New names of countries(gog - magog) or location to the bible locations?

Question

Eze 38:2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him

which are the countries/locations mentioned here in this verse? when i heard some sermon long back, the preacher is comparing it with some countries? what is the authenticity of that? Can some one have a source of new names for the old ones, which is mentioned in the bible?

Answer 1

I am a professional archeologist. Many end times aficionados believe that Magog represents Russia and that Russia will soon come to invade Israel. However, the ancient Assyrians had dealings with Magog, which was also called Lydia, and their Court records clearly identify Magog and it is not Russia. For decades Christians have been deceived and have been unwittingly deceiving others about who is to be involved in the prophesied invasion of Israel. Russia has absolutely nothing to do with Magog and being the nation that will lead an invasion of Israel.
The Assyrian Royal Court dealt with each of these nations directly about 100 years before Ezekiel wrote, and their records are reliable, clear and detailed. These are the same records that are referred to in Ezra 4:15 and the same records used to verify the historical events written about in scripture from circa 800 B.C. to 400 B.C. These records represent the primary source on this subject as opposed to secondary sources which are often not based on facts and very often the product of mischief, bias or lack of study. Any reference to Josephus is of no avail because historians and archeologists know from a multitude of written records, that the Greeks (such as Herodotus) did not call Magog the Scythians. All of our earliest copies of Josephus come from eleventh century Monks and the passage that is often referred to is clearly a forgery for several reasons obvious to historians and archeologists who study the ancient Near East. Please consider taking the time to read my report Debunking the Russia/War of Gog and Magog Myth on this important subject that recently appeared in the Christian Post Blogs on March 15, 2012.The link is http://blogs.christianpost.com/guest-views/debunking-the-russia-war-of-gog-and-magog-myth-8754/#more. This report can also be found on my blog site for 2/9/12: http://www.newscientificevidenceforgod.com/search?updated-max=2012-03-19T18:07:00-07:00

Answer 2

I find that in a subject like this it is good to compare Christian speculations with Jewish speculations and see if there is any common ground. I found that both Jewish and Christian sources think the most likely location was present day Turkey.

For example here is a Jewish source I'm finding more and more useful for Jewish things:

“the most reasonable identification put forward is with Giges, also known as Gogo, king of Lydia, and Magog, with his country.”

Lydia is in present day Turkey.

Also a Christian view from Gills Exposition found here says this:

in Pliny (o), that the city of Hierapolis in Syria was called by the Syrians Magog; and they fancy the name of Gog is the same with Gyges a king of Lydia, whose country was called from him Gygea, or Gog's land, who was grandfather to Croesus; and which country came into the hands of Cyrus, and from the Persians into the hands of the Greeks, and so to the Seleucidae.

It would seem therefore that Gog, the King of Magog was a people that were attached to Israel in history, and therefore must have lived nearby. Yet even more importantly we should notice that Gog and Magog in ancient Rabinic literature always refers to the Gentiles who would opposed Messiah in the last days. In fact Jewish mystical interpretation (Kabbalah) superstitiously has a method of calculates numbers from Hebrew letters from the words Gog and Magog = 70. This means all the Gentiles. For details of what the Jews expected see this post.

Furthermore the New Testament also keeps up the theme. In Revelation we find Gog and Magog representing the Kingdom of the Devil about to wage war against God’s people. The only difference now is that Christians see themselves as spiritual Jews, so the historial meaning of Gog and Magog is very strong in terms of prophetic belief:

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth —Gog and Magog —and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10)

Conclusion: Maybe God has purposefully ensured that we have lost concrete history to truly identify this country, because we are no longer to take it literally. Rather we are to take it as representing the world during the last days.

Answer 3

Magog is included in the "Table of Nations" in Genesis 10 as one of the sons of Japheth after the Flood. It's generally accepted by conservative scholars that the descendents of Japheth were mostly caucasion people who ultimately settled in Europe, so Magog would likely be white and European.

The ancient Jewish historian Josephus says that Magog is the nation that the Greeks call Scythia. (Book 1, chapter 6) Scythia was on the northern coast of the Black Sea. They spread out north and east from there. Thus, their territory would overlap modern Russia. Many people who believe that Revelation will be fulfilled in the near future identify Magog with Russia. (I have no idea if modern Russians are descended from Magog or just occupy a similar territory, or if anyone knows.)

Gog has been identified with the Goths, a Germanic people who originally came from Scandinavia but then migrated south and settled on the west coast of the Black Sea. (It was Alaric the Goth who sacked Rome and is generally credited with destroying the western Roman empire.)

Note this puts Gog and Magog occupying adjacent lands. (A fact that I must admit I never noticed until today.) It would thus be plausible for Ezekial to name them together.

The above is not by any means the only interpretation. I just did some Yahoo searches and found several Moslem sources that identity Gog and Magog with the United States. I found another source that put Magog in modern Turkey. Etc. But I think the theories I mention above are the most popular in conservative Christian circles.

Disclaimer: I'm far from an expert on this subject. If someone here knows more, I'm interested to hear it.