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13 The Gog-Magog War

 

Copyright © 2024 Michael A. Brown

Reading: Ezekiel chs.38-39

      Sandwiched between the prophetic passages in the book of Ezekiel which speak about the valley of dry bones (ch.37) and the new temple and associated matters (chs.40-48), is a prophetic passage which speaks about a war which is often referred to as the Gog – Magog war (chs.38-39).

      In a nutshell, this is a war that is brought about by an alliance of several nations which are found mainly to the north of Israel.  These nations will conspire together to invade and destroy Israel, but they will be defeated by the hand and power of God as he works on Israel’s behalf.  However, no-one is sure when this war will occur.

The nations involved

      The eight nations involved in this conspiracy are listed in the NIV as: Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer and Beth-Togarmah (38:5-6).  With the exception of Persia, these were the names of grandsons of Noah, with Togarmah being Noah’s great-grandson (Gen. 10:1-6).  So, as nations, they were the descendants of significant historical forebears.  They spread out in the lands where their forebears settled after the Flood, hence giving rise to the names of these nations.

      The human leader of this conspiracy is called Gog,[1] and Ezekiel tells us that he had been prophesied about several times by other Hebrew prophets (38:17).

      The RV version of verses 38:2-3 brings out an important point in how we should interpret this passage.  It says the following:

‘Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal...  Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.’

      This version seems to include another nation called Rosh.  Some commentators interpret this to mean that Rosh is modern-day Russia, that Meshech is modern-day Moscow, and that Tubal is modern-day Tbilisi (in the Caucasian republic of Georgia).  They base this interpretation on the fact that this invading army comes from ‘the far north’ (38:6), and that these modern-day places are indeed directly north of Israel.  But they also interpret it this way because the names concerned simply sound the same: Rosh sounds like Russia, etc.  However, this is simply bad philology, and it is therefore a poor way of interpreting the word of God.

      The Hebrew word rosh means ‘head,’ ‘chief’ or ‘leader.’  This would imply that Magog is a localised empire which has dominion over Meshech and Tubal (among other places), and which is ruled over by a person called Gog.  Hence the NIV (and many other versions) render these verses as:

‘Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal…  I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.’

      If we follow this rendering, then we have the eight nations of Magog (including Meshech and Tubal), Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer and Beth-Togarmah, but those who follow the RV rendering interpret the passage to refer to a conspiracy of Russia with these nations.

      Today, these ancient nations would be represented by the following modern nation states, as in Table 13.1 below:

 

The present-day representations of these nations

 

 

Put

 

The area of North Africa, west of Egypt, so today’s Libya.

 

 

Persia

 

Iran

 

 

Cush

 

The area of central north Africa which is south of Egypt, so today’s northern Sudan (not present-day Ethiopia).

 

 

Gomer

 

The area of Cappadocia in central Turkey where the the Gimarrai people now known as Cimmerians live.

 

 

Togarmah

 

South-eastern Turkey.  Tilgarimmu was a city state in Eastern Anatolia, the south-eastern part of Turkey, near the Syrian border.

 

 

 

 

Meshech and Tubal

 

 

The ancient Moschi/Mushki and Tubalu/Tibareni peoples dwelt around and primarily south of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.  These areas are now in what is modern Turkey, and to the east of Turkey.

 

Meshech was located near Phrygia in central and western Asia Minor, while Tubal was in eastern Asia Minor.

 

Table 13.1 The present-day representations of these nations

      We are told that Magog is the head of Meshech and Tubal, so suggesting that it is a localised empire.  Hence, it probably refers to part of Turkey together with some other areas east of Turkey.  Some think that it refers to the Caucasian republics north of Israel, the area inhabited by the ancient Scythians.  Magog is probably referring therefore to the geographical area that is now covered by Turkey and the Caucasus region.

      Today, these are all Islamic nations.  Furthermore, we are told that Sheba, Dedan and Tarshish seem to want to join in as well (38:13).  Sheba and Dedan represent the present-day nations of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, which are also both Islamic nations.  Gog, therefore, would seem to be a Muslim leader (or, if we work according to the scenario suggested by the RV rendering above, he might be the leader of Russia).

      This seems to point to the Gog – Magog alliance being an end-time Islamic conspiracy against Israel, possibly led by Turkey (which was the head of the Ottoman Islamic caliphate from 1517 – 1924) and perhaps also involving the support of Russia.  Many Muslims today hope to re-establish this Caliphate, as we have seen in recent years with the failed attempt by ISIS.  Many think that Turkey can provide the balance which is needed between the Shia and Sunni factions within the world of Islam, and it can also provide the kind of secular leaning which is palatable to the West.

      Thinking aloud, and without being dogmatic, if such a Caliphate were indeed re-established with Turkey as its main political leader, then this might suggest that the passages in Revelation 13:3,12 and Revelation 17:11 point to the rise of Antichrist as being an end-times resurgence of the old Ottoman Empire.  This would then also imply that Gog is Antichrist, and the gathering of the nations against Israel and Jerusalem during the tribulation period would then be the invasion of just such an Islamic conspiracy.  However, of course, instead of this scenario, this war might take place before the period of tribulation (see below).

