Gog and Magog
Apr 24, 2018 11:32:15 GMT
Post by Admin on Apr 24, 2018 11:32:15 GMT
Gog and Magog, the two faces of the Beast
We have already spoken of the "mystical body of the Antichrist." This mystical body appears, in the Apocalypse, under the name of the Beast .As much as the mystical body of Christ is beautiful and harmonious, the Beast is hideous, deformed and complicated.
The Beast survives the men who make it up on earth and bring it only their ephemeral contribution. Moreover, it is going to grow and reach its final dimensions only at the advent of the Antichrist, of which it is only the vehicle and the organ of preparation.
The Beast is constituted by all the artisans of the earthly power of Satan: the bad kings, the false prophets and their faithful. She is the set of evil princes and false religions, which is why she is so big and so deformed. One of his monstrosities is to be double. It presents itself alternately, and sometimes simultaneously, under the aspect of Gog and that of Magog .
The word "Gog" has the meaning of "roof." It designates the satanic forces covered, that is to say hidden , the forces that we have difficulties to identify as bad. Gog has the sense of cunning.
Magog means "without roof" that is to say without concealment. It designates the forces openly hostile to God and his Anointed One. Magog therefore has the meaning of cynical and displayed violence .
Concerning the meaning that can be given to Gog and Magog, St. Ambrose expresses himself thus:
"by Gog, who interprets roofing, are designated those who hide their malice, appearing right in the eyes of men, whereas they are mean in their minds. By Magog, who interprets "coming out of the roof", are designated those who, spreading out of the roof of their hearts in open malice, show in the eyes of all that they are impious.
"In that day, thoughts will arise in your heart, and you will conceive a bad design. You will say, I will go up against an open land; I will come to those quiet people who live in safety, who have dwellings without walls, which have neither bolts nor doors." (Ezech, XXXVIII, 10-11).
Magog is, in the beginning, the name of one of the seven sons of Japhet. The prophet Ezekiel uses it in another sense. He makes it the country which serves as a refuge for Gog, and from which he springs at the head of his people. In his conquering march, Gog the crafty, takes as starting point Magog, the country of violence. Chapters XXXVIII and XXXIX of Ezekiel are to be read carefully; they provide a prophetic view of the great modern world wars.
Cunning and violence also appear, but under another name and in another form, in the book of Job. This book, one of the oldest in Holy Scripture, describes two Beasts: Behemoth , the violent beast that corresponds to the genius of homicidal Satan, and Leviathan , the cunning beast that corresponds to his genius of lies.
Behemoth lives on the mainland. It is a huge animal that is built to exert brute force :
"See Behemoth, he feeds on grass, like the bull. See, his strength is in his loins, and his strength in the muscles of his flanks. He raises his tail like a cedar; the nerves of his thighs form a solid bundle ... The mountains produce fodder for him; around him are playing all the beasts of the field ... Is it in front that we can seize it with nets and pierce his nostrils? "(Job XL. 15-24)
Leviathan is designed on a completely different model. He is an aquatic monster, he lives in the sea and he hides his strength under a resplendent seduction :
"Will you pull Leviathan with a hook and hug his tongue with a rope? Will you pass him a rush in the nostrils? Will you play with him like with a sparrow? Will you tie it up to amuse your daughters? I do not want to ignore the strength of its members, the harmony of its structure ... The lines of its scales are superb, like tight seals ... Its sneezing light, his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn ... His heart is as hard as stone, as hard as the lower wheel ... He boils the abyss like a boiler, he makes the sea a vase of perfume. He leaves after him a trail of light ... He looks in the face at all that is high, he is the king of the most proud animals "(Job XLI, 1-26).
Adapted and translated: Jean Vaquié - Abstract of Demonology (1988)