Is "Armageddon" a real place or just a description of the last war between forces of light and forces of evil ?
“And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon…”
( Revelation 16;16)
Many times, people ask me where is “Armageddon”, the place where it is believed to be the location of the last war between forces of good and evil, forces of light against darkness. I many times say that I will be the first one to know when this war starts because I live close by and can send them an e-mail about it…
I live in a small town called Tivon, located on the hilly northern margins of the Jezre’el plains, also known as the ‘Plains of Megiddo’. My town is only about 10 miles away from a famous archaeological site called Megiddo. A Kibbutz by the same name is nearby too. Many of the Kings of Israel spent time is Megiddo. King Solomon stables were there and King Ahab built an amazing underground water system to supply the city with fresh water when under
siege.
So why is the biblical ‘Megiddo’ associated with ‘Armageddon’ ?
The "mount" of Megiddo in northern Israel is not actually a mountain, but a tell (a mound or hill created by many generations of people living and rebuilding on the same spot), on which ancient forts were built to guard the Via Maris, an ancient trade route linking Egypt with the northern empires of Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Megiddo was the location of various ancient battles, including one in the 15th century BC and one in 609 BC. Because of its geographic location, who ever controlled Megiddo in old times, had the control over the northern plains and the road to Damascus. No wonder there were so many wars over the years in this place, rightfully earning the name ‘Mount of wars’. In fact, 21 layers of civilizations were found in the archeological digs that took place in Megiddo over the years.
In 1918, end of First World War, a crucial battle between the British army led by General
Allenby and the Turkish army took place near Megiddo. The victory of the British army, concluding four hundred years of Ottoman rule of the region, entitled General Allenby with the honorary name ‘The 1st viscount Allenby of Megiddo’.
One of the books which I highly recommend to read is “The Source” by David A. Michener. It is a survey of the history of the Jewish people and the land of Israel from pre-monotheistic days to the birth of the modern State of Israel and takes place in a tell in the northern part of Israel. It is a well known notion that Michener was inspired by Megiddo when writing his book.
Megiddo is mentioned twelve times in the Old Testament, ten times in reference to the ancient city of Megiddo, and twice with reference to "the plain of Megiddo", most probably simply meaning "the plain next to the city". None of these Old Testament passages describes the city of Megiddo as being associated with any particular prophetic beliefs; however, at one point King David curses the hill, and to this day a portion of the hill remains unable to grow any vegetation. The one New Testament reference to the city of Armageddon found in Revelation 16:16 also makes no specific mention of any armies being predicted to one day gather in this city, but instead seems to predict only that "they (will gather) the kings together to .... Armageddon". The text does however seem to imply, based on the text from the earlier passage of Revelation 16:14, that the purpose of this gathering of kings in the "place called Armageddon" is "for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty." Because of the seemingly highly symbolic and even cryptic language of this one New Testament passage, some Christian scholars conclude that Mount Armageddon must be an idealized location.
Yet, the question remains is where did the word ‘Armageddon’ originated from. The answer to that is very simple to anyone who speaks Hebrew…
The mount of Megiddo in Hebrew is ‘ Har Megiddo’. Over the years, with translations of the Bible to Greek and Latin, these two words became one – “Armageddon”.
Few more examples to meaningful words in the Bible that make a lot of sense when you go to the Hebrew source –
"Gethsemane" - in Hebrew : Gat Shemanim, meaning oil press. On Mount of Olives there were many producing olive trees and and oil press as well.
“Capernaum” – in Hebrew: Kefar Naum, meaning the village of Naum. A typical Hebrew name.
“Bethlehem” – in Hebrew: Beit Lehem, meaning the house of bread. We know there were many wheat fields around Bethlehem when we read the story of Ruth in the Bible.
There are many more interesting examples to how the meaning of words got lost with the many translations. One of the things demonstrating yet again the bond Israelis feel to the Bible, is the names we give to new neighborhoods, villages and towns. Almost all of them go back to the Biblical Hebrew name.
Time to learn Hebrew !
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