Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 38

Gog, the land of Magog. —“Magog” is mentioned in Genesis 10:2 (1 Chronicles 1:5) in connection with Gomer (the Cimmerians) and Madai (the Medes), as the name of a people descended from Japhet. Early Jewish tradition, adopted by Josephus and St. Jerome, identifies them with the Scythians; and this view has seemed probable to nearly all modern expositors. But the name Scythians must be understood in a geographical rather than a strictly ethnological sense, as referring to the tribes living north of the Caucasus.

Driven from their original home by the Massagetæ, they had poured down upon Asia Minor and Syria shortly before the time of Ezekiel, and had advanced even as far as Egypt. They took Sardis (B.C. 629), spread themselves in Media (B.C. 624), were bribed off from Egypt by Psammeticus, and were finally driven back (B.C. 596), leaving their name as a terror to the whole eastern world for their fierce skill in war, their cruelty, and rapacity. It was probably the memory of their recent disastrous inroads that led Ezekiel to select their name as the representative of the powers hostile to the Church of God.

The name Gog occurs only in connection with Magog, except in 1 Chronicles 5:4, as the name of an otherwise unknown Reubenite. It is also the reading of the Samaritan and Septuagint in Numbers 24:7 for Agag. It has generally been supposed that Ezekiel here formed the name from Magog by dropping the first syllable, which was thought to mean simply place or land; but an Assyrian inscription has been discovered in which Ga-a-gi is mentioned as a chief of the Saka (Scythians), and Mr. Geo. Smith (“History of Assurbanipal”) identifies this name with Gog. The text should be read, Gog, of the land of Magog.

The chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.—Rather, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. Our version has followed St. Jerome in translating Rosh as “chief,” because formerly no people of that name was definitely known; but they are frequently mentioned by Arabic writers as a Scythian tribe dwelling in the Taurus, although the attempt to derive the name Russian from them cannot be considered sufficiently supported. In Revelation 20:8, Gog and Magog are both symbolic names of nations. For Meshech and Tubal, see the note on Ezekiel 27:13.

The chief prince: As in Ezekiel 38:2, the prince of Rosh.

I will turn you back— This is the more common meaning of the word. However, if this meaning is retained here, it is not to be taken in the sense of turning back from the Holy Land, but rather, in connection with the figure of the next clause, of turning away the wild beast from its natural inclination to the fulfilment of God’s purpose.

It is better, however, to take it in the sense in which it is used in Isaiah 47:10 (perverted) and Jeremiah 8:5 (slidden back): “I will lead you astray.”

In Revelation 20:8, this leading astray of the nations is ascribed to Satan, just as in 2 Samuel 24:1, God, and in 1 Chronicles 21:1, Satan, are said to move David to number the people. In either case, God is said to do that which He allows to be done by Satan. For the same Divine gathering of the nations against God’s people, see Joel 3:2 and Zechariah 14:2-3.

Hooks into your jaws—See the same figure in Ezekiel 29:4.

Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya.— Having summoned the nations from the extreme north, the prophet now turns first to the east, and then to the south and west. No neighboring nations are mentioned at all, but only those living on the confines of the known world are summoned to this symbolic contest. The supposition of a literal alliance of nations so situated is out of the question.

Gomer ... Togarmah.— Again the address turns to the extreme north. Gomer, like Magog, a people descended from Japheth (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5), is identified with the Cimmerians; and for the house of Togarmah, the Armenians, see Note on Ezekiel 27:14. In the last clause of the verse, people should be in the plural. This was to be a general gathering of the strength of the world against the Church of God.