The War of Gog of Magog Concerning Turkey and Libya
The Bible prophecy alludes to three scenarios of the War of Gog of Magog in Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Isaiah, the final war in this world, also known as World War III – the final war that will end all wars before the return of Yeshua, the Messiah of YHVH.
In Chapter “Two Scenarios for the War of Gog of Magog” from the present author’s book The Reckoning of Time, we discussed two possible scenarios of the war.
According to these two scenarios in Zechariah 12-14 and in Ezekiel 38-39, the war in Zechariah is the darker of the two, as this scenario may lead to a new holocaust, when the armies of the hostile nations led by Gog of the land of Magog will lay a siege against Jerusalem.
However, according to the scenario in Ezekiel, no such danger can be found in the prophecy. On the contrary, what seems to transpire is the total destruction of the coalition of the invading forces of the enemies of Israel, as no siege is even mentioned in the prophecy.
We also studied a third possible scenario that differs from the ones in Zechariah 12-14 and Ezekiel 38-39. This third scenario we analyzed in the article concerning the burden of the word of YHVH against the obscured land of Hadrach.
And according to this scenario of the War of Gog of Magog in Zechariah 9-11, a coalition of hostile Muslim countries will be the object of the curse of Elohim and as a result Damascus will cease to exist as a city.
In conclusion of these studies, we noted that in all three scenarios of the war of Gog of Magog the enemies of Israel will be defeated, but at a different cost for the nation.
If Israel as a nation will turn wholeheartedly to her Savior for protection, then the scenario either in Zechariah 9-11 or Ezekiel 38-39 may be fulfilled. If not, then the darkest scenario may take place.
And what choice the chosen nation will make will determine the course of the prophecy that will affect not only Israel but the whole world.
YHVH is righteous and just! And even though we may suffer and go through dark trials, at the end all sufferings will turn to good. This is the outcome of all three scenarios of the war of Gog of Magog.
The War of Gog of Magog is predestined; it will happen regardless, because it is foretold from the beginning of the world that the serpent would bruise the woman’s Seed. And the time has come for the transcendent Son of Elohim to crush the serpent’s head in the final war.
The predestination of the War of Gog of Magog is like a projection of the future event in the past, as Elohim has been steering it towards the end times. Which of the three scenarios of the War of Gog of Magog will come to pass depends on decision Israel will make: whether Israel will give up “land for peace” and make more concessions under political pressure, or the nations will say, “Enough is enough”.
Destruction of Gog of Magog with his great army of nations
Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the main ruler of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say: Thus, saith the Lord Yehovah: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the main ruler of Meshech and Tubal; (Eze 38:2-3)
Gog, in the land of Magog, the main ruler of Meshech, and Tubal, will attempt to invade the land of Israel from the far distant northern land in the last days of the world as we know it. Gog of Magog will summon a coalition of powerful armies (Eze 38:1-9), with the intention of devastating the land of Israel, now dwelling in security.
Unknowingly, Gog will play in the hands of the Mighty Elohim of Israel, who will use him to sanctify Himself before all the world (Eze 38:10-16) by pouring a wrathful judgment of whom earlier prophets have already prophesied.
The announcement of the way in which YHVH will sanctify Himself on Gog (Eze 38:16) begins with the statement in Eze 38:17-23, that Gog is he of whom God has already spoken by the earlier prophets.
The statement, that Gog of Magog is the one already spoken by the prophets (Zec 2:6-8, Joe 2:2-20), does not mean that those prophets had actually mentioned Gog, but simply that Gog was the enemy concerning whom the prophets had prophesied, and among them was Zechariah (Zec 12:2-3; Zec 14:2-3).
Gog of Magog with all his armies will yield to the judgment of YHVH (Eze 39:1-8), and consequently, Israel will have to spend seven years in burning the weapons of the invading armies, and seven months in burying the corpses in a valley, which will receive its name from this, in order to purify the land (Eze 38:9-16).
The bursting out of the wrath of YHVH is literally explained in Eze 38:19-20, as an earthquake in the land of Israel, so that even the creatures in the sea, in the air, and on the ground, will tremble before Him.
