War of Ezekiel 38–39

In the Tanakh or Old Testament, the Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel in the Book of Ezekiel chapters speaks of a specific invasion carried out by a coalition of nations against the Land of Israel. This invasion will be led by an individual referred to as "Gog", who is said to originate from "The Land of Magog" (Ezekiel 38:1-2). Hence, the battle is often called the "War of Gog and Magog." Ezekiel states that the invading armies will lose without a battle, when God rains down fire and brimstone on their military forces (Ezekiel 38:20-22). Gog of the Land of Magog, the Chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal, pillages the Land of Israel, and is destroyed by fire from heaven and for seven months, Israel buries the corpses in a valley called "Hamon-Gog."

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, Roshdn (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 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

Many Christian scholars see a correspondence between the details of Ezekiel's prophecy and current events concerning Israel and the Middle East. They consider the return of the Jews to Israel, the re-establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict as developments which are pointing toward the soon fulfillment of Ezkiel 38-39. More specifically, the anti-Israel rhetoric of the government of Iran (called "Persia" until 1935 and identified in Ezekiel 38:5 as one of the countries that will attack Israel) and the alliance forming between Russia and Iran are also considered by many scholars to match Ezekiel's prophecy. ["Russia Agrees to $1 Billion Arms Deal with Iran," FOXNews.com, December 2, 2005, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,177566,00.html]

One notable scholar who views it this way is Joel C. Rosenberg (not to be confused with Joel Rosenberg science fiction writer), aide to the former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and New York Times Best Seller List author of fictional Bible prophecy novels such as "The Ezekiel Option." Rosenberg's most recent book "Epicenter" is a nonfictional book discussing in light of end-times Bible prophecy. See [http://www.joelrosenberg.com Joel Rosenberg's Homepage] .

Primary source: the Book of Ezekiel

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

[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Ezekiel#Chapter_38 Ezekiel (Chapter 38)] :1-23, the section which contains the named references, is provided below "in extenso" (emphasis added) and wikified slightly:

# And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
# Son of man, set thy face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
# And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
# 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:
# Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
# Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
# Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
# 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.
# 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.
# 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:
# And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of 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,
# 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.
# 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?
# Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know [it] ?
# And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
# And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
# Thus saith the Lord GOD; [Art] thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days [many] years that I would bring thee against them?
# And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, [that] my fury shall come up in my face.
# For in my jealousy [and] in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
# So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that [are] upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
# And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
# And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that [are] with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
# Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Also see [http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Eze/Eze039.html Ezekiel 39] or .

Interpretations

Description in The Ezekiel Option

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

* 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:quotation|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 [ [http://history.hanover.edu/texts/voltaire/volconca.html Dictionnaire philosophique] ]

::* Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus (Note: the Scythians are from areas in and near Russia):quotation|Magog founded those that from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians|Josephus|Antiquities of the Jews [ [http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-1.htm Book 1, Chapter 6] ]

:* Roshdn - 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:* 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 a map made up with the nations mentioned in Ezekiel on it.

External links

* [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2038-39&version=49 Ezekiel 38-39]

References