20:8–10 John now returns his vision to Satan, who has been released from his exile “for a short time.” Why does John insist on the necessity of Satan’s short-term freedom? Why must the nations be deceived once again, since the reader already knows they will be destroyed? The essential clue to these questions lies within the passage itself, and more specifically in John’s clever substitution of Gog and Magog for the nations. Jewish tradition had already recognized these rulers of Ezekiel’s prophecy (Ezek. 38–39) as types of world rulers, whose evil power and cunning were directed against Israel. God will destroy them in vindication of God’s faithfulness toward Israel in the eschatological battle “during the days of the Messiah” (cf. 3 Enoch 45:5). According to Ezekiel, God uses sword (38:21…