Daily Prophets
Day 157
“Thus said Lord God: Lo, I am coming to deal with you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. On that day, a thought will occur to you, and you will conceive a wicked design. On that day, when Gog sets foot on the soil of Israel-declares God-My raging anger shall flare up. I will punish him with pestilence and with bloodshed…Thus I will manifest my greatness and holiness and make myself known in the sight of many nations.”(Ezekiel 38:3,10,16,22,23).
The prophet Ezekiel seems to be trying to allay the fears of the people regarding their eventual return. The unspoken parts of the Ezekiel’s words are very interesting to me. He is in exile with the people, speaking about what had happened and, now, he switches to what will happen-assuring the people that they will return to their land and live in peace. Yet, the people are probably still afraid and he is reassuring them that God will care for them, providing they care for each other and God.
Gog is a mysterious figure and not really mentioned elsewhere-he seems to represent the harshest characteristics of humans-violence, power used for self/evil, hatred of another who is not of “their kind”, etc. I believe he is also a combination of all of the peoples who were unable to believe in God, One God and follow God’s paths, love mercy, do justly, etc. This is why Gog is such a mysterious figure in my estimation.
In looking at the prophet’s words.not worrying about the Christian Interpretation of Apocalypse (which the text here does not talk about) and seeing the lessons for each of us personally, we see that Gog represents the worst of humanity-letting one’s “wicked design” overcome the spiritual knowledge that God has given us. Each of us fights the war of Gog and God daily. We are called to do what is right and just in God’s world and we have these desires to “keep up” with everyone else, to “get ahead at all costs”, etc. The daily, sometimes minute by minute, struggle to live in ways that are compatible with our being made in the Image of God while also living in the “real” world is tiring for many and they give up.
While giving up is not the same as being Gog, it is surrendering to the power of Gog and not the power of God. This seems to be the fear of God’s that the prophet is responding to. Ezekiel tells us that Gog will set foot on the soil of Israel and that God will have a response-anger, bloodshed, etc. While to many this seems UnGodly, I find it totally in keeping with God’s beingness as we have seen throughout the Torah and the Bible. God knows that when evil becomes so entrenched and so pervasive, only harsh measures can defeat it. Germany had to be destroyed, Japan had to have the bombs dropped, not because of the people, rather because the leaders were too stuck in their need for power and evil. Evil feeds off itself and when it becomes the size of Gog, only an equal force can stop it and defeat it. Ezekiel is promising the people that God will fight for them and against Gog, giving them the strength, hope and courage to do battle with evil.
On a personal level, this is great news. It is also what the prophets have been telling us all along. While we have a piece of Gog inside of us, the Image of God inside of us can and will defeat Gog every time, if we feed, grow and mature our God-Image, our soul. This is the great test for each of us, are we willing to go to battle with our lower, baser selves in order to serve God, serve another(s) and our authentic self? Do we stop feeding our Gog part with the latest fad, the need for fame and power, rationalizing our negative behaviors with ‘they caused it and brought it on themselves’ etc? We have the power of God in us and within our families, communities, connections and universe. Yet most of us don’t pay attention to it, grow it, mature it and use it well-we give in to the deception of self and the deceptions of another(s). We allow our evil inclination to dominate rather than serve us.
In recovery, we are so aware of how God has manifest God’s holiness and greatness. Our recovery is a testament to this marvel. We live one day at a time doing the best we can, knowing that recovery is the key to our successful living, being unafraid to admit our errors, reaching out when the voice of Gog gets so loud, we feel we are beginning to be overcome with negativity, making amends and working to repair damages and learning from each ‘missing of the mark’. We manifest God’s holiness and greatness through our good works. Rabbi Igael Gurin-Malous believes that God isn’t as present in the world as I believe God is, so he says we have to manifest God’s holiness and greatness because God isn’t always here to. In recovery, we are honored to be God’s servants, messengers and to fulfill the need that God created us for, as Rabbi Heschel teaches.
I have been blessed by God’s greatness, holiness, love and direction. I am know that I make errors and do T’shuvah, I accept that my T’Shuvah will not always be accepted and the Gog’s of the world will use it against me, yet my God-Image (soul) wins out by forcing me to do the T’Shuvah so I don’t become like Gog. I am grateful for my errors and my good deeds as they are all testimony to and for God’s greatness and holiness. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark