Someone in childhood was frightened by a “grandmother”, but someone was threatened: “Here comes the gog and magog and they will take you away!” It is unlikely that, when uttering this phrase, adult comrades put true meaning into this concept. In the Ephraim’s dictionary, as well as in the Great Directory of Russian sayings, they define it like this: Gog and Magog are omnipotent, terrifying. Other sources provide more specific, historical concepts.
Representation in Christianity
According to the biblical doctrine of the ultimate fates of man and the world, the peoples of the Gog and Magog are hostile, militant, who will come at the last moment to exterminate the remaining adherents of Christianity. The end of the world is now popping up not only in everyday conversations. This topic is heated by numerous media. They show people building bunkers with centuries-old supplies of provisions, stationary power plants and other communications and household items that can maintain normal life. Gog and Magog, according to some interpretations, should become that destructive Satanic force that will destroy everything completely.
These are not all definitions that are derived in religious teachings. Under the name "Gog", the leader, the main leader, standing in front of the entire hostile army is assumed. Magog has its own status. This is a country, which means that its people also live. All these people are subject to the great Gog, obedient to his command, worshiping his philosophy and worldview, believing in his destiny.
And yet, most often Gog, Magog is a people who should be headed by Prince Rosh at a certain time. He is also given several definitions. The son of Benjamin, who died without leaving any heirs. Another interpretation, more general - the boss, the head, the grand duke in the original. It has even been suggested that Russia is supposed to be behind this name as the land reigned by the mighty Gog.
The Old Testament mentions the son of Yaphet Magog, the initiator of the clan from settlements located north of Palestine. Gog, according to some predictions, should bring the troops of the nomads to Israel. The barbarian hostile North they symbolize in Jewish culture.
According to legend, Alexander the Great drove these peoples to the East, to its most extreme territories. The time will come, they will be freed, burst into Christian lands, destroy everything around, the historically formed world.
Apocalypse - a period when everything collapses
And one more word that is most often interpreted today far from the original definition is the Apocalypse. Now it is mainly perceived by the majority as the end of the world. The biblical Apocalypse describes a situation where the world will crumble. It is at this moment that Satan himself will descend to Earth. He will call for the service of King Gog from the land of Magog.
And with him is a people whose number will be greater than sea sand. Magogs will crush, torture, exterminate people, erase them from the face of the earth. And it becomes clear that the Apocalypse is not the collapse of the whole world, it is the head of the Bible. A translation from Greek gives an accurate description - this is Revelation, the last biblical book. In it, John the Evangelist sets forth his visions.
In islam
In Islam, the gog and magog have their own name - Yajuj and Ma-juj. They are also militant tribes opposing God's people. In almost any interpretation, their invasion is associated with the Last Judgment and the coming of the Messiah.
“The war of the Gog and Magog” - this is the name of the battle between the external and the internal, according to the teachings of Kabbalah. The result of victory in this battle is to avoid the devastating consequences of a clash of two forces. This war is attributed to the people of Israel. And it is not fought with the help of accessible material weapons - atomic shells, bombs, rockets and machine guns. Now it is interpreted as a battle of the inner world with external realities. Battles between desires and reality in a spiritual sense.
In the modern world, many give this loud name for the West’s alleged nuclear battle in the near future with the alliance led by Russia. It is to this war that the title of “destroyer” is appropriated - actions that will turn the world into dust. Once this dubious glory was attributed to Napoleon in his predictions during his protracted battles and conquests.
Modernity
Modern politicians often use the expression "gog and magog." The meaning of any interpretation comes down to one thing - it is a force that destroys everything around. In connection with the frequent references and predictions of the end of the world, this Biblical description sounds more often.
Any war, in essence, is a struggle for one’s faith, for spiritual and material foundations. The destroyer nation under the leadership of Satan, no matter what name they give it, scares no less than Armageddon. Therefore, political scientists, historians again and again turn to the teachings of many centuries ago, where, without assuming today's reality, the signs preceding any coup are described so accurately.
Literature, opinion of writers
It is curious that this expression came into popular circulation as a synonym for “terrifying, overwhelming, ruling”. Even the great Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol mentioned in one of the dialogs of the heroes of “Dead Souls”: “what a gog-magog” who would kill for a penny. Thus characterizing a person as corrupt and unprincipled, which, therefore, inspires greater horror.
