John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 8. And shall go out , etc.] Of his prison, the bottomless pit, and shall walk to and fro in the earth, and go about like a deceitful serpent, and roaring lion, as before: to deceive the nations : as he had done before the thousand years began, and from which he was restrained during that time; he had before deceived the Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan nations, and now he will go forth to deceive those at this time which are in the four quarters of the earth ; all the world over: the names of which nations are, Gog and Magog : not the same which are mentioned in ( Ezekiel 38:1- 39:16) though there is an allusion to them, and from thence the names are taken, and some of the figures borrowed, and design the enemies of God's people, who will be in the world at this time; so the Jews speak of a Gog and Magog, that will come up against Jerusalem in the days of the Messiah, whom they still expect, by whom they shall be destroyed: to gather them together to battle ; not one against another, as some think, as the pope against the Turk, and the Turk against the pope, nor are they designed at all; nor to kill them, as the Ethiopic version renders it; but against the saints and people of God, in the beloved city and camp; herein will lie his deception of them: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea ; that is, innumerable, in allusion to Gog and Magog in ( Ezekiel 38:9,15,16) but the great question is, who are meant by these? Not the Papists, the nations made drunk with the wine of Rome's fornication, the Gentiles, by whom the holy city is trodden under foot, and who will be angry when the time of avenging the saints is come, ( Revelation 11:2,18 18:2) for these will be all destroyed, even all the remains of them, at the battle of Armageddon; nor is antichrist himself intended, who will be destroyed in the spiritual reign of Christ, with the breath of his mouth; and at the above decisive battle the beast and the false prophet will be taken alive, and cast into the lake of fire: nor are the Turks designed, the people of Magog being Scythians originally, as Josephus says f438 , from whence the Turks sprung; or Tartarinns, for Paulus Venetus says the countries of Gog and Magog are in Tartary, called Jug and Munjug; hence some think these are the same with the four angels bound at the river Euphrates, and loosed, whose armies are represented as exceeding numerous, ( Revelation 9:14,16,17) but though the Turkish dominions are very large, yet they do not extend to the four quarters of the world; and when the Turks were let loose, and came even into Europe, it was not against the true Christians, the camp of the saints, the beloved city, as here, but against the antichristian party; the Papists have suffered most by the incursions of the Turks, though it has not brought them to repentance; besides, the loosing of the four angels, or the Turkish nations, and their chiefs, is long before these thousand years begin; that is past already, under the sixth trumpet, whereas the seventh trumpet will be blown, and all the seven vials poured out, and the world cleared of all Christ's enemies, and after that a thousand years must run out, before this Gog and Magog army will appear: nor are the Americans the nations, here spoken of; for they are but in one quarter of the world; nor is there any reason to believe there will be there more enemies of Christ's people than in any other part, since in the spiritual reign of Christ the earth shall be full of his knowledge, and his spiritual kingdom will be to the ends of the earth: and as for that notion that those inhabiting the other hemisphere will be saved from the general conflagration, there is no reason to believe it, since the earth, and whatsoever is therein, shall be burnt up, ( 2 Peter 3:10). Some think that the wicked living in the distant parts of the world, in the corners of the earth, are meant, who, upon Christ's coming, will flee thither, and remain in continual dread and terror to the end of the thousand years, when Satan will gather them together, and spirit them up against the saints; but this cannot be, because they will all be destroyed at the universal conflagration of the world; nor will there be any in the new earth but righteous persons: but these will be all the wicked dead, the rest of the dead, who lived not again until the thousand years are ended, when will be the second resurrection, the resurrection of all the wicked that have been from the beginning of the world; and these, with the posse of devils under Satan, will make up the Gog and Magog army: all the characters agree with them; these may be called nations, or Gentiles, being aliens from the true Israel of God, the dogs that will be without the holy city; these may be said to be in the four quarters of the world, since where they die and are buried, there they will rise and stand upon their feet, an exceeding great army; and as they will die enemies to Christ and his people, they will rise such; as they will go down to hell with their weapons of war, as is said of Meshech and Tubal, the people of Gog, ( Ezekiel 32:27) they will rise with the same; the grave, the dust of the earth, will make no change in their vile bodies, nor the flames of hell any alteration in the disposition of their minds; yea, as is said in the above place, they will lay their swords under their heads, and so be in a readiness, when they rise, to make use of them against the saints, and to avenge themselves; for their envy, malice, and revenge, will be heightened and increased by their confinement and punishment in hell: nor need this be wondered at, since the devils, notwithstanding they have been so long expelled the realms of light, and have been in chains of darkness, and in expectation of everlasting torment, retain the same enmity as ever; and though the deception will be very great, to attack saints in an immortal state, who are like the angels that die not, nor will these die any more, and especially since Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who rules the nations with a rod of iron, will be at the head of them; yet it need not seem strange, when they will rise as weak and feeble, and as little able to resist temptation, and as much exposed to seduction, as they were before; Satan will have as much power over them as ever; and what with their own numbers, and the posse of devils at the head of them, and especially considering the desperateness of their state, and that this is their last struggle and effort for liberty, they will animate themselves and one another to this strange undertaking. These now may be called Gog and Magog, as the one signifies covered, the other open, or uncovered: these being all the enemies of Christ and his people, both secret and open: and this sense well accounts for their number, being as the sand of the sea; and which the Arabic version seems to confirm, and Jagog and Magog shall rise with him. The Jews have a notion that this deception of Satan will be at the day of judgment, which agrees with this account; for immediately upon this will follow the judgment of the wicked: they say f440 , in the day that judgment shall be found in the world, and the holy blessed God shall sit upon the throne of Judgment, Satan attw aly[l yjsa , shall deceive above and below (angels and men), and he shall be found to destroy the world, and to take away souls.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7-10 - While this world lasts, Satan's power in it will not be wholl destroyed, though it may be limited and lessened. No sooner is Sata let loose, than he again begins deceiving the nations, and stirrin them up to make war with the saints and servants of God. It would be well if the servants and ministers of Christ were as active an persevering in doing good, as his enemies in doing mischief. God wil fight this last and decisive battle for his people, that the victor may be complete, and the glory be to himself.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 CONJ εξελευσεται 1831 5695 V-FDI-3S πλανησαι 4105 5658 V-AAN τα 3588 T-APN εθνη 1484 N-APN τα 3588 T-APN εν 1722 PREP ταις 3588 T-DPF τεσσαρσιν 5064 A-DPF γωνιαις 1137 N-DPF της 3588 T-GSF γης 1093 N-GSF τον 3588 T-ASM γωγ 1136 N-PRI και 2532 CONJ τον 3588 T-ASM μαγωγ 3098 N-PRI συναγαγειν 4863 5629 V-2AAN αυτους 846 P-APM εις 1519 PREP πολεμον 4171 N-ASM ων 3739 R-GPM ο 3588 T-NSM αριθμος 706 N-NSM ως 5613 ADV η 3588 T-NSF αμμος 285 N-NSF της 3588 T-GSF θαλασσης 2281 N-GSF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
8. Gog and Magog. See Ezekiel 38, 39. Compare Gen. x. 2. where Magog appears as a son of Japhet. Magog is a general name for the northern nations, and, according to Ezekiel, Gog is their prince. Josephus says that the descendants of Magog were the Scythians.
