Basic HTML Version
Just What DoYou
Mean...
'~RMAGEDDON''?
by
Keith W. Stump
Few understand the
real
meaning of this much-misused biblical term.
T
HE WORD
Armageddon
is familiar to j ust about
everyone.
Statesmen, scientists
and generals warn of t he dire
prospects of a " nuclear Arma–
geddon" that could annihilate
mankind from the
face of the earth.
Many believed that
World War 1-and lat–
er World Wa r
IJ–
would end with Arma–
geddon. Sorne today
believe that Armaged–
don will be the last bat–
tle between the demo–
cratic West and com–
mun ist East.
But did you know
that
nowhere
in the
Bible-from Genesis
to Revelation- is there
any mention of a future
" Battle of Armageddon"?
The Bible, of course, does reveal a
great military confrontation to occur
at the end of this age! But it is not
called the Battle of Armageddon.
Hlll o f Megiddo
The word
Armageddon
is found
only once in all the Bible- in Rev–
elation 16:16. That sc ripture
reads:
" And he gathered them [the
kings of the earth a nd their
armies- see preceding verses] to–
gether into a place called in the
Hebrew tongue Armageddon."
We see bere that Armageddon is
March 1982
described in the Bible as a
place,
not an event.
It
is a place where
armies
gat her.
Bu t notice that
there is no mention of Armageddon
being a battlefield, an actual scene
of fighting.
Where is this place cal led Arma–
geddon?
The word
Armageddon
is a Greek
form of the Hebrew name
Har
Megiddon.
lt
means " hill (or moun–
tain) of Megiddo." Megiddo is an
ancient town of Palesti ne. It is in the
modero state of Israel on the south–
ern rim of the large ftat expanse of
the plain of Esdraelon (also called
the valley of Jezreel).
Megiddo lies about
55
miles north
of J erusalem, and about 15 miles
inland from the Mediterranean Sea.
From the huge mound of Megid–
do that today marks the site of the
ancient city, one enjoys a command–
ing view of the valley of Jezreel
stretching out to the northwest far
into the distance (see photos). Jez–
reel is Israel 's largest and most fer–
tile valley and is often referred to
simply as
Ha'emek,
"Tbe Valley."
Anc ient Battle field
In ancient t imes, Megiddo was a
ci ty of great importance.
It
lay at
the s trategic crossing
of important military
and caravan r ou tes.
T he Via Maris, the old
coastal route linking
Egypt with Damascus
and the east, traversed
the J ezreel Valley by
Megiddo.
l n view of the strate–
gic nature of the arca,
it comes as no surpr ise
*
that t he valley o f
~
:: Megiddo has been the
~
scene of famous battles
O
·~
si nce the dawn of his–
tory.
It
is one of his–
tory's bloodiest battle–
fields. Sorne historians believe that
more battles have been fought
there throughout time than at any
other place in the world!
Megiddo is first mentioned in
the Bible in J oshua 12:1 2. It was
one of the cities of the Canaanite
kings defeated by Joshua and the
Israelites at the end of the 15th
century B.C.
Sorne two centuries later the
plain by Megiddo was the si te of a
major engagement between the
Canaanite captain Sisera and Isra–
elite forces under Deborah and
Barak (Judges 4 and 5). Th is
ancient confrontation, which might
3 1