! thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tu4 bal. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them cloathed with all forts of armour, even a great company, with bucklers and shields, all of them handling fwords. 5 Perfia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them 6 with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands, the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and 7 all his bands, and many people with thee*. Be thou * fied, namely, the Scythian Ottoman of the east, &c. This • is that Gog of the land of Magog, chief prince of Meshech and • Thubal. As for the name Gog, it signifies the very fame with Magog; for Mem is but a Heemantick letter; and it pleased • the spirit of God to take away this first syllable, to distin • guish between the people and the land of the people, cal ing the people Gog, and the land, the land of Magog. And * it is to be marked, that he doth not call this Gog prince of Magog, but rather Gog of the land of Magog (for fo נון ארץ המגוג may be termed) and chief prince of Meshech ' and Thubal. For those who have done all this evil, were ، no princes in the land of Magog, but meer vagabonds and • mercenaries, whom their country spewed out, because they • could not live at home. And yet these savages, at their • first coming out, made themselves lords of Meshech and • Thubal, of Cappadocia and Iberia; and here they contained ⚫ themselves long before they attempted the conquest of the ' rest of Afia: Witness those who write the history of their 6 beginning! MEDE, B. I. Disc. L. * Perfia, Ethiopia, and Lybia are well-known countries. Gomer, according to the abovementioned author, possessed the parts of Afia, which lie upon the Agean sea and Hellefpont northward. And this agrees well with Ezekiel, who terms Gomer and Togarmak inhabitants of the fides of the north 3 thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be 8 thou a guard unto them. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the fword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Ifrael, which have been always * waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they 9 shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt afcend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands, and many 10 people with thee. Thus faith the Lord God, It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an II evil thought. And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages, I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; 12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey, to turn thine hand upon the defolate places, that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that 13 dwell in the midst of the land. Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young north ידכתי צפון. And it is manifest, that the Jews called the lesser Afia the North, and the kings thereof in Daniel, the kings of the north. We may therefore afsign to these Gomerians, all the north-east part of this Afia, containing Phrygia, Pontus, Bythynia, and a great part of Galatia. As to Togarmah, the son of Gomer, the fame author assigns to him Phrygia Major, and fome part of Galatia. All which countries are now either in the possession of, or tributary to, the Ottoman empire; all which being confidered, we cannot be at a loss to know who is meant by the Gog here spoken of. * Or long waste. TIND. lions lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? haft thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away filver and gold, to take 14 away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? Therefore, fon of man, prophecy, and say unto Gog, Thus faith the Lord God, in that day when my people of Ifrael dwelleth fafely, shalt thou not know 15 it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horfes, a great company, and 16 a mighty army. And thou shalt come up againft my people of Ifrael, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before 17 their eyes. Thus faith the Lord God, Art thou he, of whom I have spoken in old time by my fervants the prophets of Ifrael, which prophefied in those days many years, that I would bring thee 18 against them? And it shall come to pass at the fame time, when Gog shall come against the land of Ifrael, faith the Lord God, that my fury shall 19 come up in my face. For in my jealoufy, and, in the fire of my wrath have I spoken: furely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Ifrael. 20 So that the fishes of the fea, and the towls of hea_ * If it be asked, by what Prophets, and where fuch an enemy as Gog was prophefied of before Ezekiel? I anfwer, By Maiah xxvii. 1. with the two last verses of the foregoing 'chapter: by Jeremiah xxx. 23, 24: by Joel, chap. iii. 1, ' &c. by Micah, chap. v. 5, 6 9. 15. in all which places is mention of fome terrible enemy which should come againft Ifrael at the time of their return, whom the Lord should • destroy with a hideous and dreadful flaughter.' MEDE, B. IV. Epift. XLI. ven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence; and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall 21 fall to the ground. And I will call for a fword against him throughout all my mountains, faith the Lord God; every man's sword shall be against his 22 brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hail23 ftones, fire and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and fanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. Chap. xxxix. 1. Therefore, thou son of man, prophecy against Gog, and say, Thus faith the Lord God, Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief 2 prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn thee back, and leave but the fixth part of thee *, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and 3 will bring thee upon the mountains of Ifrael. And I will smite thy bow out of thy hand, and I will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Ifrael, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every fort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field, for I have spo6 ken it, faith the Lord God. And I will fend a fire upon Magog, and among them that dwell carelefly * In the margin, " or strike thee with fix plagues, or "draw thee back with a hook of fix teeth." in in the isles, and they shall know that I am the Lord. 7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let them polute my holy name any more; and the heathen shall know 8 that I am the Lord, the holy One in Israel. Behold, it is come, and it is done, faith the Lord God: this 9 is the day whereof I have spoken. And they that dwell in the cities of Ifrael shall go forth, and shall fet on fire, and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand-staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them 10 with fire seven years: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forefts: for they shall burn the weapons with fire, and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, faith the Lord God. II And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the fea; and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog, and all his multitude; and they shall 12 call it the valley of Hamon-Gog. And feven months shall the house of Ifrael be burying of them, 13 that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, faith the 14 Lord God. And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of 15 seven months shall they search *. And the passengers that pass through the land, when any feeth a * From ende to ende shall they feke, and that feven monethes longe. TINDALE. |