Russia in Prophecy Where is Russia Identified in the Bible? Many people believe that Russia is Gog of Ezekiel 38, but studying the prophecy of Ezekiel, and history proves that not to be true (Read our booklet Gog and Magog in Prophecy for further details) . Can Russia be traced back to the book of Beginnings, the book of Genesis? Absolutely! And, I believe that the identity of Russia has been one of the best kept secrets next to the identity of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel that has ever been uncovered!
Origins of the Russian People Let’s start with who the Russians are not. As mentioned above, many people believe that Russia is Gog of Ezekiel 38. Some translations read “Prince of Rosh in Ezekiel, rather than “chief prince in an attempt to imply that we should interpret this expression as meaning the “prince of Russia. This is absolutely erroneous because OSH appears 456 times within the Old Testament and NEVER is it used as a R proper noun! ROSH is a Hebrew word meaning “chief. There simply is no comparison or connection between these two words which originate from two different languages. Even the “first or “chief day of the Jewish calendar year is called ROSH HASHANAH , thereby further proving our point. The word “Rus comes from the “ Norsemen themselves, and gradually came to be applied to the country over which they ruled (ibid., p.5, emphasis mine). Norsemen called the Russians “Rus, so even “Rus or the name “Russia was applied by o ther people and its NOT part of Russia’s tribal names. “It was a Scandinavian import.... Russia should really be called Eastern Slavonia (Article by Professor Gerhard Rempel, Birth of the Russian State, emphasis added).
“Edwin M. Yamauchi, noted Christian historian and archeologist, writes that rosh ‘can have nothing to do with modern ‘Russia,’ and ‘all informed references and studies acknowledge that the association with Moscow and Tobolsk is untenable. ( Last Days Madness Obsession of the Modern Church , Atlanta, GA: American Vision, 1996, p. 363)
Notice the tribal names of the Russians (Eastern Slavic Peoples): Dregovichs ∙ Drevlians ∙ Ilmen Slavs ∙ Krivichs ∙ Polans ∙ Radimichs ∙ Vyatichs ∙ Severyans ∙ Tivertsy ∙ Ulichs ∙ Volhynians ∙ Dulebs ∙ Buzhans ∙ Polochans (From Wikipedia under article “Early East Slavs). Nowhere are the the names of Gog or Magog, or Tubal, or any of the tribals names in Ezekiel 38. Gog is NOT Russia!