Although the Israelis will tremble at the terrible phenomena of this great earthquake, the wrathful judgment does not apply to them, but to the coalition of nation which Gog will summon, so that his armies may slay one another. This self-destruction of the armies of Gog we see in Zec 14:13 and the third scenario of the War of Gog of Magog.
The overthrow of the enemy of Israel is further intensified by the plagues inflicted on them: pestilence and blood (Eze 28:23), torrents of rain and hailstones (Eze 13:11), and the raining of fire and brimstone, as formerly upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
The judgment on Gog will not be confined only to the destruction of his army, but it will also extend to the land of Gog (Eze 39:6), that is the land of Magog through the fire of war. With this destruction by fire of the distant coastlands of the west (the coastlands of the Mediterranean Sea west of the land of Israel, Eze 39:7-8), the judgment YHVH will bring upon them will show all the nations of the world that His Name will not be blasphemed by them any longer.
To show how terrible the judgment on Gog of Magog will be, YHVH told the prophet to depict in three special ways the total destruction of his coalition.
In the first place, the destruction will result in the burning of all the weapons of Gog, which will provide Israel with fuel for firing for seven years (Eze 39:9-10).
In the second place, YHVH will assign a large burying-place for the armies of Gog in a valley of Israel, which is to be named after him Hamon-Gog, “the multitude of Gog”. The Israelis will bury the fallen heathen of Gog in that valley for seven months, so that the land must be thoroughly cleansed (Eze 39:11-16).
The motive here is not only the complete annihilation of the armies of Gog and the removal of every trace of him, but also the cleansing of the land of Israel for the coming of the Messianic Kingdom.
In the third place, YHVH will provide the birds and beasts with an abundant slaughter before it is possible to bury them by the Israelites.
The coalition
Gog of Magog will not come alone against Israel; in his coalition of invading armies are also found Persia, Kush, and Put, and the house of Togarmah.
In order to determine with greater precision what is the heathen power that will rise up in the War of Gog of Magog against Israel, we must take into consideration the participants in this invasion, and they are in order of appearance: Meshech and Tubal (Eze 38:2), Persia, Kush, and Put (Eze 38:5), the house of Togarmah (Eze 38:6).
Persia, Kush, and Put
The prophecy of the War of Gog of Magog clearly indicates the invaders: Persia, Kush, and Put,
Persia, Kush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet, (Eze 38:5)
Persia is the modern-day Iran, which is known in the Scripture under the ancient name Elam the son of Shem, son of Noach (Gen 10:22). We should note here that Iran is identified with its more recent name Persia, and not with its ancient name Elam for a reason, namely that the prophecy is telling us that this country will behave in the coalition of hostile nations with its former glory of a vast empire: from Libya and Egypt to India.
While no one disputes the identity of Persia in the prophecy, the other two of this coalition need more elaboration.
In the Table of Nations in Genesis 10:1-32, which lists the descendants of Noach and the nations they founded, Kush and Put are identified as the sons of Cham, the other son of Noach, the father of the peoples of the African continent.
And the sons of Cham: Kush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan. And the sons of Kush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba, and Dedan. (Gen 10:6-7)
In the Antiquities of the Jews, Flavious Josephus identified the ancient Kush and Put thus,
The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria and Amanus, and the mountains of Libanus; seizing upon all that was on its sea-coasts, and as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its names are utterly vanished away; others of them being changed, and another sound given them, are hardly to be discovered; yet a few there are which have kept their denominations entire. For of the four sons of Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Chus; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Chusites. The memory also of the Mesraites is preserved in their name; for all we who inhabit this country [of Judea] called Egypt Mestre, and the Egyptians Mestreans. Phut also was the founder of Libya, and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself. (Book 1, Chapter 6:2)
Kush (Cush) is traditionally considered the ancestor of the people of the “land of Kush”, an ancient territory that is believed to have been located on either side or both sides of the Red Sea, which included Egypt and all the land south of it, but later the territory of what is now known as Sudan, S. Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. As such, “Kush” is alternately identified in scripture with the Kingdom of Kush or ancient Ethiopia.
The name Put (Phut) refers to the homeland of the people said to be descended from him, placed in Ancient Libya (see also Eze 27:10).
Put is no doubt an African tribe, the Libyans of the ancients, who had spread themselves over the whole of North Africa as far as Mauretania.
If we compare Eze 38:5, where Persia is mentioned in connection with Kush, Put, and Togarmah, as auxiliaries in the army of Gog of Magog, there can be no doubt that Iran is intended in the prophecy.
With that being said, we are coming to the next member of the coalition led by Gog.
Togarmah
In the Table of Nations in Genesis 10, Gomer, Magog, Tubal, and Meshech appear as the sons of Yaphet son of Noach, the father of the Indo-European peoples.
The sons of Yaphet: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Yavan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. (Gen 10:2)
Among them we find Yavan, who is prophesied against in the third scenario of the War of Gog of Magog in Zecharia 9,
For I shall bend Judah for Me, I shall fill the bow with Ephrayim, and I shall stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Yavan, and I shall make you like the sword of a mighty man. And Yehovah shall appear for them, and His arrow go forth like lightning, and the Master Yehovah will blow the shophar. … (Zec 9:13-17)
Here, the sons of Yavan (the progenitor of the Greeks) are not to be interpreted as the modern-day Greece, but as a collective name for the Greco-Roman world, or the western world, where the exile was dispersed.
In this prophecy, a military coalition of the western world, represented by “Yavan”, will come against Israel, represented by the House of Judah and the House of Ephrayim, with hostile intentions. Upon the invasion, YHVH will raise up Israel against the invaders by empowering the nation for the final war.
In this hostile coalition of military forces, Gomer will be represented not by all his descendants but by only one: the house of Togarmah.
Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his bands; even many peoples with you. (Eze 38:6)
Who is Togarmah? The Table of the Nations identifies Togarmah as the son of Gomer,
And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. (Gen 10:3)
The Table of the Nations stops short to give any further information on the identity of Togarmah, but not the Book of Yashar (quoted in Jos 10:13 and 2Sa 1:18), where we read thus,
And the children of Gomer, according to their cities, were the Francum, who dwell in the land of Franza, by the river Franza, by the river Senah. 9 And the children of Rephath are the Bartonim, who dwell in the land of Bartonia by the river Ledah, which empties its waters in the great sea Gihon, that is, oceanus. 10 And the children of Togarma are ten families, and these are their names: Buzar, Parzunac, Bulgar, Elicanum, Ragbib, Turki, Bid, Zebuc, Ongal and Tilmaz; all these spread and rested in the north and built themselves cities. 11 And they called their cities after their own names, those are they who abide by the rivers Hithlah and Italac unto this day. 12 But the families of Angoli, Bulgar and Parzunac, they dwell by the great river Dubnee; and the names of their cities are also according to their own names. (Yashar 10:8-12)
From the Book of Yashar we learn that Ashkenaz (Hebrew for “German”) the son of Gomer is called “Franc”. The Franks (Latin: Franci or Francorum) were a group of Germanic peoples, whose name was first mentioned in 3rd century Roman sources, associated with tribes on the Lower and Middle Rhine, on the edge of the Roman Empire. They lived in the land of Franza by the rivers Franza and Senah, today’s France.
In the Antiquities of the Jews, Flavious Josephus identifies the ancient Gomer as Galatians or Galls, and the Magogites as Scythians.
For Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, [Galls,] but were then called Gomerites. Magog founded those that from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians. Now as to Javan and Madai, the sons of Japhet; from Madai came the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks; but from Javan, Ionia, and all the Grecians, are derived. Thobel founded the Thobelites, who are now called Iberes; … (Book 1, Chapter 6:1)
The area that was known as Gaul in Roman times includes modern France, and also Belgium, Luxembourg and western parts of Germany. The conquest of the region by the Romans began in the 2nd – 1st centuries BC, and continued with the ‘Gallic Wars’, led by Julius Caesar. By the 5th century BC, the tribes later called Gauls had migrated from Central France to the Mediterranean coast, where the Gomerites settled.
The Magogites, called by Josephus “Scythians” were used to refer to a variety of tribes from the Black Sea to southern Siberia and central Asia. They were not a specific group of people, but rather variety of peoples in several places, none of which was their original homeland. The Bible includes a single reference to Scythians in Col 3:11, immediately after mentioning “barbarian”, possibly as an extreme example of a barbarian.
