Gog and Magog giving Paddy a lift out of the mire. From Punch magazine, 1846

References to Gog and Magog appear in the Book of Revelation, in the Qur'an as Yajooj-Majooj (Arabic يأجوج و مأجوج, Yecüc-Mecüc in the Turkish spelling) and occur widely in mythology and folklore.

The Biblical Gog and Magog

Magog in Genesis

2. The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras
3. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. (Genesis 10:2-3)

In this occurrence Magog is clearly the name of a person, although in the anthropology proposed by Genesis, ethnic groups and nations are founded by, and usually named after, their founding ancestors. The names of Gomer, Tubal, Meshech, and Togarmah also occur in Ezekiel.

Gog and Magog in Ezekiel

Alexander building a wall against
Gog and Magog
(larger image)

2."Son of man, set your face toward Gog, [toward] the land of Magog, the prince, the head of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy concerning him.
3. And you shall say; So said the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Gog, the prince, the head of Meshech and Tubal.

Chapter 38 continues addressing Gog:

Here it is not clear (in the Hebrew) whether Gog or Magog are people or places, and different identifications have been made. These are discussed after the text itself. The Interlinear Bible (Hebrew - Greek - English) states 2. as: "Son of man, set your face toward Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and prophesy concerning him." (Jay P. green, Sr., 1986)

Ezekiel (38 and 39) says that Gog will be defeated. Addressing Gog and Magog, God describes how the attacks will be repelled (Ezekiel 39:1-16). The army of Gog and Magog primarily includes people from the nations of Gog, Gomer, Tubal, Meshech, and the house of Togarmah from the North, the latter of which are mentioned as descendants of Japheth in Genesis (q.v.).

They will be joined by Persians from the East (see Persian Empire), Phut from the West, Kushites from the South (see Cush), and others. We are told that Gog dwelt north of Israel, but there is little else to identify Gog in the passage. Gog and his allies are to attack "a land of unwalled villages" to collect booty, but before attacking Israel itself will be reduced to a "sixth" of their size (Ezekiel 39:3). Their reduced army will be destroyed in Israel, their dead buried in the Valley of Hamon-Gog for all to see and comment on (Ezekiel 39:15-17).

War of Ezekiel 38-39

satellite map showing a view of
Syria, Lebanon,
the West Bank, Jordan,
Israel, the Sinai
Penninsula, NE Egypt...

The timing of this invasion is said to occur when the Jews are secure and prospering in their land after just coming out of a worldwide exile (Ezekiel 38:8, 10-12). This corresponds with two periods of Jewish history: the 536 BCE return after Cyrus conquered Babylon, and the end of the Second Exile which occurred on May 14, 1948 when Israel was declared an independent state. Thus, some Christian scholars attempt to fit the invasion into an event of Israel's past after the First Exile, while other scholars see the invasion as still in the future and incorporate it into Christian eschatology.

The invading countries are identified in Ezekiel by their ancient tribal names: Magog, Rosh (some Bible versions, chief), Meshech and Tubal, Persia, Ethiopia (Cush), Libya (Phut or Put), Gomer, and house of Togarmah (Beth-Togarmah). Many of these names are derived from the Table of Nations, a genealogy in Genesis 10 of the human race after Noah's Flood. Specifically, Ezekiel 38-39 mentions 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, but these last three (Sheba, Dedan, and Tarshish) are not said to participate in the attack against Israel (Ezekiel 38:13).

Correspondence with Current Events

In an article titled, "Israel: 2010-2012." The The Endrun Project describes that, "Current events unfolding in Israel and the Middle East can change the world as we know it in the 'twinkling of an eye' ...like nothing before in the history of Humanity."

Israel In the cross hairs ...in the name of 'Peace'?

What could be any one of several flash points for Israel ... threats from Syria, Iran, Lebanon (Hezbollah), Egypt ... or Islamic/Arab nations combined ... the most critical of issues the Palestinian (Hamas) matter and Gaza, is the most likely to justify the entire global community on behalf of the Palestinians, to alienate and take action against the State of Israel in the name of peace, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.

Since 1948 and generations as far back as The Exodus, nations have plotted the demise and annihilation of the Jews known as The Israelites or the Children of Israel which has been uncannily depicted in Biblical prophesy and recorded thousands of years ago.

The land of Israel/Palestine and the region has been the home of Palestinians for millenniums before displaced upon the return of Jewish immigrants in 1947-48 following the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 18 and The UN Partition Plan for Palestine November 29, 1947 and Israeli Declaration of Independence 14 May 1948.

Read the whole article here.

Primary source: the Book of Ezekiel

A Prophecy Against Gog

¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² "Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him ³ and say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. ⁴ I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. ⁵ Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, ⁶ also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you. ⁷ " 'Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. ⁸ After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. ⁹ You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

¹⁰ " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. ¹¹ You will say, "I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. ¹² I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land." ¹³ Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, "Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?" '

¹⁴ "Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? ¹⁵ You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. ¹⁶ You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.

