(More Bible Studies Available @ www.marktabata.com)
It is written:
Ezekiel 38:1-2-Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
Sometimes, God teaches us in unexpected ways.
Years ago, while ministering in Couchtown Kentucky, I did a “deep dive” study of Ezekiel 38-39. I found something that stumped me, but I said, “Lord, if it is Your will to help me understand this someday, that would be great: but if not, let Your will be done, because I trust You and Your goodness.”
That puzzle continued to annoy me for years, and I found myself wondering about it quite often.
Today, in a most unexpected place, I discovered the answer to that puzzle. I want to fill you in on that, giving praise to the Lord for His goodness as I continue to stand amazed at the power of God’s Word.
Let’s study.
Between chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel, the Lord describes a horrendous battle that will take place one day. Some have attempted to say that this passage is entirely figurative, but that will not do at all because nearly a dozen literal nations are specifically named. Others have tried to apply these events to the time before Christ, but that cannot work because several clues in the passage and surrounding context make it clear that these events will take place after the time of Christ and indeed near the end of the world.
For example, the immediate context of Ezekiel 38-39 specifically says that these events will take place during “the latter years” (Ezekiel 38:8) or “latter days” (Ezekiel 38:16), which is a clear reference to the Christian Age (cf. Isaiah 2:1-4; Joel 2:28-32; Micah 4:1-4;Acts 2:16-21). Furthermore, the surrounding context demonstrates this as well. The text says this will occur when the Jews return to their land (Ezekiel 4:1-6; 28:25; 34:13; 36:24), when the Messiah is reigning (Ezekiel 34:11-31; 37:24), after the establishment of the New Covenant (Ezekiel 16:60-62; 20:37; 34:25; 37:26), when the people of Israel are given the opportunity to repent and receive forgiveness (Ezekiel 36:24, 32-33; 37;23), and after the Holy Spirit has been given to God’s people (Ezekiel 36:27). All of this did not occur until the time of the death of Jesus and the commencement of the events recorded in Acts 2, the birthday of God’s spiritual kingdom, the church of Christ. As such, attempts to relocate the events of Ezekiel 38-39 to the time before Christ do not take into account the abundance of time indicators in Ezekiel that place these events into the Christian Age.
The mystery deepens when we look at the identity of this person, “Gog.” According to Jewish literature, this person was a great enemy of God who would be connected with Satan and would rise to power near the time of the end of the world.
“In the period immediately preceding the coming of the MESSIAH there will be a great war of Gog and Magog against Israel, bringing destruction in its wake (see ESCHATOLOGY). These legendary nations are based on the prophecy of Ezekiel about Gog from the land of Magog (Ezek. 38: 2). Armilus, their king, was born from sexual intercourse between Satan and the stone statue of a girl in Rome. He will finally be defeated by the Messiah and his army in a war to end all wars.” (Alan Unterman, Dictionary of Jewish Lore & Legend, 279 (Kindle Edition); Thames & Hudson)
So “Gog” would be a terrible enemy of God that would arise near the end of the world, supernaturally empowered by Satan, and defeated by the Messiah.
When we turn our attention to the rest of the Scriptures regarding Gog, we find some other very interesting answers…and encounter some more deep questions.
Numbers 24:7 (Hebrew Old Testament)-He shall pour water from his buckets, And his seed shall be in many waters. “His king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted.
Amos 7:1 (Hebrew Old Testament)-Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings.
The Old Testament (written originally in Hebrew) was translated into Greek about two hundred or so before Christ was born. This translation (known as the Septuagint) was a very scholarly translation, and is often referenced by Christ and His Apostles. Look at how the translators of the Greek Old Testament translated these verses:
Numbers 24:7 (Brenton’s LXX)-There shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations; and the kingdom of Gog shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased.
Amos 7:1 (Brenton’s LXX)-Thus has the Lord God shewed me; and, behold, a swarm of locusts coming from the east; and, behold, one caterpillar, king Gog.
Why would the translators of these passages include “Gog” here?
