Reformational Commentary on Ezekiel 38:13

Sheba and Dedan

Sheba and Dedan are the only nations in Ezekiel 38 lacking etymological association with a Genesis 10 patriarch; instead, they are named as readily identifiable geographical regions.

Sheba was in what is modern-day Yemen, a desolate Islamic wasteland on the south of the Arabian peninsula, whereas Dedan is a city in modern-day northern Saudi Arabia and is today known as al-Ula.

Note that although al-Ula is sited within a rich land, i.e., Saudi Arabia, the same cannot be said of Sheba in impoverished Yemen.

Plainly, neither of them today stand as thriving city states, yet both were known in antiquity as mercantile or trading centres, as was Tarshish, and so in days of old all three named countries were the economic beehives of the then-developed world, and from the fact that Tarshish is prefixed by "the merchants of", it seems clear that the sense is that their names are given as representative of economic powers, or a bloc of such, contemporaneous with the assembly of the forces of the Russian-Chinese axis for the attack on the restored, economically thriving and safely dwelling Israel.

Sheba is mentioned as a source of gold (i.e. material wealth) in the Messianic Psalm 72:15¹ and appears to have been an historic synonym for material wealth (whether accumulated by trade or as a source), while Dedan and Tarshish represent mercantile trade, and Tarshish additionally for maritime capability.

Tarshish

Tarshish, unlike Sheba and Dedan, is the name of an actual patriarch, the second of Japheth's four sons named in Genesis 10:4, and is the recurring name of both a literal and a metaphorical nation throughout the Old Testament, as observed in historical records (i.e. Solomon's receipt of exotic goods brought by the ships of Tarshish in 1 Kings 10:22) and in other prophecies apart from Ezekiel 38 (i.e. Psalm 72, Isaiah 2, 22, 60 and 66, as well as Ezekiel 27), always in connection to Tarshish being a major / the definitive seafaring nation, or a metaphor pointing to such a nation or as encompassing all such nations.

The historical references in the Bible could be construed as applying to Tartessos in Spain, or Carthage, or numerous other locations around the Mediterranean Sea known to be involved in trade with the Hebrews of old, but given the migration of the early nations and etymological red herrings and dead ends littered all around the cradle of Gentile civilisations (i.e. from Anatolia outward in all directions), these references are not wholly reliable in identifying Tarshish.

Rather, the Contemporaneousness Principle (as defined in the commentary on Ezekiel 38:2) applied to the other prophecies invoking the name of Tarshish is the only way to clarify its identity in Ezekiel 38 (if it be one nation at all and not a synonym for a bloc of nations), so that the Bible's historically referenced Tarshish of Solomon's day was likely a Mediterranean city or state long since subsumed into other historical countries and perhaps with its original natives having migrated far away from it, but that in the prophetic references it is an entity, either essentially descended from the Solomon-era Tarshish or metaphorically called Tarshish because of its maritime heritage and its role as a modern financial hub; or perhaps even both understandings are together correct.

Moreover, it is fair to say that, "the ships of Tarshish" is effectively a biblical meme (appearing in Isaiah 2:16, 23:1, 60:9), so strong is the association between Tarshish of old and its maritime activities.

This seafaring entity, then, is also here in Ezekiel 38:13 an economic or trading hub, as emphasised by the term "the merchants of Tarshish".

The most striking prophetic reference to Tarshish occurs in Psalm 72:

"The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts" (Psalm 72:10)

This is a prophecy of the future godly rulers of the nations reverently and joyfully serving Christ in the time of His spiritual reign, the glorious genuine Philadelphian church age that lies in the very near future (as of 2026 - see my article, Why the Age of Missionaries was NOT the Philadelphian Church Era).

Note that the "kings" (i.e. the rulers, not the royalty) of Tarshish in Psalm 72 are the very first future Gentile leaders named as serving and honouring Christ, and that those of Sheba (and "Seba") are named along with them, together forming the only three specifically named "nations" in this Messianic prophecy, with the rest included in the next verse's generalisation ("Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him").

This points to Tarshish, Sheba and Seba as either constituting (as three literal countries) or encompassing (as a cluster of nations) the very first nations that will have received the promised godly rulership under the conditions foretold in Daniel 2's and Daniel 7's destruction of the ungodly world order and its replacement by the righteous being in authority ²; that is to say, the Kingdom of Daniel 7, so expected and longed for by the English Puritans, begins in these nations and grows from that starting point to fill the whole world as Daniel 2 foretells.

(Nevertheless, here in Ezekiel 38:13 these nations and their governments are still in an ungodly condition and have forsaken Israel's defence).

