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called "The King of Javan" in Dan. 8: 21, in the A.V. Grecia. Tubal is reckoned to be
in the southern range of the Caucasus, on the east of the Black Sea. It is evident that
Isaiah never visualized the wide earth in his prophetic vision, but limited his range to a
circle of the earth's surface bounded by Greece on the West and Persia on the East.
Jeremiah also contains a number of geographical references, but his range is even
more limited than that of Isaiah. Ezekiel too is just as circumscribed, but the names Gog,
Magog, Rosh and Meshech found in chapter 38: and 39: call for a fuller
comment. Gog of the land of Magog, was the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal
(Ezek. 28: 2; 39: 1). The people of Magog are described by Jerome as "Scythian
nations, fierce and innumerable who live beyond the Caucasus and the lake Mętois, and
near the Caspian Sea, and spread out even outward to India". Meshech is rendered in the
LXX Mesoch which in the opinion of many stands for the Moschi, a tribe that inhabited
the Caucasus, and this tribe gave their name to the Muscovites with whom the modern
Russian is allied, and from whom the ancient capital Moscow was named. Whether this
brings Russia itself into the realm of the prophetic earth however is another question.
Where the A.V. reads "chief prince" the R.V. reads "the prince of Rosh" the Hebrew
word for prince being Rosh. This however is too slender a basis to build any prophetic
reference to Russia. Gomer, mentioned in Ezek. 38: 6 is generally regarded as the
ancestor of the Celts or Cimmeri (the Cymri-Welsh) who settled to the north of the Black
Sea and gave their name to the Crimea. The same argument that would conclude that
Russia is intended because the word Meshech may indicate a Muscovy tribe, would prove
that Wales is intended because they are the descendants of Gomer! The great powers
outside the limits of the prophetic earth naturally play their part and exert a great
influence, but just as the reference to the new heavens and new earth in Isaiah is
localized, and our attention is focused upon "Jerusalem" (Isa. 65: 17-18), or millennial
blessings are peculiarly associated in the first place as with "all My holy mountain",
before the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord (Isa. 11: 9), so the doings of the
nations in the limited zone of the prophetic earth preceded and anticipate the wider
activities and judgments that follow.
Leaving these great prophecies, we turn to the great prophecy of the day of the Lord,
namely the book of the Revelation. The scene opens in Patmos, an island in the
Mediterranean, and the book is sent to seven churches on the mainland of Asia Minor.
Satan's throne is said to be in Pergamos, a city of Mysia about fifty miles south of Troy.
The great battle which follows the pouring out of the sixth vial takes place at
Armageddon, literally the Mountain of Megiddo. This is situated in the plain of
Esdraelon, and destined to be the greatest battlefield of time. The kings that are gathered
to this battle by the supernatural agency of demons, are said to be "the kings of the earth
and of the whole world". The word here for "world" is oikoumene the prophetic earth,
and does not include the vast continents of America, Asia or India. Again, the reference
to the kings of the East (Rev. 16: 12) does not refer to the Far East as we speak of it
to-day. The Greek word anatole is used of the home country of the wise men
(Matt. 2: 1). The corresponding terms in the Hebrew are mizrach which means "from
the rising (of the sun)" (Josh. 4: 19) or qedem, a land, comprehending Arabia Deserta,
Ammon, Armenia, Assyria and Mesopotamia. This is the anatole of the Hebrews. To