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nowhere to be found as names of
nations on world maps today. The
names of the majorit y of the
wor ld's modern nat ions are of
fairly recent origin. Nat ions and
peoples have undergone sometimes
dozens of name changes over the
centuries and millennia of history.
In the Bible, nations are named
after their ances tors. Nations are
families grown big. The whole hu–
man family of today, according to
the Bible, springs from Shem,
Ham and Japheth , tbe sons of
Noah (Gen. 10:32). The "Table of
Nations" of Genesis 1O is an .ac–
count of the origins of today's na–
tions and races.
Through migrations, these di–
verse peoples overspread the entire
earth. You can read the story in
Genesis 11. 1n many cases we can
accurately trace their travels from
the starting point of Babel (in what
today is lraq) through the pages of
history to their present locations.
Especially helpful in such re–
search are the accounts of the clas–
sical historians and geographers
(such as Herodotus); Persian,
Tatar and Arabic histories (such as
Meadows of Gold
by al-Masudi);
the works of early Jewish histori–
ans (such as Josephus); Chinese
and other Asían traditions; and me–
dieval European chronicles.
Modero scholars generally give
little credence to the Table of Na–
tions or to many of these early
histories and traditions. Conse–
quently they are ignorant of the
true identities of many of the
world's peoples today.
Let us look again at the names
mentioned by Ezekiel. Where are
these peoples found today?
Gog of the land of Magog
Ruling over all these allied peoples
is Gog. Gog (meaning "mountain"
or
"high") is described as a great
prince, the politicaljmilitary head
of the vast region in question.
Ezekiel pictures Gog as a guard
and commander over the assembled
peoples (38:7).
Along with the beast, the mira–
cle-working false prophet (Rev.
16: 13; 19:20), and the leaders of an
Arab-Muslim confederacy, Gog is
one of the major end-time person–
aJities specifically mentioned in the
Bible.
4
Gog is also a people, apparently
a tribal subdivision of Magog. The
orig inal Gog was probably a son or
grandson of Magog.
Ezekiel describes the end-time
Gog as being
oj
the land of Magog.
How, then, do we identify Magog
today? The Table of Nations lists
Magog as the second son of
Japheth, son of Noah.
J apheth's descendants are pri–
marily Eurasian peoples. They in–
elude the East Slavs-Great Rus–
sians, Little Russians, White
Russians-and the Mongoloid peo–
ples of Asia outside of the Near
East and the subcontinent of India.
J apheth's son Magog gradually
become divided into two main
branches. The western, Caucasian–
looking Slavic branch is identified
by the fi rst-century Jewish histo–
rian Josephus and others as among
the nomadic Scythian tribes north
of the Black Sea in what today is
the Soviet Union.
But there was also an eastern or
Mongoloid branch of the
Scythians that anciently
inhabited the plains
stretching all the way to
north China. The Vene–
tian traveler Marco Polo,
who visited the Mongol
realms in the 13th cen–
tury, identified Magog as
being part of the Mun–
guls or Mongols. Other
histories identify Magog
with the Mandarin-speak–
ing northern Chinese.
(The Cantonese-speaking
southern Chinese, inci–
dentally, a re an Asían
branch of Javan, another
of Japheth's sons.)
Which branch of Ma–
lated "chief' in Ezekiel 38:2-3 in
the
Authorized Version .
In
He–
brew, the word for chief is
R osh.
But in Ezekiel's prophecy the orig–
inal Hebrew may also be a proper
name.
Rosh is the ancient Hebrew
name for the Russ ("blonds") who
settled in the plains of Eastern Eu–
rope in the ninth century,
A.D.
They gave their name to the Rus-
gog is intended in the ....
..,<tíE.EAH-sYa .....
prophecy of Ezekiel? The Magog sian nation. The people of Rosh are
of Ezekiel 38 and 39 is pictured as among the
White Russians
of
a people of a
northern
locaJity-
Byelorussia today.
i.e., the vast lands of the Soviet
Living next to the people of
Union. Ezekiel describes Gog as Rosh are Meshech and Tuba!. Both
coming "from the
north parts"
Meshech and TubaJ are sons of
(39:2). The Soviet Union is far to Japheth (Gen. 10:2) and thus
the north of PaJestine.
brothers of Magog. To Herodotus
Moreover, Gog is described as and other classical geographers and
the prince of Rosh , Meshech and historians they were known as the
Tubal, peoples clearly
R ussian
by
Moskhi
o r
Mos c hi
and the
descent.
Tibareni.
occupying the region of
Russians-Great and White
the Caucasus between the Black
and Caspian Seas. In Assyrian in–
The Hebrew word
R osh
is trans- scri ptions they are the
Muska
and
The
PLAIN TRUTH