Heiser has this for us:
“In Numbers 24: 7, part of the Balaam oracle, the traditional Masoretic Hebrew text reads, “[ Jacob’s] king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.” The point is that Israel’s (eventual, Davidic) king will defeat the king of his enemies (in this case, a reference to Agag of the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15). But the Septuagint—created long after the days of Samuel and Agag—does something quite surprising with this passage. Instead of “than Agag” (Hebrew: mʾgg) the Septuagint has “his kingdom shall be higher than Gog.” The effect is to transform the prophecy of Balaam into a remote, end-times prophecy pitting Gog against the Davidic Messiah, as opposed to an Israelite king having victory over Agag in the early days of Israel’s monarchy. How are we to understand this dramatic difference between the traditional text and the Septuagint? The LXX translation is only textually explainable if the Hebrew text being used by the Septuagint translator read mgwg instead of the Masoretic Text’s mʾgg. However, it is more likely that the Septuagint translator may have been confused by mʾgg and invented “from Gog” as a translation solution. The reason that confusion seems to be the best answer to the odd situation in Numbers 24: 7 is that the Septuagint translator certainly blunders elsewhere with respect to Gog. Compare the traditional text with the Septuagint at the end of Amos 7: 1: Masoretic Text Septuagint This is what the Lord God showed Thus the Lord showed me and behold, me: behold, he was forming locusts when an early offspring of grasshoppers coming, the latter growth was just beginning to and behold one locust larva, Gog ( gwg) the sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth king. after the king’s mowings ( gzy). Lust notes in regard to this verse, “In Amos’ vision of the plague of locusts (7: 1), the LXX translator read gwg for gzy (mowings?), focusing on Gog as the leader of a threatening army represented as a swarm of locusts.” 278 It’s very hard to follow the logic of the Septuagint translator. The waters get muddied a bit more when we discover that the Septuagint translator arbitrarily transforms Og of Bashan in Deuteronomy 3: 1, 13 and 4: 47 to “Gog” in his translation. Even more confusing is the fact that at least one Septuagint manuscript does the reverse—swapping in Og for Gog in Ezekiel 38: 2.279 One certainty arises out of this messiness: At least some Second Temple Jews were comfortable associating Gog with the giant of Bashan/ Hermon and the great eschatological enemy.” (Michael S. Heiser, Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ, 168-170 (Kindle Edition))
Some believe that they blundered, and this may be so since no translation is perfect. However, I find it hard to believe that these scholars would make such a drastic departure from the Hebrew Scriptures without having what they considered sufficient textual reasons for such. Commenting on the passage in Amos, Missler has noted:
“Sometimes the Dead Sea Scrolls have been able to address misunderstandings caused by a copyist error in either or both the LXX and the MT, and sometimes the LXX clarifies confusion found in the MT. Here is an example. I was doing some research in Ezekiel 38, and I happened to stumble into Amos 7: 1. Amos 7: 1 in the King James reads as follows: Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. What does that mean? I have no idea. It makes absolutely no sense to me as it stands. In the Septuagint, Amos 7: 1 looks very different. It says: Thus the Lord showed me; and behold, a swarm of locusts were coming from the east; and, behold, one of the young devastating locusts was Gog the king. Let me back up. According to Proverbs 30: 27, “The locusts have no king…” Normal locusts that swarm across the earth do so without the leadership of a locust king. Yet, we find something very interesting in Revelation. Revelation 9: 3-11 speaks of a plague of terrible locusts upon the earth, and these brutal locusts do have a king over them-the angel of the bottomless pit. This locust king’s name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue his name is Apollyon, both of which mean “destruction” or “destroyer.” Proverbs states that the locusts have no king, yet Revelation 9: 11 tells us that these particular locusts do. Proverbs 30: 27 helps us understand that the locusts in Revelation 9 are not literal natural locusts; they’re demons of some kind, and “locusts” is being used as a figure of speech. This makes Amos 7: 1 in the Septuagint particularly interesting when it says: Thus the Lord showed me; and behold, a swarm of locusts were coming from the east; and, behold, one of the young devastating locusts was Gog the king. The Greek version makes it clear that Amos is talking about the demonic locusts, because Gog is their king. I was very excited as I kept researching this, because Gog shows up in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Both Gog and Magog make their appearance there, with no background, no linkage. It’s very strange in the Bible to find an important person without a family line or historical explanation.” (Chuck Missler, How We Got Our Bible by Chuck Missler, 675-699 (Kindle Edition); Coeur d’Alene, ID; Koinonia House)
So, there is good evidence for this translation of “Gog” in these passages, and taken together, this person sounds remarkably like what we in the Christian world call the Antichrist.
Some may object, saying that there is no one specific Antichrist prophesied about in the New Testament. It is true that nearly every verse in the New Testament that references Antichrist tells us that there are many of them, and that they were around in the first century.
1 John 2:22-Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
1 John 4:3-and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
2 John 7-For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
However, there is one verse that specifically mentions THE ANTICHRIST who will one day IN THE FUTURE enter into the world.
1 John 2:18-Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
Here, John is emphatic that there is a being known as THE antichrist, and he will be coming one day into the world. John says that the Christians had “heard” this was the case. Every time John talks about what was “heard” in his epistles, it is a reference to the inspired Word of God (cf. 1 John 1:1, 3, 5; 2:7, 18, 24; 3:11; 4:3). In other words, the Christians had heard from God’s inspired Word that one day (IN THE FUTURE) there will be a specific antichrist (THE ANTICHRIST). This person is preceded by “many” persons who are “antichrists” in the world.
So, the connection with Gog as the Antichrist is pretty easily made in Scripture.
We are then told that he will be “of” (intimately connected to) the land of “Magog.”
That is where we will pick up in our next study.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.