We know where the Antichrist comes from – one of the areas ruled by Alexander the Great and his generals. The area around Greece, the Middle East, Central Asia and Egypt are all the choices that we have – when considering where the Antichrist comes from. And, since Daniel refers to the Antichrist as The King of the North, Egypt and most of the Middle East are out of consideration.
So, we have a rough idea about where the Antichrist comes from.
But, Gog and the Land of Magog are a little harder to figure out.
Gog Is Not The Antichrist
Thankfully, we have already eliminated one of the biggest obstacles to understanding where Gog and Magog come from. Far too many believe that Gog and the Antichrist are the same, and we have firm proof that they are not. Therefore, we can avoid trying to make Turkey, Greece or northern parts of the Middle East into the Land of Magog.
Since we understand this, we are free to look past such errors and accurately look at the evidence laid out in Ezekiel. But, when looking for where the Land of Magog is, we are confronted with a huge problem.
There’s A LOT Of Magog
No matter where the Land of Magog is, it must be HUGE. Really big. Ginormous. In fact, so big, that it might be easier to look for where the Land of Magog is not. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. We need to look at the verses that describe the grand alliance formed by Gog:
1 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.
– Ezekiel 38:1-6 (NKJV)
Concentrate on these guys here:
Magog
Gomer
Togarmah
Meshech
Tubal
Ethiopia (Cush)
Libya (Put)
Those names won’t make a lot of sense to you, unless you understand who their fathers are:
Japheth
Ham
That’s right, almost everyone in the military alliance of Gog and Magog are grandsons of Noah, which should be your first clue that the countries involved in this grand army will be gigantic. Here is where we see these grandsons of Noah:
1 Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.
6 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
– Genesis 10: 1-6 (NKJV)
Almost all of the sons of Japheth are listed in the army of Gog and Magog. Except for Javan and Tiras, all the children of Japheth come against Israel. Javan is Greece and Tiras seems to Thrace – areas north of Greece.
Of the sons of Ham, only half seem interested in destroying Israel. Cush is Ethiopia. Mizraim is Egypt. Put is Libya. And, Canaan is… well, we’re not sure where the Canaanites are anymore. Some say that the Chinese are from Canaan. (We’ll talk more about Cush and Put, later.)
Who does Ezekiel leave out?
Shem.
Shem can be found nowhere as a part of this vast army that comes down to fight Israel – with one small exception. Here are the children of Shem:
21 And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber
– Genesis 10:21-24 (NKJV)
With one small exception, none of the children of Shem are involved in this invasion. None of the Arabs. No Assyrians (Asshur). No Syrians (Aram). In fact, except for Iran, Turkey and parts of North Africa, no one in the Middle East seems to take part. But, I mentioned a ‘small exception’.
At least part of the descendants of Elam settled in what is southwestern Iran. It’s doubtful that they would all have stayed there, and many of them would have moved into Pakistan, India and further east – along with the Medes (Madai). But, this initial settlement of Elam would become the core of Persia.
So, because Iran is involved, there is actually a little bit of Shem mixed in with Japheth and Ham.
Again, almost all of the sons of Japheth and half the sons of Ham are involved in this invasion. That’s a lot of countries. Most of Europe, Northern and Central Asia, and most of Africa.
The bottom line that we all need to understand is this:
This is a truly massive army, taken from most of the people groups of the world.
Just Magog alone would be really big. If you take a moment to think it through, you’ll understand why that would be true. After all, he was the grandson of Noah. The same goes for Gomer and his son Togarmah. In fact, we would do better to ask who is NOT in this alliance formed by Gog. That might be a simpler question to answer.
Be Careful To See Clearly
Now, before going on, let me add what might be an important point. Because of how Ezekiel describes this invasion, we know that it will be big. And, we have indications that a huge number of countries will be involved. But, I want to mention that it is possible that not every member of Cush or Put will necessarily be there. Maybe not every member of Gomer, Togarmah, Meshech or Tubal. Maybe.
Maybe only a subset of all the possible countries will be involved.
However, this might be another manifestation of my irrational optimism. I hate the thought that so many will be in this army. But, a lot of things have already happened that few of us thought were possible, so just try to keep a flexible view, as much as possible. We’ve been wrong in the past, and those errors have kept some of us from seeing clearly. And, we need to avoid that.
