The Prophecy That Is Shaping History

by Ruthven, Jon Mark

• ISBN13: 9781591602149
• ISBN10: 1591602149
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: Xulon Pr

Table of Contents

Preface, Overview of Contents, Acknowledgements	iii
Introduction: The Impact of Ezekiel's Prophecy on Contemporary Events	1	(1)
Historical Roots	2	(4)
Review of Scholarship on the Identification of Ezekiel's Rosh	6	(15)
Biblical Theology	7	(1)
Russian Historiography	8	(13)
The Interpretations of Ezekiel 38 And 39	21	(34)
Rosh: An Adjective or a Proper Noun?	21	(4)
The Grammatical Argument	21	(3)
The Philological Argument	24	(1)
The ``Fulfillment'' of the Gog Prophecy: Symbolic, Literal or Irrelevant?	25	(30)
The Critical Hermeneutic	26	(2)
The Mythical/Symbolic Hermeneutic	28	(2)
The Contemporary/Literal Hermeneutic	30	(2)
The Futurist/Literal Hermeneutic	32	(3)
The fact of the modern State of Israel	35	(1)
Cities without walls	36	(1)
Israel regathered from ``many nations''	36	(1)
Israel regathered to a ``land that has been a continual waste''	36	(2)
The unique alignment of nations against Israel	38	(1)
The location of the northern nations that will come from the ``farthest part of the north''	39	(1)
The historicity of Ezekiel's Rosh and the other northern invaders	40	(1)
The effect of the nature of national names on applying Ezekiel's Rosh to possible candidates	40	(15)
Ezekiel's Northern Nations: Ancient Near Eastern Texts	55	(24)
Biblical Evidence	56	(3)
Historical Background	56	(1)
Candidates for Identification with Ezekiel's Nations	56	(1)
Ezekiel 38-39	56	(1)
Jeremiah 25:23-26	57	(1)
Isaiah 66:19	58	(1)
Egyptian Sources	59	(1)
Historical Background	59	(1)
Candidate for Identification with Ezekiel's Nation, Rosh	59	(1)
Ugaritic Sources	60	(2)
Historical Background	60	(1)
Candidate for Identification with Ezekiel's Nation, Rosh	61	(1)
Hittite Sources	62	(1)
Historical Background	62	(1)
Candidates for Identification with Ezekiel's Nations	62	(1)
Rosh	62	(1)
Tubal	63	(1)
Urartian Sources	63	(2)
Historical Background	63	(1)
Candidate for Identification with Ezekiel's Nation, Rosh	64	(1)
Excursus: The Urartian Dynasty of Rusas and Ezekiel's Rosh	64	(1)
Assyrian Sources	65	(5)
Historical Background	65	(1)
Candidates for Identification with Ezekiel's Nations	65	(1)
Rosh	65	(1)
The Eastern Locale	65	(1)
The North-Central Locale	66	(1)
The Western Locale	66	(1)
Meshech	67	(1)
Tubal	68	(1)
Gomer	69	(1)
Babylonian Sources	70	(1)
Historical Background	70	(1)
Candidate for Identification with Ezekiel's Nation, Rosh	70	(1)
Greek Sources	70	(9)
Historical Background	70	(1)
Candidates for Identification with Ezekiel's Nations	71	(1)
Rosh	71	(1)
Meshech and Tubal	71	(1)
Gomer	71	(1)
Conclusions	71	(8)
Ezekiel's Northern Nations and Russia	79	(38)
The Ethnology of Russia's Origins	79	(9)
The Cimmerians: circa 1150 BCE -- 750 CE	81	(1)
The Skythians: 750 BCE -- 250 CE	82	(1)
The Sarmatians: circa 250 BCE -- 250 CE	83	(1)
The Slavs versus the ``North-men'' as the Origin of the Rus'	83	(1)
The Normanist theory	84	(1)
The Anti-Normanist argument	85	(3)
Toponymic Indications for Ros/Rus'	88	(1)
Traditional Attribution of Ezekiel's Prophecy to the Northern Nations	89	(7)
Excursus: The Ros as ``Tauro-Skythians''	92	(4)
Migrations and Destinies of Ezekiel's Other Northern Nations	96	(21)
Gog and Magog	96	(2)
Meshech	98	(2)
Tubal	100	(1)
Gomer (Cimmerians)	101	(1)
Togarmah	101	(1)
Conclusions	102	(15)
What Is, And What Is to Come	117	(22)
Summary of the Research	117	(1)
The Gog Prophecy: Summary and Key Themes	118	(11)
Outline of the Gog Prophecy: Ezekiel 38-39	119	(1)
Summary of the Gog Prophecy	119	(1)
The nations involved	119	(1)
The intended victim: The people of the Lord in the Land of Israel	119	(1)
The universal onslaught against Israel	120	(1)
The Lord's actions against the invaders	120	(1)
The ``sacrificial'' disposal of the invaders	120	(1)
The Lord's interpretation of the action	121	(1)
Key Themes of the Gog Prophecy	122	(1)
History is Shaped by the Lord Beyond Natural or Social Factors	122	(2)
The Existence of Modern Israel in its Own Land is Central to God's Plan	124	(2)
The Invaders are Identifiable Nations with the Potential to Fulfill Ezekiel's Prophecy	126	(1)
The Criteria for Fulfillment: What Is, and What Is to Come	127	(2)
Implications of This Study	129
Appendix: Maps
Figure 1: Locations of Ezekiel's Northern Nations	57	(24)
Figure 2: Ethnic Positions and Movements circa 1200 to 200 BCE	81	(54)
Map 1: Earliest Migrations of Ezekiel's Northern Nations	135	(1)
Map 2: Ezekiel's Nations in the Ancient Near East	136	(1)
Map 3: Candidates for Rosh and Others in the Early Christian Era	137	(2)
Bibliography	139