Ezekiel 38:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Prepare yourself and gather all your multitude that has come together to you, and you shall be their leader. After many days, you will be summoned; in the last of years, you will go against a land that has been delivered by the sword and taken from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which have been desolate for ages. They have been brought back from the nations, and they will dwell in security. But when you rise up, you will come like a storm, like a cloud to cover the land, you and your troops, and many peoples with you. Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme; you will say, I will ascend against a land of unwalled villages; I will go against those who are at ease, who dwell securely, all of them living without walls, with neither bars nor gates, in order to plunder and carry away, and to lay your hand upon the people who have been gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, and who dwell at the center of the land. Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, along with all their young lions, will ask you, Have you come to plunder? Have you assembled your multitude to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take livestock and goods, and to seize great spoil? Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: Will you not recognize on that day when my people Israel dwell in security? You will come from your place, from the remote north, you and many peoples with you, all riding on horses, a great assembly and mighty army. You will ascend upon my people Israel like a cloud to cover the land; it will be in the latter days that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I show my holiness through you, Gog, before their eyes. Thus says the Lord God: This is he of whom I spoke in ancient times by the hand of my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. And it will come to pass on that day, on the day that Gog comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, that my fury will rise up in my anger. For in my jealousy, in my blazing wrath, I declare that there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel; the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, every creeping thing that crawls on the ground, and all mankind will tremble at my presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall crumble to the ground. I will summon a sword against him on all my mountains, says the Lord God; every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment upon him with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down torrential rains and hailstones, fire and brimstone upon him and upon his hordes and upon the many peoples who are with him. I will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will be known in the sight of many nations; then they will know that I am the Lord. It is important to recognize that this is the Lord's final message to the prophet Ezekiel. Following this, we find nothing of its kind, except what is noted in the twenty-fifth year of the exile of Jehoiachin: The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me there. This refers to the land of Israel, where the building of the temple and the order of its priesthood are described. It should also be noted that the prophet turns his face towards the land of Gog or Magog, indicating the need to perceive multiple perspectives to grasp these statements, as the apostle expressed, We all, with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord, being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. The Jewish people and those who adhere to Judaism interpret Gog to represent the vast Scythian tribes, extending beyond the Caucasus and the marshes of Meot, reaching the Caspian Sea and even India. They believe that after a period of a thousand years, the devil will incite them to invade the land of Israel to battle against the saints, accompanied by a multitude of nations. Among those nations include Meshech, identified by Josephus as Cappadocians, and Tubal, which he relates to the Iberians or Spaniards, joined in their ranks by Persians, Cushites, and Libyans, as well as Gomer and Togarmah symbolized as Galatians and Phrygians, alongside Sabeans and Dedanites, and Carthaginians or Tarshish. This echoes what John reveals in his Revelation: At the end of the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, gathering them for battle, their number like the sand of the sea. They will march across the breadth of the earth and surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Fire will descend from God out of heaven and consume them, and the devil who deceived them will be cast into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are, to be tormented day and night forever and ever. It should be considered that the entire book of John, referred to as Revelation, contains a divine mystery, requiring revelation to understand, as the psalmist prayed, Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things in Your law. Others, turning away from earthly wisdom and harmful Jewish fables, rely too heavily on their interpretations, often distorting meaning and misinterpreting the battles of the devil and his hordes in the heavenly Jerusalem. They allegorize the names of nations, interpreting them as representations of evil spirits in heaven. However, leaving these matters for the reader's discernment, we will strive more to affirm the ecclesiastical interpretation. The name Gog in Greek means 'roof,' which indicates arrogance and a false understanding that rebels against the knowledge of truth. Isaiah's vision of Zion’s valley calls attention to those who have ascended upon vain rooftops. Thus, we can interpret 'roof' to denote the heretics and 'from the roof' as those who accept their teachings. The concluding prophecy in this book, directed against Gog and Magog, serves a significant purpose. If, as Peter states, it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God, and as Ezekiel writes that judgment must commence from God's sanctified ones, we can see that the last enemy will be vanquished in accord with divine truth. Nowhere in Scripture, nor even in Josephus, do we find Gog designated as a nation; rather, he is represented as the leader of Magog. In the Apocalypse, it is mentioned that Gog and Magog emerge from the four corners of the earth. Just as the Jewish lineage derives its name from Jacob, eventually called Israel, so too Magog refers to all that falls under Gog’s authority. The term Meshech can be interpreted to mean 'madness,' and Tubal signifies 'all.' Thus, Gog and Magog symbolize the leaders of boasting madness and all evil, representative of a world steeped in wickedness. These hostile nations emerge from beyond, having disregarded God's designated encampment. They fail to heed the promise that many from all directions shall gather with the faithful in God’s kingdom. Their origins differ from the accurate corners of the earth described in Scripture, where the harlot sits, luring the unwary away from the path of righteousness. The scribes and Pharisees already seek their recognition on street corners, having received their reward in full.

The prophet’s words reveal to us the might of Divine power, demonstrating that such events do not occur without God’s will. God orchestrates beneficial outcomes or permits severe circumstances as a response to past transgressions. Thus, when referring to placing a bridle in your jaws and gathering you, it is not a physical restraint being implied, but rather God's sovereign guidance, through which Gog and Magog, along with their enumerated descendants, are directed. For he states: