said, that "the city shall be taken," ravages committed, and that "the half thereof shall go forth into captivity;" and with respect to Gog himself and "his bands," (in Ezek. XXXVIII. and XXXIX.,) that "they shall be turned back, fall upon the mountains of Israel and the open field,"-that every man's sword shall be against his brother,"-that the Lord "will plead against him with pestilence and blood,”that he will "send an overflowing rain and great hailstones, fire and brimstone,”—and that "they shall be devoured by the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field." But with respect to the former, (the Assyrian,) Christ "shall deliver Israel from him;" for "when he treadeth within their borders; they" (the Israelites) "shall waste" (Heb. eat up) "with the sword" (the sword of the Spirit, as we judge,) "the land of Assyria and the land of Nimrod at the entrances thereof." And as no allusion is made, the one to the other, in these predictions, it marks a distinction which it would be difficult to supersede.

It is supposed by many that the prophecy of Gog, prince of Magog, is so similar, in some respects to that of Joel already quoted, as descriptive of the battle of Armageddon, that they ought to be blended together. Perhaps this might be properly presumed, if the assurance in ver. 17, of the latter, were to be taken in positive or immediate conjunction with a portion of the same chapter, not immediately preceding it, viz., ver. 9-14, "Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more." This, however, appears questionable. It is possible, if not probable, that ver. 15-18, are predictions posterior to the battle of Armageddon; and if so, the difficulty ceases to exist. Throughout the prophets there are frequent instances of sudden transitions, and these in rapid suc

cession, as Zech. XIII.; where Christ's atonement,― the suppression of idolatry,—the dispersion of the followers of Christ, the destruction of Jerusalem,—and the subsequent trials of the Jews until their final restoration,—are all comprised in a short compass. Farther, we find no such appellations given to Gog, as to Antichrist, viz., “ The enemy," "_" the man of the earth,"-"the man of sin," "that wicked,"-"the son of perdition,"-" the false prophet;" and the final overthrow of Antichrist is to take place in the valley of Jehoshaphat. In whatever light this may be viewed we have thought it desirable to consider them distinctly in this work. But though we have presented separate views of the Battle of Armageddon and the Invasion of Gog, the prophecies relative to "The Assyrian,” are included in this Chapter. If we consider their determined obscurity in some particulars, to prevent all obstruction to their fulfilment, and for other purposes, we should humbly confess our incompetency to form even a rational conjecture. The reader is left to his own unbiassed judgment, or, deeper research on this subject.

When we contemplate the triumphant, yet apparently defenceless, condition of the Jews at this time, together with the extinction of the Mahommedan and Papal dominion, it appears rational to conclude, that these events will excite the ambition, and prepare the enterprise of Russia and her dependants, who, both from their political and geographical position, will probably remain in the rear of conversion. These ambitious views will appear the more probable, from the almost depopulated, and humiliated condition of the ten kingdoms; which will no longer be able to oppose, whatever aid they may be forced to contribute to her designs: and that this will be the great lead

ing power which will assemble so many other states to invade Palestine, we have now to consider.

Ezekiel xxxvIII. 2. Son of man, set thy face against y Gog,

"Rather Gog the prince of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. By Magog is most probably meant the Scythians or Tartars, called so by Arabian and Syrian writers. Josephus is the earliest Hebrew authority of weight and learning, to which we can address ourselves; and he distinctly informs us, 'that Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons,' whose names as recorded in Gen. x. 2, were Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras; who, proceeding from their primitive seats, in the mountains of Taurus and Amanus, ascended Asia to the river Tanais (or, Don;) and there entering Europe, penetrated as far westward as the straits of Gibraltar, occupying the lands which they successively met with in their progress, (all of which were uninhabited ;) and bequeathed their names to their different families or nations."-Granville Penn.

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By Rosh is most probably meant the Russians, descendants of the ancient inhabitants on the river Araxes or Rosh. See Bochart, Phaleg., lib. III., cap. 13, &c. Michaelis, Spicileg. Geog. part 1., p. 34, &c., D'Herbelot and others. "According to our common English translation, the prophecy is addressed to' Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.'

"So the English translators of the Bible have rendered that important title, following the interpretation of the Vulgate, or Latin version of Jerome, used in the western church; which interpretation rests upon a criticism of that same ancient writer. But the first translators of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Septuagint, or Seventy Jews of Alexandria, who translated the prophecies of Ezekiel into the Greek tongue above six hundred years before the age of Jerome, and above two hundred years before the birth of Christ, rendered this passage with a very notable and essential difference, viz.,

ΓΩΓ, αρχοντα ΡΩΣ, ΜΕΣΟΧ, και ΘΟΒΕΛ.

Gog, the chief of Ros, Mesoch, and Thobel.

"The difference between the two interpretations turns upon this one point. The Hebrew word rosh or ros, used as an appellative noun, signifies indeed, 'head,' 'chief,' or, 'prince.' But the ancient Jews were sensible, that in this place it was not an appellative, but a proper name; and they therefore rendered it by the proper name Ros.

