Neither Gomer Nor Magog
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276 The Testimony, July 2003 floor have survived. One segment shows a stretch Germany—neither Gomer nor of the Jordan River with a notation in Greek Magog capital letters, “Ainon near Salem”, on the west (lower) side. With the difference of only one let- There is little more frustrating in Bible study ter, this clearly indicates the equivalence of “Sa- than to try to relate the most ancient to the most lem” on the mosaic and “Salim” in John 3:23. modern. This we do when we think about Gomer, Despite the difficulties, which are minor (see Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Ti- box), we would seem to have one exciting an- ras, and their descendants, catalogued in Gen- swer to two Scriptural puzzles, the identity of esis 10, in terms of the twenty-first century. This Melchizedek’s city Salem and the Salim where tends to be further complicated when we find John baptized. “Salem” or “Ænon near to Salim” that almost every commentator uses the Greek appears in a natural position along the route Septuagint. which would have been taken by Abraham in The next complication comes when Ezekiel the rescue of Lot and his family. adds Gog to the list; we are told in 1 Chronicles John Carder 5:4 that Gog is the son of Joel of the tribe of Perth, Australia Reuben, with no indication who this Joel is among the dozen or so listed by Young’s Concordance. Reply We can be reasonably sure that this Gog has no Brother Carder has raised some interesting points more relationship with the “Gog [of] the land of in proposing an alternative site for Melchizedek’s Magog” of Ezekiel 38:2 than does “the chief prince Salem. It is notable, however, that it relies heav- [Hebrew rosh] of Meshech and Tubal” of the ily on very late, Christian era, accounts, which same verse with Rosh the son of Benjamin in are notoriously unreliable (compare the identifi- Genesis 46:21. cation of many sites supposedly related to the It is now a little over fifty years since I at- life of Jesus by Constantine’s mother Helena tended a well-illustrated lecture in a village during the same period). school room in northeast Scotland on our tradi- Without repeating the points made in my pre- tional exposition of Ezekiel’s fascinating proph- vious reply, it is important to note that Psalm ecy of the last days. How many times since have 76:2 would be fairly meaningless if Salem and I seen intelligent Christadelphian lecturers refer Zion were in fact totally different places. Both to the fact that Moscow is due north of Jerusa- verse 1 and verse 2 of the psalm clearly employ lem? At about the same time I was being taught parallelism to reinforce their meaning, and em- Latin by translating Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars phasise that God’s dwelling is in Jerusalem (cf. into English. At twelve years old, the history 132:13,14). Furthermore, verse 3 states that it was was far more interesting than the drudgery of “there” (singular) that God defeated the enemies learning Latin, and much more informative. threatening His city. The Septuagint translation Caesar did not call that particular Celtic tribe bears the subtitle, “Song on the Assyrian”, and in eastern France Keltoi or even Celti. He knew the context of the psalm is very clearly the de- they called themselves Gauls, and transliterated struction of Sennacherib’s army and the deliver- the name into Galli, and their territory into Gallia. ance of Jerusalem by the angel of the Lord (Isa. The Gauls, like their eastern kinsfolk the Gala- 37:35,36). tians, were Celts, but that does not mean that the The distinction Brother Carder claims between Celts were necessarily Gauls, Gaels, Galatians or the forms ‘Salem’ (in Jerusalem) and ‘Yerusha- Galicians, any more than they were Erse, Bretons, layim’ (in the Massoretic text) is a technical one, Iceni or Celtiberians! As Brother Nigel Bernard but his conclusion is not supported by, for exam- has pointed out (Mar. 2003, pp. 85-89), the centre ple, the discussion of the name of Jerusalem in of Celtic civilisation was in the upper Danube the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Places (editor, (Ister) valley. Historical atlases generally show Bimson). the Celtic tribes being spread out across Europe Finally, the typical connection between Mel- from Eire to Hungary, occurring most densely in chizedek, king of Salem, and the Lord Jesus Christ Switzerland and Austria. Where then is Gomer? (Heb. 7:1-3) seems to be weakened if Salem is In AV and RV versions of the Bible, maps of not to be identified with Jerusalem, “the city of Babylonian and Assyrian times show Gomer in the great King”. the centre of Anatolia (modern Turkey), often