Page 200 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

194 NOTES ON EZEKIEL.
during the days of Ezekiel, and familiar to ns as the
Moschi, Tibareni, and perhaps other tribes named in
later authors of Greece.
The great questions are, what, where, and when, they
are viewed when the vision applies, not when it was
written. And of this the place it occupies in the pro­
phetic series, the precise language of the vision and the
character of the judgment pronounced, ought to leave
no doubt for any believer. It can apply only in the last
days when the chosen nation are peacefully restored to
their land, and it speaks of such a judgment on their
enemies, countless though they may be, as has never
been witnessed since Ezekiel prophesied, nor anything
approaching to it. The Grotian effort to merge it in
Antiochus Ep. is of course a pitiable failure. Equally
unsatisfying is the very vague “ ideal” of Fairbairn and
the modern German school. Nor are the Futurists
more right who confound with the beast and the false
prophet this great leader of the north-eastern nations^
not without followers from the south.
Let us now look into the opening of this remarkable
prediction. Who can deny that the rapid and immense
development of the Russian empire bears its unmis­
takable witness to the judgment that is coming, as here
declared so long before?

il And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
Set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, prince of
Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold I am
against thee, 0 Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and
Tubal ; and I will turn thee back, and put my hook