Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
Gog - the prince of the land of Magog. The title was probably a common one of the kings of the country, as "Pharaoh" in Egypt. Chakan was the name given by the northern Asiatics to their king, and is still a title of the Turkish Sultan; "Gog" may be a contraction of this. In Ezekiel's time a horde of northern Asiatics, termed by the Greeks 'Scythians,' and probably including the Moschi and Tibareni near the Caucasus, here ("Meshech ... Tubal") undertook an expedition against Egypt (Herodotus, 1: 103-106). These names might be adopted by Ezekiel from the historical fact familiar to men at the time, as ideal titles for the great last anti-Christian confederacy.
Magog - (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5). The name of a land belonging to Japhet's posterity. Maha, in Sanskrit, means 'land.' Gog is the ideal political head of the region. In Revelation 20:8 Gog and Magog are two peoples.
The chief prince - rather, 'prince of Rosh,' or 'Rhos' х ro'sh (H7218)], (Septuagint) The Scythian Tauri in the Crimea were so called. The Araxes also was called Rhos. The modern Russians may have hence assumed their name, as Moscow and Tobolsk from Meshech and Tubal, though their proper ancient name was Slavi or Wends. Hengstenberg supports the English version, as 'Rosh' is not found in the Bible. 'Magog was Gog's original kingdom, though he acquired also Meshech and Tubal, so as to be called their chief prince.'