Furthermore, the Book of Yashar is giving us the ten sons of Togarmah (Gomerites) of which we can easily recognize two of them by their names: Bulgar (the father of the Bulgarians) and Turki (the father of the Turks). It is accepted that Togarmah is the name of the Armenians, who are still called the house of Thorgom or Torkomatsi, but we cannot identify with certainty their father among the sons of Togarmah.
From a comparison of this list with Genesis 10, we can draw the conclusion that the army of Gog will consist not only of Yaphetic nations, but of Chamitic nations, as well. That is to say, of peoples living at the extreme north (Eze 38:6) and east, and south, i.e., on the borders of the then known world.
These nations all summoned by Gog will come from these corners of the world and gather together against the people of YHVH.
Therefore, we have identified so far, the descendants of the key players in the prophecy of the War of Gog of Magog: Persia, Kush, Put, and Togarmah.
One step closer to the War of Gog
Turkey and Libya recently signed an agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean basin including the designation of a 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). According to this agreement, which is not recognized by any nation in the world but only by its signatories, Turkey could be in a position to detain, inspect, and investigate any vessel crossing the designated area.
The agreement signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Fayez al-Sarraj, chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya, has many geopolitical implications first among them is the Turkish-Russian proxy war in Libya.
In this odd war between seemingly good “allies”, Russia is backing General Khalifa Haftar and his controlled territory of eastern Libya, backed also by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, against the government of Fayez al-Sarraj in Tripoli in western Libya, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and backed by Turkey and Qatar.
The backing of the government in Tripoli is so much that Erdogan sent Turkish troops to stop Haftar’s advance against the capital.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with Fayez al Sarraj, left, the head of Libya’s government, prior to their meeting in Istanbul, Nov. 27, 2019 and one step closer to the War of Gog of Magog.
The involvement of Russia and Turkey in the proxy war in Libya against each other is so strong that they provided their proxies drones. Russia provided its ally bomb-laden drones, which are of critical importance for Haftar’s forces to help him in the civil war in Libya. Turkey responded accordingly by providing Turkish drones to its proxy government in Tripoli.
The second geopolitical implication is the unilateral declaration of the 200-mile EEZ in the eastern Mediterranean basin, which would affect severely if implemented the other Mediterranean countries in the region. Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Italy.
The geopolitical implication of the agreement between Turkey and Libya is that the Mediterranean basin is a relatively small area. And since both countries claim 200-mile EEZ, there would be no unclaimed sea left.
For this reason, the Mediterranean countries have always opted not to declare EEZs, so that they would not be in conflict with neighboring countries on the other side of the basin.
The law of the sea in the 1982 United Nations convention regulate maritime boundaries and define Exclusive Economic Zones. These EEZs came as a result of advancements in deep-sea exploration technologies, the discovery of natural resources on the seabed, and extraction technologies for these natural resources.
According to the international law, the economic zones outside the country’s territorial waters end only 12 nautical miles from the shore, and the UN agreement stipulates that exclusive rights to resources can be designated to a given country at a distance of up to 200 nautical miles from shore including exclusive rights to mine and exploit any natural resource in the sea and on the seabed.
The freedom of navigation of the marine vessel in those areas remained unaffected, but the coastline country retained the right to protect its economic zone, prevent ecological or any other damage to it and deny research expeditions in it.
When two countries agree to share their EEZ, they are required to file their agreement with the UN but no authorization is needed beyond that.
But, the new EEZ declared recently by Turkey and Libya ignores such consideration. It was born of defiance and in contradiction to the 1982 UN Maritime Boundaries Agreement, despite the protests of the neighboring countries and the E.U.
In effect Turkey has annexed those areas of the eastern Mediterranean basin and in practical terms, Turkey created a sea border the width of the entire Mediterranean, in which no one can navigate.
To make the tension even worse, Israel, Greece and Cyprus have signed an agreement for a pipeline project (The EastMed project) to ship natural gas from the Eastern Mediterranean region to Europe amid the increasing tensions with Turkey.
This project of Israel, Greece, and Cyprus, which envisions the construction of a 1,900-kilometer undersea pipeline that would carry up to 20 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Israel and Cyprus waters to Crete and then on Greece and Europe is worth of 6-billion-euro and is expected to be finished by 2025.
