{"id":73,"date":"2008-08-21T18:28:31","date_gmt":"2008-08-21T18:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/?p=5"},"modified":"2008-08-21T18:28:31","modified_gmt":"2008-08-21T18:28:31","slug":"gogmagog-war-the-attackers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/?p=73","title":{"rendered":"Gog\/Magog War (the attackers)"},"content":{"rendered":"
This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series Gog\/Magog War<\/a><\/div>
Who are the attackers?<\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n

Ezekiel 38:1-6 (NIV)<\/span>1<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0The word of the LORD came to me: <\/span>2<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0“Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him <\/span>3<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. <\/span>4<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0I 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. <\/span>5<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, <\/span>6<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops–the many nations with you. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n

Gog and Magog are mentioned also in the book of Revelation, which will be covered toward the end of this study.\u00a0 <\/span>However it is the author\u2019s understanding that in Ezekiel, Magog is a geographical reference, along with Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, while in Revelation Gog and Magog are symbolic references to all nations without Christ whom are susceptible to Satanic deception.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meshech is seen by many biblical scholars as the ancestors of the Russian people.\u00a0 <\/span>It is believed that several Russian geographical names, such as Moscow, the Meschera tribe and the Meshchera Lowlands, could be related to Meshech.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tubal, also being a son of Japheth, is almost always coupled with Meshech in scripture.\u00a0 <\/span>Tubal\u2019s descendants are thought to be the Tiberini of the Greek historian Herodotus, a people of the Asiatic highland west of the Upper Euphrates, the southern range of the Caucasus, on the east of the Black Sea.<\/span>[2]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>In modern terms, this could include Turkish and Iranian areas to the south and Russian areas to the north.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rosh was the seventh son of Benjamin in Genesis 46:21.\u00a0 <\/span>The geographical location of Rosh\u2019s descendants are difficult to trace, but in this text are seemingly in the same general area \u201cfar from the north\u201d as the other ancient nations referenced.\u00a0 <\/span>Coincidentally, tracing \u201cfrom the far north\u201d from Israel, in a straight line, one arrives at Moscow, Russia.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The prophecy is spoken against \u201cGog,\u201d who is referenced as the ruler of Meshech and Tubal. \u00a0<\/span>Specifically he is named as “the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” \u00a0<\/span>To that end, Gog may be understood as a title, such as “Caesar.”\u00a0 <\/span>Because the prophecy is spoken against Gog, it is apparent that the area consistent with modern day Russia is the leading nation in this attack, as Gog is the chief prince of nations which formerly occupied that geographical area.\u00a0 <\/span>This is a coalition attack of numerous people groups, in retrospect, fitting well with Jesus\u2019 words examined earlier in Matthew 24 of wide-spread warfare as a birth pain pointing toward the times of the end.<\/span><\/p>\n

Verses 5 and 6 note other nations involved in the attack:\u00a0 <\/span>Persia (present day Iran), Cush (modern day Ethiopia), Put (modern day Somalia), Gomer, referred to as Germania<\/em> in the Midrash<\/em> and the Talmud<\/em> (modern day Germany) and Togarman (Armenia).<\/span><\/p>\n

Many have attempted to determine the nations involved in this attack by historical evidences rather than the Bible itself.\u00a0 <\/span>This has led many to turn away from the \u201cRussian\u201d leadership of this attack due to the fall of the former Soviet Union.\u00a0 <\/span>However, the Bible speaks of the geographic areas of its own day rather than referencing specific modern nations.\u00a0 <\/span>The fall of the former Soviet Union is irrelevant to the interpretation of this prophecy.\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps Russia itself will fall and be named another name.\u00a0 <\/span>The biblical geography is what is relevant to understanding whom is involved, not the names of the modern nations.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is tempting to try to interpret the Bible by current events.\u00a0 <\/span>However, current events are, in fact, determined by the Bible.\u00a0 <\/span>The presupposition of this study is that the Bible is unfailing in its teaching and that history will unfold as it has been prophesied.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus, regardless of the future outcomes of any nations currently occupying these areas, the people who occupy this geography at the time of the attack are being specified in this text.<\/span><\/p>\n

This coalition is said to be \u201cfrom the North\u201d, though not all of these nations are North of Israel.\u00a0 <\/span>The indication is that they are attacking from the North and that their leadership is from the North (modern day Russia).<\/span><\/p>\n

In summary, the attackers, unless their names or borders are changed between now and this attack, appear to be Russia, possibly Turkey, Iran, Ethiopia, Somalia, Germany and Armenia.

<\/span><\/p>\n

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[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> Flavius, Josephus: “Jewish Antiquities”, book 1 chapter 6 page 123. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1930.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[2]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> Easton’s Illustrated Dictionary<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series Gog\/Magog War<\/a><\/div>

Specifically he is named as “the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” To that end, Gog may be understood as a title, such as “Caesar.” Because the prophecy is spoken against Gog, it is apparent that the area consistent with modern day Russia is the leading nation in this attack, as Gog is the chief prince of nations which formerly occupied that geographical area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,13],"tags":[89,123,147,161],"series":[208],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Magog, Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal are ancient tribes that occupied the geographical area of modern day Russia, and parts of Iran and Turkey.\u00a0 <\/span>Magog, Meshech and Tubal were sons of Japheth. \u00a0<\/span>Magog\u2019s descendants, according to Josephus<\/span>[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>, were the Scythians.\u00a0 <\/span>The Scythians occupied an area above the Black Sea in modern day Ukraine and western Russia. <\/span><\/p>\n