¹⁷ " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Are you not the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel? At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. ¹⁸ This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁹ In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. ²⁰ The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every man's sword will be against his brother. ²² I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. 23 And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.' (Ezekiel 38:1-23)

Description in The Ezekiel Option

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

   

• It refers to a time when Israelis dwell securely (his book The Ezekiel Option refers to the peace treaty between Palestinians and Israel).

   

• It refers 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 Flavius Josephus (Note: 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

     

  • Rosh - refers to Russia based on:

     

    Gesenius dictionary identifies it as Russians

  • Meshech - identified as Moscow based on:

     

    Gesenius dictionary identifies it as Moschi

  • Tubal - referring to the Tobol river

     

  • Persia - refers to Iran

     

  • Cush - Ethiopia and Sudan

     

  • Put - Libya

     

  • France

     

  • Beth - Togarmah

     

Gog and Magog in the Book of Revelation

7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
8. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (KJV)

Here, Gog and Magog are identified as the nations in the four corners of the earth, and their attack is represented as an eschatological crisis after the Millennium, to be vanquished by divine intervention. The language of Gog and Magog's destruction is very similar to that of their mention in Ezekiel.

Identifications

In terms of extra-biblical Jewish tradition, Gog the 'prince' has been explained being one of the 70 national angels — of whom all except one, Michael (the guardian angel of Israel), are fallen angels.

Fall of Gog and Magog, east wall, left lunette, installed 1916 Oil on canvas with Lincrusta-Walton reliefs
(1999 photo)
(larger image)

Gog in this view represents an apocalyptic coalition of nations arrayed against Israel. Some Biblical scholars believe that Gyges (Greek Γυγες), king of Lydia (687 BC-652 BC), is meant; in Assyrian letters, Gyges appears as Gu-gu; in which case Magog might be his territory in Anatolia. Josephus identifies Magog with the Scythians, but this name seems to have been used generically in antiquity for a number of peoples north of the Black Sea.

Fall of Gog and Magog shows the final and literal fall of the “heathen” world after a battle that pits the forces of evil (represented by Gog, prince of a country called Magog) against the forces of good (all those loyal to the God of Israel). The story appears in Ezekiel 38.

According to a tradition of dispensationalist Biblical hermeneutics, Gog and Magog are supposed to represent Russia. The Scofield Reference Bible's notes to Ezekiel claim that "Meshech" is a Hebrew form of Moscow, and that "Tubal" represents the Siberian capital Tobolsk. This identification of Gog with Russia, and Cold War tensions with the West and with Israel, led Hal Lindsey to claim that the former Soviet Union would play a major role in end times prophecies. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the retreat of Russia from the role of a military superpower, a few modern end times prophets have attempted to recast Iraq (see also: Iraq Maps) or some other country in the role of Gog.

Beyond the Biblical tradition

In the 7th century Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius it is the messianic Last Roman Emperor who fights and destroys Gog and Magog with divine aid. In his history The Origin and Deeds of the Goths from 551, the Goth writer Jordanes identified Gog with the Goths.

Some legends of Hungarians and certain Celtic peoples say they are descendants of Magog. Poseidonius, for example, mentions that the Cimmerians, considered to be the original ancestors in Celtic traditions, were derived from gug and guas. In Irish tradition, Magog was supposed to have had a grandchild called Heber, who spread throughout the Mediterranean. The Greeks called such people Iberes mentioning that they were refugees from Atlantis who had come to settle the Caucasus. The result is that Gog — the land of the four corners of the world — has also been identified as lands somewhere in the oceans surrounding the Old World, i.e., the New World.

The Kalki Purana, one of the minor puranas in Hinduism, mention a similar Kok and Bikok who will fight against Kalki. Modern scholarship dates the puranas to the latter half of the first millennium AD.

Gog and Magog in Islam

When Dhul-Qarnayn arrived at the third location, that folk complained about the tribes and offered Dhul-Qarnayn a tribute to build a wall between them so that Yajooj and Majooj would not bother them anymore. Dhul-Qarnayn refused the tribute but agreed to building the wall. He constructed the wall out of iron and then poured melted copper over it, making it difficult to climb or dig under. This stopped Yajooj and Majooj from threatening the people for a certain time. There is an opinion that this wall might be in the Caucasus Mountains at Dariel Pass. According to the Islamic scholar, Mufti Ebrahim Desai, they are situated in a land of ice.

The Yajooj and Majooj attempt to break through the iron wall every day, but when night falls and they are near escape, they stop and say to each other "we will finish it tomorrow". The next day when they wake up, they see that all the work they had done had become undone while they slept. This scenario continues every day until the day they say "we will finish tomorrow, in sha allah" (in sha allah meaning by the will of Allah) before they sleep, and thus when they awaken, they will finish their work and break out.

They are also mentioned in the sayings of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, as the sign of the nearness of the Doomsday, and that they will destroy the civilizations (The Books of Sahih Al Bukhari and Sahih Al Muslim).

