Reformational Commentary on Ezekiel 39:1

"Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:" (Ezekiel 39:1).

Ezekiel 39:1 is a near verbatim repetition of Ezekiel 38:3, as we see:

"Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:" (Ezekiel 38:3).

Gill observes:

As he [the prophet Ezekiel] had been ordered to do before, and must still continue to do it:

"behold, I am against thee, O Gog;"

...which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to inject terror into him [i.e. Gog]; for terrible it is to have God against any:

"the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal";

the Septuagint version adds "Ros" [that is Rus, the ancient name the Russians gave their homeland or nation] here as in Ezekiel 38:3." (John Gill on Ezekiel 39:1).

I am less convinced than Gill was that the Lord's directive to Ezekiel was intended to ever be understood by the man Gog during his own wretched lifetime and rather presume that it is spoken as "to Gog" in the sight of the few whom God has graciously enabled to perceive the matter, not to engender dread in Gog himself, but to shine a spotlight on that wicked individual and inflame the curiosity of the Lord's children as to Gog's nationality and identity in the approach to the fulfilment of the prophecy.

Gog is, of course, as argued in the commentary on Ezekiel 38:2, the leader of Russia when the prophecy shall be fulfilled and that the time is near (I am persuaded ca. 2029/30), given that the other key criteria for its fulfilment are either fulfilled (Israel being re-established as a nation) or aligning for fulfilment (e.g. the West wilfully starting to decouple from Israel).