Make sure that you are seeing clearly, when Gog and Magog comes.
1800 Years Of Expansion
Now, as you try to get your head around the vast number of countries that could be a part of this invasion, think about how much time humanity would have had to expand throughout the world after Noah’s Ark. By the time that Ezekiel came along humans had almost two thousand years to expand around the world. And, it only takes a few years to actually walk around the world.
Do you want to walk around the world on your own two feet?
It will only take a couple of years. The fastest time was 662 days (1.8 years), a record set by Jesper Olsen, in 2005. Others have walked around our globe at a more casual pace. The main thing to remember is that 2000 years is more than enough time for humanity spread out to every place on earth by the time that Ezekiel had his revelation about the coming of Gog and Magog.
In fact, the first dynasty of China was established only a few hundred years after the Great Flood.
Unfortunately, too many theologians are unable to grasp the idea that mankind had spread so far, so quickly. And, this inability is why you will see so many ‘Gog and Magog maps’ with most of the sons of Japheth shoved into Turkey. And, when you try to look up what the experts say about where each of the descendants of Noah settled, you’ll get a mishmash of contradiction and shallow evidence.
A Plague Of Historians
Part of the problem lies with early commentaries that were based on historians with limited knowledge.
Early historians were restricted in their ability to discern beyond the frontiers of their civilization. Getting information on the tribes rampaging back and forth across Siberia and into Scandinavia, was very difficult for them. That’s why Josephus, Hippolytus and Nennius couldn’t talk very much about the people in Scandinavia, Western Russia and Siberia. And, it’s why there are huge gaps in their description of where the descendants of Japheth were living.
Think about the problem that Roman historians would have had, trying to understand where everyone was. Here’s the largest extent of the Roman Empire, around AD 117:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/RomanEmpire_117.svg
Then, compare the Roman Empire with the Han Dynasty around AD 1:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/RomanandHanEmpiresAD1.png
Yes, there was contact between the Han Empire and the Roman Empire. But, notice how small the Roman Empire was, compared to the rest of Europe, Asia and Africa. There was a lot that Roman historians and early Christian theologians just could not know.
To prove my point, look at everything that Romans recorded about tribes and peoples. The level of detail dramatically declines, the farther away from the Roman borders you go. This link is an interesting example of what I mean:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Roman_Empire_125.png
Notice that the area directly under the control of Rome is packed with the names of tribes. Our first historians knew those people intimately. But, on the frontiers of the Roman Empire, you have very few names. And, beyond those, nothing. Roman, Jewish and early Christian historians could not see the multitude of tribes that lived beyond the borders of what they thought of as the ‘civilized’ world.
However, today we have archeologists who have discovered a lot of information about of these tribes. And, we now have a growing ability to map the distribution of humanity by analyzing DNA. We know a lot more about our ancestors than what any of the ancients could have possibly figured out. Even though the accuracy of our methods are still far from perfect, our understanding of the ancient world has increased by leaps and bounds.
Just do a search for ‘haplogroup’ and look at the maps. There is a HUGE amount of information to look at. Just remember that geneticists, ethnographers and archeologists are distorting their research results so that they can continue to claim that all these genetic groups came out of Africa.
But, there is one group that we know about, that we do not need any speculation over.
The Key Is Persia
You and I could argue for days over the identities of each member of the Gog and Magog alliance that attacks Israel. They all have a question mark over their identities – except for one:
Persia
There is no question whatsoever about who Persia is. That’s Iran, and we’ll be able to identify the coming of Gog and Magog partly because Iran will be involved.
The Hebrew name for Persia is פרס – or Paras. I talk about Iran a lot, and they are probably the most enthusiastic enemy of Israel in this alliance. They have certainly been the biggest troublemaker in the Middle East since the fall of the Shah in 1979.
Since the ’79 Islamic Revolution that deposed the Pahlavi dynasty, Iran has been proclaiming the need to destroy America and the ‘liberate’ Jerusalem. It is their national focus, and for that purpose, Iran created a special unit called the Sepah-e Qods, or Jerusalem Force, more commonly known as the Quds Force. Even though she was in a fight to the death with Iraq in the ’80s, Iran still took the time and the money to form Hezbollah in 1985, to fight Israel in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
In fact, at the very beginning of their reign of terror, the Ayatollahs of Iran have made Jerusalem their focus. Just a few months after taking power in Iran, the chief Ayatollah instituted a new ‘celebration’ for the last Friday of every Ramadan – called Jerusalem Day, or Quds Day – to focus on the destruction of Israel and the liberation of Jerusalem.
