The terms Gog and Magog show up in two locations in the Bible. The first is Ezekiel 38, where they lead a Middle-Eastern coalition of troops to attack Israel, but are destroyed by an earthquake and, due to the treatment of the remains, nuclear weapons.
The second is at the end of the Book of Revelations, when, after a thousand years of peace, Gog and Magog lead an army against the City of God and are destroyed by fire from heaven. This ends The Millennium and leads into the resurrection of the wicked and final judgment.
It is important to note that these do not describe the same events. Ezekiel described a war prior to the Second Coming (although, whether it is the Battle of Armageddon or earlier is debated), whereas Revelations is clearly set much later.
During the Cold War, and continuing into today, many Biblical scholars interpreted Gog and Magog to refer to the former Soviet Union and their respective peoples. There were two primary reasons for this. First, Ezekiel relates that Gog and Magog would descend on Israel from "the north parts." So, it was a simple matter of drawing a straight line north. Second, Gog and Magog are identified with the Scythians, which are generally associated with the peoples of the lower Russian steppes.
Both of these are over simplifications. The Scythians were nomadic peoples that originated in what is now modern-day Iran, and spread eastward and northward across northern Iraq and Iran, into Eastern Turkey and northward in the area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and northward. The peoples most closely associated with that same region now are the Kurds.
The allies of Gog and Magog are also interesting, because several represent peoples and tribes that eventually settled into what is modern day Turkey and Armenia.
Joel Richardson had previously published a book explaining his theory that the Anti-Christ will, in fact, be Middle-Eastern. World Net Daily has an article based Richardson's latest book explaining who are Gog and Magog and their allies. (Link here).
Update: Just want to emphasize the article written by Dr. Goodman and referenced in his comment to this post.
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I am a professional archeologist. Many end times aficionados believe that Magog represents Russia and that Russia will soon come to invade Israel. However, the ancient Assyrians had dealings with Magog, and their Court records clearly identify Magog and it is not Russia. For decades Christians have been deceived and have been unwittingly deceiving others about who is to be involved in the prophesied invasion of Israel. Russia has absolutely nothing to do with Magog and being the nation that will lead an invasion of Israel.
ReplyDeleteThe Assyrian Royal Court dealt with each of these nations directly about 100 years before Ezekiel wrote, and their records are reliable, clear and detailed. These are the same records that are referred to in Ezra 4:15 and the same records used to verify the historical events written about in scripture from circa 800 B.C. to 400 B.C. These records represent the primary source on this subject as opposed to secondary sources which are often not based on facts and very often the product of mischief, bias or lack of study.
Any reference to Josephus is of no avail because historians and archeologists know from a multitude of written records, that the Greeks (such as Herodotus) did not call Magog the Scythians. All of our earliest copies of Josephus come from eleventh century Monks and the passage that is often referred to is clearly a forgery for several reasons obvious to historians and archeologists who study the ancient Near East. Please consider taking the time to read my report Debunking the Russia/War of Gog and Magog Myth on this important subject that recently appeared in the Christian Post Blogs on March 15, 2012.The link is http://blogs.christianpost.com/guest-views/debunking-the-russia-war-of-gog-and-magog-myth-8754/#more. This report can also be found on my blog site for 2/9/12: http://www.newscientificevidenceforgod.com/search?updated-max=2012-03-19T18:07:00-07:00
Jeffrey Goodman