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Tub/a.
Josephus calls them the
Moschevi
and
Thobelites.
The descendants of Meshech
(Moskhi) ul timately t raveled into
the lands nor th of the Black Sea,
settling around
Moscow.
They gave
their name to that city, as well as
to the
Moskva
River and the state
of
Muscovy.
Part of Tuba! also
moved north, giving their name to
the river
Tobo/
and founding the
Siberian city of
Tobolsk.
Together, the Caucasian
branches of Meshech and
Tuba! form the two distinc–
tive branches of the Great
Scenes in turbulent Soutb
Asia: Guerrillas of
communist New People's
army train in remote
area of tbe Pbilippines
(top); Muslim guerriUas
opposing
So~iets
in
Afghanistan pose witb
captured
So~iet
armored
~ebicle
(middle); Iraqi
troops guard Iranian
prisoners taken in
six-year-old Iran-Iraq
war (below).
Russians of today. The Great
Ru~
sians are the largest ethnic group
of t he Soviet Union.
Future Russo / China Alliance?
Ultimately allied with the Russians
under Gog will be ' 'many people"
July
1
Auguat 1986
(Ezek. 38:6, 9, 15). These could
h a rdl y exc lude the militar i l y
weaker Chinese ·and their Asiatic
kinsmen- those eastern Magogites
who "dwell securely in the coast–
lands" of the Pacific (39:6,
The
Amplified Bible
).
The People's Rep ub lic of
Chi na- the "many people" of
Ezekiel 38- is thus pictured as be–
ing linked with Gog in the last
days. We can conclude that, one
way or another, the breach that
separates the Soviet Union and
China will eventually be bridged.
Beijing and Moscow will yet come
to terms in spite of racial and polít–
ica! tensions!
Linked with the Russians and
the other nations of the Orient in
the vast end-time Asían confeder–
acy will be Persia, Cush, Phut,
Gomer and Togarmah (Ezek. 38:5-
6). Who are these peoples today?
H istory and Scripture identify
them as the very peoples of the
South Asían region. Willingly or
unwillingly, they will all be drawn
into the Soviet sphere of influenc.e
in the years just ahead! Let us look
at each one individually.
Let us begin with Persia (Ezek.
38:5), the most easily identified.
Persia is simply another name for
modern-day lran.
lran today has a population of
sorne 45 million. lranians com–
prise nearly 70 percent of the
country. l ranians, though Is–
lamic, are totally distinct from
the neighboring Arab peoples of
the Middle East. T hey are a
mixed people of the remnants of
Media and Elam and other an–
cestors of Semitic and Hami t ic
stock.
Modern Iran also includes
numerous minority groups of
varying ethnic backgrounds:
Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Baluchis,
Armenians, Lurs, Azerbaijanis,
Bakhtiaris and others.
There is growing evidence of
a Soviet attempt to utilize to
their own advantage disputes
among certain of these ethnic
minorities within fran. Sorne ob–
servers see this activity as aimed at
precipitating an interna! crisis-a
crisis that could provide an oppor–
tunity for Soviet military " inter–
vention" in Iran.
An appeal for help by any pro-
Soviet ethnic minontles in Iran
could be answered by a movement
of Soviet troops both from the So–
viet Union across Iran's northern
border and from Afghanistan
across Iran's eastern border. Alter–
nately, a pro-Soviet government
migh t ultimately rise to power in
Tehran and move the country into
the Soviet orbit by nonviolent
means.
Whatever the method , the
prophecy of Ezekiel clearly indi–
cates that Iran will eventually be–
come linked with the Soviet Union.
This is not to say that Iran or other
South Asían nations will be incor–
porated into the Soviet Union as
full-fledged republics. Rat her ,
there will generally be only políti–
ca! linkage in the form of alliances
or as vassal states dominated by
Moscow.
Afghanistan, of course, is al–
ready in the Soviet orbit. A Soviet–
installed regime today governs in
Kabul.
Known anciently as Ariana and
Bactria, and in the Middle Ages as
Khorasan, Afghanistan líes in the
very heart of Asia. Historically, the
great invasions of the l ndian sub–
continent have been made through
its strategic mountain passes.
Afghanistan 's present racially
mixed population is a reflection of
its location astride the a ncient
trade and invasion routes of Cen–
tral Asia. The bulk of the popula–
tion (60 percent) is Pushtun or
Pathan, the main tribes being the
Durrani and the Ghilzai. Other
groups represented are the Tajiks
or Tadhziks (30 percent) , Uzbeks
(5 percent) , Hazaras, Turkomans
and Kirghiz.
Th e bíblica! origins of the
Afghan peoples are widely varied.
Sorne are traced to the sons of
Japheth. (The Turkomans, for ex–
ample, claim descent trom Tiras, a
son of Japheth.) Others descend
from branches of the families of
Joktan, of Gomer. of Uz and of
Esau. Sorne Afghan chroni cles
even claim that elements of the
Pathans are descended by inter–
marriage from King Saul of an–
cient Israel through his grandson
Afghana.
Also predicted to cluster around
the banner of Gog in the latter
days are
Cush
and
Phut
(or
Put).
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