The irony is that a Shia Islamic movement created ‘Quds Day’, but the Palestinians – almost completely Sunni – celebrate it with enthusiasm.
Another irony is that none of this would have made sense before 1979. Before the Islamic Revolution, Iran was a country trying to modernize as quickly as possible. It was friendly with the West and Israel. Her cities had become modern with a highly educated populace. Then came the Ayatollahs, who knocked all of that down, turning back the clock and helping us understand why Persia belongs in the Gog and Magog alliance.
So, we KNOW who Persia is. And, because Ezekiel makes a special mention of Persia, Iran will always be the most important identifier of the military alliance formed by Gog. Whenever you see Iran ally herself with someone, look carefully. Any country that draws close to Iran will ALWAYS be a strong candidate for being the Land of Magog. And, right now, Iran is working hard to collaborate with Russia and China.
For that reason alone, we should consider the possibility that Russia is the Land of Magog, and her president – currently Putin – as Gog. Yes, things could change, and new information might come to light, causing us to rethink our analysis. But, the growing relationship between Russia and Iran should focus our attention on Moscow and her intentions.
Oh, and one more thing:
Notice how unusual the mention of Persia is, in Ezekiel.
That’s right Paras – Persia – is not a name for one of the grandsons of Noah. It isn’t even a great-great-grandson. Persia is actually a specific combination of the Medes (Madai) and early Persians (Elam). Eventually, Elam absorbed Madai and became Persia.
So, as we grapple with the identity of Gog and the Land of Magog, remember that our most reliable indicator is Iran.
Rosh
There is one more interesting identifier of Gog and Magog, and I wasn’t sure whether to include this group:
Rosh – ראש (pronounced Roh-sh)
Unfortunately, you might not have heard of Rosh because of how the King James Version (and most bibles) translated Ezekiel 38:2. Most translations say something like:
Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
– Ezekiel 38:2 (KJV)
However, the New King James Version (NKJV) corrects the KJV error and rewords the verse, like this:
“Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
– Ezekiel 38:2 (NKJV)
Of the 60 English translations available on the website BibleGateway.com, only 9 hold to that interpretation – the ASV, EHV, MEV, NASB, NLV, OJB, WEB, YLT and the NKJV.
What’s the difference?
Well most Bibles translate the Hebrew word ראש – rosh – as chief. And, that would normally be a good translation. (It literally means ‘head’, as in your physical nod-able head. Hair optional.) Unfortunately, in this verse, it is deeply incorrect to make that connection. And, I am glad that I can praise the NKJV, because I will be forced to criticize it later over its other mistakes.
So, why is the NKJV right and the KJV wrong?
It’s actually quite simple. The Hebrew word rosh (ראש) in Ezekiel, is clearly a noun and NOT an adjective. Hebrew is very specific when it comes to adjectives, unlike English. So, if rosh was supposed to be an adjective, the Hebrew for chief prince should have been:
נשיא ראשי
But, the prophet Ezekiel wrote it like this:
נשיא ראש
Do you see the difference?
Yeah, it’s this character:
י
That’s a yood, and it should appear at the end of rosh (Hebrew is written right-to-left), if it was a modifier of נשיא, or nasi (pronounced nah-SEE). Also, nasi already means chief prince. In fact, it’s the word used in Israel to indicate the president of a country. Biden is currently the nasi of America. Putin is the nasi of Russia.
Hmmmm… Putin, the nasi of Russia…
Could he be Gog?
We’ll find out when the time comes.
More than just a noun, the word rosh appears to be a name, and it fits very nicely with the original name for the Russian people:
The Rus
But wait, the Hebrew says ‘Rosh’ and the history books says ‘Rus’.
Which is it?
Actually, both.
