The Gog War - Ezekiel 38-39 Chavurah Shalom Friday 8/11/17

We have been looking at the events which some would say must precede the Tribu- lation as we have reached the beginnings of the Tribulation in our Friday night studies. Last week we acknowledged the typical Dispensational approach to this Gog War as being a threat from Russia, and occurring prior to the beginnings of the Tribulation, as espoused by Dr. Randall Price, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and others. We also pointed out the current opposition of Walid Shoebat and Joel Richardson, both who hold to this battle of God in Ezekiel 38-39 being the very battle of AntiChrist with the Messiah at the very end of the Tribulation. I pointed out the el- ements that are presented from both sides as elements that determine its timing. I am looking predominantly at this time at two opposite views, that espoused by Fruchtenbaum/Price/Ice et al, and at the other side, Shoebat/Richardson. In actual- ity, the impetus of Shoebat and Richardson is to show that the AntiChrist is Islam- ic, and the final great battle of Armageddon and Ezekiel 38-39 are the same thing. They do not apparently deal with anything after the setting up of the Messianic Kingdom from Jerusalem, and a full and complete restoration of Israel to its land. It is as if everything is restored in their mind at this time. This is based upon a somewhat quick perusal of their books. Their outlines don't lend themselves to picking out specific information without just reading their entire books. In relationship to the timing of this Gog and Magog war, we do find the phrase Acharit Hayamim. A key phrase used of these final days is the Acharit Hayamim, which is variously translated as "the latter days," "the last days," "the days to come." The places where we find this phrase: Genesis 49:1; Numbers 24:14; Deuteronomy 4:30; 31:29; Isaiah 2:2; Jeremiah 23:20; 30:24; 48:47; 49:39; Ezekiel 38:16; Hosea 3:5; Micah 4:1; Daniel 10:14. .Yom ADONAI ,יוֹם יהְוָה ",We find also used in this way, "The Day of the LORD However, this phrase is not found in Ezekiel 38-39. Both of these terms tend to de- scribe a time of God's judgment upon the earth. This phrase is found: Isaiah 13:6, 9; 58:13; Ezekiel 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; Amos 5:18, 10; Obadiah 15; Zephaniah 1:7, 14; Acts 2:20; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10.

- 1 - Regardless of exactly where we place this Gog war, it is directly related to the final events upon this earth, whether just before the Great Tribulation, during the Great Tribulation, or at the close of the Great Tribulation. Thus far in our study, as we noted the distinctions between the players listed in the Psalm 83 War, the Gog War, and Armageddon, I still regard these as separate events. However, that they make up the final events coming upon the earth cannot be denied. Now, since I have been examining the Scriptures in this study, I have been ponder- ing the use of the Hebrew Rosh. It has been bugging me to the point, I began looking a bit more at the use of this word in our Ezekiel 38-39 text. And I must say, I am not convinced that it refers to Russia. Our text begins with the leader, an individual with the name Gog. The Name Gog is identified always as a proper noun, and is found only sparingly, in 1 Chronicles 5:4; Ezekiel 38:2,1 4, 16, 18; 39:1, 11; Revelation 20:8. In the 1 Chronicles passage, he is simply listed in the genealogy of Reuben, Jacob's first born son. The other passages obviously refer him to the country of Magog. He is referred to in the beginning of Ezekiel 38-39 as Gog of the land of Magog, nasi rosh Meshesh, and Tubal. In Hebrew we appear to have a word pair which would be understood to mean the Nasi or Leader of Rosh. The New King James Version, the New American Standard Version both read, "the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal." However, the Old King James Version, the Targum Jonathan, the , the Syriac Peshitta, and Aquila read "the chief prince of Meshech, and Tubal." For your information, Aquila of Sinope, Turkey, a proselyte and student of , translated the into Greek. He is believed to be the same as who gave us . His Greek translation was preserved in part by 's , a version with six different Greek translations. Some of these very early fragments and works are quite fascinating! These last ones which translate "the chief prince of Meshech, and Tubal," are joined by the Jewish Publication Society translation, NET Bible, and the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. The Brown - Driver - Briggs Lexicon of the is perhaps guilty of the concept of Rosh as a place or person name, but this a very minor entry in the vari- ous listings of the word Rosh. This Lexicon was key in the translation and produc- tion of the NASB and other translations. The recent Hebrew and Lexicon

