the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Gog
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or GOG. 1. The ‘prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal,’ from the land of Magog ( Ezekiel 38:2 , and often in chs. 38, 39), whom Ezk. pictures as leading a great host of nations from the far North against the restored Israel, and as being ignominiously defeated, by J″ [Note: Jahweh.] ’s intervention, upon the mountains of Canaan. Whence the name ‘Gog’ was derived we do not certainly know: the name reminds us of that of Gyges (Gr. Guges , Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] Gugu ), the famous king of Lydia, of whom Hdt. (i. 8 14) tells us, and who, Ashurbanipal states ( KIB [Note: IB Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek.] ii. 173 5), when his country was invaded by the Gimirrâ (Cimmerians), expelled them with Assyrian help ( c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 665); and it has been conjectured (Sayce) that this name might have reached Palestine as that of a distant and successful king, who might be made a typical leader of a horde of invaders from the North. That Gomer (= the Cimmerian), who was really his foe, appears in Ezk. among his allies, might be explained either from the vagueness of the knowledge which reached Pal., or because Ezk. had in view, not the historical ‘Gog’ but merely an ideal figure suggested by the historical ‘Gog.’
Upon the basis of Ezekiel 38:1-23; Ezekiel 39:1-29 , ‘Gog’ and ‘Magog’ appear often in the later Jewish eschatology as leading the final, but abortive, assault of the powers of the world upon the Kingdom of God. Cf. Revelation 20:7-9; in the Mishna, Eduyoth 2. 10; Sib. Orac. iii. 319 322; and see further reff. in Schürer, § 29 . iii. 4; Weher, Altsynag. Theol . (Index); Volz, Jüd. Eschat . p. 176 (and index).
2. The eponym of a Reubenite family ( 1 Chronicles 5:4 ).
S. R. Driver.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Gog'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/g/gog.html. 1909.
