
One country Ezekiel would have known of, that is not on the list, is Iraq. In the current time it isn't hard to imagine why – they are heavily influenced by the US and not strong enough to stand on their own. This could be an indication about the time frame. If Iraq was strong enough that the US could leave, it's hard to imagine why they wouldn't be involved with this group.
Also not on the list is Egypt. They have had a long standing peace agreement with Israel and seem to be happy with that.
It may be worth noting a common characteristic to all the players, but to a lesser extent Russia and Germany – Islam. They are not all Arabs.
7 Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. 8 After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land …
These verses are talking about building relationships among the various members that will prepare them to work together to invade a land. We see that happening in this very day. All of these groups are making alliances with each other.
… you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety.
This is a reference to Israel. Is the reference "recovered from war" a reference to the death camps of World War II or a reference to the more recent wars between Israel and her neighbors? Most likely it is a reference to 1967 but because Ezekiel says "a land that has recovered from war" it's possible that Israel is recovering from the recent fight with Hamas or even a war that is yet to come. Currently it looks like Hamas, Hezbollah, and their sponsors Syria and Iran are spoiling for another fight. Whether this will be just another fight or become the fulfillment of this prophecy, we can't tell.
9 You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.
10 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11 You will say, "I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land."
The verses above contain a lot of information about motivation of the horde and characteristics of Israel. The horde appears motivated to steal the wealth of Israel and to destroy the resettled ruins and the people of Israel. Israel is currently a wealthy country relative to its neighbors but it is not so wealthy that there would be enough to interest Russia. So it seems likely that many of the participants are there for "altruistic" reasons, for the benefit of other members of the horde. In our time we can imagine the motivation being the perceived justice of returning the land to the Palestinians.
Israel is described as
Is that a fair description of current Israel?
What could the horde be wanting to plunder?
Israel was recently been finding gas and oil offshore
Israel is currently the only country in the Middle east that has nuclear weapons and there is currently a proposal before the UN to make the Middle East a nuclear free zone.
But more than anything they may just want to take over Israel by enforcing the right-of-return.
13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, "Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?"
This is a verse that seems out of place, in the way mentioned above. The text has already told us that they are there to plunder. So this text must be telling us something different. It mentions Sheba, Dedan, and Tarshish. Sheba and Dedan were wandering tribes but seem mostly associated with the areas now known as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and some adjacent countries. Tarshish is probably Tarsus in south central Turkey. But the name seems to have another meaning as sea traders from far away. This meaning seems likely because Tarshish, originally a city, is referred to as having villages. So it could refer to other Mediterranean countries or some other collection of countries, such as NATO, the EU, UN, or perhaps just the US, a collection of states.
These two groups are asking questions of the horde, perhaps as they pass by those nations on the way to Israel. But we don't know the tone of the questions. Is it intended to convey support or opposition? Perhaps that is the intended meaning, that they are conflicted, with some people for it and others against it. It may be worth noting that they ask questions but do not resist.
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? 15 You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. 16 You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.
There are a few things to note here. It seems Gog has noticed that Israel lives in safety and that is part of what brings Gog to action. Also, in confirmation of what was discussed earlier, it is made clear that Gog is from the far north. But most interesting here is that God is doing this "so that the nations may know me."
17 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Are you not the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel? At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them.
Other prophets have spoken of this event.
18 This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign LORD. 19 In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground.
Main points:
21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every man's sword will be against his brother. 22 I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. 23 And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
Main points:
Before we continue on to chapter 39 we must discuss how likely it is for a serious earthquake to occur in Israel. The bible mentions quite a few earthquakes but none of them seem especially strong. But a major fault travels right through the heart of Israel. It is called by various names like Dead Sea Transform and Dead Sea Fault and is associated with the Carmel Fault and Jordan Valley Fault.
The Dead Sea fault is mainly a strike – slip fault but there is a component of the motion that is pulling the African Plate away from the Arabian Plate. This has resulted in the Dead Sea Rift a valley that travels north – south along the line of the Jordan River between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.
"The known earthquakes [from 64 BC to the present] have produced a total displacement of the Arabian and African Plates of the order of only 3 to 4 meters. Based on plate movements observed elsewhere around the world, 2000 years of history should have produced a displacement of about 14 meters. This is equivalent to 64 quakes of magnitude 6.8, or 16 of magnitude 7.3, or 4 of 7.7 or 1 of magnitude 8.0. Therefore it would appear that one or more earthquakes prior to 64 BC was a very large event of magnitude 7 or 8. The large amount of unrelieved stress (~10 meters) along the African Rift zone today also implies a major earthquake is long overdue in the Holy Land."
"Research suggests that the Jordan Valley Fault generates magnitude 7 or larger earthquakes approximately every 1,000 years. The last major event on this segment occurred in 1033, increasing the current probability of a major earthquake. Jerusalem is the most populated city in Israel and is located less than 40 km (25 miles) from the fault."
