Megiddo

Standing at Megiddo’s vista point is like standing in the middle of ancient Bible stories. From its vantage point you can see Mt.Carmel and Nazareth to the west, Mt. Tabor and Mt. Moreh to the North  and Mt. Gilboa to the East  It is a rendezvous point of battles of the past with the foreboding battle of the future, Armageddon.

Tel Megiddo is another of Israel’s national parks and in its day was centrally located on the key route from Egypt to Damascus, known to the Romans as Via Maris (The Way of the Sea—an International Highway). The nation that controlled Megiddo controlled the most direct trade and military routes from Egypt in the South  Asia Minor (Turkey) in the North  and Mesopotamia (Iraq) in the East. 

It has a long history of conquests. Archeologists believe that Megiddo has been inhabited by some 22 civilizations and was the site of countless wars and battles. Shishak of Egypt set up a monument at Megiddo to commemorate his victories over the towns of Israel and Judah.

Megiddo is most well known from its mention in the Bible as a final battleground. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon [har-megiddo = mountain of Megiddo]. (Revelation 16.16)

Due to its strong defensive position, Megiddo was not one of the early cities taken by the Israelites upon entering the Promised Land under Joshua. It wasn’t until the time of David that the city came fully under Israel’s control.

Solomon fortified Megiddo and made it a major defensive center. He stabled no less than 450 horses there, the ruins of which can be seen today.

The Assyrian army under command of TiglathPileser III invaded and destroyed the city in 733 B.C. After major renovations he made it the capital of the Jezreel Valley. (2nd  Kings 15:29)

In 609 B.C. King Josiah assembled his army in an effort to hold back Pharaoh Necho of Egypt from helping the crumbling Assyrian army fight the new force in the region, the Babylonians. Upon his arrival in Megiddo, Necho saw him and killed him. (2nd Kings 23:29-30)

Not long afterward, Megiddo dwindled down to little more than a village with a small fort. By the 4th cen-tury B.C. it was entirely abandoned.

Just down the road from Megiddo, an amazing discovery was made in 2005. Preparations were being made to expand a prison and during the digging, a mosaic floor, bearing three Greek inscriptions, was uncovered.

According to the Biblical Archaeology Review Magazine, one of the inscriptions honored a woman named Akeptos, “lover of God, who contributed the table to God, Jesus Christ as a memorial.”

The magazine said that the discovery might be of the oldest Christian church in Israel.