This Article: (6 Pages)
- 1. Context of Revelation 16:13-16
- 2. Where is the place called Armageddon?
- 3. The place of Megidon: the cutting... Zechariah 12:11
- 4. The battle of that great day of... God Almighty
- 5. Strategic value of Judea
- 6. The great mountain made a valley
3) The place of Megidon: the cutting Zechariah 12:11
The Hebrew translation Har megidon הר מגדון has direct connections to one verse only in the Hebrew Tanakh. And that passage and context also has to do with the great day of Yahweh Almighty.
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad Rimmon in the valley Megiddon. (Zechariah 12:11)
In context we see that there is a battle fought defending Jerusalem, but in that battle the temporary dwellings of Judah are saved first. We will return to this point as for now we are investigating why Israel is weeping. We find Israel are weeping over the 'one whom they have pierced',
The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad Rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. (Zechariah 12:7-11)
We, modern and ancient Israel, are told that this future weeping is to be like that which occurred in relationship to events in the valley of Megidon. When we go back to the events in Israel's history we do find there was a great weeping before the tabernacle for their lost brother tribe of Benjamin. We can read about this in Judges. After the issue of rape and death of the Levite's concubine in Gibeah of Benjamin, all the tribes rose against the unrepentant Benjamin-ites. After initially losing against the brilliant warriors of Benjamin they prevail and all but destroy the tribe,
And they (Benjamin's last warriors) turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them. (Judges 20:45).
If you look for Gidom on a map it is not to be found. It was called Gidom or 'a cutting' or a 'desolation' as they slew there the last 2,000 of the 25,000 slain of the tribe of Benjamin.
So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour. But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months. (Judges 20:46-47)
After this Israel mourned, and wept publicly
Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel? (Judges 21:1-3)
Imagine a huge gathering of people crying noisily. Then they act,
And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. (Judges 21:13)
In Hebrew ''to stretch forth the hand unto' is Hadah or הדה which in written Hebrew looks very like Hadad הדד. Hadad is not a Hebrew word at all but the name of quite a few Edomites. In any case there is abundant evidence that we may say that,
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of stretching the hand unto Rimmon in the valley of (Me in Hebrew is 'of') Gidon. (Zechariah 12:11)
This shows us that in Hebrew the place 'Gidom' is also known as 'Megidon' or in Hebrew,
מגדון
Now from these events we have what the place name Megidon means in Hebrew, it means to cut down and utterly destroy (of 25,000 only 600 remained, which is a very high death toll). In addition we know the location of this cutting down is a valley is to the East of Gibeah in Benjamin which is just North of Jebus (Modern Jerusalem) and from here they fled towards the East, to a wilderness. The Wilderness was (as is) mostly in Judah slightly to the South East of Jerusalem.
Rimmon in Zechariah 14 is located South of Jerusalem.
All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. (Zechariah 14:10)
The place of Megidon or, 'of those cut down', is therefore located by Zechariah close to Rimmon which is to the south of Jerusalem. (There is some thought Rimmon is modern Rammun, but needless to say the presence of a prominent rock does not make it the place where 600 very fit men hid out for 4 months as they needed shelter, water and food in that time, and the place needed to be defended. In any case Zechariah specifically locates Rimmon South of Jerusalem and Arab legend in place making is notoriously unreliable.)
Lastly there is a remarkable piece of evidence from the Septuagint. The Septuagint translators, who were Jews, knew what megidon meant and translated the Hebrew place name Megidon in Zechariah 12:11 as
ἐκκοπτομένου
ekkiptomenou
In ancient Greek ekkiptw means 'to cut out', 'knock out'
and ekkoptikos means 'suitable for eradicating'.
There can be no doubt whatsoever that the place name of the valley where the valiant of the tribe of Benjamin were cut down was, after the event, called 'the place of a cutting causing utter desolation', and the word for 'cutting' is equated to harvest, where the harvest was an army to be eradicated.
Some battles give a name to a place. For example 'the Battle of the Bulge' has marked 'the Bulge' and 'the battle of Lone Pine' made the place called Lone Pine. A battle in the Yom Kippur war of 1973 gave a name to an area in the Golan heights called since that tiime 'The Valley of Tears' - or in Hebrew, Emek HaBakha.
The place where Yahweh gatherers the nations together is called in the Hebrew tongue 'mountain of the place of cutting causing utter desolation', or, 'mountain of place of harvest of an army'.
Which is language that points to the mosaic of passages in the Old Testament where a battle of harvest is described in detail from the point of view of at least 3 witnesses and where the place of the action is specifically located.
Show All
We were asked what early documents establish that Rosh of Ezekiel 38 is Russia. The answer is in 2 parts, as we explain the trajectory from fulfilled prophecy in history to prophecy yet to be fulfilled.
The Revelation 12 Sign
There is much written about the sun, moon and planets aligning on in September 2017. We have many reasons for suspecting that 2017 will be a prophetically significant year, and the time of the Jewish feast of Sukkot could be more significant than any other time, but we need to understand the scripture before we consider the stars.
There is a great sense that the British are about to sail on the winds of change, and cast off the European shackles which have reduced trade and it's competitive edge. There is a reason why it's 'now', as it is spoken of in the Bible.
As the world becomes focussed on Israel and Jerusalem, with even nations leaders who remote from Israel having an opinion, we might consider that it is said that those who touch Jerusalem, touch God's eye.
