NOTES for Eze 38:1-23

The names Gog and Magog have become bywords for an evil power, and not by chance. What stands before us is not merely a prophecy about one of the many hostile invasions—how many have swept by, and how many of them are remembered by anyone but specialists? In the image of armies gathered together for conquest and plunder, however, we see not only another set of invaders but also forces hostile to God. It is no coincidence that several centuries later Gog and Magog will be mentioned in the Revelation of John the Theologian and will become the embodiment of the destructive forces of the last times.

The inhabitants of the Promised Land, threatened by Gog from the land of Magog, are called in the prophecy a people gathered from the nations. The first meaning that comes to mind is that a people driven into exile and scattered throughout the whole world will return to the land of their ancestors and live there once again. This interpretation cannot be disputed, but what if the words also have another reading? Do they not also say that when the forces of evil advance, the people of God will consist of people of different nationalities? If this reading is admissible, then this is a prophecy not only about the people of Israel, whom enemies will repeatedly seek to destroy, but also about the Church, which these forces will try unsuccessfully to demolish.