Magog

AI summary: Magog matters because it functions more symbolically as the biblical horizon widens. In the table of nations it belongs to the distant descendants of Japheth, while later prophetic usage turns it into part of a threatening northern confederation. The cross references present Magog as a far-off people whose name became a vehicle for eschatological opposition.¹

Region of Gog, the second of the “sons” of Japheth (Gen. 10:2; 1 Chr. 1:5). In Ezekiel (38:2; 39:6) it is the name of a nation, probably some Scythian or Tartar tribe descended from Japheth. They are described as skilled horsemen, and expert in the use of the bow. The Latin father Jerome says that this word denotes “Scythian nations, fierce and innumerable, who live beyond the Caucasus and the Lake Maeotis, and near the Caspian Sea, and spread out even onward to India.” Perhaps the name “represents the Assyrian Mat Gugi, or ‘country of Gugu,’ the Gyges of the Greeks” (Sayce’s Races, etc.). ³