A second striking prophecy of Tarshish is in Isaiah 60:9, as follows:

"Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee." (Isaiah 60:9)

This is a prophecy of the "ships of Tarshish" being the first among the Gentiles to respond to the great transformation of Israel's fortunes that ensue upon its return to the Messianic fold (not necessarily immediately, as no immediacy is implied, but in the aftermath of the conversion of the Jews)³ and in my view can be interpreted as meaning that the largest exiled body of Jews in the world will be located in "Tarshish" (both the archetype nation and, corporately, within its "young lions", i.e., its lesser allies), and that these Jews will be in a state of notable prosperity.

Note that the restoration of these exiled Jews, now newly Christian, to their historical homeland is something Satan is desperate to prevent, hence all the present day agitation from the Left for a Palestinian state.

The "ships of Tarshish" I take to refer not to literal shipping vessels per se conveying them, but rather either (a) to any means of transport originating either within Tarshish or performing a Tarshish-of-old-like role in bringing the treasure that would be newly converted Jews back to their ancestral and promised homeland, regardless of their modern day departure locale (even though I adhere to the theory that most of them will begin their journey from within Tarshish and its allies) or (b) to the godly natives of Tarshish being instrumental in lovingly helping the newly converted Jews in their midst to return to Israel because, for one thing, in Isaiah 23:1 and Ezekiel 27:25 the "ships of Tarshish" are addressed as though possessing rational minds of their own (the inference being that the term applies not just to those seafaring men at the helm of such vessels, but that the vessels themselves are symbolic of their entire nation), and for another, in Isaiah 60:9 there is a hint that Tarshish (and its "young lions") shall be the first to embrace Christ as temporal ruler (through His godly servants being in power, this being a very traditional Reformed and English Puritan understanding of the prophecy), a hint that is confirmed by Psalm 72:10 placing of the rulers of Tarshish as the first Gentile government(s) to give hearty obeisance to Christ in the glorious era for His cause that still lies ahead⁴.

Collating the biblical clues then, the following can be noted of the prophetic Tarshish:

• It represents the world's definitive maritime entity relative to the fulfilment timing of any prophecy it is mentioned in.
• It likewise represents the world's definitive financial hub.
• It will either be the sire of "young lions", that is, offshoot young nations in alliance with their parent nation, styled lions perhaps for their self-assurance, or alternatively (and in my view correctly), it is the leader of a "pride of lions" (i.e. strong and assertive) countries, amidst which are smaller emboldened nations in loyal alliance.
• In its present ungodly condition, it is a geopolitical enemy and opponent of Gog and his Russia and the nations allied with Russia.
• Its rulers will be the first, along with Sheba's and Seba's, to cheerfully submit to Christ during the very near future Philadelphian church age, because all three are named in the Messianic Psalm 72 (as detailed above) which applies to that very era, which, be it noted, begins in the global conflagration ensuing from the Ezekiel 38-39 Russian-led assault on Israel.
• Some time after the Jews worldwide turn to Christ at once and in unison, those not resident in the land of Israel will be transported by "the ships of Tarshish" in Isaiah 60:9, suggesting that most exiled Jews in the world will be found within the land of Tarshish and also within the homelands of its lesser allies (the "young lions thereof"), and note that today, as we near the time of this prophecy's fulfilment and the terrible world war that is annexed to it, most of the exiled Jews in the world reside within the United State of America⁵.

Tarshish in Ezekiel 38:13, therefore, can really only point to one interpretation, and that seems to be the New Tarshish, that is, America or else "Anglo-America" (encompassing Britain as well) and its western allies (e.g. France, Germany, Canada, Australia, et al), leaving "Sheba and Dedan" not as distinct additional allies set apart from the West, but as reinforcing metaphors for the West itself because of their synonymity with wealth ("Sheba") and economics ("Dedan").

This naturally resolves John Gill's conundrum concerning the tone of the statement made to Gog in Ezekiel 38:13, "Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?"

Simply stated, that is not the voice of entreating aspirants wishing to join with Gog's enterprise, but rather is the voice of formal protest emanating from the West, calling out Russia's true intentions on the world stage, for the West's own ulterior reasons.

Confirming via the Contemporaneousness Principle

Setting aside the foregoing deductions for a moment, it is rather straightforward to conclude that Russia's (and its allies') main enemy at the time of Ezekiel 38's fulfilment will be the West as a bloc and so "Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof" minimally refers to the West in general, or as a whole.

But there is nuance to how Russia and China assess their adversaries within the West; as those familiar with Russian mainstream media's new and current affairs programming will appreciate, Russia has a longstanding resentful antipathy towards Britain⁶, going back at least to Stalin's reign if not preceding it, and a like hatred of America, far outweighing any such attitude towards the continental European nations, whereas China has long focussed on destroying America and taking revenge upon Japan for the World War Two occupation of Manchuria.