Take a close look at the Hebrew word for Rosh:
ראש
The ‘sh’ sound comes from this letter:
ש
That letter – called a ‘shin’ – can also sound like an ‘s’ – or a ‘sin’. It depends on whether the dot above the letter – a nikud – is on the right (sh) or left (s). And, you’ll notice that I don’t provide any of those dots when I talk about the Hebrew.
Why?
Because modern Hebrew doesn’t include them, and there are technical reasons for why I’m not certain that you’ll be able to see them, if I put them in.
I could go into more depth about what each nikud (pronounced nee-kood) can do to add and change the sounds of Hebrew words. But, this book isn’t about that, so we should move on.
The point is that the difference between Rosh and Rus is very small in Hebrew. More importantly, the sounds of words tend to change over time – especially when we are talking about thousands of years of drift, in which a name like ‘The Rosh’ can become ‘The Rus’.
So, don’t get hung up over the tiny difference between Rosh and Rus. ‘Rosh’ is way, way too close to ‘Rus’ to ignore – especially since we have historical evidence that puts Rosh right where The Rus are, right now. And, The Rus are right where we would expect them to be, if they are a part of this story.
Why?
Because, talking about ‘The Rus’ means talking about Russia.
And Russia has gotten cozy with Persia.
Of course, the people that history calls ‘The Rus’ are also found in Ukraine and Belarus, but Ukraine and Belarus don’t seem to have governments or presidents that are strong enough to be ‘Gog’. So, until events show us otherwise, we should consider Rosh to be Russia. And Russia appears to control the territory where the descendants of Magog seem to live.
Having said all that, if someone can provide a better explanation for ‘Rosh’, I’m all ears. Remember that the best that we can do is say that Rosh is MOST LIKELY ‘The Rus’. I’m not completely certain that my analysis is correct, so you shouldn’t be certain about this, either.
In fact, I hope that I’m wrong about Russia and Rosh. I like the Russians. I’ve worked with lots of them. I don’t like the idea that they will be a part of this grand army that comes down to attack Israel.
East Asia
Should we talk about East Asia?
Remember that who is NOT in this army is probably more important than who is.
The genetic and physical characteristics of East Asians are distinct from the peoples who are descendant from Japheth, so there’s little chance that East Asians are Indo-European in any way. And, the descendants of Shem, did not seem to get further east than northwest India. This means that the Chinese are almost certainly descended from Ham.
But, which son of Ham?
Cush? Put? Mizraim? Canaan?
Unfortunately, this is where we get into quite a bit of speculation. I like to think that it’s pretty good speculation, but it’s still just that – speculation.
Cush, Put and Mizraim had ample room to expand into Africa. Africa is huge, so they would not have had any reason to jump into the sea or walk thousands of miles into Asia. We know where they wound up.
But, what about the children of Canaan?
Were they forced by the others to march eastwards, over the ‘Silk Road’ into central and east Asia?
Did they go by sea along the southern coast of Asia, and then up into China?
Did they do both?
We have a number of Hamitic groups in eastern and southern Asia. One group is prevalent in India (lower caste Hindus). We find another in Oceania – Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, etc. Then, there are the Hamitic peoples of Polynesia. Another group seems to have settled in Tibet.
Are these all the descendants of Canaan?
Or, do we have representatives of Cush, Put and Mizraim mixed in?
I’m not completely sure, but we do have a rather shaky clue in the name of one of the sons of Canaan:
סין – pronounced like ‘seen’
In modern Hebrew, China is סין. And, when one of the descendants of Canaan has a similar name, you start to think that there’s a connection. However, that’s not a strong argument for claiming that the Chinese are Canaanites.
Seriously, be careful about claiming that two things are the same because they have similar names. That’s a really good way to make really big errors.
However, Isaiah 49:12 refers to a people coming from very far away:
12 Surely these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”
When God was telling Isaiah that people would come from extremely far away, you really couldn’t get more ‘far away’ than to say from the land of סין. That verse makes the ‘Chinese are Canaanites’ argument a lot stronger.
Again, be careful here. This is still pretty weak evidence to base our speculation on. Just because one of the sons of Canaan sounds like the Hebrew word for China, doesn’t mean that it’s about China. So, be careful to remember that the connection is speculative.