It's possible that chapter 39 is a separate prophecy but it seems like a continuation of the previous one. It does not have a lead up to the event like we saw in chapter 38. And chapter 38 didn't seem to have an ending, but chapter 39 does.
1 Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 2 I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel.
This seems to be a recap.
3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand.
Like the other references to weaponry, these need to be translated into weaponry of our time. This is the first time we see any reference that could possibly be to an aircraft. But if so, the symbolism isn't clear; if the arrows are aircraft, what are the bows and how could they be knocked "from a hand"? Bows and arrows would be a better symbolism for artillery and their munitions.
Of course there is the problem of what words Ezekiel would be given to describe such a thing as aircraft. Falcons and falconers could have been symbolic of air vehicles. In Revelation there is a mention of locusts with stinging tails that many think are symbolic of flying vehicles. So there are ways that flying vehicles could have been represented.
If this is a symbolism for artillery there is no other mention of something that could be symbolic of an aircraft. So, we have to assume that there are no flying vehicles or they play an insignificant role. But that raises questions about the intent of the horde. Battles against countries in our time begin with airstrikes and an effort to obtain air superiority. There is also no mention of any airstrikes that Israel would be expected to make against the horde as soon as they entered the country's borders. Here are various possible explanations.
But going back to the verse, we see the weapons of the horde become unusable.
4 On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. 5 You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. 6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the LORD.
In chapter 38 Gog's end comes in a rain of burning sulfur. Here it is called fire. These seem close enough to believe that we are talking about the same event.
But the most interesting thing is seen in these words "and on those who live in safety in the coastlands". These would be non-combatants who also receive the punishment of the Lord. The coasts could be of the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea, or the Sea of Galilee. As you can see from the map below, except for a small area around Tel Aviv, the Mediterranean coastlands are Palestinian. The Dead Sea coastlands are Jordanian, and the Sea of Galilee coastlands and the disputed Golan Heights are Syrian.
5
Note something that many others have failed to notice. "You will fall"
So which is it? Is this telling us the horde will be separated into two groups working in a pincer movement and thus be destroyed in two different places?
7 I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel. 8 It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD. This is the day I have spoken of.
In chapter 38 we saw that God's intent was "so that the nations may know me". Now it also says Israel will come to know his name. "I will no longer let my holy name be profaned" is a powerful and important statement. It tells us that the world will clearly know there is a God of Israel and there will be some respect for God after that. This will be covered more in the section The World After
The text "It is coming! It will surely take place" is classically Ezekiel. It appears in other Ezekiel prophecies where the Lord has Ezekiel deliver a prophecy of destruction and the people of the prophecy are not paying attention.
9 Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. 10 They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign LORD.
Here again we need to bring the weapon symbology into our time. The modern military uses very little wood and most people don't burn wood for fuel. We now burn fuel for fuel … and the modern military has lots of that, in this case seven years worth.
Other interpretations. The world has returned to a primitive state and these have once again become the common weapon. Or mine, that this is a grassroots attack supported inactively by armed forces. The goal of the masses is to possess the country and they are armed with whatever weapons they have.
But be careful to read exactly what the verse says. It refers to the towns of Israel, not to the cities. The intended meaning is likely that the towns that are close enough to the destroyed weapons will siphon off fuel to use for themselves.
11 On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east toward the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.
Using prophecies that have been fulfilled as a basis to understand this one, it seems safe to say that the valley will almost certainly not be called literally Hamon Gog. What did Isaiah say the Messiah would be called? Immanuel (God with us). What was his name? Jesus (The Lord is Salvation). What did the people call him? Immanuel.
There is no place called Hamon Gog nor a city called Hamonah. There are towns in the area of the Sea of Galilee with names like Hamma, El Hamma, Hammat, and Mevo Hamma. But, Hamon Gog has a meaning – multitude of Gog – so, based on the Immanuel reasoning above, it is likely that the location cannot be determined now, but the common name for it at that time will be something like "the burial place of Gog's horde", except that we will know the real name of Gog.
March 25: 2011: There is a prominent person in the White House who has written a book advocating the use of a "Mammoth Protection Force" in Israel to "protect" the Palestinians from Israel. The book, "Problem From Hell" by Samantha Power deals with the topic of genocide by the ruling group in a country perpetrated against another group
It proposes the UN insert an overwhelming force into the country to stop the genocide. The author suggests this solution for the Palestine / Israel problem. The solution is being tried in Libya at this moment. At the same time rockets are being fired into Israel but there is no news coverage of that. When Israel responds there will be coverage of the response. "Hamon Gog" uses the word for multitude instead of the word for army.
12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I am glorified will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign LORD.
