Hello, again my friends and readers!
I would like to take a moment of your time to revisit Ezekiel Chapter 38 in light of recent developments. Although this article is entitled Gog of Magog there isn't really much which can be said about him or her which can be clearly seen at the moment. However, we are of the view that the land of Magog may be identifiable and doing and looking at recent developments there may aid us as far as understanding the prophecy and anticipating events which may not be so far off. So let's take a look at the first three verses of the prophecy:
Eze 38:1-3 And the word of Jehovah was to me, saying, (2) Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him. (3) And say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
(Green's Literal Translation, to be used unless otherwise specified)
Jay Green has translated the verse literally here while most translations tweak it based on their views. I can verify the Hebrew reads "set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him." So what if we are dealing with a land,or country instead of an individual as most anticipate? That would certainly change our understanding of what's ahead a bit. However, we're not sure just how much that would be.
In order to understand the prophecy, we must first find out who the players are. To do that let's go back to Genesis, where Magog is first mentioned:
Gen 10:1-5 And these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. (2) The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. (3) And Gomer's sons were Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. (4) And Javan's sons were Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. (5) The coasts of the nations were divided by these in their lands each by his tongue, by their families, in their nations.
There we have it, that is what we know of Magog according to the Bible. He appears in 1 Chronicles chapter one but as part of a genealogical list. In Hebrews chapter 39 Magog is also linked to the people dwelling in the island, likely the islands of the Aegean Sea and Cyprus. This, of course, is in keeping with Genesis. Scholars tend to place the Descendants of Magog in the Cappodicean and Anatolian regions of modern Turkey, where some references in documents from the Persian period seem to place them as the Persians had to deal with attacks from there attributed to a people with a name similar to Magog. The picture above places them in Anatolia.
However, we think this might be a mistake. As time went by people moved when they were displaced by more aggressive peoples. In the region of Anatolia, the peoples of the Steppes of Asia are famous for their invasions, often forcing others, as some of the Magogans, to move further West. We think understanding where some of the Children of Magog went may well be the key to understanding the prophecy. As part of our participation in a Bible Study we attend, we were asked to research the people named in Genesis ten and try to glean information on not only where those people settled according to that chapter of the bible but also where they might be now. We were astounded when we came to Magog and dug deeper. Here is a passage from Wikipedia from my notes which was most interesting"
Jordanes' Getica (551) mentions Magog as ancestor of the Goths, as does the Historia Brittonum, but Isidore of Seville (c. 635) asserts that this identification was popular "because of the similarity of the last syllable" (Etymologiae, IX, 89). Johannes Magnus (1488–1544) stated that Magog migrated to Scandinavia (via Finland) 88 years after the flood, and that his five sons were Suenno (ancestor of the Swedes), Gethar (or Gog, ancestor of the Goths), Ubbo (who later ruled the Swedes and built Old Uppsala), Thor, and German.[4] Magnus' accounts became accepted at the Swedish court for a long time, and even caused the dynastic numerals of the Swedish monarchs to be renumbered accordingly. Queen Christina of Sweden reckoned herself as number 249 in a list of kings going back to Magog. Magnus also influenced several later historians such as Daniel Juslenius (1676–1752), who derived the roots of the Finns from Magog.
In ancient times a Greek historian and several others identified the tribe of Magog with the Scythians, who were basically from the Anatolian region. But by 551 a.d. we see them identified with the Goths as well and the residing first in Scandanavia before migrating back towards the Black Sea area before running up against a wall, so to speak. That pretty much comports with the record modern scholars favor of the Goths originating in Scandanavia and moving Southeast as far as the Black Sea before being forced to move Westward. Of course, we also don't want to forget the Magog had other descendants who scattered in other directions as well.
The Wikipedia entry also mentions medieval stories of the Irish descending from Magog as well. According to History the Goths, Visigoths, and Ostrogoths all invade the European continent and dominated for a period before being assimilated into the populace. Some royal families descended from gothic kings, etc. Given the Irish, some of the last of the Celts claim an origin with Japheth's son, a picture emerges of the descendants of Magog primarily inhabiting modern Europe from very ancient times. This would also not be inconsistent with other views of Magog, which primarily focus on only one branch of a wider family.
So, now, let's go back to the prophecy and look again:
Eze 38:1-3 And the word of Jehovah was to me, saying, (2) Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him. (3) And say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
Most eschatologists, or students of end times prophecies, identify the land of Gog with Russia and see a revived Russian Empire invading Israel from the North in cooperation with the Arab world, though they prefer not to use that word for them and that's fine as far as it goes. The Russians as a race are European with some descending from the Goths and others descending from other peoples of European origin. It is just in the far-flung parts of Russia where we find Russians descended from Asia and middle eastern races. However, recent developments might indicate that the land of Gog is Europe proper in modern times and they may lead the charge.
In recent times we've been witness to an invasion of massive proportions through immigration by an aggressive people very hostile to other cultures who also believe their purpose is to bring those cultures down and replace them with their religious/political ideology and culture. At first, they came quietly and settled into neighborhoods all over Europe while keeping a lower profile. But as their numbers grew they took those neighborhoods together and started excluding others, even the police. Then within those neighborhoods, they imposed their own culture, law, etc. proclaiming the neighborhoods as islands of their one lands in the midst of the countries they settled in.
As their numbers grew they expanded those neighborhoods and started demanding the host culture start accommodating theirs instead of assimilating into the larger host. And more and more invade these immigrants are roaming the streets intimidating their hosts into submission to their will through rape, beat downs, destruction of property, and other violent means. But there is something else very interesting about these invaders.
They are Muslims, the peoples from the very nations the bible informs us will ally with the land of Gog in that day and invade Israel. Although they are still a relatively small minority the Europeans are having a hard time handling, the invasion continues and they grow bolder every day. that doesn't bode well for those in Europe who've become rather timid through the last half of the 20th-century from indoctrination with so called "progressive" views, the legacy of the Jacobins of the French Revolution.
Added to that those neo-Jacobins have managed to impose a unitarian government on the nations of Europe, the European Union which the Brexit vote in the United Kingdon just called for the country to exit. The political leaders are already trying to find a way to keep that country in despite the vote and EU bureaucrats are already proposing in the wake of it an immediate surrender of autonomy and sovereignty of member nations to the EU to prevent any further countries from following suit. We think they may succeed on both counts, though an EU without the United Kingdom will still work where prophecy is concerned.
As more and more Muslims enter Europe under the open border policies of the European Elite leaders their own leaders will begin to exert more and more influence on governmental policies, especially if the European Union remains in essentially the same form it has. So it is easy to see where the mover and shaker for the invasion of Israel may well come from that quarter in fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy. Europe is running out of resources. Their Green policies aren't working out very well, so they are going back to fossil fuels for the energy they need. If the people of the UK succeed in leaving the European Union a very much needed resource, the oil fields of the North Sea will mostly be denied them.
And to their South? They'll see the land of Israel with all the resources being discovered there in the way of oil and natural gas. As the hatred of Israel and the Jewish people grow in the minds of Europeans due to the efforts of both the intelligentsia and Muslim leaders it will be only natural to see Israel as an answer by both groups for two very different reasons. At that point, it won't be hard at all for God to give them the final nudge into disaster.
We think the Muslim invasion is the "hooks" God is even now putting into Gog's mouth to lead them to ruin in the great day of his wrath.
