Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_100.lzh/6_198.TXT

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as the rest, for the name of a place, a part of Scythia,
from whence the Russians came, and had their name.
So it is rendered by the Septuagint, Symmachus, and
Theodotion; and some later Greek Writers b make men-
lion of a country called Ros, which, they say, is a
Scythian nation, situated between the Euxine Pontus
and the whole maritilne coast to the north of Taurus,
a people fierce and wild. Meshec and Tubal were the
brethren of Magog, and sons of Japhet, Gen. x. 2.
whose posterity inhabited those counties called after
their name; who, according to Josephus{c}, are the
Cappadocians andi-berians; and among the former is
a place called Mazaca, which has some affinity with
Meshec; and there was a country called Gogarened,
a part of Iberia. According to Bochart{e}, these are
the Moschi and Tybarenes, people that dwell near the
Euxine sea, and under the dominion of the Turk;
wherefore the Grand Turk may be called the chief
prince of them: and prophesy against. him: foretel his
ruin and destruction, which is hinted before. Mention
is made of his invasion of the land of Judea, and that
for the comfort of the Jews, that they might have no-
thing to fear from this formidable army.
Vet. 3. And say, thus saith the Lord God, behold,
! am against thee, 0 Gog, the chief prince ofMeshec
and Tubal.] Which is repeated for the confirmation
of it, that so it would certainly be; that the Lord,
the mighty God, and King of kings, would in his pro-
vidence frown upon him, and appear against him; and
his titles are repeated also, to show that all his great-
ness, grandeur, and power, would not protect him from
the vengeance of God.
Ver. 4. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks
into thyjaws, &c.] Or, I will put hooks in thy jaws,
and with them turn thee back; or rather, turn thee
aboutf; and lead thee where and as I please; for this
is not to be understood of God's putting hooks into
his .jaws, and leading him back from his enterprise
of invading the land of Judea; as he put a hook in the
nose and a bridle in .the lips of the king of Assyria,
and brought him back from Jerusalem, Isa. xxxvii. c2.9.
but of his using him thus in his providence to draw
him to the land of Israel, out of iris own land, as fishes
are drawn with the hook out of the water. The sense
,is, that he would so work upon and influence the
 heart of Cog, that he should be inclined to come out
of his own land and invade Judea; just as the Lord is
said to draw Sisera and his army, Judg. iv. 7. as Kimchi
and Ben Moloch observe. So the Targum," I will
"persuade thee, and put hooks in thy jaws ;" that is,
incline his heart to take such a step, which should be
to his destruction: and I will bring thee forth, and all
thine army; all his jamzanes, and large army out of
Turkey, and other parts of his dominions: horses and
horsemen; the Turkish armies, chiefly consisting of
cavalry ;"see the note on Roy. ix. 16: all of them clothed
with all sorts of armour; or completely clothed, as the
Targum; for the word arm. our is not in the tex. t;
and besides, their armour is particularly mentioned.
afterwards; and so Kimchi has it, with all kind of or
naments, richly clothed and decorated, especially the
principal officers, and, so made a fine show': even a
.great company with bucklers and shields, all of them
.handling swords; or large armies, as tile Targum; the
Turks have always been used to bring prodigious large
armies into the field; see the note on Roy. ix. 16.
Vet. 5. Persia, Ethiopia, and Lybia with them, &c.]
These are the confederates or auxiliaries of the Turks,
which shall join with them in this expedition. Persia
iS a neighbouring kingdom to the Turks, and may thll
into their hands before this comes to pass; and is
in a fair way tbr it at this time, through the intestine
divisions in it; however, it will be confederate with
them. Ethiopia or Gush does not design the cormtry
of the A. byssines in the dominions of the Great Mogul,
but Arabia Chusea, which lay between Judea and
Egypt, and is now in the hands of the Turks; and
Lvbia or Phut is the mine of one of the sons of Ham,
Gen. x. ^. who, according tOJosepllus {g}, foundcd Lybia;
and from him the inhabitants of it were called Phu-
leans (as they are here by the Targum); and he observes
that there is a river of his name in Mauritania. Lybia
is a country in Africa, to the west of Egypt. and sub-
ject to the Turks: all of them with .shield and helmet;
the Lybians are described by Jeremiah, ch. xivi. 9, as
those that handle the shield; and the Egyptians, to
whom the Lybians were near neighbours, and whom
they might imitate in their warlike arms, as in other
things, wore shields down to the feet, as Xenophon {h}
relates.
Vet. 6. Comer, and all his bands, &c.] Or all his
army, as the Targum. Comer was the eldest son of
Japhet, Gen. x. 2. from whom descended the people
called by. the Greeks Galatians, or Gallo-Grecians, as
Josephus{l} says, who before were from him called
Gomarians: others think that Phrygia, and the in-
habitants of it, are meant; but, whether one or the
other, they were both people of the lesser Asia, which
is now in the hands of the Turks: the house of Togar-
mah of the north quarters, and all his bands; Togarmah
was one of the sons of Gomer, Gen. x. 3..whose poste-
rity, according to the Greeks, as Josephus{k} says, were
the Phrygians; but others rather think the Cappado-
clans descended from him; and that Togatrash de-
signs their country, which also is a part of the Turkish
dominions; see the note on ch. xxvii. 14. Several
moderns, as Calmet{l} observes, believe that the chil-
dren of Togarmah peopled Turcomania in Tartary,
and Scythia, and which he approves of; and the Turks
are mentioned by Ben Gotion {m} as one of the ten h-
milies of Togarmah. The Targum renders it here
the province of Germany; as it is also interpreted in
the Talmud{n}, but wrongly: and many people with
thee; from other places and nations, besides those

{b} Zonaras, Cedrenus, & Joan. Curopalates apud Selden. de Synedriis,
I. 2. c. 3. sect. 6.
{c} Antiqu. I. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.
{d} Strabo. Geograph. I. 11. p. 364.
{e} Phaleg. I. 3. c. 13. col. 188.
{f} \^Kytbbwv\^ circumducam te, Piscator; circumagam te, Grotius.
{g} Antiqu. 1. 1. c. 6. sect. 2.
{h} Cyropaedia, I. 6. c. 14. & 1. 7. c. 11.
{i} Antiqu. I. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.
{k} lbid.
{l} Dictionary in the word Togarmah.
{m} Heb. Hist. 1. 1. c. 1. p. 3.
{n} T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 10. 1.