2. Gog--the prince of the land of Magog. The title was probably a
common one of the kings of the country, as "Pharaoh" in Egypt. Chakan
was the name given by the Northern Asiatics to their king, and is still
a title of the Turkish sultan: "Gog" may be a contraction of this. In
Ezekiel's time a horde of northern Asiatics, termed by the Greeks
"Scythians," and probably including the Moschi and Tibareni, near the
Caucasus, here ("Meshech . . . Tubal") undertook an expedition against
Egypt [HERODOTUS, 1.103-106]. These names might be adopted by Ezekiel
from the historical fact familiar to men at the time, as ideal titles
for the great last anti-Christian confederacy.
Magog--
(Ge 10:2;
1Ch 1:5).
The name of a land belonging to Japheth's posterity. Maha, in
Sanskrit, means "land." Gog is the ideal political head of the region.
In
Re 20:8,
Gog and Magog are two peoples.
the chief prince--rather, "prince of Rosh," or "Rhos"
[Septuagint]. The Scythian Tauri in the Crimea were so called. The
Araxes also was called "Rhos." The modern Russians may have hence
assumed their name, as Moscow and Tobolsk from Meshech and Tubal,
though their proper ancient name was Slavi, or Wends.
HENGSTENBERG supports English Version, as "Rosh" is not found in the
Bible. "Magog was Gog's original kingdom, though he acquired also
Meshech and Tubal, so as to be called their chief prince."
JFB.
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