Gog and Magog: Ruminations

Last week I promised to meditate on Gog/Magog while vacationing. This is what happened.

Riding from a carnival. “Something’s happening!” my son yells. “Something’s happening!”

I was shamefully unmindful, caught instead by the realization that each age receives the prophecies it deserves.

We receive what we request.

I considered the two prophecies: Bush proclaimed himself as ben David set to rectify his father’s Persian setbacks—while others decried Bush as Gog himself.

But these are just twin visions operating in the same prophetic space. I can see the two armies clashing as clearly as the valley viewed from the hillock. Yet I also sense a blind spot, something horrible, unseen and looming.

Norman O. Brown, considering H.G. Well’s sense that Mind had reached the end of its Tether, saw a snarling dog (yo!). Only holy madness can break Brown’s leash—ever lunging forward. But it seems to me that the better metaphor might be prophecy as territory.

We are still exploring that prophetic space set in Revelations, discovering new valleys with new interpretations—but outside of this territory is blankness, and our civilization is winding down as we run out room to expand.

“Something’s happening!” my son shouted for the third time.

And then he pooped his pants.

My wife frowns while she sleeps.

Gog and Magog: The Textual Sources

Last week I posted some thoughts on Gog & Magog. I found sources difficult to discover, so in hopes of sparing others some struggle, I am posting and maintaining my notes here.

My apologies in advance for a methodical, plodding post, but as Freud reminded us, "Man is only Beast lest he tiptoe his way toward Grace."(1)

All of these references are discussed in Sverre Boe's Gog and Magog (expect for the last item on Bush), which is great resource, but the online text has a limited preview and printed copies are difficult to come by.

I hope to actively update this list, so lemme know if you've got any sources to add.

1. Bible: Definitively direct references
a) Genesis 10:2
b) 1 Chronicles 1:5
c) 1 Chronicles 5:4 (clearly a reference to a different “Gog”)
d) Ezekiel 38-39
e) Jubilees 7:19, 8:25, 9:7-8
f) Revelations 19:17-21& 20:7-10

2. Bible: Possible direct references
a) Number 24:7: KJV (Agag) vs. Sepuagint (Gog)
b) Deuteronomy 3:1, 3:13, 4:47 (Codex Vaticanus had “Gog”, but was corrected to “Og”, as shown in the linked KJV)
c) Esther 3:1 & 9:24 (one later Sepuagint manuscript has “Gogite” rather than an “Agagite” as shown in the linked KJV)
d) Amos 7:1: KJV vs. Sepuagint (which ends the verse with “And see! One locust is Gog, the king”) (cf, Joel 1-2 "locust motif" and the "prince" in Ezekiel 38-39)
e) Sirach 48:17: the Codex Vaticanus states “brought Gog into its midst” rather than "brought water", – but I cannot find an English translation of the Codex Vaticanus

3. Bible: Passages that may reference, interpret, or retell Ezekiel 38-39
a) 1 Enoch 56:5-8 (allusions to Ezekiel 38-39)
b) Zechariah 7-14 (perhaps read as a retelling of Ezekiel 38-39)
c) Daniel (significant portions may be read as reinterpretations of Ezekiel 38-39)

4. Qur’an (Koran)
a) 18:86 (Yajuj/Yajooj and Majuj/Majooj = Gog and Magog)
b) 21:96

5. Sibylline Oracles Book 3 (The chapter/verse numeration in Boe’s differ from the numeration in this source; here I provide this source's references first--followed by Boe's in parenthesis)
a) 3:393-397 (Boe = 3:319-22)
b) 3:620-656 (Boe = 3:512-513)
c) 795-911? (allusions to Ezekiel 38-39) (Boe = 3,635-731)

6. Qumran (i.e., Essene texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls) (Note: I was unable to find links to English translations of these texts--and quite frankly, I don't even understand what these abbreviations mean)
a) 4QpIsa a 8-10 III:21 (4Q161 8-10 col III:18-25)
b) Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen) XII:12 & XVII:10,16
c) The War Scroll XI:16

7. Targumim (sorry--again, I have no specifics or links)
a) Targum Jonathan to Ezekiel 38-39
b) Targumim to Genesis 10:2
c) Targumim to Number 11:26
d) Targum Jonathan to 1 Samuel 2:10
e) Tg. Ps.-J to Numbers 24:17 and to Exodus 40:11
f) Targumim to Zech 12:10, to Isa 10:32, to Esth 5:1, and to Cant 8:4

8. Various rabbinic compositions (sorry--you guessed it, no specifics or links yet)
a) Targum Jonathan to Ezekiel 38-39
b) Targumim to Genesis 10:2
c) Targumim to Number 11:26
d) Targum Jonathan to 1 Samuel 2:10
e) Tg. Ps.-J to Numbers 24:17, to Exodus 40:11
f) Targumim to Zech 12:10, to Isa 10:32, to Esth 5:1, to Cant 8:4