"Ezekiel makes mention of other proper names of nations, besides Ros, which yet are no where to be met with in the writings of Moses; and the question has long been set at rest by the concurring judgment of the learned, who have adopted decidedly the primitive interpretation of the Alexandrian Jews. And although our common English version has not derived the benefit of that decision, yet the title of the prophecy has been generally received among the erudite portion of the western nations for nearly two centuries, according to the ancient Greek interpretation; that is to say, as uniting the THREE proper names of nations, Ros, Mosc, and Tobl. Vitringa observes, that the Seventy interpreters, Symmachus, and Theodotion, perceived Ros in this place to be the proper name of a people.' Conformably to this corrected interpretation Archbishop Newcome has expressed the three names Rhos, Meshech, and Tubal, in his English translation of Ezekiel; following Michaelis in the orthography of these words. And David Levi, the most learned Jew of our own days, thus determined the signification of the word, Ros : 'As to this word I must observe, that it is not an appellative, as in the common translation of the Bible, but a proper name.'-Dissert. on the Prophecies, vol. 11., p. 308. The word 'prince' in our common translation, ought therefore to be replaced by

the land of Magog, the chief prince (or, prince of the chief of) Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, &c. See ver. 3-13.*

As the desolate places of Palestine will be inhabited, and cattle and goods, silver and gold, be had in possession, it may be properly supposed that no inconsiderable time will have elapsed since the commencement of the restoration.

the proper name Ros. The celebrated Bochart has observed that POΣ, Ros, is the most ancient form under which history makes mention of the name of Russia; and he contended, that the two first of those names properly denote the nations of Russia and Muscovy. 'It is credible,' says he, 'that from Rhos and Mesech, that is the Rhossi and Moschi, of whom Ezekiel speaks, descended the Russians and Muscovites, nations of the greatest celebrity in European Scythia.' We have, indeed, ample and positive testimony, that the Russian nation was called P2, Ros, by the Greeks, in the earliest period in which we find it mentioned.

Εθνος δε οἱ ΡΩΣ Σκυθικόν, περι τον αρκτώον Ταυρον.

'The Ros are a Scythian nation, bordering on the northern Taurus.' This testimony is given, by Cedrenus, Zonarus, Leo Grammaticus, and Tzetzes. And their own historian thus reports,' It is related that the Russians, whom the Greeks call Ros, Pws, and sometimes Rosos, Pwoos, derived their name from Ros, a valiant man who delivered his nation from the yoke of their tyrants. This is the identical name which the first interpreters of Ezekiel found in the text of that ancient prophet: upon the peculiar form of which name Mr. Gibbon has this remark: Among the Greeks this national appellation has a singular form, PQΣ, Ros, as an indeclinable word; of which many fanciful etymologies have been found.' Moskwa, or Moscow, the ancient capital of the Russian empire, derives its name from the river Moskwa, which runs on the south side of it.-Busching's Geography, vol. 1., p. 452. The river Tobol gives name to the city TOBOLum, or TOBOLski, (ut supra, p. 506, 483,) the metropolis of the extensive region of Siberia, lying immediately eastward of the territories of Muscovy, or Mosc. Tobol and Mosc are mentioned together in a former chapter of the same prophet, xxvII. 13, where they are characterized as nations trading in copper; a metal which it is notorious abounds in the soil of Siberia. And thus the Three Denominations, united in the prophecy, point out, with equal capacity and conciseness, those widely extended regions, which, at the present day, we denominate collectively, THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. It is true that in 1 Chron. v. 4, we find the name Gog in our English Bible, as a Hebrew name, among the Reubenites; but the ancient Greek interpreters teach us, that in that place it was properly enounced Goug, Tovy, and not Twy, Gogue. But the name in Ezekiel's prophecy is not a Hebrew, but a Gentile name. 'If,' as Michaelis says, Gomer was the Hebrew name for the Gauls, it is not improbable that the Trocmi, a nation of the Gauls, were Togarmah.""-Penn's Prophecy of Ezekiel.

* Gen. x. 2; 1 Chron. 1. 5; Ezek. xxvII. 14; Gen. x. 3; 1 Chron. 1. 6. Dedan. "Probably as Bochart and Michaelis suppose, Daden, a town of Arabia on the Persian Gulf, placed by D'Anville rather out of the gulf and near the Indian ocean." See Gen. x. 7; xxv. 3; 1 Chron. 1. 9-32; Jer. xxv. 23; XLIX. 8

Ver. 14. Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GoD: In that day when my people Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

This seems to portray the hitherto watchful policy of Gog with a view to continued aggrandizement.

Ver. 15, 16. And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: and thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

"The north parts," point out the country inhabited by the great leader and his people, and we are forcibly reminded of the clouds of Cossacks which he has at his command. But the terrific judgments of God which follow his invasion, will bring the various tribes of northern Europe, Asia, and Africa, to a more effectual knowledge of the true God, than have any former visitations.

Ver. 17. Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? See Numb. XXIV. 7; 1 Sam. 11. 10; Psalm. xxi. 8, 9; cx. 5, 6 ; Hab. III. 12--15.

"There is" another "prophecy, (one of the most ancient in Scripture,) which particularly demands our attention in this place, viz., the prophecy of Balaam; the circumstances of which are most peculiar. The later Jews, though aware that this prophecy regarded THE MESSIAH in his ultimate state of triumph and universal dominion, yet appear to have altered an important name in the text, with a design to remove the strangeness of its appearance, and to render it more apparently familiar. The prophecy in question is contained in the 24th chapter of the Book