Ezekiel 38:2

Son of man, set thy face against Gog,.... Of the phrase, "setting the face towards", or "against", [See comments on Ezekiel 6:2] [See comments on Ezekiel 21:2] [See comments on Ezekiel 25:2] but who

Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, Gog - the prince of the land of Magog.

Since the two former chapters had assured so great and wonderful blessings to the Jews, after the return out of Babylon, and the gathering them together in their own land; it is more than probable the Jews would expect a full accomplishment of all these things quickly after their return, and if troubles should, as they did, intervene, and prove long, would be discouraged, and quarrel with Providence; God doth in this 38th and the 39th chapters forewarn them, by telling what enemies and troubles would interpose themselves, to the great losses and dangers of the Jews, ere they should overcome them, and God should fully and finally deliver them. Set thy face against: see 21:2 25:2. Gog: this cannot be one single person, or one only prince, though like enough it points out some one by whom the troubles foretold were begun, yet the successors of this one, whoever he was, are included and designed by this Gog; nor is he to be limited to one certain nation that he was king of, nor yet confined to one age, or (it may be) to two or three. Some will fix the beginnings of this Gog among the Seleucidae, and take in the others who divided the Grecian empire among themselves, and who did much hurt to the Jews. The history of which in part you meet with in the Books of the Maccabees. But if we must account why these are called Gog, perhaps this may suffice: Gyges, who gave name to the land, predecessor to Creesus, (for he was grandson to Gyges,) was conquered by Cyrus, and deprived of the kingdom; and this was made and continued tributary to the Persians, till taken from them by the Grecians; and when that kingdom was divided, it fell among the successors of Alexander in Seleucus’ s line, and so the Seleucid may, not without some ground, be thought pointed at by Gog, whose country fell into the hand of Seleucus by the successes he had against Antigonus. And of all the Seleucidae, the sixth from Seleucus stands fairest for it; this was Antiochus Epiphanes, type of antichrist, and a fierce enemy of the Jews. Others judge this war, in which Gog is prince and leader, refers to times much later, and there are several particulars that do not well suit with the times of Antiochus Epiphanes. They will therefore rather refer it to some Scythian king or kings, and that the time is still to come wherein this prophecy is to be fulfilled; and that it must intend those enemies of God’ s church who descended from the Scythians, and are now masters of Cappadocia, Iberia, Armenia, or are in confederacy with the Tartars, and those northern heathens. Now the arms and equipage here mentioned well suit with these Scythians, and they with the Turks, as like to make up part of this army.

Ezekiel 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,Ver. 2. Set thy face against Gog,] i.e., Against those last enemies of the Church, before Shiloh come; the kings of the lesser Asia and Syria before his first coming (see the books of Maccabees), the Pope and Turk before his second coming. See Revelation 20:8. Against these Ezekiel is commanded to "set his face," that is, to prophesy with utmost intention of spirit and contention of speech. The land of Magog.] Or, In the land of Magog, which some make to be Gog’ s country, and especially Hierapolis (for which they allege Pliny, lib. v. cap. 23), a chief city of Syria. This Hierapolis had its name from the multitude of religious houses or idol temples there erected. May not Rome, the metropolis of idolatry, be rightly so called? The chief princes of Meshech and Tubal.] People neighbouring upon the Syrians, and subject unto them, great enemies to Israel. See on Ezekiel 27:13. In Meshech, or Cappadocia, the Turks began to grow great and formidable. As for Tubal, Jerome and Josephus among the ancients, Bellarmine and Gretserus among the Jesuits, understand it to be the Spaniards; Rabbi David and Aben Ezra take Meshech for the Italians. Virtute opus est contra Antichristum dicturo. - Polan. Ptolom, In quarta Asiae tabula.

(2) 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 of Scythians must be understood rather in a geographical than in a strictly ethnological sense, of 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 the selection of 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 (“Hist. 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 “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 from them the name of Russian cannot be considered as sufficiently supported. In Revelation 20:8, Gog and Magog are both symbolic names of nations. For Meshech and Tubal see Note on Ezekiel 27:13.