"But when Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj are let loose and they rush headlong down every hill" (Quran 21:97)

They will emerge during the reign of Jesus, and will be vast in number drinking up the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates. It is said that Allah (God) divided mankind into ten parts- nine tenths constitute Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj while the remaining tenths constitutes the rest of mankind. Some Muslim Scholars like Abul kalam Azad, Sayed Moududi and Tibri believe that they were Mongols, who were always raiding and destroying the Persian and Indian civilisations, and finally destroyed the Muslim dynasty of Baghdad and Khwarzam (central Asia).

Gog and Magog in Marco Polo

Gog and Magog in England

The Lord Mayor's account of Gog and Magog says that the Roman Emperor Diocletian had thirty-three wicked daughters. He found thirty three husbands for them to curb their wicked ways; they chafed at this, and under the leadership of the eldest sister, Alba, they murdered them. For this crime, they were set adrift at sea; they were washed ashore on a windswept island, which after Alba was called Albion. Here they coupled with demons, and gave birth to a race of giants, among whose descendants were Gog and Magog.

An even older British connection to Gog and Magog appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's influential 12th century Historia Regum Britanniae, which states that Gogmagog was a giant slain by the eponymous Cornish hero Corin or Corineus. The tale figures in the body of unlikely lore that has Britain settled by the Trojan soldier Brutus and other fleeing heroes from the Trojan War. Corineus is supposed to have slain the giant by throwing him into the sea near Plymouth. Wace, Layamon, and other chroniclers retell the story, which was picked up by later poets and romanciers. John Milton History of Britain gives this version:

The Island, not yet Britain, but Albion, was in a manner desert and inhospitable, kept only by a remnant of Giants, whose excessive Force and Tyrannie had consumed the rest. Them Brutus destroies, and to his people divides the land, which, with some reference to his own name, he thenceforth calls Britain. To Corineus, Cornwall, as now we call it, fell by lot; the rather by him lik't, for that the hugest Giants in Rocks and Caves were said to lurk still there; which kind of Monsters to deal with was his old exercise. And heer, with leave bespok'n to recite a grand fable, though dignify'd by our best Poets: While Brutus, on a certain Festival day, solemnly kept on that shore where he first landed (Totnes), was with the People in great jollity and mirth, a crew of these savages, breaking in upon them, began on the sudden another sort of Game than at such a meeting was expected. But at length by many hands overcome, Goemagog, the hugest, in hight twelve cubits, is reserved alive; that with him Corineus, who desired nothing more, might try his strength, whom in a Wrestle the Giant catching aloft, with a terrible hugg broke three of his Ribs: Nevertheless Corineus, enraged, heaving him up by main force, and on his shoulders bearing him to the next high rock, threw him hedlong all shatter'd into the sea, and left his name on the cliff, called ever since Langoemagog, which is to say, the Giant's Leap.

Michael Drayton's Polyolbion preserves the tale as well:

Amongst the ragged Cleeves those monstrous giants sought:
Who (of their dreadful kind) t'appal the Trojans brought
Great Gogmagog, an oake that by the roots could teare;
So mighty were (that time) the men who lived there:
But, for the use of armes he did not understand
(Except some rock or tree, that coming next to land,
He raised out of the earth to execute his rage),
He challenge makes for strength, and offereth there his gage,
Which Corin taketh up, to answer by and by,
Upon this sonne of earth his utmost power to try.

The Gog Magog Hills are about three miles south of Cambridge, said to be the metamorphosis of the giant after being rejected by the nymph Granta (i.e. the River Cam). The dowser T.C. Lethbridge claimed to have discovered a group of three hidden chalk carvings in the Gogmagog Hills. This alleged discovery is described at length in his book Gogmagog: The Buried Gods, in which Lethbridge uses his discoveries to extrapolate a primal deity named 'Gog' and his consort, 'Ma-Gog', which he believed represented the Sun and Moon. Although his discovery of the chalk figures in the Gogmagog Hills has been dogged by controversy, there are similarities between the name and nature of the purported 'Gog' and the Irish deity Ogma, or the Gaulish Ogmios.

Gog and Magog in Ireland

Partholon, leader of the first group to colonize Ireland after the Deluge, was a descendant of Magog. The Milesians, or people of the 5th invasion of Ireland, were also descendants of Magog.

Other Gogs and Magogs

In Madeleine L'Engle's novel A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the world is threatened with nuclear destruction by a Magog.

In the Heroes of Might and Magic series, Gogs and bigger Magogs are fireball casting demons. In the computer game Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, Gog and Magog are the names of, respectively, a giant blue star and a red giant star.

Magog appear as fatally parasitic aliens in the television show, Andromeda. Magog eat other sentients and often each other. They reproduce by infecting hosts with their larvae that then mature and hatch, killing the host.

Magog is a town and a township, and the Magog River is a river, in the Memphrémagog Regional County Municipality area of the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, Canada. Note that "Magog" stems from for "Mephremagog," the native Abenaki word for "Beautiful Waters."

The Firesign Theatre comedy group once performed an ersatz television commercial (from their album Everything You Know Is Wrong) entitled Magog Brothers Atlantis Carpet Reclaimers. Magog is the name of a violent anti-hero appearing in DC Comics' Kingdom Come. A villain named Gog appears in its sequel series, The Kingdom.