Reddit reviews New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (5 volume set)
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Gog of Magog is likely a Hebrew cipher for Babylon. The Hebrew letters for Gog of Magog are גגממגג. (Which in English script is GGMMGG). Cut the palindrome in half and shift each letter up one in the Hebrew alphabet, and the what you’re left with is בבל (BBL), which is “Babylon”. The nation that the Jews just so happened to be in exile to at the time that Ezekiel was prophesying.
Likely, Gog of Magog is just a stand in for all of the enemies of the Jews (reinforced by the super-army of nations in Ezekiel 38), with Babylon being the most pressing one, considering their exile.
Gog of Magog is not actually an enemy or plague that will usher in the end of time. Gog of Magog is an enemy archetype first utilized by Ezekiel, but later as a common apocalyptic threat whose overwhelming power (and subsequent overthrowing) set up an oracle of hope for the Jews who were experiencing sustained suffering with no discernible escape.
For more reading about Gog of Magog, let me recommend Daniel Block's Commentary on Ezekiel, or the relevant entries in the Dictionary of the Deities and Demons in the Bible and the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis.
Also, while you can change vowels all day long and still argue common root, consonants are pretty set in stone. MQQ is a very different word from MGG, in the same way that in English, ball is a very different word from bass.