Verse 2. Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog] This is allowed to be the most difficult prophecy in the Old Testament. It is difficult to us, because we know not the king nor people intended by it: but I am satisfied they were well known by these names in the time that the prophet wrote. I have already remarked in the introduction Ezekiel 1:1 to this book that there are but two opinions on this subject that appear to be at all probable: 1. That which makes GOG Cambyses, king of Persia; and, 2. That which makes him ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, king of Syria. And between these two (for one or other is supposed to be the person intended) men are much divided. Calmet, one of the most judicious commentators that ever wrote on the Bible, declares for Cambyses; and supports his opinion, in opposition to all others, by many arguments. Mr. Mede supposes the Americans are meant who were originally colonies of the Scythians, who were descendants of Magog, son of Japheth. Houbigant declares for the Scythians, whose neighbours were the people of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, that is the Russians, Muscovites, and Tybareni or Cappadocians. Several eminent critics espouse this opinion. Rabbi David Kimchi says the Christians and Turks are meant: and of later opinions there are several, founded in the ocean of conjecture. Calmet says expressly, that GOG is Cambyses, king of Persia, who on his return from the land of Egypt, died in Judea. The Rev. David Martin, pastor of the Waloon church at Utrecht, concludes, after examining all previous opinions, that Antiochus Epiphanes, the great enemy of the Israelites, is alone intended here; and that Gog, which signifies covered, is an allusion to the well-known character of Antiochus, whom historians describe as an artful, cunning, and dissembling man. See Daniel 8:23; Daniel 8:25; Daniel 11:23; Daniel 11:27; Daniel 11:32. Magog he supposes to mean the country of Syria. Of this opinion the following quotation from Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. v., c. 23, seems a proof; who, speaking of Coele-Syria, says: Coele habet Apamiam Marsyia amne divisam a Nazarinorum Tetrarchia. Bambycem quam alio nomine Hierapolis vocatur, Syris vero Magog. "Coele-Syria has Apamia separated from the tetrarchy of the Nazarenes by the river Marsyia; and Bambyce, otherwise called Hierapolis; but by the Syrians, MAGOG." I shall at present examine the text by this latter opinion. Chief prince of Meshech and Tubal] These probably mean the auxiliary forces, over whom Antiochus was supreme; they were the Muscovites and Cappadocians.

1–6. The great array of Gog which Jehovah shall lead forth 2. set thy face against Gog] Cf. Ezekiel 35:2-3. The meaning of the word Gog is obscure. Schrader (KAT. on the passage) refers to the name of the Lydian king Gyges, given as Gu-gu in the Assyr. inscriptions, on the one hand, and on the other to Gagi, name of the ruler of a country in the east, the situation of which is uncertain. This land apparently lay north of Assyria (Frd. Del. Par. p. 246–7). Gog, the land of Magog] i.e. in sense: Gog in (of) the land of Magog. Gog is the prince and Magog his country (Ezekiel 39:6). (In construction Magog is acc. of direction or in loose apposition to Gog, hardly gen. after the proper name). the chief prince] More probably: the prince of Rosh, Meshech &c., although a people or country Rosh may be impossible to identify. Of course any connexion between the name and Russian is to be rejected. Frd. Del. (Par. p. 322) refers to the land of Râsh (mât Ra-a-shi) of the inscriptions, situated on the borders of Elam on the Tigris. The geography of the prophet is no doubt vague and general, but this position as well as that of Gagi referred to above appears to lie too far east. The rendering “chief prince” would imply an unusual construction (chief-priest is different), and it is difficult to guess what chief prince or over-lord could mean. On Meshech, Tubal, cf. Ezekiel 27:13, Ezekiel 32:26.

Gog ... - Gog of the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.

2. Gog, the land of Magog — R.V., “Gog, of the land of Magog.” Dr. Adam Clarke says: “This is allowed to be the most difficult prophecy in the Old Testament.