Gog & Magog – Ask the Rabbi
Q. Who were Gog and Magog?
A. Magog appears in Genesis 10:2 as a son of Yefet, and denotes a nation in Asia Minor.
In Ezekiel 38-39 we read that Gog, who comes from Magog, will defeat many peoples but meet his end on the mountains of Israel; the convulsion will lead to the liberation of Israel. Some say the prophet meant Magog as a veiled reference to Babylon (read Magog in reverse order, go back one letter and you get Bavel, i.e. Babylon).
Later the Gog an Magog story was attached to the end of days, and it became a common theme not only in Jewish but also Christian and Islamic writings. Popular thinking regarded Gog and Magog as giants.
