The army of Gog prepares for an expedition. The defeat of Gog. The responses to the defeat. The climax of Ezekiel’s prophecies takes his hearers not only to the new kingdom of the good shepherd, but apparently to a time when the forces of evil will be destroyed forever.
The language is apocalyptical, that is symbolically predictive of future events and challenging to interpret. The forces of evil are represented by Gog, ruler of a land called Magog, and by Meshech and Tubal. These names correspond to the sons of the Patriarch Japheth, who have been associated with the warlike Goths, Cretans and Sythians.
God’s vision to Ezekiel is that of a great battle on a wide panorama of the universe in which the death and destruction are cataclysmic, far beyond anything that either Judah or Israel had experienced. But the reasons for the destruction are the same, rebellion and wickedness. The other difference is that the punishment will be eternal in nature. At that time there will be no restoration of the wicked, only everlasting peace and joy for the righteous.
The summary gives us an outline of the events in these two chapters. Let us follow the events, and then try to decide the purpose of these chapters.
This figure, Gog, is seen amassing an army of his own and making alliances with others to assemble a huge force to come against Israel. Persia, Cush (Ethiopia), Put and Gomer are said to be with him. These four nations appear in the east, south, west and north of Israel respectively. So, they are coming on Israel from all sides.
Magog was a land to the north of Palestine. It included the regions of Meshech and Tubal. Some have assumed that Gog was Gyges, 690-657 B.C., king of Lydia in Asia Minor. Others have assumed that Gog was Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonian Empire. Some have suggested that the reference is to Alexander the Great who took control of Palestine in the latter part of the 4th century. Still, others have suggested that Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, is pictured, for he was the one who defiled Israel’s sacrificial ceremonies in the early part of the 2nd century.
However, if this context is apocalyptic, then the identity of Gog as a specific person is meaningless. He simply represents any force that would set himself or itself against the people of God. In view of the statements in Ezekiel 39:25-29, reference in the prophecy of these two chapters is to a time after the return of the captives from Babylonian captivity.
The historical events look forward from the return to the coming of Jesus for His earthly ministry. This is an apocalyptic picture of any attack against God’s people, and thus an encouragement to the returnees that they should never again fear a force that would destroy them.
Others would come, but they would not defeat and scatter them as in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. The prophecy was not only against Gog to the north of Palestine but also against Persia to the east and Ethiopia and Libya to the south. All the nations surrounding Israel after the return are here warned not to trouble God’s people, for He will bring judgment on them for harming His people.
It is obviously a huge army as it is described as ‘many peoples’ and ‘hordes’, ‘covering the land’. In the prophecy, Gog is representative of all enemies who would set themselves against Israel. Since Israel was restored to Palestine, the major trading route of the time, then the trading nations to the north and south of Israel are judged for the trouble that they would bring to God’s people.
The desire of Gog is to kill, plunder and spoil. God says to Gog however, that He, Jehovah, will be vindicated through Gog. It is difficult in the prophecy to determine exactly what nation would be represented by Gog. Though we may not understand the specific identity of Gog, and the country of Magog, the central meaning of the prophecy is clear.
Gog would represent any king who would set himself against God’s people. Magog would be representative of any kingdom that would seek to again assimilate God’s people to the loss of their identity. All such kings and kingdoms would fail in their attempt to annihilate God’s people.
From the time of the return of the remnant to Palestine, which began in 539 B.C., to the time of the coming of Jesus, the land of Palestine was occupied by the Medo-Persians, Greeks and Romans. All these empires subdued the people of God. However, the attack of Gog, who represented all enemies of the people of God, would come to no avail. God’s people would continue to maintain their identity as Jews until the coming of the Messiah.
The fact that they maintained their identity as a culture of people, proved that God had set them apart, sanctified, as His people through whom the Saviour would be brought into the world. Every effort to terminate Israel from history, therefore, would fail.
This defeat is carried out by Jehovah, not by the people of Israel. They are defeated by earthquake, Ezekiel 38:1920, by making them kill each other, Ezekiel 38:20, pestilence, Ezekiel 38:22, and various things falling from heaven, Ezekiel 38:22.
The meaning of the prophecy was that God works for His people. In the case of any attack upon God’s people, it is not stated that it would be His people who would take up arms and defend themselves against the attacker. It is stated that God would raise up all that would be necessary in order to thwart the plans of the attacker of His people.
Thus, God would work nation against nation in order that no nation ever again conquer His people. God would do all this in order to exalt His name among the nations.
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!"