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The Prophecy That Is Shaping History: New Research on Ezekiel’s Vision of the End Jon Mark Ruthven, PhD Ihab Griess, PhD Xulon Press 11350 Random Hills Drive #800 Fairfax, Virginia 22030 Copyright Jon Mark Ruthven © 2003 In memoriam Pamela Jessie Ruthven PhD, LCSW 26 March 1952 – 9 April 2001 Wife, mother, and faithful friend i Preface Great events in history often gather momentum and power long before they are recognized by the experts and commentators on world affairs. Easily one of the most neglected but powerfully galvanizing forces shaping history in the world today is the prophecy of Gog and Magog from the 38th and 39th chapters of the book of Ezekiel. This prophecy from the Jewish-Christian Bible has molded geo-politics, not only with- in the United States and the West but also, to an amazing degree, in the Muslim world as well. It seems that, millennia ago, Ezekiel’s vision actually named the nation which millions today believe plays the major role in this prophecy: the nation of Russia. Many modern scholars have dismissed Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog prophecy as a mystical apocalypse written to vindicate the ancient claims of a minor country’s deity. The very notion of such a prediction—that semi-mythical and unrelated nations that dwelt on the fringes of Israel’s geographical consciousness 2,500 years ago would, “in the latter days,” suddenly coalesce into a tidal wave of opposition to a newly regathered state of Jews—seems utterly incredible to a modern mentality. Such a scenario, the experts say, belongs only to the fundamentalist “pop religion” of The Late, Great Planet Earth and of TV evangelists. But are the experts missing something? Why is Planet Earth the single best- selling book in English ever, beside the Bible? Why is this theme well received by a huge proportion of the American people? Why is Ezekiel’s prophecy the basis for many best-selling books in the Muslim world today? Could it be that this impossibly odd apocalypse in fact resonates with the deep spiritual instincts of the masses world- wide? Is Ezekiel’s prophecy not only predicting history, but shaping it? A thorough, scholarly investigation into both the locations and the foretold desti- nies of the key nations in Ezekiel’s Gog prophecy has never heretofore been produced at this level of detail. Hence, this work is a fairly technical essay intended primarily for the advanced reader and scholar, who have become so because they can judiciously follow evidence wherever it leads. We trust that this present study will lead the discus- sion to a significantly higher level of discourse on this controversial subject. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Ihab Griess for his persistence as a motivator and an inde- fatigable researcher, without whom this project would not have come to completion. I also own many thanks to Anelia Nikolova and Olga Khomchuk, and Vasilios “Bill” Kallis, for their assistance in covering Russian and Greek material. I am also indebted to Dr. M. G. Robertson for his valuable input during the early stages of this project; to my longtime friend, Douglas Detert, for his kind, careful, and very helpful reading of the earlier manuscript; and particularly to N’omi Orr and her husband, Joel, for their extensive editorial work and labor of love. Any errors encountered in the book, however, are my own. iii Overview of Contents While the prophetic vision recorded in Ezekiel’s chapters 36-39—particularly chapters 38 and 39—is having a considerable and world-wide impact on human affairs, the focus of my efforts draws attention to the important problem of correctly identifying the nations involved in that prophecy. These nations had a date with prophetic destiny in the late 6th century BCE, when they were foretold to someday demolish international security. As the time of this prophetic fulfillment draws near we need to be able to identify these nations with some certainty. The Prophecy That Is Shaping History is arranged in the following sections. Introduction. The Impact of Ezekiel’s Prophecy on Contemporary Events outlines the significance and impact of the Gog and Magog invasion of Israel mentioned in Ezekiel’s prophecy. This prophecy underlies the two best-selling books in the English- and Arab- speaking worlds today, and is shaping geo-politics in profound ways generally overlooked both by historians and by the news media. This chapter also outlines the flow of biblical and historical scholarship regarding the identity of the nations within the Gog prophecy. Chapter 1. The Interpretations of Ezekiel 38-39 examines two key interpretive issues that have bedeviled expositors since the first interpretation of the Gog prophecy. First, the chapter examines a problem in translation of the name of a key player in