The prince of northern people mentioned along with Meshech and Tubal (Ezek. 38:1, 2; 39:1, RV).
The Man of the Northern Confederacy
It is not very difficult to prove that God, by His Spirit, gave to Ezekiel over twenty-five hundred years ago, a clear picture of the part Russia would play in the development and control of a Northern Confederacy of Nations. The RV of Ezekiel 38:2 reads: “Gog the land of Magog, the Prince of Rosh, Meshach and Tubal.” Rosh, mentioned as a descendant of Benjamin (Gen. 46:21) means, “a prince over.” The Araxes were called “Rhos.”
That “the Prince of Rosh” is Asiatic Russia receives confirmation from the Imperial Dictionary. “Evidence exists of an ancient people called Rosh, or Rhos, supposed to be the original stem from which the Russia or modern Russians have derived their race and name.” The saintly scholar, Bishop Lowther says: “Rosh, taken as a proper name, in Ezekiel, signifies the inhabitants of Scythia, from whom modern Russians derived their name.” The Orientals called the people who dwelt on the banks of the River Araxes “Rhos” or “Rosh,” and the Arabic name for that river was also called “Rosh.” Russia was once known as Muscovy. It was Ivan IV, or “Ivan the Terrible,” as he was called, who was the first to use the title, “Czar of Russia.”
The discovery of Russia in Ezekiel’s prophecy is not a fundamentalist invention of this mid-century. Prophetic students have been accused of pressing Scripture interpretation beyond what is written in this connection. But long before Russia became the threat to world freedom, progress and peace she is today, Biblical scholars recognized her portrayal in Ezekiel.
We must conclude therefore, that Ezekiel’s “episode of Gog’s invasion” (A. B. Davidson) points irrefutably and undeniably to the Russians.