It would have been easier to take seriously had it been called World War III. But then again, the prophecies date back to a time long before there was a World War I or II. The prophets who left us these End of Days prophecies, Yeshayahu, Yirmiyahu, and Yechezkel, lived thousands of years ago.
But why Gog and Magog? Magog we know from the Torah, but who or what is Gog?
Before getting to that, it can be pointed out that the gematria of the Hebrew of “Gog and Magog” is seventy. According to the Vilna Gaon, this is why Chapter 20 of Tehillim, which has 70 words, precedes the prayer U’va l’Tzion goel—a redeemer will come to Tzion, in Shacharis. It alludes to the War of Gog and Magog, especially with the words:
May God answer you on a day of distress; may the name of the God of Ya’akov fortify you. (Tehillim 20:2)
The number 70 is very important for a number of reasons, some specifically to do with redemption itself:
God says, “After 70 years of Bavel are completed, I will remember you and fulfill My good word concerning you, to return you to this place.” (Yirmiyahu 29:10)
I, Daniel, pondered in the books the number of years of the word of God that came to Yirmiyahu the prophet regarding the completion of the destruction of Yerushalayim: 70 years. (Daniel 9:2)
Seventy shouts [70 shouts that the deer screams out during the birth, as it says in Rayah Mehemna, Parashas Pinchas 249a]. These are 70 years, and they are called Chevlei Moshiach (Birth pangs of Moshiach), because the entire exile is compared to a pregnancy which comes closer to the birth each day, and redemption is the birth… (Yahel Ohr, Rayah Mehemna, Parashas Mishpatim)
It’s kabbalistic. Everything exists and functions because of Divine light. Certain levels of this light are always here, maintaining Creation from day to day regardless of what man does. Other lights, necessary to make things happen beyond the daily running of Creation, only descend into the world as a result of what man does.
It’s like precious metals. It’s not so hard to find and buy a cheaper metal, but more difficult and more expensive to buy one that is rare. Likewise, levels of Divine light with limited impact do not require that much human will to bring down into Creation.
But if you want to do something really fantastic, like cause the final redemption or even a part of it, that takes a rarified light that costs much more in terms of human will and self-sacrifice. All those times we have gone through some kind of spiritually transformative experience before a redemption were part of that cost.
There are all kinds of Divine lights for different purposes, but the Arizal identifies 70 specific lights that are relevant to redemption, vis-à-vis a discussion about the effect of Bris Milah in drawing these lights down:
As long as this orlah surrounds the Yesod, the Chassadim do not go down to the Yesod, so that the Klipos cannot draw from them and latch on to these great lights. Not only do they (the Chassadim) not go down to the Yesod. [They do not descend] even to where they are [supposed to be] revealed [on levels] above, [which are] in the bottom two-thirds of the Tifferes, the [entire] Netzach and Hod of Zehr Anpin…Since they (the Chassadim lights) certainly do not descend down to the Yesod, they remain above at their roots in the Da’as of Zehr Anpin and do not emanate below as long as the orlah latches on to his Yesod. Once milah is done, the orlah is severed and the Klipas Nogah is removed. Then the Chassadim mentioned emanate to their places in the Tifferes, Netzach, and Hod of Zehr [Anpin]. As known, each Chesed [of the Chassadim lights] is one Hovayah, and [the name] Hovayah has the gematria of 26. Therefore, the two Hovayos of the two Chassadim of the Netzach and Hod have a [total] gematria of 52. The bottom two-thirds of the Chesed of Tifferes have 18 points, because the upper eight are covered in the upper third [of the Tifferes], as mentioned previously. Combined, the 18 and the 52 has a gematria of 70 [lights]. Thus, there are 70 revealed lights… (Otzros Chaim, Sha’ar Ona’ah, Sod HaMilah v’HaPri’ah)
As I said, it’s kabbalistic. The main point for now is the numbers 52, 18, and 70. They make it clear that it is no coincidence that Avraham began his outreach operation in earnest at 52 years of age, or that God told him about the Bris Ben HaBesarim when he was 70.
Nor was it a coincidence that Koresh gave the Jewish people permission to return to Eretz Yisroel and begin construction of the Second Temple in their 52nd year of exile, or that it took another 18 years for Mordechai and Esther to defeat Haman, whose reign of terror lasted for 70 days and is told in 70 verses in Megillas Esther.
The number 70 shows up in other significant places as well. For example, Noach’s descendants resulted in 70 Biblical gentile nations listed in Parashas Noach, from which all the peoples of the world have descended. The Jewish people are the 71st.
This statement in the Gemora also places emphasis on the importance of the number 70, this time in terms of one’s relationship to knowledge:
One who becomes “settled” through wine has the da’as—knowledge of their Creator…has the da’as—knowledge of the 70 Elders. Wine was given with 70 letters (i.e., its gematria is 70), and secret was given with 70 letters (i.e., its gematria is 70). When wine goes in, secrets go out. (Eiruvin 65a)
It should be no wonder therefore that the nemesis of the Jewish people, Amalek, interferes with our relationship with Ayin. This is why his name reads: ayin-malak—severance of 70, which he literally did by severing the Bris Milah of every Jew they could, as if to undermine the special Jewish connection to God.
It’s not the only way they work. The gematria of Amalek is 240, like the work suffek, which means doubt. Amalek does whatever he can to create doubt in the existence of God, or at least in Hashgochah Pratis, personal Divine Providence. And though the people Amalek may no longer exist, the spiritual reality of them does, as the Zohar and many later day rabbis explain.
Having said that, one has to wonder if the name Gog u’Magog is more a siman than the names of specific nations or ideologies. Chazal often chose a familiar word or phrase to represent an idea that may have little to do with the siman other than a common theme. The siman is just meant to be a way to jog a person’s memory to remember the main idea.
In other words, maybe the term Gog u’Magog is just a way to remind us that, at the End of Days, our connection to the 70 Divine lights of redemption will come under attack. In a sense, it matters less which nations will lead the attack or how it will occur than that it will, and we have to know this and be ready for it. It may just look like any other war at the time, but it will be a lot more than that.