world events: Do these verses refer only to a prince who is a “rosh” or “chief”? Or is a prince of a nation named Rosh to be understood in 38:2-3 and 39:1? Second, Chapter 1 evaluates the major interpretive options of the Gog prophecy and demonstrates that a fairly literal interpretation best fits the evidence, viz., that in the future a coalition of identifiable nations from all points of the compass—though principally from the “farthest parts of the north”—will invade a Land of Israel to which the people of Israel have been recently regathered. Chapter 2. Ezekiel’s Northern Nations: Ancient Near Eastern Texts records the results of a thorough search of topographical texts from six empires of the Ancient Near East. This chapter and the next break new ground in locating plausible candidates for the invading nations of Ezekiel’s vision. The data show that, apart from Magog, all nations on Ezekiel’s list have clear referents in the area—particularly Rosh. Chapter 3. Ezekiel’s Northern Nations and Russia traces the migrations and destinies of these nations from Ezekiel’s time to the present. The conclusions may be considered controversial by some, but the evidence represents a significant advance in the scholarship on this topic. One important finding is that Ezekiel’s Rosh clearly lent its name to the modern state of Russia. Chapter 4. What Is, and What Is to Come, based on the foregoing material, highlights a number of key themes in the eerily contemporary Gog prophecy of Ezekiel. This chapter also offers a checklist that allows the reader to see more clearly the application of the key elements of the Gog prophecy. iv Table of Contents Preface, Overview of Contents, Acknowledgements ………. iii-vii Introduction: The Impact of Ezekiel’s Prophecy on Contemporary Events ………………. 1 I. Historical Roots …………………………………………………………… 2 II. Review of Scholarship on the Identification of Ezekiel’s Rosh ……….. 6 A. Biblical Theology …………………………………………………….. 7 B. Russian Historiography ………………………………………………...8 Chapter 1: The Interpretations of Ezekiel 38 And 39 …………... 21 I. Rosh: An Adjective or a Proper Noun? ……………………………….. 21 A. The Grammatical Argument ………………………………………… 21 B. The Philological Argument …………………………………………. 24 II. The “Fulfillment” of the Gog Prophecy: Symbolic, Literal or Irrelevant? ……………………. 25 A. The Critical Hermeneutic …………………………………………… 26 B. The Mythical/Symbolic Hermeneutic ………………………………. 28 C. The Contemporary/Literal Hermeneutic ……………………………. 30 D. The Futurist/Literal Hermeneutic …………………………………… 32 1. The fact of the modern State of Israel …………………………… 35 2. Cities without walls ……………………………………………… 36 3. Israel regathered from “many nations” …………………………… 36 4. Israel regathered to a “land that has been a continual waste” ……. 36 5. The unique alignment of nations against Israel ………………….. 38 6. The location of the northern nations that will come from the “farthest part of the north” …………………………………. 39 7. The historicity of Ezekiel’s Rosh and the other northern invaders ………………………………… 40 8. The effect of the nature of national names on applying Ezekiel’s Rosh to possible candidates ……………. 40 Chapter 2: Ezekiel’s Northern Nations: Ancient Near Eastern Texts ………………….. 55 I. Biblical Evidence ………………………………………………………… 56 A. Historical Background ……………………………………………….. 56 B. Candidates for Identification with Ezekiel’s Nations ……………….. 56 1. Ezekiel 38-39 …………………………………………………….. 56 2. Jeremiah 25:23-26 ………………………………………………… 57 3. Isaiah 66:19 ……………………………………………………….. 58 v II. Egyptian Sources ………………………………………………………… 59 A. Historical Background ………………………………………………… 59 B. Candidate for Identification with Ezekiel’s Nation, Rosh ……………. 59 III. Ugaritic Sources …………………………………………………………. 60 A. Historical Background ………………………………………………… 60 B. Candidate for Identification with Ezekiel’s Nation, Rosh ……………. 61 IV. Hittite Sources …………………………………………………………… 62 A. Historical Background ………………………………………………… 62 B. Candidates for Identification with Ezekiel’s Nations …………………. 62 1. Rosh …………………………………………………………………. 62 2. Tubal ………………………………………………………………… 63 V. Urartian Sources ………………………………………………………… 63 A. Historical Background ………………………………………………… 63 B. Candidate for Identification with Ezekiel’s Nation, Rosh …………….. 64 Excursus: The Urartian Dynasty of Rusas and Ezekiel’s Rosh ……… 64 VI. Assyrian Sources …………………………………………………………. 65 A. Historical Background …………………………………………………. 65 B. Candidates for Identification with Ezekiel’s Nations …………………. 65 1. Rosh ………………………………………………………………….. 65 a. The Eastern Locale …..…………………………………………... 65 b. The North-Central Locale ….…………………………………….. 66 c. The Western Locale ….…………………………………………... 66 2. Meshech ……………………………………………………………... 67 3. Tubal ………………………………………………………………… 68 4. Gomer ……………………………………………………………….. 69 VII. Babylonian Sources ………………………………………………………
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