The EastMed project, which would bypass Turkey, would supply up to 10 percent of Europe’s natural gas needs. In December 2019, Turkey threatened that it could use its military to prevent gas drilling in waters off Cyprus that it claims as its own, thus threatening the entire EastMed project.
Meanwhile, Israel’s billion-euro offshore Leviathan field, the largest natural gas field in the Eastern Mediterranean, already commenced the pumping of natural gas to Egypt and Jordan making Israel a major and independent player in the business.
The amount of gas extracted from Leviathan is expected to reach 105 billion cubic meters over 15 years, while Israel’s other natural gas field, Tamar, will export nearly 30 billion cubic meters. The total value of the exports is estimated at $19.5 billion.
If this unilateral agreement between Turkey and Libyan remain in force and implemented as threatened, for Israel, which is exclusively reliant on the sea for import and export (the other Israeli seaport is in the Gulf of Aqaba in the northeastern arm of the Red Sea between Egypt and Saudi Arabia), this is an unacceptable position that may not be tolerated, and the war between the two countries would be inevitable.
With this we come to the third geopolitical implication which would affect not only Turkey’s ambitions but also Russia’s interests in Europe: 10 percent revenue for Israel is a ten percent loss for Russia.
On the one hand, Russia and Turkey are at odds in Libya, but on the other hand they are “allies” in Syria when shaking and squeezing hands for the photos, hence the odd wars that are going on in Libya and in Syria continue.
Who is who in the war?
The stage of the Middle East is set for the War of Gog of Magog: Persia, Kush, Put, and Togarmah against Israel.
In these last days of the world, YHVH will put every nation in a situation to make the decision on which side of the War of Gog of Magog it will be.
In the words, “I will put hooks in your jaws”, Gog is represented as a wild beast, which is compelled to follow and obey the will of Elohim against his own will. This brings the idea that the reason for bringing Gog of Magog against his will is that the time for judgement against him has come to the point of no return, namely that, his fate will be sealed in the last war of this world: The War of Gog of Magog.
These nations all summoned by Gog will come from the corners of the world and gather together against the people of YHVH, or, at least Gog will believe so.
However, it will be He who will bring Gog of Magog and his cohorts of armies to an attack upon Israel.
With that being said, who is who in the war of Gog?
Persia is well identified as Iran of the last days, Iran is not to be expected to come alone against Israel, but with its proxies and mercenaries of Shiite militias from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. But for more insight on Iran, the reader is encouraged to refer to the articles “The Iranian Threat That Causes Fear in the Land of the Living” and “Wicked Fire in a Flying Roll Prophesied in Zechariah 5“, and on Syria’s involvement in the war: the article “The War of Gog of Magog and the Burden of Damascus“.
Put is Libya and until now we did not know how this country, that gave up its nuclear program, devastated by ISIS and the civil war between rival factions, would possibly join Gog’s bands of armies against Israel.
Sudan, S. Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia are within the boundaries of the ancient Kush, but most likely not all of them will join the armies of Gog. Sudan appears to be the fittest contender to take its place in the coalition of Gog.
Sudan has a population of 43 million people and occupies a total area of 1,886,068 square kilometers, making it the third-largest country in Africa and also the third-largest in the Arab world. Before the secession of South Sudan from Sudan in 2011, the united Sudan was the largest country in Africa and the Arab world by area. Sudan’s predominant religion is Islam, and its official language is Arabic.
It is not a surprise to anyone the anti-Semitic sentiments in this country, which make it an easy target for the mullahs.
Togarmah is represented by Turki (Turkey) in the prophecy of Gog of Magog. By no means can we expect the descendants of the other two sons of Togarmah, the Bulgars and the Armenians, to join the Turks in the war of Gog, given the historical burden of assimilation and genocide of these peoples by the Ottoman Turks.
And since the prophecy refers to “the house of Togarmah”, we may expect that Turkey will not come alone against Israel, but with its own proxies of ethnic Turks in Syria and perhaps among the “Turkic” peoples in the region.
In conclusion, the stage has been set and the hooks have been prepared for those nations.
In the next article, we will continue studying the prophecy in Ezekiel concerning the other participants in the War of Gog of Magog: Meshech and Tubal (Eze 38:2), and Gog himself.
Navah
May we merit seeing the coming of our Mashiach speedily in our days.