Magog

Magog was the second son of Japheth and grandson of Noah in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5), whose name became the designation for the people and land he was thought to have settled. Ancient interpreters associated Magog with the Scythians or other northern barbarian peoples; Josephus identified Magog with the Scythians. The land of Magog appears in Ezekiel 38–39 as the territory of Gog, the great northern prince who leads a massive coalition against restored Israel in the latter days. God destroys this coalition with earthquake, fire, brimstone, and sword, demonstrating his holiness before the nations.

Revelation 20:8 uses Gog and Magog as symbolic names for the nations at the four corners of the earth that Satan gathers for the final assault against the holy city after the millennium — generalizing the Ezekiel imagery into an eschatological symbol of all forces opposed to God's people. Whether Magog designates a specific historical people, a region north of the Black Sea, or a purely symbolic designation for end-times opposition to God has been debated throughout the history of biblical interpretation.