The Marshaling of the Nations

RUSSIA

Many people have read the thirty-eighth and the thirty-ninth chapters of Ezekiel, and have wondered and longed to know what those two chapters can mean; what it is to which they refer. And, all this time, the first verses of these same chapters of Ezekiel tell definitely what is referred to; what nation of to-day is meant in those two chapters. Read the verses: “Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” In the Revised Version it runs thus: “Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of Rush, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him.” And the same connection is found in the third verse, just following, and also in the thirty-ninth chapter. Now, we shall not attempt an exposition of these two chapters; we simply point out the meaning of the names that are spoken, that all may plainly see what nation is referred to, and that that nation is Russia. MON 26.2

The text reads: “Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him.” MON 27.1

Meshech was one of the grandsons of Noah. He passed up from the country of the Euphrates, through Mesopotamia, into what is now Russia, and became the origin of the people who settled in the place and built the city which is now called Moscow—the Muscovites—“and who still give name to Russia throughout the East.”—Rawlinson. MON 27.2

Magog was another of the grandsons of Noah. He peopled all of the north of Asia: that part which in ancient time was called Scythia, and in our days is called Siberia. MON 27.3

Tubal is another of the grandsons of Noah. He settled in the region which still from him bears the name Tobolsk. MON 27.4

Now, the “prince of Rosh” is the chief of all these; and that word “Rosh” is the root-word from which comes Russia and the Russians. 5 So, the thirty-eighth and the thirty-ninth chapters of Ezekiel are the Word of God to all people to-day, concerning the place which is occupied by Russia, its position, and its career, in the last days, and up to the very last day. The account says definitely that it shall be “in the latter days” (Ezekiel 38:8); the great feast of the fowls of heaven, of Revelation 19:17, 18, is mentioned in Ezekiel 39:17, 18; and the six plagues are referred to in Ezekiel 39:2, margin; and the seventh plague, in Ezekiel 38:22. See Revelation 16. Throughout Ezekiel 38 and 39 this power is spoken of as coming from the “north quarters.” And by looking at the map it is easy to see that russia does occupy the north quarters of the greater part of the whole eastern world. MON 27.5

There is another prophecy which comes in, in this connection, and which makes plain to all people the connection between this power—Russia—and all of those western powers of Europe that occupy the territory of Western Rome. There comes next a scripture that shows a blending of all these: not a blending in unison, but a blending in their interests, which causes continual jealousy and contention among them. It is the prophecy concerning MON 28.1