From Megiddo can see large swaths of history. Much of the Jezreel Plain is in the form of an isosceles triangle. The apex is the perfectly rounded Mt. Tabor. On one line of the triangle, northwest of Tabor, is the Nazareth ridge. To the right of Tabor is The Hill of Moreh (on the triangle's other line). Megiddo, eleven miles west of Tabor, lies near the midpoint of the triangle's base, which is twenty miles long. To the right of Moreh appear the mountains of Gilboa. Between Moreh and Gilboa the Jezreel Valley begins its gradual eastward descent to the Jordan. The mountains of Gilboa are the northern tip of the central mountain range, which includes most of the well-known First Testament sites.

To these locations one can link a whole series of battles, which form the background of the prophecy concerning Armageddon.

1. The first battle in history to be recorded in detail: Pharaoh Thutmose III puts down a rebellion led by the Canaanite king of Megiddo, 1468 BC. (On dating.) The gate through which one enters the tell was built at about this time. It includes the first ashlars  to appear in the land: a result of Egyptian influence. (These dressed stones appear at the corners of the gate below. Note the basalt at the base: from the nearby basalt ridge that helped make Megiddo important.)

2. The Israelites, led by Deborah and Barak, defeat the Canaanites "at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo" (Judges 5:19). Before this battle, a belt of Canaanite city-states controlled the Jezreel plain. (These cities, in a southerly curve from west to east, were Yokneam, Megiddo, Taanach, Ibleam, and Beth Shean). The Israelite tribes were cut off from each other. ("Travelers went by roundabout ways." Judges 5:6.) Deborah's victory loosened the Canaanite hold -- but then came the Midianites.

3. Gideon, starting from the spring of Harod at the foot of Gilboa, defeats the Midianites, encamped at The Hill of Moreh. (Judges 7)

4. The Philistines come up via Aphek on the main trade route and encamp on The Hill of Moreh. From here they defeat Saul and the Israelites on Mount Gilboa. (1 Samuel 8-31.)

5. Following the conquests of his father David (2 Samuel 8), Solomon builds up Megiddo, along with Hazor, Gezer and other cities (1 Kings 9:15 ). (The stone gatehouse, half of which is visible on the tell of Megiddo, may be Solomonic.)

6. In 932 BC, the northern tribes secede from the Davidic union and form "Israel." About sixty years later, Ahab, king of Israel, establishes Megiddo as a major military base, including accommodations for horses and chariots. The remains of the stables and exercise ground are visible. (The big public grain silo, though from a century later, may have provided feed for the descendants of Ahab's horses.) The water shaft is likewise attributed to Ahab.

7. In 735 BC, the Assyrians conquer Megiddo and establish a city here. They exile and disperse the northerners (or at least their leaders), who lose their national identity. (2 Kings 17:5-6)

8. In 609 BC, Josiah, King of Judah (twelve years after putting through his great religious reform in accordance with the Book of Deuteronomy) encounters Pharaoh Neco nearby. (The latter has come up through the pass to join the Assyrians in an alliance against Babylon.) Neco executes Josiah at Megiddo. (2 Kings 23:29-30)  This traumatic event -- the good king dying at the hands of the wicked -- makes a tremendous impression. Something has gone awry, and it is waiting to be set right. For centuries the singers of Judah chant laments for Josiah, including one composed by Jeremiah. (2 Chronicles 35:25) The laments are probably what the prophet Zechariah refers to as "the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo." (Zechariah 12:11 ) Hadad-rimmon was likely a pomegranate plantation, perhaps the Arab village of Rumaneh, four miles south of the point where the Megiddo pass (Wadi Ara) enters the Jezreel plain.

All the battles that occurred here, culminating in the trauma of Josiah's execution, formed the background to the vision of the ultimate battle on "the great day of God, the Almighty," which would set right all that had gone awry. According to the Book of Revelation, the event is to take place at the mound (Heb. ar-) of Megiddo: Armageddon (Revelation 16: 12-16). At the time Revelation was written, Megiddo itself had not existed for more than three hundred years.

9. The last city at Megiddo dates to the end of the Persian period, roughly at the time when Alexander the Great swept through (332 BC). After the Bar Kokhba Revolt, the sixth Roman legion established itself at a Jewish village on the end of the pass. The Romans could build and defend aqueducts, so they did not have to sit directly over the springs. This fact made possible a new form of urbanization.

10. We should mention three more significant battles that occurred in this plain. In 1260 AD, at the spring of Harod where Gideon had tested his men, the Mamlukes stopped the Mongols, who had advanced for two generations undefeated. In 1918, General Edmund Allenby marched through the pass and drove the Turks and Germans from Afula, their main base in the area, thus taking lower Galilee for Britain. He then received the family title, Allenby of Megiddo. During the war of 1948, a few miles north of Megiddo, the Israelis inflicted a decisive defeat upon the Iraqi army. That has been the last major battle, so far, at Megiddo.

Megiddo: An Introduction

More about why Megiddo was important.

Campaign of Pharaoh Thutmosis III

The cultic area

The water shaft

Megiddo and the battles in the Jezreel Plain

Logistics for a visit to the site

© 2003 Near East Tourist Agency (NET)

Text © 2003 Stephen Langfur