Gog

In Ezekiel's prophecy Gog is a ruler: “Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:2). God says to him, “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:3; Ezekiel 39:1). He comes “out of the uttermost parts of the north” with many peoples against God's people Israel “as a cloud to cover the land,” and God says, “It will happen in the latter days that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me” (Ezekiel 38:15–16). When Gog comes against the land, God judges him with pestilence, hailstones, fire and sulfur (Ezekiel 38:18–23); he falls on the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 39:4), and God gives Gog “a place for burial in Israel,” called “The valley of Hamon Gog” (Ezekiel 39:11).

In Revelation 20:8, after the thousand years, Satan comes out “to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war,” and fire comes down out of heaven from God and devours them (Revelation 20:9).

Interpreters differ on whether Gog is a future ruler or a figure for the last enemies of God's people, and the text locates his land only in “the uttermost parts of the north.” Either way the prophecy's point is plain: God defeats every enemy of his people, and “the nations will know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel” (Ezekiel 39:7). He is not the Reubenite Gog of 1 Chronicles 5:4.