Ezekiel 38 & 39: Appendices--Magog? (Episode #14)

Who were they, in antiquity?Thus far then, we now know that “Magog” finds its roost today in all of the land mass known as, and now occupied by, modern Russia. Likewise we also know that Russia—as it relates to and falls within the grand scheme and plan of God—consists of two major parts or, sections separated by the Ural Mountains: 1) Western or European Russia and, 2) Siberia. That leaves open the question, who were these people during the Bible days of Ezekiel? Who were they prior to his day, during and across the two thousand years following the birth and life of the Christ? What did they ever do to provoke God’s ire?European RussiaPlayground for murderers and marauders; wild and untamed; haven to pillagers and plunder seekers, more savage than the climate itself: ruled apparently for millennia by no one codified, written law, or civilized authority, such was this, and in reality, the rest of the world of humanity, where thoughts and knowledge of God had failed to grace the minds of men; although the writing cultures appear to have managed a much greater sense of civility and stability. This section of the land of Magog refers to the western 25% of the old Soviet Union (one might say their early “old west” makes the American version look “sissy”). Specifically, it is that part of Soviet Russia (known since the Soviet breakup in 1991 as the Russian Federation), which lies west of the Ural Mountains, but more precisely between the Caspian Sea on the east and the Baltic in the west, having as its southern border the Black Sea, whereas the White is its northernmost boundary. Its actual westernmost boundary or border has varied widely throughout history, dependent on who had the biggest sword, and who could muster and manage the most living bodies after appeasement of the sacrificial demands and bite of one senseless battle after the other to enforce a shift. At no point along a timeline spanning millennia, has any one group ever peacefully peopled that region for any significantly long duration of time (apparently!). The historical record suggests that—in a span reaching back as far as 4000 years B.C. to the relatively recent mid-800s A.D.—Europe’s portion of today’s Russia has been inundated repeatedly by floods of many different tribes of people, many, if not most, from Central Asia. Its steppes (great plains), said to be relatively infertile and part of a roughly 5000-mile stretch, reaching from the Ukraine to China, hosts an environment known for climatic contrasts which are extreme, and are able to support only small bands of horsemen over huge allotments thereof. All of this begs the question: what then served as the virtual magnets, attracting and luring these bands of murderous, marauding thugs, who either forced out whatever group happened to be in occupation upon their arrival or, simply killed them off, outright—making this area a veritable slaughter house, or, more aptly, a killing field? Whatever the reason, it might well be said that this segment of the land of the realm of Gog in its entirety was hardly what God had in mind in terms of the “unknown”, given that it was in fact quite well known to the outside world (one group of nomads is known for positioning itself in the area of well-worn trade routes, some of which—like the “Silk Routes”—traversed this area). Thus—not to in any way minimize its shear brutality, gore, and gruesomeness—we see that Hitler’s Final Solution was not by any means the beginning of man’s inhumanity to man.