Gog and Magog
1 The word of Yahweh came to me in these terms,
2 “Son of man, turn towards Gog of the country of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal and prophesy against him.
3 Say to him: Hear the word of Yahweh: I come to strike you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
4 I will turn you round, fix hooks in your jaws and bring you out, you and your entire army, horses and riders all perfectly equipped, a great army, all with shields and bucklers and brandishing swords.
5 Persia, Cush and Put are with them, all with buckler and helmet.
6 Gomer and all his troops, and Bethto garmah from the far north with his battalions, a vast throng, are with you.
7 Get ready, be prepared, you and all your troops massed around you, and take command of them.
8 After many days you will be given a mission. In the years ahead you will invade a land recovered from war where the people are gathered from among many nations on the mountains of Israel which had for long been barren. Its people were brought from among the nations and now live in safety, all of them.
9 Then you will go up like a storm, like a cloud covering the earth, you and all your troops and the many nations with you.
10 Thus says Yahweh: On that day thoughts will come to your mind and you will plan an evil scheme
11 saying: ‘I will go up against unprotected towns, against peaceful people living in safety, all of them living without walls, bars or gates.
12 I will plunder and loot; I will attack the land that is inhabited again. I will go against this peo ple gathered from among the nations, who live by trading and are increasing their cattle at the center of the world.’
13 People of Sheba and Dedan and all the merchants of Tarshish and its villages will ask you: ‘Have you come to plunder? Is it to loot that you have assembled such an army?’ And they will come with silver and gold, to take away the livestock and to buy your enormous booty.
14 Therefore prophesy, son of man and say to Gog on my behalf: On that day when my people Israel are living in security you will come from the far north,
15 you and the throngs with you, all on horses, with many troops – a vast army.
16 You will come against my people Israel like a cloud about to cover the earth. It will be in the far-off days that you shall come against my people, and I shall let you do so, that the nations may know me, for I shall manifest my holiness through you, O Gog!
17 Thus says Yahweh: You are the one about whom I spoke in former times through my ser vants, the prophets of Israel, saying that I would bring you against them in far-off days.
18 On that day when Gog will come to the land of Israel – word of Yahweh – my fury will be aroused.
19 In the jealousy and heat of my anger I declare: On that day there will be a great earthquake in Israel.
20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the creatures that creep on the ground and every human being on the earth will tremble before me.
Mountains will fall, cliffs crumble and walls collapse.
21 I will summon the sword against Gog on all my mountains – word of Yahweh. Each one’s sword will turn against his brother.
22 I will punish Gog with plague and bloodshed. I will send torrential rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his battalions and on the many nations with him.
23 I will manifest myself as the Mighty and Holy One in the sight of these many people, and they will know that I am Yahweh.
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Comments Ezekiel, Chapter 38
• 38.1 Chapters 38 and 39 predict an invasion of nations united against the kingdom of Israel, after it is restored. Those countries are to the north, near the Black Sea. A miraculous victory of Yahweh is predicted for that moment.
If we omit the end of chapter 39 (vv. 17-29), it is almost certain that these pages were not written by Ezekiel, nor do they have anything to do with his mission but were inserted here at the time of the Maccabees. As the so -called “prophecies of Daniel,” they belong to apocalyptic literature which delighted the Jews during the two centuries before Christ and for a hundred years after him (see the introduction to Daniel).
This veiled description of the Syrian invasions in the time of the Maccabees is attributed to Ezekiel, when, in fact, a contemporary of those wars is the author. He expressed his conviction that soon God would crush the Syrian persecutors.
In apocalyptic books, it was customary to use complicated images, to speak emphatically and to announce spectacular divine interventions. This complicated style is always heartening to people with little education who want to see in it some true and ancient pro phecy, applicable to our time. There will always be details which, if taken literally, could apply to planes, tanks, chemical warfare…. Even with little biblical knowledge, one can easily find the confirmation of one’s own dreams.
The apocalyptic pages of the Bible tell us that the history of the world will end with the clear division between those who accept God’s offer and those who reject it. The kingdom of God will not be the world we are building, although we must build it to prepare for the new and definitive world which God will bring about in his own way. To wait for God to do everything however, can be illusory and deceptive. Some believers adopt a pessimistic attitude: they think that evil is stronger than good and that there is nothing to be done other than to wait for God to solve everything. Others are eager for “revelations” and predict “punishment and catastrophes.” Others see themselves and their sects as the reduced group of the saved, and live withdrawn from others, that is, they turn their backs on real life.