what is the biblical significance of megiddo
The name Mujadda` attaches to a site 3 miles South of Beisan in the Jordan valley. Megiddo is the jewel in the crown of biblical archaeology. Although Megiddo has been extensively chronicled in extra-biblical sources, it is only mentioned 12 times in the OT 1 and once, indirectly, as Armageddon in the NT (Rv 16:16). 7,000 B.C.E. Excavations of Megiddo and the surrounding area have unearthed twenty-six layers of ruins, indicating a long period of settlement. Megiddo is a mountain, a high hill (תל “hill” in Hebrew) where in ancient times there was a renowned city, a place of bloody wars since the 6th century BC. It celebrated a military triumph near the ancient city of Megiddo. Tel Megiddo (Hebrew: מגידו ; Arabic: مجیدو , Tell al-Mutesellim, lit. But while there is a resemblance in the name, the site really suits none of the Biblical data. Many pilgrims come to visit the archaeological remains, which refer to an age much older than that of Christ, during which Megiddo was already uninhabited for centuries. Its last historical hurrah came in 609 B.C. The Megiddo part of Armageddon means "cut off" or slaughter. when King Josiah was killed by Egypt’s Pharaoh Necho (2 Kings 23:29-30). In 1479 B.C., Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III launched a campaign near Megiddo to assert dominion over territories in and north of Canaan. This kind of a study will be of obvious use to military historians, and the fact that the particular area that I was studying, i.e. A prophecy states that in the end times a final battle will be fought near this site. The Bible states, "And this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer" (1Kings 9:15). Megiddo (place of crowns) was in a very marked position on the southern rim of the plain of Esdraelon, on the frontier line of the territories of the tribes of Issachar and Manasseh, 6 miles from Mount Carmel and 11 from Nazareth.It commanded one of those passes from the north into the hill country which were of such critical importance on various occasions in the history of Judea. Megiddo —Ancient Battleground With Prophetic Meaning “THUS let all your enemies perish, O Jehovah.” So concluded a victory song composed over 32 centuries ago. The phrase "Taanach by the waters of Megiddo" alone confines us to a very limited area. Inscriptions at Karnak call his enemy at Megiddo “that wretched enemy of Kadesh.” Many battles in history took place at Megiddo. The city, located in the valley of Jezreel, was given to the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 17:11) as an inheritance in the Promised Land. The Bible tells us Shishak captured the fortified towns of Judah (2 Chronicles 12:4), which would have comprised a portion of his wide-ranging conquests. Megiddo, a place known in the Book of Revelation as "Armageddon," was occupied between roughly 7000–300 B.C. Megiddo was a choke point, therefore, for the empires of the ancient world. Control of Megiddo was crucial to controlling any regional empire. Megiddo would lay desolate and abandoned until 1918 when Britain’s Lord Edmund Allenby fought here against the Turks, and aware of the ancient city’s legacy, added “of Megiddo… The Battle of Megiddo was key to consolidating Thutmose’s victories. Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley, is in the Holy Land, means that my study will be of use also to Biblical scholars, as well as to interested laypeople, particularly those fascinated by the concept of … through to biblical times. Bible Meaning: Hill (city) of Megiddo, the mount of Megiddo Strong's Concordance #G717. 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