9. Other
a) Flavius Josephus, Antiquity of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 6, paragraph 1
b) 3 Enoch 45:5 – I could not find The Third Book of Enoch online, but see this (Note: Yajuj/Yajooj and Majuj/Majooj = Gog and Magog)
c) Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum (i.e., Pseudo-Philo, or The Biblical Antiquities of Philo) 4:2,4 & 5:4 – Noah’s geneology (see also, this)
d) 1001 Nights, (p.19 in this linked copy) (Yajuj/Yajooj and Majuj/Majooj = Gog and Magog)
e) Marco Polo, (pp 235-236 in this linked copy) (Yajuj/Yajooj and Majuj/Majooj = Gog and Magog)
f) Ronald Reagan, 1971, dinner speech to California state legislators -- Sorry for the unreliable looking source—but know that this same speech is quoted on many other sites, including, in part, Boe’s thesis, which, I will relate here: "In the 38th chapter of Ezekiel, it says that the land of Israel will come under attack by the armies of the ungodly nations, and it says that Libya will be among them. Do you understand the significance of that? Libya has now gone Communist, and that's a sign that the day of Armageddon isn't far off. Biblical scholars have been saying for generations that Gog must be Russia. What other powerful nation is to the north of Israel? None. But it didn't seem to make sense before the Russian revolution, when Russia was a Christian country. Now it does, now that Russia has become communistic and atheistic, now that Russia has set itself against God. Now it fits the description of Gog perfectly.... For the first time ever, everything is in place for the battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. It can't be too long now. Ezekiel says that fire and brimstone will be rained upon the enemies of God's people. That must mean that they will be destroyed by nuclear weapons."
g) George W. Bush, Jr.

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Footnotes:
(1) Though not specifically said by Freud, please chisel this on my tomb.

Gog and Magog

“Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.” -- A French Revelation, or The Burning Bush

The news is agog! So, it was a holy war after all? I knew this was LoS terrain soon as I read it, but I have to confess: I didn't know my Gogs from my Magogs ... so I decided to dust off my Bible and goggle and Google my way deeper ... I still haven't figure out what to make of it all, but I have worked out a general sense of the history, which I’ll splay out here in hopes that any readers can correct my misunderstandings and fill in the gaps in my thinking.

Magog in Genesis and 1 Chronicles is, on face value, an actual person. Ezekiel reinterprets Magog as a nation (Genesis is certainly open to an interpretation of Magog as a peoples or a place, although 1 Chronicles resists this reading). Ezekiel and places Gog as the leader of Magog (i.e., presumably, "mat-Gog" = "the place of Gog"), and he prophesizes that Israel will squash a Gog-led invasion from the north. Amos and Numbers also, by some scholars' reckoning, mention Gog. I don't quite have this straight yet, but Amos’ rendering of Gog as the king of the locusts seems to be key to the kind of interpretation that Bush and other contemporary Christian apocalyptic "thinkers" take.

Anyhow, flash forward to Revelations which reinterprets Ezekiel's prophecy by suggesting that Gog/Magog are not some specific peoples north of Israel, but are instead the enemies of the righteous in general. Not only are Gog/Magog generalized, but so, too, are the people they attack. In other words, Revelations opens up the notion of who is besieged, presumably to include Christians not in Israel.

Ezekiel is, of course quite open to this interpretation, just as Genesis was open to Ezekiel's interpretation—but with each new prophecy, there is an reshaping of the combatants, and therefore the nature of the battle. John's (Revelations') expanded sense of the besieged allows his community to join the ultimate winners and line up against a common enemy pressing from all sides.

This proved to be popular—so popular that we apparently have Bush quoting Revelations in attempt to inspire Chirac: "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” (v.20:7-8).

Contemporary Christian apocalyptics seem to maintain John's notion of the generalized righteous under attack—yet they seem to revert back to Ezekiel's notion of a specific enemy located somewhat north of Israel. During the Cold War, these contemporaries often pegged Scythians as Magog, and there was an assumption that the U.S.S.R. was actually holding back the relevant Muslim population (i.e., the Magog) who were too busy with being downtrodden Soviet "citizens" to be bothered with fulfilling the prophecies by invading Israel.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, some people assumed that, in Ezekiel's words, the "hook" was released from the fish's mouth—i.e., Magog was now let loose to start the apocalypse by invading Israel. When that didn't happen, these theories sort of floundered (groan), I think ... until the current line of thinking that holds Bush.

One curious and key thing is that unlike John (i.e., Revelations), Bush and other current crackpots seem to maintain Ezekiel's sense of Israel as the "navel of the Earth" (v.38:12, NAB). Why? I think that there must be another piece of their apocalyptic vision at play here. I seem to recall something about a temple in Israel that needs to rebuilt or captured or something before the Final Kingdom at the end of times? Need to track this down....

Anyhow, this odd re-focus on Israel which contemporary apocalyptic Christians seem to have picked up from Ezekiel has really got a whole 'nother set of crackpots all riled up, somehow turning everything on its head by presenting Bush himself as Gog and, I think, Israel as Magog? How do they pull off this interpretation? I haven't gone down that rabbit-hole of research yet. I do know that Gog/Magog are in the Koran but this seems to have nothing to do with it? The Sibylline texts do seem to reinterpret Gog/Magog, but again I don't see this as relevant here?

But in short, and most importantly, what's the real story here? Why are so many people yearning for the world to end and assuming that they can somehow help to orchestrate the playing out of the fates? The ego is astounding: "I am an agent of God!" they cry, unable to sense that this eliminates their own freewill and therefore the freewill of others and so therefore the possibility of controlling destiny at all, and thus they fail to see the utter black puppetry, nothing but marionettes grasping at each others' strings, f*cking Punch and Judy with actual real nuclear bombs....

I can only assume that relaxing by a lake will reveal all, so I’m going to take the next week off and mull it over.

Meanwhile, here are a few final tidbits to consider:

* The word “gog” means bog or quagmire, which of course has often been used to describe the U.S.’ role in Iraq.

* People also used to use the word “gog” when they were scared to use the Lord’s name in vein, i.e., “by gog’s blood!” Did they somehow invoke Gog’s wrath?

* Why on Earth are there are pair of giant statues in London named Gog and Magog? This type of idolatry cannot be a good idea....

Meanwhile, stay tuned, post corrections and answers, and lemme know yr take on it all....

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Addendum, 8/25/09

* A list of sources is published here.