However, when I mentioned all this to my wife, who is of Han Chinese descent, she laughed and said, “So that explains Chinese history.” And, indeed, it seems to. China has a blood-soaked past that also includes being dominated and subjugated by the Middle East and Europe. The Japanese, Koreans and Southeast Asians have also been completely dominated by the Europeans and Americans, and I am truly disgusted by how we have treated the East Asians.
One topic that gets me really mad is the Opium trade run by the British, from the 1700s. The British empire grew opium in India and forced it on China, in exchange for porcelain, silk and tea – that they brought back to the UK. They enslaved an entire people to a terrible opium addiction to get pottery, fabric and caffeinated water.
The New Testament calls such a foul and evil drug trade as sorcery – pharmacopeia – and it is a sin worthy of death in the eyes of God. So, the British empire richly deserved to be destroyed for this evil. Unfortunately, our own American government has taken up the opium trade – running more than a trillion dollars worth of Heroin out of Afghanistan, every year. But, that’s a story for another time.
Remember this curse that was placed upon Canaan:
24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said:
“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brethren.”
26 And he said:
“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem,
And may Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant.”
– Genesis 9:24-27 (NKJV)
So, when I look at the history of East Asia, and how the rest of the world has abused her people so badly, it makes me think that they really are the descendants of Canaan – since they seem to have suffered the curse of Canaan. And, a number of Chinese Christians say the same thing.
From Noah To East Asia
Let’s end our discussion of East Asia with a historical snapshot of the first two centuries after The Flood, that saw humanity strewn across the globe. The Flood happened in 2345 BC, and the first recorded Chinese dynasty was established in 2070 BC – the Xia dynasty.
Note: An X is always pronounced with an ‘sh’ sound, when referring to Chinese words. For instance, the family name of the president of China – Xi – sounds like ‘shee’. Always.
This record of the Xia means that we have our first Chinese dynasty just 281 years after The Great Flood. Furthermore, we estimate that it took close to a hundred years for the children of Noah to build enough of the Tower of Babel to cause God to break it all up by confusing the languages. One of the reasons why we know this, comes from this verse:
To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.
This means that there would have been just a little over a century and a half for the original Chinese people to migrate four thousand miles east (6300 km), to northern China and form the first Chinese Kingdom. That might seem like a lot of walking, but remember that you can circle the Earth in just a couple of years. But, it’s also true that no one ‘migrates’ like that unless they are pushed. And, it looks like the sons of Japheth were the ones doing the biggest pushing, via the Turkic peoples that took over Central Asia.
So, the Xia dynasty (pronounced: shee-ah) began in 2070 BC. That was around the same time that Greek civilization got going. The Egyptians got their start a little earlier, when the descendants of one of the sons of Ham – Mizraim – ran off to the Nile.
Why was the discussion important?
Because it shows that East Asia cannot be in the Gog and Magog coalition.
None of the Canaanites are in Gog and Magog. Neither are the Egyptians, Greeks, Italians or Spanish. Even the French and Germans might not be involved, since only one of the sons of Gomer – Togarmah – is mentioned. But, I might be stretching a bit here. But, it’s just as important to think about who is NOT in this military alliance, as who is included.
Don’t Get Stuck On Cush And Put
Cush and Put are a little easier to place, but we’ve been blinded by modern geography. We think of Put as the nation of Libya and Cush as the nation of Ethiopia. And, that is an extremely near-sighted view. And, we owe this to the translators of our Bibles who often used those modern names, instead of the Hebrew words. That has blinded us to who Cush and Put are.
Where are Cush and Put?
All of Africa, outside of Egypt.
All of it.
Put is far more than just Libya, and Cush is much more than just Ethiopia. Both of those peoples settled all of Africa. And, by the time of Ezekiel, they would have settled all of the most arable land of that continent – just like all the other descendants of Noah who spread throughout Europe and Asia. What we don’t know, are the names of the countries in Africa that will join this alliance. Libya and Ethiopia might join. Sudan might join. Somalia might. Others might as well, or they might not.
Again, Cush, Put and Mizraim are represented in every square inch of Africa, not just a couple countries in north and northeast Africa.
So, please keep your mind clear on this point. Eschatologists love to talk about Libya, Ethiopia and Sudan. I once did too. Do not get stuck in the same kind of thinking. Cush and Put cover all of Africa, except for Egypt.
Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and Togarmah
This brings us to the remaining names – Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and Togarmah. I’m lumping them all together since it’s hard to determine exactly where these people settled. They were all sons of Japheth, except for Togarmah – who was the son of Gomer. And, being sons of Japheth, they would have settled all of Europe and a lot of Asia. Unfortunately, most of our evidence of where they settled lies with how similar some of their names are to places in Asia and Europe.
Meshech sounds a lot like Moskva, the name of the river that gave Moscow its name. Some have pointed to the Meshchera people who lived east of Moscow, in Siberia. Wherever they lived, they would have taken up a large area. And, one thing is certain:
Meshech would not have stayed in Turkey!
Tubal sounds a lot like Tabal, a kingdom that sprang up in the ashes of the Hittites, in Turkey. That kingdom didn’t last very long and didn’t control a lot of area. However, there was a group of people called the Tibareni who lived in the Caucasus Mountains. But, since Tubal was a son of Japheth, it makes little sense to ascribe Tubal to such a small area of land. However, we have another hint in the city of Tobolsk and the Tobol River. Tubal might have migrated to the part of Siberia that is just north of Kazakhstan.
Gomer And Togarmah are a little more interesting.
Why was Togarmah mentioned, and not the other sons of Gomer?
Does this tell us that only part of Gomer joins Gog and Magog?
It’s hard to say. We’ll certainly find out when the time comes.
Many have linked Togarmah with Turkey and some of the Turks of Central Asia. Again, trying to push the sons of Japheth into Turkey to ‘simplify’ this prophecy is foolish. But, there is one thing that we know about Turkey:
It was taken over by the Turkic peoples of central Asia.
These central Asian Turks are why we call Anatolia, Turkey. And, it didn’t begin to be ‘Turkified’ until the 11th century AD when the Turks were brought in. But, it still wasn’t called Turkey until about a hundred years ago, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. So, even though Anatolia might not have been the place where Togarmah started, it might have been a place where some of them wound up.
This leaves the other two sons of Gomer – Ashkenaz and Riphath. And, we have little idea about where they went. The Jewish people who wound up in Germanic countries refer to themselves as Ashkenazi Jews, since that is where they believe that Ashkenaz settled. But, I’m not sure that’s strong evidence. And, we are completely clueless about where Riphath wound up.
I hate to be so uncertain, but we’re stuck with an uncertain record. Those who claim to be certain are either deluded or trying to sell you something. But, let’s not end our discussion here.
Javan And Tiras
The sons of Javan represent the Greek peoples of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. Javan or יון (pronounced yah-van) is the Hebrew word for Greece. The descendants of Javan are probably more than just Greece, but it’s hard to say just HOW much more. But, we know that the Greeks went pretty far, creating colonies across the Mediterranean Sea. Some have even claimed that the Greeks left a colony or two on the southern coast of England.
Then, there’s Tiras. The Greeks called the Etruscans, the Tyrsenoi, and that sounds like that could be a match. We know that the Etruscans lived in northern Italy, and probably even further north into France, Switzerland and Austria. The question is whether they were the ones to start Roman civilization, or whether the sons of Javan were the more direct progenitors. Also, Tiras could have been the origins of a kingdom called Thrace, which was north of Greece.
But, if you are in Israel, and would like some corn, you ask for תירס – tiras. But, that’s kinda corny.
A Lot Of Magog
You could probably write several books on the identity of this grand military alliance that we call Gog And Magog. We could do ethnographic and linguistic analyses. We could look at DNA and archeological finds. But ultimately, it doesn’t change one very basic fact:
There’s a LOT of Magog out there.
Magog was the grandson of Noah, so there would have been a lot of them running around by the time Ezekiel was given the prophecy found in Ezekiel 36, 37, 38 and 39. Wherever the Land of Magog is, it would need to be pretty big and fairly powerful. But, it would also need to be weak enough that the ruler of the Land of Magog would need help in his invasion of the Middle East and Israel.
Right now, that sounds like Russia. But, if there is a delay in the fulfillment of this prophecy, we might find that another Eurasian country will be a closer fit to the definition of The Land of Magog. But, whatever our speculations on this subject, there is one thing that we know for certain:
Iran will be the key to identifying this invasion by Gog of the Land of Magog
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