Now don't miss another important item here. Some people believe that the battle, if it can be called that, described here is the one that precedes Jesus' return to setup his earthly kingdom. Others claim that Ezekiel is describing the final battle between good and evil at the end of the millennium. The text "I will no longer let my holy name be profaned" in verse 7 above is often used to support that view. But the battle prior to Jesus' return is described as occurring in a specific location that we know exists, Armageddon. This event does not seem to occur in that location.
Also, note the kinds of activities that occur after the event. Are these consistent with a world where Jesus rules with the resurrected or a world where the final judgment is occurring? Will Israel be siphoning fuel from military vehicles to heat their homes? Will all Israel spend the next 7 months burying the dead?
This day will be remembered as an annual day or Holy Day. Don't forget to consider that this could occur on an existing annual day or Holy Day.
14 People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. They will spread out across the land and, along with others, they will bury any bodies that are lying on the ground. After the seven months they will carry out a more detailed search. 15 As they go through the land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker beside it until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16 (Also a town called Hamonah will be there.) And so they will cleanse the land.
Notice what is happening here. Some of the people are tasked with traveling throughout Israel to look for and mark bones. Others collect and bury the bones. Also notice how the bones are marked; a marker is setup beside it. In our time this is very reminiscent of crime scene work.
Now we ask, why are they bones and not complete bodies? Was the violence so great that they were torn apart? It does not seem so. The most violent event seems to be the great earth quake, but an earthquake has never torn a body apart by itself. It seems more likely that the bodies have become bones and were scattered due to scavengers. Israel has been unable to collect all the bodies quickly enough. The following verses support that view.
17 Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: 'Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. 19 At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. 20 At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,' declares the Sovereign LORD.
Given the size of the horde, this is not a pleasant scene for us to think about.
21 I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. 22 From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God. 23 And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them.
Wow! What can you say? If I was a Jew I don't think I would want the world to know that I had sinned against such a God. But there would be comfort in knowing that time was over.
25 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. 26 They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. 27 When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. 28 Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. 29 I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.
Phrases here like "not leaving any behind" sound like the result of this event will be a mass migration of the remaining Jews to Israel.
With Israel's enemies destroyed and the remnant disgraced, the Middle East becomes a very different place. Israel would be able to reduce its defense spending thus removing some weight from their economy. Israel would be expected to flourish in this new world. However an in-flux of Jews from around the world, if that happens, could cause typical growth pains.
It seems reasonable to expect that Israel's borders would return to those set by God, not the UN. This would require some negotiations, of course, but I expect the world to quickly accept the idea. My concern is that there could be a 7 year agreement involved, if you get my point.
Isaiah 17 says that Damascus will be destroyed. Only the first and last verses are shown below. The last part of the last verse sounds like Ezekiel.
1An oracle concerning Damascus:
See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.
14In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
Damascus has a size and population similar to San Antonio, Texas. But it isn't clear from my reading of Isaiah 17 whether the destruction comes before and leads to the fulfillment of Ezekiel or comes as part of the fulfillment.
It also seems reasonable to believe that the 3rd Temple would be built and the Jews would restart sacrifices. It's possible that the earthquake foretold in this event will take down the Dome of the Rock Mosque that is the current impediment to rebuilding the temple.
It's important to understand another possibility. Many Jews know better, but some Jews really hate Christians. They hate that we keep saying they killed their own Messiah. They hate that we keep saying the veil still covers their eyes. They don't think that God's chosen people have been given proper respect. These people – I don't know what percentage of the population they are – will say "You stupid Christians. Your lying preachers told you that God had replaced Jews with Christians (Replacement Theology). See! See that our God still loves us. You were wrong about that and you are wrong about the Messiah. He is still to come." We will continue to pray for them as we have and should. But to many people this could seem like a convincing argument that Christianity is a false teaching.
How great it would be to be alive to see such a great prophecy fulfilled. Most of us were too young to remember or not even born when Israel began to return to her land in fulfillment of Ezekiel 37. Even at that time it was hard to recognize it as the fulfillment of prophecy. Where one might have expected a trumpet blast or a great leader to signal the time and lead the people back, it wasn't like that. It was an act of pity for the Jews due to the many that were murdered during the war.
In Ezekiel 38 and 39 we hear that through this event all the nations will know of the God of Israel. They may know it in their hearts but you can expect that there will be doubters and deniers. Scientists will be trotted out to explain the events as entirely natural. Religious scholars will come out to show how this event was not actually the fulfillment of prophecy.
Splash Zone
This study is largely based on the book Epicenter 2.0 by Joel Rosenberg. This is an excellent book. Though a little long in the tooth now, its analysis of the world situation in the context of Ezekiel 38 and 39 is excellent.
1 http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechauchwitz270110.htm
2 http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/u-n-approves-anti-israel-resolution-backing-goldstone-report/
3 http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/03/is_the_white_house_emotionally_1.html
4 Epicenter, 2.0 version, Joel C. Rosenberg, Chapter 9
5 http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/lgcolor/ilcolor.htm