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Places in Ezekiel
The map below illustrates my understanding of the approximate locations of key places in the time of Ezekiel (c.600 BC).
Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia were empires that stretched over wide areas, but their approximate centres are identified.
Ezekiel 38 is a particularly significant chapter in relation to end-time prophecy. The Antichrist is called Gog of the land of Magog, and is said to be the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Ezekiel prophesies that he will gather an alliance and invade Israel. His allies include Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer and Beth Togarmah.
Around the time of Ezekiel, there was a king of Lydia in western Turkey called Gyges, or Gugu. It is possible that Ezekiel used Gog as an association with Gyges to denote a king of Turkey. Magog is possibly a derivation of Mat-Gugu, the Assyrian for 'Land of Gyges' (see Wikipedia: Gog and Magog)
The Scofield Study Bible, published in 1909, popularised dispensationalism in the early 20th Century. It also identified Meshech and Tubal with the Russian cities of Moscow and Tobolsk, and led to popular teaching that Russia is the land of Magog. Ezekiel 38:6 says, "also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops--the many nations with you". These were considered to be references to Russian armies. However, the similarity in sound between Meshech and Moscow, and between Tubal and Tobolsk, is not a scholarly basis for such an assertion.
In Micah 5:5 and in several chapters of Isaiah (e.g. 10:5), the Antichrist is called 'The Assyrian'. The Assyrian empire stretched across eastern Turkey, so there is no contradiction with the Antichrist being the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, i.e. the ruler of Turkey.
Ezekiel 38 is a particularly significant chapter in relation to end-time prophecy. The Antichrist is called Gog of the land of Magog, and is said to be the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Ezekiel prophesies that he will gather an alliance and invade Israel. His allies include Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer and Beth Togarmah.
Around the time of Ezekiel, there was a king of Lydia in western Turkey called Gyges, or Gugu. It is possible that Ezekiel used Gog as an association with Gyges to denote a king of Turkey. Magog is possibly a derivation of Mat-Gugu, the Assyrian for 'Land of Gyges' (see Wikipedia: Gog and Magog)
The Scofield Study Bible, published in 1909, popularised dispensationalism in the early 20th Century. It also identified Meshech and Tubal with the Russian cities of Moscow and Tobolsk, and led to popular teaching that Russia is the land of Magog. Ezekiel 38:6 says, "also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops--the many nations with you". These were considered to be references to Russian armies. However, the similarity in sound between Meshech and Moscow, and between Tubal and Tobolsk, is not a scholarly basis for such an assertion.
In Micah 5:5 and in several chapters of Isaiah (e.g. 10:5), the Antichrist is called 'The Assyrian'. The Assyrian empire stretched across eastern Turkey, so there is no contradiction with the Antichrist being the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, i.e. the ruler of Turkey.
Place tags: Ammon, Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Empire, Egypt, Gomer, Israel, Lybia, Lydia, Lebanon, Gog and Magog, Meshech, Moab, Put, Syria, Tubal, Turkey, Persia, Iran