Dan. 11:40

40 And at the time [`eth] of the end [qets] shall the king [melek] of the south [negeb] push [nagach] at him: and the king [melek] of the north [tsaphown] shall come against him like a whirlwind [sa`ar], with chariots [rekeb], and with horsemen [parash], and with many [rab] ships ['oniyah]; and he shall enter [bow'] into the countries ['erets], and shall overflow [shataph] and pass over [`abar]. KJV-Interlinear

40 And at the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them, and pass through. NASB

We have already studied Daniel 11, but I am going to rewrite that study a little bit, in order to give us some consistency in our study of Armageddon, from Revelation 19.

Recall briefly, that at the mid point of the Tribulation, the anti-christ will enter into the Temple in Jerusalem, and defile it. He will initiate an attack against the Jews and Christians. That is when they are to flea, immediately, to the mountains. Get out of Dodge! Many will not run and many will die.

The anti-christ will be injured, perhaps from an assassination attempt. He will appear to have died, and he will then fake his resurrection. The powers to the north and to the south will begin making their plans to invade the Middle East. That is, if they haven t already started making those plans. After all, the European powers, if they remain in control of the Middle East, will then control the commerce of the world. And, in effect control the world. Thus far in the Tribulation, the economies of the world are not in very good shape.

The actions by the dictator of Israel, and the anti-christ, will lead to an invasion by the King of the South who has conspired with the King of the North. Actually, the King of the North will be the one to hatch the plan.

Collide is the word 'nagach' which means push, as with two bulls in locked horns, pushing against each other. First forward then backward, with neither making much gain against the other. From Ezekiel we have already seen that this is a holding attack.

The King of the North, will jump into this 'war' by invading and over running Israel, and continuing through, and into North Africa. This becomes the great double cross against the southern powers.

The King of the North intended to invade in concert with the King of the South, but his intensions are more of an effort to preserve his own interests in the region. Again if this were to happen today, then what would the northern kingdom have to protect, other than oil or diplomatic relationships?

With the West poised and the East looking on, the invasion by the North would have to be for a very good reason. And, we have already seen, from Ezekiel 38, that their reason for invading is to gain the wealth of Israel, and to gain control over the center of the world.

Who is the Northern Kingdom? Ezekiel 38 defines the players.

' ... O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.

Gog is the ruler over the regions of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. These are nations or regions found in the North relative to Israel. Gog is the ruler of the land of Magog. These references are found in Genesis 10, commonly called the table of nations, as it lists the descendants of Noah. With the exception of Rosh, the others are sons of Japheth.

Herodotus places the tribes of Meshech and Tubal in the northern regions, and having descendants then called Samaritans and Muschovites, who lived in the ancient province of Pontus up in northern Asia Minor.

Josephus names peoples called Moschevi and Thobelites, who were founded by Meshech and Tubal and lived in the northern regions above the Caucus Mountains.

Pliny, a Roman writer in those ancient times, calls the Scythians, the descendants of Magog and these make up the peoples that inhabit the regions of our modern day Russia. Further, peoples who lived in the Moschian Mountains are the founders of Moscow, the name which was drawn from the word Moschi, and of whom are descendants of Meshech.

Tubal who is the son of Rapheth, is the founder of the Tibereni peoples who settled along the Black Sea.

Rosh is a word for 'prince' or 'top' and is frequently referred to peoples above the Taurus Mountains near the Volga.

Finally, the commander of these northern regions, is called Gog, and is said to be from the 'utmost' northern regions. This identifies our present day Russia, or that region at least.

In other regions identified in Ezekiel 38, Persia is our present day Iran. That has been documented extensively in the history books.

Ethiopia, and Put are located in Northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt. Cush is translated to become Ethiopia, which means, a black nation. These are peoples who settled to the west of Israel, migrating into Africa, then south into deeper Africa. Libya is translated from 'Put' who is the third son of Ham, son of Noah. These peoples settled along the northern regions of Africa, along the Mediterranean.

Gomer, again we are taking these names from Ezekiel 38, was the eldest son of Japheth, and he was the father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. These peoples settled along the Black Sea, then moved west into the Eastern Europe regions. Early Roman maps place them in our modern day Poland, Czech Republic, and Eastern Germany.

Daniel has identified the King of the North as the area north of Israel, and under the reign of the Seleucid dynasty, (in pre-Rome days), which is the area from Persia through northern Asia Minor and into the regions which would be inhabited by their descendants, into Russia and Eastern Europe.

The king of the south is identified by the regions of Egypt and south to Ethiopia and west to the regions ruled by Hannibal along the Northern Coast of Africa. These all agree with Ezekiel's list of nations. The Southern kingdom was the weaker, and the Northern kingdom was the more powerful of the two. Just as it is in our present day. Russia is the more formidable of the two.

The Southern kingdom will butt heads with Israel, in their weak effort to invade, but then the King of the North will actually invade and roll through the region and even into Northern Africa, destroying the King of the South.

Now is the time to post a prayer.