While Gomer could refer to modern Germany, since the ancient Gomerites migrated from their original home in the area of modern Turkey to other locations, the more likely connection is with Turkey. That’s where the Gomerites resided in Ezekiel’s day.
Ancient Gomer was referred to by the Assyrians as the Gimirrai and by the Greeks as the Cimmerians. They emerged in the eighth century BC in the area of Asia Minor, or modern Turkey. Later, in the first century AD, the Jewish historian Josephus connected the Gomerites with the Galatians, who inhabited what today is central Turkey.[11]
Turkey is an Islamic nation, and under the influence of President Erdoğan it is throwing off its secular leanings and embracing its Islamic roots from the days of the Ottoman empire. With growing ties to Russia and Iran, Turkey exerts a growing political and military influence on events in the Middle East.
After the mention of the northern threat from Russia and Turkey, the next future member of the Russian coalition in the War of Gog and Magog is Persia. The words Persia, Persian, or Persians are found more than thirty times in the Old Testament. In Ezekiel 38:5, Persia is best understood as modern-day Iran. The ancient land of Persia became the modern nation of Iran in March 1935, and then the name was changed to the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. Walter Kaiser states, “It is interesting to note that the nation of Iran (which includes present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan as well) gets first mention and that most of Gog’s allies are countries that are today predominantly Islamic.”[12]
Iran’s present population is almost eighty million. Iran’s mullah regime is the world’s number-one sponsor of terror and is making its bid for regional supremacy at the same time it is pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran’s venomous hatred of Israel is no secret.
The agreement with Iran brokered by the United States appears to be a bad deal. The deal does delay Iran getting its hands on nukes, but only for ten years. After ten years, all bets are off, and Iran will be free to cross the nuclear finish line. Time will tell whether the Iran deal was successful. But we do know that Iran is now out from under crippling sanctions and had more than $100 billion returned to its coffers to further fund its terrorist proxies.
Iran is a nuclear-threshold state with a breakout capacity of less than one year. Iran’s compliance with the US agreement is not always easy to verify, so the likelihood of cheating is ever present. All the while, Iran is conducting ballistic missile tests and has three underground ballistic missile factories. Nuclear capability in Iran combined with ballistic missiles raises a sum-of-all-fears scenario. Clearly, modern Iran is a country hostile to Israel and the West. We’ll deal more in depth with Iran in the next chapter.
Two North African nations are listed in Ezekiel 38. The first is Ethiopia, which translates the Hebrew word Cush. Ancient Cush was called Kusu by the Assyrians and Babylonians, Kos or Kas by the Egyptians, and Nubia by the Greeks. Secular history locates Cush directly south of ancient Egypt, extending down past the modern city of Khartoum, which is the capital of modern Sudan. Modern Sudan inhabits the ancient land of Cush.
Sudan was locked in a deadly struggle between the Islamic north and Christian south for decades, culminating with South Sudan announcing its independence in July 2011. Since then, Sudan has been split into two sovereign nations. Northern Sudan, known simply as “Sudan” or officially as “the Republic of the Sudan,” is a militant, radical Islamic nation that supported Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War. The Sudanese government invited Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri to Sudan and became a safe haven for jihadists. Osama bin Laden was sheltered there from 1991 to 1996. It should be no surprise that Sudan appears in this list of Russian allies against Israel and the West in the end times. Sudan would jump at the opportunity to take its place with Russia in the coming Gog alliance, just as Ezekiel predicted.
Put was a son of Ham (see Genesis 10:6). Josephus identified Put as Libya. The ancient Babylonian Chronicles reveal that Putu was the distant land to the west of Egypt, which we know as Libya and could possibly include nations farther west, such as modern Algeria and Tunisia. The Greek translation of the Old Testament renders the word Put as Libues.
Modern Libya remains a hardened Islamic state that hates Israel and despises the West. Strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi exercised a reign of terror over Libya from 1969 until he was killed in 2011 in an Arab Spring eruption that spread to Libya. After the collapse of his government and his death, Libya fragmented and quickly fell into disarray, with various fighting factions vying for power. ISIS seized the opportunity and moved in to fill some of the vacuum. Many fear Libya may end up in a morass like Somalia, which is a dangerous, chaotic land of pirates and warlords. A steady stream of desperate refugees is fleeing the chaos.
In recent days, Russia has begun to exert greater influence in Libya. Russia has deployed troops near the Libyan border. Recent headlines unveil the strengthening ties between Russia and Libya:
A crucial result of the Syrian war is that Russia is now emboldened. Russia has an increasing military presence in Libya, supporting Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in the ongoing civil conflict that has engulfed that nation.[13] Haftar is a former colonel in the army of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi. “While testifying to the Senate’s foreign relations committee, the chief of the Pentagon’s Africa command, General Thomas D. Waldhauser, said, ‘Russia is trying to exert influence on the ultimate decision of who and what entity becomes in charge of the government inside Libya.’”[14]
Libya is in place for the coming Middle East war led by Russia.
Togarmah was the third son of Gomer, who was a son of Japheth (see Genesis 10:3). Ezekiel 38:6 states that the armies of Beth-togarmah, from the distant north, will join the Russian alliance.
Beth-togarmah is referenced in Ezekiel 27:14 as a trading partner of Tyre (modern Lebanon). Ancient Beth-togarmah was called Til-garamu by the Assyrians and Tegarma by the Hittites. Both the Assyrians and Hittites located Beth-togarmah in what is modern-day Turkey, along with Meshech, Tubal, and Gomer.
12
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.,
13
Lamine Ghanmi, “Russia Enlarges Military Footprint in Libya,” UPI, March 20, 2017, http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Voices/2017/03/20/Russia-enlarges-military-footprint-in-Libya/6031490019941/.
14
Darius Shahtahmasebi, “Russia Eyes Libya,”