in his honor, was later expanded into a seven-day celebration in the latter half of December. The event was marked by great revelry. Gifts, such as waxen fruits and candles, were exchanged, and clay dolls were especially given to the children. During the festival no punishment was meted out. Schools and courts had a holiday; even war operations were brought to a halt. Slaves exchanged places with their masters and were permitted, without needing to fear punishment, to give free reign to the tongue.

GODS OF THE NATIONS CONTRASTED WITH JEHOVAH

Today many of the gods mentioned in the Bible are little more than a name. Although their worshipers at times even sacrificed their own children to them, the false gods were unable to rescue those who looked to them for aid in their time of greatest need. (2 Ki. 17:31) Hence, in the face of his military successes, the king of Assyria, through his spokesman Rabshakeh, boasted: “Have the gods of the nations at all delivered each one his own land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are there among all the gods of the lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, so that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?” (2 Ki. 18:28, 31-35) But Jehovah did not fail his people as had those no-gods whom the king of Assyria consigned to the fire. In one night the angel of Jehovah killed 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. Humiliated, the proud Assyrian monarch Sennacherib returned to Nineveh, later to be murdered by two of his sons in the temple of his god Nisroch. (2 Ki. 19:17-19, 35-37) Truly, “all the gods of the peoples are valueless gods; but as for Jehovah, he has made the very heavens.”—Ps. 96:5.

Not only do the false gods have the characteristics of their makers, but people also become much like the gods whom they worship. To illustrate: King Manasseh of Judah was devoted to false gods, even to the point of making his son pass through the fire. But Manasseh’s zealous pursuit of false worship did not make him a better king. Rather, he proved to be like the bloodthirsty deities he worshiped, shedding innocent blood in very great quantity. (2 Ki. 21:1-6, 16) In sharp contrast with this, worshipers of the true God endeavor to be imitators of their perfect Maker, displaying the fruitage of his spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness and self-control.—Eph. 5:1; Gal. 5:22, 23.

GOD THE GOD OF ISRAEL

[Heb. ʼEl ʼElo·hehʹ Yis·ra·ʼelʹ, God is the God of Israel].

After Jacob’s encounter at Peniel with the angel of Jehovah, as a result of which he was given the name “Israel,” and after a peaceable meeting with his brother Esau, Jacob dwelt at Succoth and then Shechem. Here he acquired a tract of land from the sons of Hamor and pitched his tent upon it. (Gen. 32:24-30; 33:1-4, 17-19) “After that he set up there an altar and called it God the God of Israel.” (Gen. 33:20) This was Jacob’s first altar in Palestine. In identifying himself by his newly given name “Israel” with the name of the altar, Jacob indicated his acceptance and appreciation of that name and of God’s guiding him safely back into the Promised Land. The expression occurs only once in the Scriptures.

GOG

The meaning of this name is uncertain. Some lexicographers believe it conveys the idea of “high” or “gigantic.” The German Bibel-Lexikon (1953) suggests a derivation from the Sumerian word gug, meaning “darkness.”

1. A descendant of Reuben.—1 Chron. 5:3, 4.

2. The name is found in chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel and is there applied to the leader of a stormlike, multinational assault against God’s people. The attack comes after Jehovah has gathered his people out of the nations and restored them to the previously devastated “mountains of Israel.” Because they dwell in security, with no visible signs of protection, and because they enjoy abundant prosperity, Gog is drawn into waging a vicious, all-out attack upon them. He congregates a vast army from many nations for this purpose. But his assault sets off Jehovah’s rage and brings terrible defeat and destruction upon Gog and his entire crowd. Their carcasses become food for birds and beasts and their bones are buried in the valley that thereafter is called the “Valley of Gog’s Crowd” (literally, “Valley of Hamon-Gog”).

THE ASSAULT’S SOURCE AND INTENT

The assault has a source far distant from the land of Israel. Gog is “of the land of Magog,” situated in “the remotest parts of the north.” (Ezek. 38:2, 15) He is the “head chieftain [“great prince,” AT; “chief prince,” AV, RS] of Meshech and Tubal.” (38:2, 3) Some translations here read “the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (AS, JB), thus making “Rosh [Heb. for “head”]” refer to a country or people. No such land or people is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, however. Meshech and Tubal, like Magog, are names given to sons of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), and the three lands bearing these names lay to the N of Israel. (See MAGOG; MESHECH No. 1; TUBAL.) Other northern members of the attacking forces, also Japhetic, were: Gomer and Togarmah (thought to be the progenitors of the ancient Cimmerians and Armenians, respectively). Japhetic Persia lay to the NE. But the conspiracy embraced southern Hamitic members also: Ethiopia and Put down in Africa.—Ezek. 38:4-6, 15.

Gog’s role, therefore, is as commander of a massive assault force that applies tremendous pressures designed to crush as in a vise Jehovah’s people, who are described as “dwelling in the center of the earth.” (Ezek. 38:12) Ancient Israel not only was located at a central point as regards the Eurasian and African continents, but also was the center of pure worship of the true God and was counted by him as the “pupil of his eye.”—Deut. 32:9, 10; Zech. 2:8.

Jehovah states that he will ‘put hooks in Gog’s jaws’ and lead him to this attack. (Ezek. 38:4; compare 2 Kings 19:20, 21, 28.) The prophecy clearly shows, however, that this is already Gog’s desire, the scheme being a product of his own heart. (Vss. 10, 11) Jehovah draws Gog out, nonetheless, by restoring and prospering his own name people. This incites Gog to manifest his malevolence toward God’s people and he willingly advances into a course that brings swift destruction upon him and all his associates. By the defeat and annihilation of Gog and his forces, Jehovah magnifies and sanctifies his own name before all observers.—38:12-23; 39:5-13, 21, 22; compare Joel 3:9-17.

IDENTIFICATION OF GOG

The lands and peoples mentioned in the prophecy relating to Gog are known from the Bible and to some extent from secular history. But efforts to identify Gog with some historically known earthly ruler have not been successful. Most frequently suggested is Gyges, king of Lydia in western Asia Minor, called Gugu in the records of Assyrian monarch Ashurbanipal. Gyges, however, had already died decades before the writing of Ezekiel’s prophecy in the latter part of the seventh century B.C.E. Hence, such identification is unacceptable. Additionally, the prophecy itself places Gog’s attack in the “final part of the years,” “in the final part of the days.” (Ezek. 38:8, 16; compare Isaiah 2:2; Jeremiah 30:24; 2 Timothy 3:1.) For these reasons the name Gog is evidently cryptic or symbolic, not being that of any known human king or leader.

The evidence points to a fulfillment in what is elsewhere called “the time of the end.” (Dan. 11:35; 12:9; compare Revelation 12:12.) Bible scholars and commentators generally recognize the prophecy as