Where are Gog and Magog located?

Ezekiel 38:2 is giving us information about Gog. He is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal ruling in the land of Magog. Only one country, Magog, is mentioned. There could be more then one tribe in Magog, but the chief prince of the tribe of Meshech and Tubal is ruling at that time. It is obvious that the tribes of Meshech and Tubal were united or mixed together, and has only one leader.

Ezekiel 38:4
And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and hors*m*n, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

This Magog is doubtless the present day Turkey, the ancient Lydia. It could not be Russia, because Russia have never invaded, conquered and ruled over the Holy Land, but Turkey had. Hence Turkey can fulfill the ‘turn thee back’ but not Russia in Ezekiel 38:4. How to turn the Russians back home, when they have never invaded, conquered or ruled in the Holy Land before, but the Ottoman Turks had. God had turned the Turks back home, and will soon put hooks into their jaws, and will bring them forth to the Holy Land again to punished them. This time the Turks will come with many declared enemies of Israel.

Considering the events taking place in the Middle East today, this prophecy in Ezekiel could very well happen in our own lifetimes. I hold to the theory that Russia is Magog, view this site for more information: Tracking Bible Prophecies: Discovering Future Events Through Scripture

If Russia is Magog, then Russia will return home, consider attacking Israel and launch an attack to annihilate Israel. Iran (Persia) will side with Russia as well as many other nations, Iran already threatened to annihilate Israel and got over 200 degrees Fahrenheit. These horses they will ride on may actually be real horses or Ezekiel described the vehicles the best he can and described them as horses. (Personal Opinion: I think it is ridiculous that it takes many large powerful countries to get together and attempt an annihilation of a small country, it will only fail because God said it will)

Be sure to read the link I provided above for more information, which includes a source as to why Russia is Magog. Here is the source link: Source

Is it a possibility that Gog is just another name for satan, and that Magog is the multitude from every nation that chose to follow him? Isaiah 18 closely parallels the situation of Israel and the other nations of the world at the time of the event. The world would still be recovering from the catastrophe of the Tribulation, and it would stand to reason that the only means of mass transportation of men,supplies, etc. would be on horseback and wagons, and only primitive wepons, swords,shields and such would be available in abundance. Albert Einstein stated that he didnt know what weapons would be used in World War III, but that rocks and sticks would be used in World War IV. Hmmm...?It would also be true to form that God would increase and prosper Israel while the rest of the world was living in less than desirable conditions, and that satan would blame the jews for the situation. Notice; no problems for a thousand years, until satan is again loosed and makes one last attempt to destroy God's people. Perhaps the thousand years that satan was bound was God in His infinite mercy giving satan time to think about his transgressions, and his being loosed one last chance at repentence and redemption. The whole episode is just a playing out of each individuals life, only on a cosmic scale. The fall, a life of sin, and a choice of either repenting and accepting God's authority, or rejecting God's mercy and dying in sin. Something to think about. Baruch Ha'shem Adonai! Shalom!

Ezekiel

Gog and Magog are described in the Book of Ezekiel. Here, Gog can not be a place, as Gog was the putative king of Magog, prophesied to be defeated by Israel, as we see in Ezekiel 39:11:

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.

Ezekiel 38:15 says that Gog will invade Israel from the north:

And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:

Apart from Egypt, all nations likely to invade Israel (Judah) were to the north, so verse 38:15 is very little help in locating Magog. Gog is also described (Ezekiel 38:2) as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, which should further help identify the location of Magog, except that no one knows where Meshech and Tubal were, and all attempts to locate them are no more than speculation.

This site contains several maps showing the wide range of locations in Asia Minor that people have suggested for Magog, Meshech and Tubal, but Georgia and Russia have also been suggested.

