Reading for April 26th

The Gog and Magog oracles
Chs. 38-39 Ezekiel's oracles against Gog, ruler from the land of Magog, express an apocalyptic drama of God's victory over the nations that threaten Israel.
 The original identity of Gog is uncertain, although some have identified him with Gyges,
a seventh-century BCE ruler of Lydia in Asia Minor.
The land of Magog appears together with Meshech, Tubal, Gomer (Cimmerians in central
Asis Minor), and Togarmah (compare Beth-togarmah, in Armenia), apparently lands
in Asia Minor and Greece.
Ezekiel's oracles, however, draw upon Isaiah's prophecies concerning the downfall of a Mesopotamian ruler (Isa 14) and Jeremiah's prophecies concerning a "foe from the north" (Jer 2-3).
The original identity of Gog matters little as later interpreters have understood him to be a
trans-national symbol of evil, much like Edom and Egypt (for example, Isa 34; 63.1-6;
Mal 1.2-5; Ex 15) or chaos monsters such as Leviathan or Behemoth (Ps 74; 104; Job 38-41).

Read Ezekiel 38.1-16
In verses 1-9 God's initial instructions to Ezekiel present Gog as the leader of a host of nations
that threaten Israel, a well-known motif in the tradition about Zion as an invincible fortress
(see Ps 2; 46-48).
Persia, Ethiopia, and Put (Libya) are distant lands from throughout the ancient Near Eastern world.
In verses 10-13 God portrays Gog's intentions to plunder nations.
Sheba: Southern Arabia.
Dedan: Rhodes.
Tarshish: Tartessos in Spain.
In verses 14-16 God portrays Gog's advance with a mighty army against Israel.
In the latter days normally refers to the future, and many believe the expression to have eschatological meaning.
The nations' knowledge of God draws upon earlier traditions (for example, Ex 15; Isa 2.1-4;
 Mic 4.1-5; Ps 46-48) in which the nations recognize God's power and sovereignty.
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