“A hijacked Aeroflot flight from Moscow to New York is flying on a kamikaze mission to Washington. Once it crosses the D.C air exclusion zone and is within several miles of the White House, US President MacPherson regretfully orders the plane to be shot down. The resulting shootdown of the plane by F-16's kills all of the hundreds of passengers on board.”
This is the opening premise of The Ezekiel Option - a Christian apocalyptic novel by Joel C. Rosenberg won a Gold Medallion in the 2006 Christian Book Awards. I haven’t read it, and don’t plan to - but it is one of several contemporary attempts at describing our future dystopia based on the chilling vision that first shows up in today’s chapter of Ezekiel.
The horrific current war between Israel and Hamas is not the first one in recent history to alarm people all over the world with its potential to be the fuse that blows up everything and everyone. There’s a mythic name to such epic battles - lurking in the back of our minds and in the archives of history and mythology, dreaded and mysterious: The War of Gog and Magog.
The origins are in today’s chapter, a wild vision of Ezekiel in which he describes a vast coalition of armies attacking the people of Israel, who are back on their land, unleashing a global conflict of messianic proportions:
בֶּן־אָדָ֗ם שִׂ֤ים פָּנֶ֙יךָ֙ אֶל־גּוֹג֙ אֶ֣רֶץ הַמָּג֔וֹג נְשִׂ֕יא רֹ֖אשׁ מֶ֣שֶׁךְ וְתֻבָ֑ל וְהִנָּבֵ֖א עָלָֽיו׃ וְאָ֣מַרְתָּ֔ כֹּ֥ה אָמַ֖ר אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹוִ֑ה הִנְנִ֤י אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ גּ֔וֹג נְשִׂ֕יא רֹ֖אשׁ מֶ֥שֶׁךְ וְתֻבָֽל׃ וְשׁ֣וֹבַבְתִּ֔יךָ וְנָתַתִּ֥י חַחִ֖ים בִּלְחָיֶ֑יךָ וְהוֹצֵאתִי֩ אוֹתְךָ֨ וְאֶת־כׇּל־חֵילֶ֜ךָ סוּסִ֣ים וּפָרָשִׁ֗ים לְבֻשֵׁ֤י מִכְלוֹל֙ כֻּלָּ֔ם קָהָ֥ל רָב֙ צִנָּ֣ה וּמָגֵ֔ן תֹּפְשֵׂ֥י חֲרָב֖וֹת כֻּלָּֽם׃
O mortal, turn your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him and say: Thus said YHWH: I am coming to deal with you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws, and lead you out with all your army, horses, and riders, all of them clothed in splendor, a vast assembly, all of them with bucklers and shields, wielding swords.
Ezekiel 38:1-4
Who is this Gog and where is Magog? There really seems to be more myth here than geo-politics, despite many attempts over the years to identify these names. One of the clues are the other names mentioned in these verses. Genesis 10:2 names Magog, Meshech, and Tubal as the children of Noah’s youngest son, Japheth - the ancestor of Javan or Greece and Maday or Medea.
Meshech and Tubal have been named by Ezekiel in his earlier prophecies on Tyre, in chapter 27 and 32. They are not favored and mentioned as hanging out in the underworld with other villains. And while some have attempted to identify where Magog is, most scholars assume that this is a symbolic story, not directly related to geography or specific ethnic origin of this feared future enemy. Elements of this story made their way to other religious narratives and apocalyptic visions, including the Christian anticipation of Armegedon and the Muslim legends about the final war.
In the Revelation to John (20:7–10), Gog and Magog are evil forces that will join with Satan in the great struggle that ends time. After Satan has been bound and chained for 1,000 years, he will be released and will rise up against God; he will go forth and trick Gog and Magog— the world nations - leading their vast armies to attack Jerusalem, which is protected by YHWH, who will then destroy them and preside over the Last Judgment.
Muslim eschatology legends tell a similar futuristic tale, with the names Gog and Magog replaced by Yajuj and Majuj. Mentioned in suras 18 and 21 of the Quran, these two hostile, corrupt forces will ravage the earth before the end of the world.
Even the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) includes a later variation of this story, with British roots, defining GogMagog as “a giant, a man of immense stature and strength.”
The folklore around this story is confusing, with multiple strands that have accumulated over time, and it’s fused with valied fears and fictions of fundamentalism, adding fuel to an already volatile fire that is threatening to destroy the Middle East and beyond. In recent weeks some people started pondering: Are we now fighting the war of God and Magog? And similar concerns were already suggested last year in connection to the Russian attack on Ukraine.
There are multiple responses to the realities of war and trauma, some are rooted in the mythic, some are channeled through the arts, such as this Gog/Magog art project in Berlin. And there’s also a Cannabis company that hopes to help the traumas, selling a special strain called Gog and Magog, a product of an Israeli cannabis supplier called Tikun Olam.
Though Ezekiel gets the credit for this vision, he claims that he did not invent it, that it is ancient and has been foretold by previous prophets:
כֹּה־אָמַ֞ר אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹוִ֗ה הַאַתָּה־ה֨וּא אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּ֜רְתִּי בְּיָמִ֣ים קַדְמוֹנִ֗ים בְּיַד֙ עֲבָדַי֙ נְבִיאֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַֽנִּבְּאִ֛ים בַּיָּמִ֥ים הָהֵ֖ם שָׁנִ֑ים לְהָבִ֥יא אֹתְךָ֖ עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ וְהָיָ֣ה ׀ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא בְּי֨וֹם בּ֥וֹא גוֹג֙ עַל־אַדְמַ֣ת יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל נְאֻ֖ם אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹוִ֑ה תַּעֲלֶ֥ה חֲמָתִ֖י בְּאַפִּֽי׃
“Thus said YHWH: Why, you are the one I spoke of in ancient days through My servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them!
On that day, when Gog sets foot on the soil of Israel—declares the Sovereign GOD —My raging anger shall flare up.”
Ezekiel 38:17
Ezekiel’s message is clear: The Gog and Magog War is as religious as it is political which is what makes it so much scarier and dangerous.
Ancient history or obscure myth, food for thought or fear for the ages, this story lives on, feeding multiple channels of speculation and creativity. Ezekiel will go on to describe the final battle and the future in the coming chapter, imagining the contractions that will in the end lead to expansion, a promise that someday beyond even the vilest violence awaits a much better day.
Image: Maske: Gog Magog/Moran Sanderovich Foto: Nils Bröer
Go Below the Bible Belt. Link in bio. subscribe.Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections.Become a free or paid subscriber and join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible. Enjoy daily posts, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. 2022-2025.
#Ezekiel #Ezekiel38 #ProphetEzekiel #יחזקאל #יחזקאלבןבוזי #BookofEzekiel #Prophets #Neviim #Hebrewbible #Tanach #929 #labshul #belowthebiblebelt929 #GogandMagog #endoftime #Thelastjudgment #Armageddon #finalwar #redemption #Quran #Gogmagog # #YajujandMajuj #ancientprophecy #stoptheviolence #peace #prayforpeace #nomorewar #hope