War of Ezekiel 38–39

In eschatology, the War of Ezekiel 38-39 (also called the War of Gog and Magog) is a set of interpretations of Ezekiel 38-39 as predicting a war (usually literal). The interpretations vary as to what represents what, and when and why it happens.

According to these chapters, Israel is pillaged by Gog of the land of Magog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. These pillagers are destroyed by fire from heaven. For seven months, Israel buries the corpses in a valley of Hamon-gog.

The two chapters of Ezekiel 38-39 mention by name several of the grandsons and great-grandsons of Noah from Genesis 10: four or five of the seven sons of Japheth (Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and possibly Madai - later known as Pars), and two of the four sons of Ham (Cush and Phut). Togarmah (son of Gomer), Sheba and Dedan (grandsons of Cush), and Tarshish (son of Javan) are also mentioned.

Primary source: the Book of Ezekiel

The prophecy takes up all of chapters 38 and 39 in the Book of Ezekiel (KJV).

Ezekiel (Chapter 38) :1-13, the section which contains the named references, is provided below in extenso (emphasis added):

1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; 'I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

Interpretations

Description in The Ezekiel Option

Joel C. Rosenberg interprets this in his book as follows:

• It is referring to the present-day Israel which contains Jews gathered from all the nations.

• It is referring to a time when Israelis are dwelling securely (within his book, The Ezekiel Option, it is referring to the peace treaty between Palestinians and Israel).

• It is referring to the "last days" - a period before the coming of Messiah

• The nations involved are as follows:

• Gog - a title like czar, pharaoh or prince referring to a leader

• Magog - refers to Russia based on:

• In Dictionnaire philosophique (see under "Concatenation of Events"), Voltaire wrote:

  There is a genealogical tree of the events of this world. It is incontestable that the inhabitants of Gaul and Spain are descended from Gomer, and the Russians from Magog, his younger brother: one finds this genealogy in so many fat books!

  — Voltaire, Dictionnaire philosophique

• Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus (the Scythians are from areas in and near Russia):

  Magog founded those that from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians

  — Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews

• Rosh - referring to Russia based on:

• Gesenius dictionary where it is identified as Russians

• Meshech - identified as Moscow based on:

• Gesenius dictionary where it is identified as Moschi

• Tubal - referring to the Tobol river
• Persia - refers to Iran
• Cush - Ethiopia and Sudan
• Put - Libya
• Gomer - Spain and France
• Beth - Togarmah

Trivia

• It is central to the bestselling novels Left Behind and The Ezekiel Option, and depicted in Apocalypse and the Left Behind movie.

• On the May 9, 2006 edition of The 700 Club, Pat Robertson spent a segment about how the current conflict between Iran and Israel could lead to this war. He had an map made up with the nations mentioned in Ezekiel on it.

External links

• Ezekiel 38-39