      But what is indeed clear is that this Gog – Magog conspiracy is not the same as the conspiracy which is mentioned in Psalm 83 which we looked at in chapter 12.  The nations which are listed in Psalm 83 are the immediate geographical neighbours of present-day Israel, and it is now a matter of historical fact that they have been conspiring against Israel continually (with intermittent outbreaks of war) since the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948, with the intention of destroying the nation and the Jewish people (Ps. 83:3-4).  Whereas the nations listed in the Gog – Magog conspiracy of Ezekiel chs.38-39 are other, different nations which are mainly to the far north of Israel, and their intention in attacking Israel is to plunder the prosperity of the Israelites who by then are a nation living in peace (Ezek. 38:10-13).

When does this war take place?

      This war evidently takes place after the Jews have returned to the land and are safe (see 38:8,11-12,14; 39:21-29), hence after 1948.  Their land has become prosperous, and these nations are again jealous of the blessings of God upon them.  So they again desire to invade and to take this land for themselves (38:10-12).

      Furthermore, this war clearly takes place before the millennial reign of Christ, since it seems plain from these two chapters that Christ is not present on earth to defend Israel.

      Therefore, many commentators place the fulfilment of this Gog –Magog war at some stage prior to or at the Second Advent of Jesus.  There are two main viewpoints which espouse this, as below:

·  Some see it as happening before or during the first part of the tribulation period.  They believe that it will be fulfilled soon, and that it must precede the second half of the tribulation period (when Israel has been occupied by Antichrist), because the land is described as being at peace and dwelling securely (38:8,11).  However, the fact that Israel stands alone with God in this conflict, without any help and intervention from USA, makes many commentators believe that significant changes in the geopolitical power of USA and its longstanding commitment to Israel will take place in coming days.

·        Some believe that it could take place after the rapture, but before the affirming of the covenant with many by Antichrist.  So Israel would then be at peace with its Arab neighbours, but it would probably have no help from USA because its support lobby among evangelical believers in USA would have been removed from the scene.  In this scenario, the seven years spent using the weapons of their enemies as fuel would presumably take the timeline into the second half of the tribulation and therefore into Antichrist’s reign (39:9).

·       Others identify it with the battle of Ha Megiddo at the Second Advent of Jesus.  However, the battle of Ha Megiddo is not an invasion of a peaceful Israel by these specific Islamic nations.  It is a gathering of the world’s armed forces at Ha Megiddo at a time when Antichrist already reigns in Jerusalem, ready to fight Christ himself as he returns to earth (see chapter 23).  So the battle of Ha Megiddo is significantly different to this Gog – Magog war, and Antichrist therefore cannot be Gog.

·  Yet others identify it with the final rebellion against the rule of Christ at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:7-10, and see chapter 24).

The war itself

      We are told that these nations conspire together to invade Israel, to take the land and destroy the Israelite people (38:11-12).

      There will be a great earthquake in the land at that time, and God himself will fight against these invading nations (38:18-23; 39:1-6,17-21).  He will thoroughly defeat them, but the Israelites will survive as a nation.

      Gog and his dead troops will be buried in the land.  It will take seven months to bury them all (39:11-12).  The verses in 39:14-16 are interesting, and they suggest that special precautions will have to be taken when dealing with some of the dead, perhaps raising questions as to what kinds of weaponry are used in this battle.

      In this war, what at first seems to be a hopeless situation against a huge invading army, turns yet again with God’s help into a resounding victory for the Israelites, echoing many such similar events in the Old Testament.

The relevance of this prophetic passage for today

·        We live in the days of the prophetic fulfilment of end-time scriptures.

·        Since President Bush invaded Iraq, and also since the Arab Spring uprisings took place, the area of the river Euphrates in Syria and Iraq has been undergoing tremendous upheaval.  This area is significant in end-times events (see Rev. 9:13, 16:12).  The Euphrates river passes through Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and it forms part of Iraq’s border with Iran.  All four of these nations have been involved in this upheaval, while Hezbollah (of Lebanon) and Russia have also been involved, as well as Western forces and Saudi-supported factions.

·        A pragmatic alliance to the north of Israel is emerging between Russia and the Shia-led Iran, Iraq, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Assad’s Syria.  This alliance is opposed to the West in many ways.

·        Under President Erdogan, Turkey is emerging as a significant power in the region.

·        Iran supports anti-Israel proxies in the area, such as Hezbollah (in Lebanon), Hamas (in Gaza) and the Houthis (in Yemen), while the intra-Islamic split between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran is widening.

·        Libya has been completely destabilized by the West’s meddling and the removal of Gaddafi during the Arab Spring uprisings.  Although the attempt by ISIS to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate in Syria-Iraq failed, yet the remnants of ISIS are now presently focused in Libya, and they are supported by the Taliban and by Boko Haram.

·        Yemen has been devastated by the ongoing effects of civil war, and the Shia Houthi faction have become established.

·        No doubt Israel is observing all that is going on in these nations and is wondering where all this will lead.

      However we interpret the timing of the Gog – Magog war of Ezekiel chs.38-39, it would seem to be clear that the ‘big picture’ of what is presently happening in the Euphrates region is preparing the way for the fulfilment of these and other end-time events.

 

 

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[1] The name ‘Gog’ may perhaps derive from Gyges, who reigned as king of Lydia from c687 – c652 BC.  He made Lydia into a military power, bringing under Lydian domination several areas of what is now modern Turkey.

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