Gog and Magog: Who Is Held Behind the Wall?

A people locked behind a wall at the edge of the world, who break loose at the end of time in the Bible and the Quran alike.

Gog and Magog are a people held back behind a wall who break loose at the end of time, in both the Bible (Ezekiel 38-39, Revelation 20) and the Quran, which calls them Ya'juj and Ma'juj.

In Genesis 10:2, Magog is simply a son of Japheth, one of Noah's grandsons. By the time of Ezekiel 38–39, Gog is a ruler "of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal," who will lead a vast army from "the north parts" against Israel in the last days and be destroyed. In Revelation 20:8 the pair become nations from the four quarters of the earth, gathered by Satan for a final war, "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."

The Quran calls them Ya'juj and Ma'juj. In Surah 18 they are the people Dhul-Qarnayn walls off behind iron and copper. In Surah 21:96 they are let loose at the end of time and swarm down from every height. Islamic tradition adds that they dig at the wall every day and nearly break through, only to find it restored each morning.

Josephus identified Magog with the Scythians, the horse nomads north of the Black Sea, and through the Middle Ages the name was applied to whichever northern people seemed most threatening: Huns, Khazars, Mongols. Medieval maps place them in the far northeast, sealed behind Alexander's Gates. Caliph al-Wathiq sent an envoy, Sallam, around 842 CE to look for the wall, and his report was preserved by the geographer Ibn Khordadbeh.

Speculative readings have made Gog and Magog a hidden population, a subterranean race, or beings held behind an engineered barrier. In London, two giant figures named Gog and Magog have guarded the Guildhall for centuries, a reminder that the names drifted into giant lore as well. The recurring idea across all versions is the same: a people held back, not destroyed, waiting for release.