David Burges equated with the Cimmerians. This was at one The Testimony, July 2003 277 time Hittite territory. The Cimmerians had been mans. The Celtic Gaels in Scotland refer to the driven out of Central Asia by the Scythians. These ‘German’ Angles and Saxons as Sassenachs to nomadic horsemen helped the Medes destroy this day. However, all that has been found in Nineveh, later pushed into Persia and the east- ‘Germany’ of the Scythians are a few tombs of ern Mediterranean, and were bought off by the their leaders. Since there have been similar sites Egyptians in 595 B.C. after rampaging through found as far east as Mongolia, they are hardly Anatolia as far as Sardis, destroying the Cim- evidence to identify Germany with Magog merians in the process. Later, around 275 B.C., through the forays of these horsemen of the after the Persians had destroyed all traces of steppes into western Europe. Scythian invaders, the king of Bithynia hired For centuries, mounted nomads followed the Celtic mercenaries from central Europe to help same westward path as the Scythians, familiar to him against Antiochus’s Syrians. They came, they the Greeks through trade along the Dneiper river. won, and they stayed. These Celtic warriors be- The Crimea still has towns with Greek names. came known as Galatians to the Greeks, accord- How these Greeks came to relate Magog with ing to Josephus. The territory in which they the Scythians perhaps only Josephus knew, since settled was, obviously, Galatia, and geographi- he so informs us. The Parthians, who stopped cally the same as that of the ancient Cimmerians, the Roman advance into Persia, belonged to a or Gomer. Scythian tribe. Later tribes, such as the Kazars, It is rather odd that Christadelphians, who Magyars, Tatars (Tartars) and Turks, all followed pride themselves in their Bible knowledge, would that path from the steppes, curving round to the interpret Josephus’s reference to the Galatians as south of Russia into Bulgaria and Romania, and proving that Gomer is France, when all the Scrip- their settlements are still on the map. tural evidence places the Galatians in Turkey; The fulfilment of Ezekiel’s prophecy has been after all, Josephus was almost contemporary with an enigma for centuries. But only comparatively Paul, and there is no question where Paul placed recently has it been taken seriously, with the the Galatians. establishment of the State of Israel. How would A further consideration of the same section of the people of his day respond to his words? Was Josephus’s writings (let us not take things out of Magog a common label, even to the Greeks, for context) would show that most of the descend- the Scythians, as Josephus suggests? Assyrian ants of Japheth in Genesis 10 finish up around monuments place Meshech and Tubal together the Aegean Sea coast and in Asia Minor. Meshech in eastern Turkey, as does Josephus, which again became Cappadocia, Tarshish is Cilicia with its would make them familiar to Judah in the begin- capital Tarsus, Togarmah is Phrygia, Tubal is ning of the sixth century B.C. The description of Iberes, whether in Spain (Iberia) or Georgia we the army, an anachronism today, would also be are given no clue. It might be noted also that a grim reminder of the recent invaders, turned nowhere in their writings do Josephus or Paul back by Necho’s grandson, during Ezekiel’s life- refer to Gog or Rosh. There is, on the other hand, time. a reference to the Scythians in Colossians 3:11, The use of ancient tribal ancestors would be a which may be a reflection of their incursions similar anachronism to the people of Israel, but from the east into Turkey many years before. would be a warning to them and to many gen- What applied to the Celts applies equally well erations following of northern invaders who to the Germans. During the middle of the first would attack Israel as a preliminary to the com- century B.C., Roman legions from Gaul crossed ing of Messiah. In other words, they would come the Rhine and discovered that the inhabitants when the time is right: “For the vision is yet for spoke an unknown tongue, were blonde rather an appointed time . it will surely come, it will than red-headed, and were not particularly not tarry . but the just shall live by his faith” friendly towards their southern neighbours. At- (Hab. 2:3,4; cf. Heb. 10:37; Rev. 1:3, etc.). tempts to form provinces east of the Rhine were Ron Easson short lived, and for centuries the border between Vernon, British Columbia Celtic and Germanic tribes was this river. Even- tually the Rhine was crossed. The Goths that Reply took Rome, the Vandals that settled in Spain and I would like to thank Brother Easson for his let- North Africa, and the Angles, Saxons and Jutes ter.