GOG AND MAGOG. - Symbol of the enemies of Israel (Ezek. 38-39) and of the Church (Rev. 20:7-10). In cuneiform texts, G., the name of a deity (gaga, gugu: Enūma elī, III, etc.), becomes the name of a region (mura ga-ga-ia: J. A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna-Tafeln, I, Leipzig 1907, lines 37-39) and then of a person (gūgu: cylinder B. IV, 2 of Ashurbanipal, etc.). In 1 Chron. 5:4 G. is a descendant of Reuben; while M. in Gen. 10:2 is a northern population, among the descendants of Japheth. The pairing of G. and M. is characteristic of Ezekiel: M. is the kingdom of the symbolic G., who personifies the various leaders who in a distant future (38:8, 16; cf. 39:11) will move against the theocracy reborn after the exile, in a supreme attempt at annihilation (a prophecy fulfilled with Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his successors).
Consequently every attempt at identification with this or that king of the past (Gyges [Assyr. gugi]: Frd. Delitzsch, E. Meyer; or Gagi, chief of the Scythians: Josephus, St. Jerome, the ancients, F. Lenormant, etc.) proves arbitrary and mistaken. It is only possible that the impression left by the Scythian invasion (632-632 B.C.), which grazed Palestine (Herodotus, I, 104 ff.), may have influenced Ezekiel's conception in certain details (38:9, 15; 39:3). St. John chose the two names G. and M. from Ezekiel, but without any relation to history and geography; he made them the emblem of all the bestial forces in perpetual struggle against the kingdom of God, in its earthly phase.
Bibliography5 worksJ. Halévy, G. et M., in Revue sémitique, 12 (1905), pp. 370-75; S. A. Hooke, G. and M., in Expository times, 27 (1915), p. 317 ff.; E. B. Al
BIBL.: J. Halévy, G. et M., in Revue sémitique, 12 (1905), pp. 370-75; S. A. Hooke, G. and M., in Expository times, 27 (1915), p. 317 ff.; E. B. Allo, L'Apocalypse, 3rd ed., Paris 1933, p. 313 ff.; D. Buzy, Antéchrist, in DBs, I, col. 297 ff.; F. Spadafora, Ezechiele, Turin 1948, pp. 276-93 (with references and bibl.).
Spadafora, Francesco. “Gog e Magog.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, coll. 900–901. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/gog-e-magog.
MLA
Spadafora, Francesco. “Gog e Magog.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 900–901. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/gog-e-magog.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec6_gog_e_magog,
author = {Spadafora, Francesco},
title = {Gog e Magog},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VI},
pages = {900--901},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/gog-e-magog}
}
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