2500 years ago the prophet Ezekiel forecast a great battle against Israel by a leader from the 'uttermost' North named Gog. Gog is the leader of Magog. He is also called the chief prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. These events are to happen 'after many days' and 'in future years.' Most students of Bible prophesy understand these phrases to point to an end time scenario, especially since they haven't happened yet.
To most people, names like Gog, Magog, Meshech, and Tubal are meaningless, but scholars have studied them for hundreds of years and they actually have fairly clear meanings. In this study, I will use the most common understandings, although some of them do have various interpretations.
Gog is a term for a leader, either a personal name or a spiritual being such as Daniel's prince of Persia. It is important to note that God is against Gog and you don’t want to be for someone God is against!
Magog was one of Noah's grandsons and is found in the Table of Nations listed in Genesis 10. Josephus, the Jewish historian from the first century, equates them with the Scythians which moved into what is now southern Russia. Wilhelm Gesenius, author of the foundational Hebrew Lexicon in the 1800's, also equated Magog with Russia. Also, Russia is the only country to the 'uttermost north' of Israel.
Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal have also been linked to Russia. Rosh is said to be a name for Russia (Hebrew Lexicon of Brown, Driver, and Briggs) or it could mean 'head', however Israeli newspapers commonly use the name Rosh when referring to Russia even today. Meshech is most often equated with Moscow and Tubal is equated with Tobalsk. These identifications were made long before Russia ever became a super power.
The confederates of Gog are listed as Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer, and Beth Togarmah and "many nations with you."
‘Persia’ is easy to identify as it was called this until recently changing its name to Iran. ‘Cush’ represents the upper Nile region and has long been equated with Sudan and Ethiopia. ‘Put’ historically is Libya. Ancient archers from Phut were elements of the Egyptian armies coming from the area of modern Libya.
‘Beth Togarmah’ means house of Togarmah. Most scholars agree that they come from the area of Turkey and Armenia. ‘Gomer’ is harder to locate but many believe is refers to Germany. During WW1 Germany was known as Gomer land. It could also refer to a region north of the Black Sea which is controlled by Russia. If the first is true, then we will see Germany increasingly becoming anti-Semetic.
After many years, Gog is told to gather his forces together and take command of them. Many believe this is what Russia is doing right now. In 1982, Israel made a pre-emptive strike into Lebanon uncovering stockpiles of weapons and documents which proved Russia was ready to attack later that year. This is documented in the book Magog 1982 - Canceled by David Allen Lewis.
Once again, we see Russia building ties with Iran, Syria, Libya and other radical Islamic states. Putin announced that "Russia is determined to enhance cooperation with the Islamic world." Silly American diplomats have handcuffed themselves by joining with the so-called Quartet (Russia, EU, UN, and U.S.) to try and solve the Mideast problems when Mideast turmoil is to the advantage of at least half of the Quartet! But, as usual the nations of the world fail to take into account God’s feelings on the issue. God says "I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army." Two things are clear: 1) God is in charge of the situation, and 2) something will happen to force Russia's hand.
(To be continued in Gog, part two)
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