Pretty simple to prove by cross-checking other scripture. Here's the text referring to the identity of "Gog" in Numbers 24:5-9 in the LXX. Everyone will remember that this is the ancient prophecy that God gave to Balaam when Israel was about to enter the land of Canaan.
"How goodly are thy habitations, Jacob, and thy tents, ISRAEL!
As shady groves, and as gardens by a river, and as tents which God pitched, and as cedars by the waters.
There shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations; and THE KINGDOM OF *GOG* shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased.
God led him" (God led GOG, that is) "out of Egypt; he has as it were the glory of a unicorn: he shall consume the nations of his enemies, and he shall drain their marrow, and with his darts he shall shoot through the enemy.
He lay down, he rested as a lion, and as a young lion; who shall stir him up? they that bless thee are blessed, and they that curse thee are cursed."
We can confirm that this identity of Gog actually is Israel by looking at the Gog prophecy in Ezekiel 38-39. That battle of "Gog" coming against Israel was foretold "in OLD TIME" by the prophets (Ez. 38:17). This tells me that the "old time" Balaam prophecy got handed down to the prophets in ancient Israel, and was repeated through the generations. But this sounds contradictory. If Gog actually WAS Israel, as Baaam's prophecy says, then Gog as Israel was going to come AGAINST Israel ?? That's what it says. By that we can understand that this was going to be a CIVIL WAR in Israel. Ezekiel 38:21 agrees with this. God said that at the same time when Gog would come against the land of Israel, that "...I will call for a sword against him (against Gog) throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: EVERY MAN'S SWORD SHALL BE AGAINST *HIS BROTHER*".
There we have it. The battle involving "Gog" would pit Israelites in civil strife against their brother Israelites. Christ during His ministry hinted in Luke 12:52 that this fraternal conflict in Israel had already begun in His day. "For FROM HENCEFORTH there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father..." This kind of internal division in Israel would continue to increase until the Zealot rebellion openly broke out in AD 66. Those Zealots who were determined to begin a revolt against Rome were divided against those who wanted to maintain the status quo and avoid a disruptive war against their Roman overlords.
Ezekiel 38-39 gives the details of just how a "chief prince" nicknamed "Gog" would amass a huge army that was composed - not just of native Israelites - but of those in Israel who had descended from other nations and had come to join his cause. All of them would be "handling swords" - the preferred weapon of choice that the more radical sicarii members among the Zealots were well known for using.
Of course, the "chief prince" nicknamed "Gog" and his multitudinous army would not survive. Gog's army would "fall upon the mountains of Israel" (which typically meant the mountains surrounding the city of Jerusalem). Their dead bodies would end up being buried in Israel in "the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea". This is the disc-shaped plain at the top of the Dead Sea called the "kikar of Jordan" today. The travelers that used the trade route running up the east side of the Dead Sea would end up holding their noses as they passed through this region of the Jordan plain in the aftermath of Gog's army being buried there.
The only individual that fits all the prophecy particulars about "Gog" the "chief prince" was the Zealot leader Simon bar Giora, who by AD 69 had managed to build a huge mixed-nation army of some 40,000 - the largest of all the other Zealot contenders for power in Jerusalem. Even the Romans regarded Simon bar Giora as the "King" of the rebellion. Because when Simon was finally captured after emerging from one of the underground tunnels on the Temple grounds, they reserved him for the victorious Roman triumph, after which he was executed. If anyone wants to delve into the details of how Simon bar Giora the Zealot commander fulfilled the terms of the Gog prophecy, I can point them out in Josephus where that record compares to the scripture references. That battle of Gog predicted in both Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation 20 is loooong over.
"How goodly are thy habitations, Jacob, and thy tents, ISRAEL!
As shady groves, and as gardens by a river, and as tents which God pitched, and as cedars by the waters.
There shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations; and THE KINGDOM OF *GOG* shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased.
God led him" (God led GOG, that is) "out of Egypt; he has as it were the glory of a unicorn: he shall consume the nations of his enemies, and he shall drain their marrow, and with his darts he shall shoot through the enemy.
He lay down, he rested as a lion, and as a young lion; who shall stir him up? they that bless thee are blessed, and they that curse thee are cursed."
We can confirm that this identity of Gog actually is Israel by looking at the Gog prophecy in Ezekiel 38-39. That battle of "Gog" coming against Israel was foretold "in OLD TIME" by the prophets (Ez. 38:17). This tells me that the "old time" Balaam prophecy got handed down to the prophets in ancient Israel, and was repeated through the generations. But this sounds contradictory. If Gog actually WAS Israel, as Baaam's prophecy says, then Gog as Israel was going to come AGAINST Israel ?? That's what it says. By that we can understand that this was going to be a CIVIL WAR in Israel. Ezekiel 38:21 agrees with this. God said that at the same time when Gog would come against the land of Israel, that "...I will call for a sword against him (against Gog) throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: EVERY MAN'S SWORD SHALL BE AGAINST *HIS BROTHER*".
There we have it. The battle involving "Gog" would pit Israelites in civil strife against their brother Israelites. Christ during His ministry hinted in Luke 12:52 that this fraternal conflict in Israel had already begun in His day. "For FROM HENCEFORTH there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father..." This kind of internal division in Israel would continue to increase until the Zealot rebellion openly broke out in AD 66. Those Zealots who were determined to begin a revolt against Rome were divided against those who wanted to maintain the status quo and avoid a disruptive war against their Roman overlords.
Ezekiel 38-39 gives the details of just how a "chief prince" nicknamed "Gog" would amass a huge army that was composed - not just of native Israelites - but of those in Israel who had descended from other nations and had come to join his cause. All of them would be "handling swords" - the preferred weapon of choice that the more radical sicarii members among the Zealots were well known for using.
Of course, the "chief prince" nicknamed "Gog" and his multitudinous army would not survive. Gog's army would "fall upon the mountains of Israel" (which typically meant the mountains surrounding the city of Jerusalem). Their dead bodies would end up being buried in Israel in "the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea". This is the disc-shaped plain at the top of the Dead Sea called the "kikar of Jordan" today. The travelers that used the trade route running up the east side of the Dead Sea would end up holding their noses as they passed through this region of the Jordan plain in the aftermath of Gog's army being buried there.
The only individual that fits all the prophecy particulars about "Gog" the "chief prince" was the Zealot leader Simon bar Giora, who by AD 69 had managed to build a huge mixed-nation army of some 40,000 - the largest of all the other Zealot contenders for power in Jerusalem. Even the Romans regarded Simon bar Giora as the "King" of the rebellion. Because when Simon was finally captured after emerging from one of the underground tunnels on the Temple grounds, they reserved him for the victorious Roman triumph, after which he was executed. If anyone wants to delve into the details of how Simon bar Giora the Zealot commander fulfilled the terms of the Gog prophecy, I can point them out in Josephus where that record compares to the scripture references. That battle of Gog predicted in both Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation 20 is loooong over.
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