Meanwhile, among the nations of the West, even though all of them are beholden (at government level) to a singularity, namely, the Scarlet Beast system of Revelation 17 (i.e. the West's supranational globalist ruling elites in a hyper, but largely hidden, socialist ideological configuration), which provides each western government with its marching orders, there is something of a pecking order along the following lines:

• America as economic and military powerhouse, and thereby de facto leader nation of the West.
• Britain, though in recent years increasingly economically weak, is nonetheless a banking hub, nuclear armed, with sophisticated intelligence services and home of many members and institutions of the Anglo American establishment that forms the kernel of the Scarlet Beast system.
• France, chiefly because of its nuclear arms.
• Germany, as the strongest European economy.

And so if we had no other clues as to the identity of "Sheba, Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish", we can conclude from the Contemporaneousness Principle that they must, at a bare minimum, include the above-named nations.

We can now superimpose that conclusion upon the earlier more forensic study of the three named entities and find a matching "photo fit", a perfect alignment.

A Determination on Sheba, Dedan and Tarshish

To reiterate once more, I assess the three named entities in Ezekiel 38:13 to constitute a metaphor⁷ referring collectively to the modern West.

Sheba and Dedan combined with "the merchants of Tarshish" under a single construction points to the world's premier economic and trading nexus, with the suffix "the young lions thereof" not denoting the colonial offshoots of Tarshish-as-Britain, but describes the "whelps", the emboldened adjuncts to the West's core, nations such as Japan, South Korea, perhaps even Taiwan.

That does not, however, alter the meaning of Tarshish elsewhere in prophetic Scripture from the Anglo homelands (especially America, as can reasonably be argued is the case in Psalm 72:10 and Isaiah 60:9).

And it is this western - and western-aligned - group of nations, or rather, their ungodly governments, that shall call out and expose Gog's motives for the coming invasion of Israel, not out of any genuine loyalty or concern for an Israel they are currently in the process of walking away from (as of 2026), but for narrative-building and propaganda in the final days before the world goes to full scale war.

Objection: Dedan Represents Modern Saudi Arabia?

Some might see Dedan, as al-Ula, pointing at Saudi Arabia as a whole in the prophecy, and while it is perhaps plausible that the Saudis might either (a) join with the West in condemning the Russian assault on Israel (a very risky protest if any prospect of a Russian victory appears likely to them, which one must surmise will seem to be the case) or (b) berate Russia for not including it in its expedition (which is the essence of John Gill's speculation on Dedan at al's statement in Ezekiel 38:13, albeit he mistakenly sees Gog as a Turk), the same plausible explanation cannot apply to enfeebled and largely friendless Yemen (as Sheba).

Therefore, if this logic cannot apply to Yemen, then it also cannot apply to Saudi Arabia, a country which in any case is flirting with joining the Russian-led BRICS monetary system.

Gog's Motives Exposed by the West; but Why?

Finally, the West (in its Scarlet Beast form of Revelation 17) and perhaps, but by no means certainly, any remaining Arab friends it has, collectively speaks out against the barbarian hordes led by Russia in array against Israel, but in a way that bespeaks loss of western influence in the Middle East.

Gone are the powerful sanctions that once the West could wage, because dried up shall be the Great River Euphrates ⁸, with – and here I am by necessity being very speculative – possible loss of Petrodollar hegemony in the aftermath of the great darkness of the fifth of the Seven Last Plagues of Revelation 16 upon the western elites and their “Great Reset” plans unravelling, perhaps along with some kind of diversionary military sideshows in eastern Europe and the Far East, possibly right up to war on the Korean peninsula, that may have stretched the western militaries to breaking point.

Regardless of specific reasons, all that the West and its allies will be able to proffer at this stage, bar initiating nuclear war themselves, is a barrage of condemnation that they will not back up with military action, either through inability due to be being stretched as described earlier, or through playing the "first strike" game, in which they would be seeking an occasion whereby Russia and its allies would initiate a global war with the West, in which the Anglo party could pose as the "victim" (again, this is covered in the last footnote to this verse herein).

Remember too the context of the Russian-led barbarian assault on Palestine: the collapse of the economies and living standards in Russia, China, and the other barbarian rabble under the second of the Seven Last Plagues, which I strongly suspect will be related to the miscarriage of their BRICS system.

That is to say, the East, led by Russia, will very probably consider this attack on Israel as necessary for rebooting their economies and pacifying their disquieted populaces as a final preparatory step before proceeding to initiate World War Three.