Gog, Magog, and the Chief Prince of Meshach and Tubal
There is no way to approach this chapter except through utter
honesty. Most scholars clearly do not
fully understand this chapter. There
have been a number of attempts to understand this chapter, but the reality is
that once you get past generalities you can only say you are speculating at
best. So as you read this chapter,
understand that dynamic.
The problem is that we don’t know exactly what Gog, Magog, and the
chief prince of Meshach and Tubal represent.
The word “Gog” appears in the Bible in 1 Chronicles 5:4 as a descendant
of Reuben. It would seem this reference
is of no help. The word appears all over
in Ezekiel 38-39. The only other place
in the bible that the word appears is in Revelation 20:8. We’ll get to that in a few paragraphs.
As for Magog, the word literally means, “From Gog.” Magog is listed in Genesis 10 as the second
son of Japeth, the son of Noah. In fact,
Meshach and Tubal (as well as Gomer) are also listed as sons of Japeth. Magog is also listed in 1 Chronicles 1:5,
which mirrors the account from Genesis.
Magog appears in Ezekiel 38-39 and in the aforementioned verse from
Revelation.
Biblically speaking, Gomer, Meshech, and Tubal are significant to gaining
an understanding of these names. Meshech,
Gomer, and Tubal were all tribes of people (later nations) who were in the Caucasus
region surrounding the Black Sea. Thus,
it is likely that the reference to Gog, Magog, Meshech, and Tubal are all
speaking of the regions we call northern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and
Georgia in the modern day. To add
validity to this interpretation, the people of those regions often claim
history to Japeth through Gomer, Meshech, and Tubal.
It is actually in the Revelation 20:8 reference that I believe we arrive
at truth as to what Gog and Magog might represent. Notice that in Revelation 20:8 the reference
to Gog and Magog simply seems to give a name to “the nations at the corners of
the world.” In other words, from the
Hebrew mindset you have the Promised Land, all of the adjacent powers (Edom,
Syria, Lybia, Tyre, Sidon, Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Cush, Put, Philistia, Ammon,
etc), and then you have “the rest of the world – most of which is not known to
us” (Gog and Magog). Therefore, in
Ezekiel 38-39 when I read about Gog and Magog I don’t think of a particular
land as much as I conceptualize “the people unknown to the Hebrew people at the
time of the writing of Ezekiel.”
There is one more word that needs to be dealt with. Among the references to Gog, Magog, Meshech,
and Tubal we have a reference to the “chief prince.” In Hebrew, the word for chief is “rosh.” It is unknown if this is a proper name or an
adjective. The ESV and many translations
treat this as an adjective giving us the translation “chief prince.”
However, there was a pair of kings – grandfather and grandson – in
the regions of the Caucasus whose name was Rusa. They were king of a people called the
Urartu. They were defeated by the
Assyrians and Babylonians, so clearly they would have been in the ballpark of
being contemporaries of Ezekiel and perhaps being known by him. It could be that instead of “chief prince”
that this passage is meant to read “Rusa, prince of Meshech and Tubal.”
Of course, there are some modern people who see the word rosh and
know of the general geography and thus want to make Ezekiel 38-39 be about
Russia attacking the Hebrew people.
Personally, I believe this interpretation is to be avoided at all
costs. It makes far too many linguistic
assumptions that Ezekiel would simply not have had access to at the time of
this writing.
Thus, as we go through the next two chapters I believe what
Ezekiel is trying to say is that there will come a day when the “rest of the
unknown world” will rise up against God.
That is the general truth that I believe we can hear when we study this
passage. When we go too far beyond this
truth it is important that we understand that we are speculating at best.
War Against God’s People
What can we learn from this chapter? Ezekiel talks about a time in the “latter
days” when Gog, Magog, and all its allies of Cush (Egypt), Persia (Iran), and
Gomer (Turkey) will come against Israel.
Geographically, note what Ezekiel is saying. I don’t think he is being specific to countries
as must as he is being specific to geography.
The people of the far reaches of the world will ally with the neighbors
of Israel to the east, southwest, and north.
Keep in mind that the west and south/southeast are water, so there is
nobody with whom to ally there.
Essentially, Ezekiel is saying that a time will come in the latter days
when Israel will be attacked from all sides, far and near. God’s people – God himself – will be challenged
by the whole world. As Ezekiel says, in
that day the world will devise an evil scheme and come against God.
Why will this happen? Verse
14 tells us the answer. The people of
God will be living securely. This doesn’t
mean that they will be safe behind walls.
It means that they will be living the way God wants them to live. They will be at peace with one another. They will be forgiving one another. The society of God’s people will be …
secure! And the world will hate it. The world will want to take it and steal
it. The world will come to war with God’s
people simply because it cannot stand that God’s people will live securely.
I find this a sad prophecy.
Living securely in God is first and foremost about submission. Yet the people of the world will come by
force to take it. Security in life is
not gained by throwing your weight around.
Security in life is about understanding that with God, you don’t have
to. Security in life begins by knowing
that “God is Lord.”
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