Excerpt from Corrupting the Image Vol 3. By Douglas Hamp all rights reserved douglashamp.com Gog, Son of Death / Perdition, the Ancient Leader Revealed Dr. Douglas Hamp Denver, CO According to Ezekiel, God was declaring for years through the prophets that He would bring Gog against Israel, “in the latter days” (Ezek 38:16). “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them? (Ezek 38:17). But where in Scripture was God talking about Gog? By the name Gog we do not find any such occurrence. Gog 1 is used only in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and once in Revelation 20. 2 Modern lexicons, such as the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, the NASB Lexicon, Strong’s, and Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew English Lexicon all comment on how the etymology of Gog is uncertain, which is to say, Gog from Ezekiel 38 and 39 is likely not of Hebrew origin. Consequently, scholars have looked for clues about Gog’s identity in other languages, civilizations, and events that might qualify linguistically, but ultimately have failed because they happened before Ezekiel. 3 Josephus suggested Gog as leaders of the Scythians, 4 a people (after Ezekiel) who lived on the fringe of the Roman Empire and invaded it from the northeast (ca. 3 rd century BC). 5 Yet his suggestion also fails (like the others) because God said Gog would invade Israel, not the Roman Empire! Furthermore, God said Gog would come in the latter years and last days to a people brought back from the sword, whom we will see are the Jews returned from the Holocaust. Second Temple Literature on Gog Second Temple literature understood Gog to be the quintessential enemy of Israel, who would emerge in the last days and then be destroyed by King Messiah. Interestingly, the Septuagint manuscripts seem to equate him with Og, king of [the] Bashan. The Dictionary of Deities and Demons of the Bible explains that Gog “is a cipher for the evil darkness of the north and personifies the powers hostile to the lord.” 6 1 There was a Gog, son of Joel of the line of Reuben (1 Chr 5:4). 2 See Appendix for Gog and Magog after the Millennium. 3 Gyges / Gugu in Ashurbanipal's records a seventh century king (670-652 B.C.) of Lydia, (ABD, vol. 2, p. 1056) (Also spelled Giges or Gogo, Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 7, p. 691.). Gaga from the Ras Shamra Texts an Akkadian or Babylonian god (cf. Enuma Elish); Gagi, a ruler of the city of Sabi; Gasga, in Hittite texts (ca. 1300 or 1400 BC), a rebellious area on the border of Armenia and Cappadocia. (Introduction To the OT by R. K. Harrison, p. 842) (source: Utley: BDB 155, KB 182). Others have suggested it was the “name of a country, Gaga or Gagaia, allegedly mentioned in the EI Amarna Letters (EA I:38).” DDDB 4 (Josephus, Antiq. 1.6.1, ZPBE, vol. 2, p. 770), 5 (Introduction To the OT by R. K. Harrison, p. 842) (source: Utley: BDB 155, KB 182) 6 R. Ahroni. The Gog Prophecy and the Book of Ezekiel, HAR I (1977) 1-27 Cf. DDDB