Gog As Antichrist: A Historical Survey

Joel Richardson * JoelsTrumpet.com

Updated 11.25.2012

The primary purpose of this article is to catalogue a partial list of historians, Bible scholars, commentators and teachers, both Jewish, Christian, and secular, whose interpretations of “Gog of Magog” of Ezekiel 38-39 support the view that Gog is one and the same with the Antichrist / Beast of the New Testament. We will also identify the scholars who identify Gog and his hordes as coming from the region of modern day Turkey or just over the border in Syria, as opposed to in modern day Russia. In this survey, it will become apparent that the popular modern view of Gog as an eschatological character distinct from the Antichrist who comes from Russia is largely a modern novelty, representing a significant minority position within Church history.

Pliny the Elder was a first-century Roman military commander, author, naturalist, and philosopher. He spoke of a city called, “Bambyce, otherwise called Hierapolis; but of the Syrians, Magog [or Mabog].” Ancient Heirapolis sat on the border of modern-day Turkey and Syria; thus, according to Pliny, so did Magog, the home of Gog.

Hippolytus of Rome, (170—235), an early Christian theologian, in his Chronicon, written in the early third century, rejected the now well-known claim by Josephus, identifying Magog with the Scythians north of the Black Sea. Instead, Hippolytus connected Magog with the Galatians in Asia Minor or modern-day Turkey.

Moses Ben Maimonides, (aka., Rambam) (1135—1204), the revered Jewish sage, in Hichot Terumot, along with Hippolytus and Pliny, identified Magog as being on the border of Syria and modern day Turkey.

Rabbi David Kimchi, (aka., Radak) (1160–1235), another famous medieval Jewish rabbi, commenting on Zechariah 14, says this portion of Scripture—which virtually all Christians affirm refers to the Antichrist—is a reference to the war of Gog of Magog.

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