Because Ezekiel 38:15 says that Gog and all his army will be mounted on horses, it must refer to ancient, pre-mechanised warfare, and in that case the prophesied attack has already taken place and we should be able to identify the nation concerned. However, there is no record of Israel or Judah ever defeating such a mighty army, and the scenes of carnage described have never taken place. This strongly suggests that Ezekiel's narrative of Gog and Magog was purely narrative, intended to give comfort to the Jews in exile in Babylon. Following the story of the defeat of Gog, Ezekiel promises (Ezekiel chapters 40-48) a New Jerusalem and a grand new temple to be built there.

Revelation

Revelation 20:8 talks of the nations of Gog and Magog, which are in the four quarters of the earth:

And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

Now we see that Gog and Magog are both nations, and Satan will deceive them, but there is no indication even as to their direction from Israel. This brief passage seems to use Gog and Magog as metaphors for all the nations on earth, rather than as individual nations.

Magog is included in the "Table of Nations" in Genesis 10 as one of the sons of Japheth after the Flood. It's generally accepted by conservative scholars that the descendents of Japheth were mostly caucasion people who ultimately settled in Europe, so Magog would likely be white and European.

The ancient Jewish historian Josephus says that Magog is the nation that the Greeks call Scythia. (Book 1, chapter 6) Scythia was on the northern coast of the Black Sea. They spread out north and east from there. Thus, their territory would overlap modern Russia. Many people who believe that Revelation will be fulfilled in the near future identify Magog with Russia. (I have no idea if modern Russians are descended from Magog or just occupy a similar territory, or if anyone knows.)

Gog has been identified with the Goths, a Germanic people who originally came from Scandinavia but then migrated south and settled on the west coast of the Black Sea. (It was Alaric the Goth who sacked Rome and is generally credited with destroying the western Roman empire.)

Note this puts Gog and Magog occupying adjacent lands. (A fact that I must admit I never noticed until today.) It would thus be plausible for Ezekial to name them together.

The above is not by any means the only interpretation. I just did some Yahoo searches and found several Moslem sources that identity Gog and Magog with the United States. I found another source that put Magog in modern Turkey. Etc. But I think the theories I mention above are the most popular in conservative Christian circles.

Disclaimer: I'm far from an expert on this subject. If someone here knows more, I'm interested to hear it.

I find that in a subject like this it is good to compare Christian speculations with Jewish speculations and see if there is any common ground. I found that both Jewish and Christian sources think the most likely location was present day Turkey.

For example here is a Jewish source I'm finding more and more useful for Jewish things:

“the most reasonable identification put forward is with Giges, also known as Gogo, king of Lydia, and Magog, with his country.”

Lydia is in present day Turkey.

Also a Christian view from Gills Exposition found here says this:

in Pliny (o), that the city of Hierapolis in Syria was called by the Syrians Magog; and they fancy the name of Gog is the same with Gyges a king of Lydia, whose country was called from him Gygea, or Gog's land, who was grandfather to Croesus; and which country came into the hands of Cyrus, and from the Persians into the hands of the Greeks, and so to the Seleucidae.

It would seem therefore that Gog, the King of Magog was a people that were attached to Israel in history, and therefore must have lived nearby. Yet even more importantly we should notice that Gog and Magog in ancient Rabinic literature always refers to the Gentiles who would opposed Messiah in the last days. In fact Jewish mystical interpretation (Kabbalah) superstitiously has a method of calculates numbers from Hebrew letters from the words Gog and Magog = 70. This means all the Gentiles. For details of what the Jews expected see this post.

Furthermore the New Testament also keeps up the theme. In Revelation we find Gog and Magog representing the Kingdom of the Devil about to wage war against God’s people. The only difference now is that Christians see themselves as spiritual Jews, so the historial meaning of Gog and Magog is very strong in terms of prophetic belief:

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth —Gog and Magog —and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10)

Conclusion: Maybe God has purposefully ensured that we have lost concrete history to truly identify this country, because we are no longer to take it literally. Rather we are to take it as representing the world during the last days.