Ezekiel 38:17

Of whom I have spoken. An earlier prophecy mentioning the name Gog is not now extant, nor need we be concerned that any such may have been lost. Viewed in its larger aspects, the battle here described is but the culmination of the agelong struggle between the powers of evil and the people of God. Concerning this there is frequent mention in earlier prophecies. The earliest intimation comes from the Garden of Eden in the curse pronounced upon the serpent. God predicted that there would be a constant warfare between the seed of the woman, the church, and Satan. Ultimate triumph over evil was forecast in the clause, “it [the seed of the woman] shall bruise thy head” (Gen. 3:15). Other references to the controversy and the eventual triumph of right are found in the psalms and later prophetic books (see Ps. 2; 110; Isa. 26:20, 21; etc.).

Naturally, any success on the part of the people of God would meet with most violent opposition from the great adversary. The narrative of Gog in this chapter is a delineation of the type of resistance that would have been encountered in the post-exilic period by a regenerated people now at last fulfilling their divine mission. Inasmuch as the prophecy was conditional and the conditions were never met, the predictions were not fulfilled in literal Israel. Nor can all the details be projected into the future so as to have a fulfillment then. Only those features reiterated later by sacred writers can be taken positively to have future application (see pp. 36-38; see on v. 1).