Ezekiel 38:1-23--Prophecy Against Gog

Ezekiel 38
English Standard Version

Prophecy Against Gog
38 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. 5 Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you.

7 “Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. 8 After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. 9 You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.

10 “Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11 and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’

14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? 15 You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. 16 You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

17 “Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? 18 But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, my wrath will be roused in my anger. 19 For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord GOD. Every man's sword will be against his brother. 22 With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. 23 So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

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You may hear much about God and Magog as we don't have a good idea today where these places were in the time of Ezekiel.  These passages are also separated from the other prophecies against the nations that were fulfilled around the time of the Babylonian Exile, and there is good reason to believe that these prophecies are about events in the future (end times).  Let's first look to the past though to get some context for who Ezekiel is talking to.

Recall the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 which records the descendants of the sons of Noah after they get off the ark.  Magog is the second descendant of Japheth​ listed and Tubal and Meshech, who are also mentioned in this passage, as people being ruled by the prince of Magog, are fifth and sixth in the list.  So, that can give us some general idea of people that we are talking about here.  In general, Japheth's descendants lived along the coastal areas of the north and are the ancestors to what we would call "Western Civilization" (the peoples that moved north and west into Europe).  As far as this people group, the lists seem to go from near to far in Genesis 10, so Magog is probably a people that descended somewhere near to Mount Ararat (we think this is in modern-day Turkey) and since we know of other people groups that expanded to the west from there, we think these groups that we don't know as well migrated to the north.  Hang on to that idea because there is a "king of the North" referred to later in Ezekiel, and it would make sense if it is the same king called Gog who is mentioned here who seems to be a regional leader over several northern people groups.

The LORD uses imagery of catching fish that would be familiar to these people as they were primarily people who fished for their food (just look at the Mediterranean peoples and how much of their diet is based off of fish and how much of their economies are build off of fishing).  They will be the ones the LORD will catch with a hook in their jaw and the LORD will control them.  They will array themselves for battle along with the the people of Persia, Cush and Put (the sons of Ham).  The Northern and the Middle-Eastern people will come together to make war against the people of God and the Holy Land of Israel.  So numerous will be the number of people advancing on Israel at this time that it will be like a cloud or a swarm of locusts.

They imagine that they will take advantage of the peace and security that Israel has had as many of its cities will have no walls and no gates, and these nations imagine they will march in and take what they want.  They will try to come to take silver and gold, livestock and even people as plunder.  The LORD will not allow it though.  He promised peace, safety and security, and that is exactly what His people are going to have.

Notice now that the LROD tells us that these people that Ezekiel is prophesying against are going from the uttermost regions of the North.  For years, we imagined this group of nations to only be made up of the nations of the Soviet bloc (what we might also call Eastern Europe), but modern times have shown this could just as easily include many peoples of Western Europe as well.  There's no reason to think the LORD is being hyperbolic or exaggerating when He says all the peoples of the earth will turn against His people in the end and the kingdom of this world led by the antichrist will attempt to make war with the the kingdom of heaven and the true Christ.  For those that haven't read the end of the story, the kingdom of heaven wins, and the kingdoms of this world are utterly defeated.  No matter how many of them mass themselves together, they are no match for the LORD.

It is even possible that God does refer to the antichrist.  The last passage seems to possibly indicate that as the LORD speaks to the leader of these northern peoples saying his role in all of this was prophesied from long before and he will be defeated and destroyed along with all those who join him.  The LORD will cause heaven and earth to respond to His holy presence as He arrives to make war against His enemies one last time.  There will be such a violent earthquake that it will bring the mountains down low and destroy all walls and fortifications and the LORD will bring the sword to bear against these advancing armies and they will die on the mountains of Israel never making it anywhere close to the city of Jerusalem.  The book of Revelation speaks of this as the Lord speaking and a sword coming out of His mouth and destroying all His enemies.  The mountains will flow with rivers of blood from all the slain and the river of blood will flow as high as a horse's bridle.

The LORD will cause confusion among the ranks and they will start to kill each other.  He will kill them with pestilence, and torrential rains and hailstones will fall on them to stop their advance.  Fire and sulfur (brimstone) will fall from the sky and consume them.  The LORD will win the battle for the safety and security of His people and they will not need to lift a finger.  He will do this all for the sake of His great Name and the covenant which brings Him great pleasure.  He will receive all the glory and all of the enemies of the LORD and His people will be defeated forever.  Only in their defeat, destruction and eternal judgment to come will these rebellious nations understand that He is the LORD and He alone is God.