- 2 - of the Old Testament however, supports the prior translation as "chief prince." Ad- ditionally the translation of Rashi is "the prince, the head of Meshech, and Tubal." It is interesting that every other place Rosh appears in Ezekiel, 40 times, it has its normal translation as first, top, head, etc. Only here in Ezekiel 38-39 does it have the meaning of a proper noun, three times at Ezekiel 38:2, 3; 39:1. The typical Jewish translation also has "chief prince." It would seem that all of the older Jew- ish understanding would negate the concept of a place named Rosh, and any connection to modern Russia. Jewish tradition ties the Gog War with the coming of the Messiah. It is not quite so clear as to how to translate these two terms put together, either one of which on its own could relate to chief, leader, prince. There is a lot of interpre- tation placed upon this little phrase. For without seeing this as a geographical ref- erence, and only related to the leader, it takes Rosh or Russia out of the picture al- together. This is part of the argument from Shoebat and Richardson. Genesis 10:1-5 outlines the sons of Japheth, the son of Noah. This is our first mention of Magog, Meshech and Tubal. We find a similar list at 1 Chronicles 1:5-7. The only place other than in Ezekiel 38-39 that we find Rosh used as a proper noun is at Genesis 46:21, as occurring in the lineage of Benjamin. We would be hard pressed to associate this Rosh with the current Russian world scene. What is more important is that we don't find Rosh in association with these other place names which were originally person's names. We find Meshech and Tubal also mentioned at Psalm 120:5; Isaiah 66:19; Ezekiel 27:13; 32:26. Once again, there is no mention of Rosh in these places. This would lead to the conclusion that in the Ezekiel passage we are dealing with a title rather than a name in regards to Rosh. We may well be dealing more with a title with Gog rather than an indi- vidual's name, much like we have with Caesar, Pharaoh, Czar, etc. In our present text of Ezekiel 38-39, Rosh appears in the construct form, meaning it is attached to another word. The word nasi is also in the construct form. So based upon the construct form of the Hebrew grammar, along with the breathing marks of the Masoretic Nikkudot, we find a pause that strongly suggests that the correct translation is "chief prince" of Meshech and Tubal rather than an individual or another nation. Most of the other evidence we have to support the concept of Russia is later than the Medieval Rashi. The earlier attestations would lean towards "chief prince." It

- 3 - is quite appealing to the prophetic world to identify Russia, particularly given the various involvements in the Middle East, with the financial and weapon support they have given. Theologian and historian Edwin Yamauchi notes that even if one translated the He- brew rosh as a proper name, it can have nothing to do with modern Russia. He writes, “This would be a gross anachronism, for the modern name [of Russia] is based upon the name Rus, which was brought into the reign of Kiev, north of the Black Sea, by the Vikings only in the Middle Ages.” That means that it would have been nearly two thousand years after the time of Ezekiel that the supposed “Rosh peoples” became the “Russians.” I gave you some maps back on July 14th, that outlined the original areas where the nations listed in Ezekiel 38-39 were to be found. While some of this area can be associated with the southern-most area of the old USSR, directly north from here is the Ukraine. The current nations of this area have pulled out from the old USSR and are not a part of the modern nation of Russia. It would seem that more recent scholarship, outside of the Dispensational and Prophetic camps, have returned to the identification of these nations during biblical times being restricted to the area of modern Turkey, Asia Minor, Iran, etc. So in this concept, I would have to say I side more with Shoebat and Richardson as to the nations that Ezekiel, or even Yeshua would have identified in their times. I do not exclude Russian involvement anymore than I can exclude the involvement of the United States in fueling the fires that rage in the Middle East. However, that does not identify either Russia or the United States with either God, Magog or the Anti-Messiah. Now I have not answered for myself the timing of this war. I am still digging, thinking, looking, mulling it over. This is a study in progress.

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