Ezekiel 38-39 - possible reasons for bad identification

[clinevol98]

In about 10 minutes, I think I have seen the erroneous identifications of Meshech as Moscow, Tubal as Tobolsk, and Rosh as Russia. I think what "prophecy experts" such as Jack Van Impe, Grant Jeffrey, and Hal Lindsey are doing is picking names that sound similar and equating them.

To find some more information I went to Wikipedia and typed in "meshech." The article on Meshech says

"Meshech is named with Tubal as a principality of the prince of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38:2 and 39:1, considered a Japhetite tribe, identified by Flavius Josephus with the Cappadocian Moschoi (see Mushki)."

The article also says

"Meshech is seen as ancestor of the Russian people by some Bible scholars who consider it possible that geographic names in Russia such as Moscow, the Meschera tribe and the Meschera Lowland, could be related to Meschech."

Since the article says that Josephus identified Meshech with the Cappadocian Moschoi (Mushki), I went to the article on Mushki. The Mushki (or Muski) "were an Iron Age people of Anatolia, known from Assyrian sources." An Iron Age people of Anatolia, not a 21st Century people of northern Eurasia. How do they connect this with modern-day Russia? It appears to be an amateurish process of taking names that sound similar and equating them.

Several other authors have connected the Mushki people with the Moschoi of Greek sources and the Georgian tribe of the Meskhi. Meskhi (or Meskheti) is a former province in southwest Georgia, which is a independent nation south of Russia. If the premillennialists get hold of the news regarding the recent strife between Georgia and Russia, they would have a field day.

Now let's look at the history of Moscow. The first reference to Moscow was in 1147 when Yuri Dolgoruki (a Russian ruler during the 1100s) called upon a Russian prince to "come to me, brother, to Moscow." The Book of Ezekiel was written between 593 and 571 BC. So these "prophecy experts" believe that Meshech means Moscow, but the word "Moscow" was first used around 1700 years after Ezekiel's prophecy. Also, how can you find equivalents between the Hebrew and Russian languages? The Russian language didn't even exist at the time of the writing of the Book of Ezekiel.

According to an article written by Thomas Williamson by the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle in Chicago, Meshech means "sowing, possession, or precious price," and has no association with the word "Moscow" at all, which is a word that came from a now extinct Finnic language. Meshech was a son of Japheth, who was one of Noah's sons. It is believed that the tribe of Meshech settled in what is now modern-day Turkey. "Meshech" sounds more like Mexico than Moscow. Does this mean that Mexico will invade Israel?

Now let's move on to Tubal. Premillennial dispensationalists believe that Tubal is a reference to the Russian city of Tobolsk. Tobolsk is a city in Siberia with a population of 92,880. Why would Ezekiel choose to identify Russia by naming an unremarkable, average city in Siberia? That would be like trying to identify the United States by saying "chief prince of Washington, DC and Macon, Georgia." Besides, Tubal (Tibareni) is believed to be a reference to a tribe that lived north of modern-day Syria.

Ezekiel 27:13 makes references to Meshech and Tubal, saying that Tyre traded with Meshech and Tubal. Obviously, Meshech and Tubal were groups of people that existed at the time of the writing of Ezekiel. How could they refer to modern-day Russia?

Finally, the word "rosh" appears 456 times in the Old Testament. It always appears as an adjective, meaning (literally or figuratively) "the head, chief, ruler, top, etc." Sounds like there is no way it is a reference to modern-day Russia.

All of this sounds like the amateurish equating of names that sound similar. What do you think?

http://metro.bmaweb.net/russian_invasion.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meshech
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meskheti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Moscow

[LastDayRapturist]

What do you expect from hirelings? If they can get the sheep to buy more of their lying merchandise and fill their coffers, that's all the better for them. They're all out for a buck. May their end be according to their deeds.