The War of Gog and Magog is supposed to be some End-of-Days cataclysmic event that will act as the threshold between history now and the Messianic Era. The Midrash speaks of three such events, and the Chofetz Chaim identified both world wars as being the first two. The Talmud speaks of one “almost” occurring back in Chizkiah HaMelech’s time, when Sancheriv went to war against the Jewish people with a massive international army (Sanhedrin 94a).
Some say the third War of Gog and Magog has already begun and just needs to end. They believe that that the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 was part of it. Others don’t know what to think, and hope for the best while worrying about the worst. God knows we have the means and the stupidity to destroy the world, or most of it.
Even still, it is not all on us. Even if don’t destroy ourselves, there is still God and His master plan for Creation. He is one hundred percent truth, one hundred percent just, and one hundred percent right, always. But that does not mean that we can understand how what He does and how He does it fits into all of that. The Holocaust did not deviate from any of those one hundred percents even a little, indicating that as much as we understand about hashgochah pratis—divine providence—we don’t understand nearly enough.
There is another problem: ancient bible versus modern reality.
If you were to call it the great war of China and Russia, people would hear it. Talk about the Arabs ganging up on Israel, and people will believe it. A war between Israel and Iran? Scary, but it makes sense. The United Nations marching against Israel…very possible. But a War of Gog and Magog? Well, that’s so…biblical. We might be able to get our heads around it, if you believe in Tanach. But our hearts?
It would help if God would return His messages. I mean, it’s been 2,334 years since He last spoke to a prophet, and He seems more distant with each passing century. Yes, He has still managed to leave His fingerprints over particular events of history. But it is one thing to see your employer’s name stamped on your paycheck, and something very different to stand there while they personally sign it.
According to the prophet Yeshayah, that is a major part of what the War of Gog and Magog is meant to be, a re-introduction of God to the world. It may be a threshold to the Messianic Era for us, but it will be a door for God to step back into history in a very overt way. Nothing we have gone through until now since biblical times will have prepared us for this, not even big budget Hollywood films.
The brain may be willing to play dumb for two hours for the sake of entertainment. But it knows that when it leaves the theater or shuts off the phone, the biblical event that rattled the nerves goes poof, even if it takes longer for the emotions to go back to normal again. But how will it cope when it finds out that poof is not an option when the bible becomes real life for everyone for the first time in thousands of years?
“This does not compute…this does not compute…this does not compute…” Pfzzzzzzzzz…Sizzling melting sound…short circuit.
Fun facts. The gematria of Gog uMagog (in Hebrew) is 70. There are 70 words in Tehillim 20, said at the end of Shacharis just before “Uva l’Tzion goel—A redeemer will comes to Tzion…” to allude to the War of Gog and Magog before Moshiach comes (Vilna Gaon). Haman was in power for 70 days, spoken about in 70 verses in Megillas Esther, and deposed at the end of the predicted 70 years of exile (see my book, “Redemption to Redemption” for details).
Gog is not mentioned in Tanach, and it is up for discussion as to who this might end up being. Magog is one of the descendants of Noach, though it is not clear to where he migrated to after the Flood. Some say to what is now Moscow, but Aryeh Kaplan, zt”l, wrote that the Great Wall of China was also called the “Wall of Al Magog.” Given the juggernaut that China has become, it is not hard to believe that they have a major role to play ay the End-of-Days.
Does Gog and Magog need to know that they are Gog and Magog? Did Sancheriv know that he almost was? Not at all. Titus taunted God and expected to go to war against Him on dry land. He did, but not in any way he could have imagined. A gnat entered his brain and killed him slowly and painfully (Gittin 56b).
By the way, the State of Israel became official in 1948. Seventy years later was four years ago, 2018, or 5778. Did anything Gog uMagog happen that year? Maybe. Personally, I do no recall anything per se. But then again, how many times has redemption crept up on the Jewish people, set in motion by events we either ignored or thought had nothing to do with redemption?
It is interesting through that coronavirus officially became a pandemic the next year. For the first redemption, all the Jews were in one location, Egypt, so the redemption was local. The same was true about the Babylonian, Median, and Greek exiles as well. The Romans changed everything by exiling Jews all over Europe, and the Jews extended that by going even further. As a result, the redemption from Europe was from all over Europe.
World War II finally sent Jews to the four corners of the earth, from which the Torah promised thousands of years ago God would redeemed us (Devarim 30:1-5). It was one thing to go after the entire Jewish nation in one country, a little more complicated to go after the nation spread across an entire continent, but how do you reach Jews all over the world and separated by large bodies of water?
Coronavirus.
All of a sudden people were finding sources that said a plague could play the role of Gog and Magog. Why not? Why yes?
More than likely, coronavirus has been a precursor for the final act of a three-part play going back to the creation of the world. It may not be the real War of Gog and Magog, but it is moving things around and shaking things up and changing the world in ways it would not have otherwise changed had history stayed its course.