Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo" (Zechariah 12:10-11).

Megiddo is the most strategic location in Palestine and possibly in the entire Middle East. Situated at the entrance to the main pass through the Carmel mountains, it lies on the junction of two important historic roads used by armies and traders from the Stone Age to the present day. Megiddo guards access to the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the route east through the Jezreel Valley to Damascus and Mesopotamia. The other coastal route links Egypt and Gaza in the south with Acco and Phoenecia in the north.

Control of Megiddo therefore has been of military importance since at least the days of Thutmose III in the 15th century B.C. right up to General Allenby's campaigns in the First World War. Jezreel which means "God sows" (in Greek, Esdraelon) separates the hills of Samaria from those of lower Galilee. It is so flat it is possible to see for fifty kilometres in several directions. It is easy to imagine how great armies once camped within it on twenty different occasions.

The imposing Tell at Megiddo stands 21 metres high and archaeology has revealed over twenty distinct periods of occupation. Megiddo was once one of the royal fortified cities of the Canaanites (Joshua 12:21) and before that it was of importance within the Egyptian Empire. It was assigned by God to the tribe of Manasseh (Judges 1:27) but does not appear to have been captured until the time of Solomon when it became one of his administrative districts (Joshua 17:11-13;1 Kings 4:12; 9:15). During the period of the Judges the Israelites rebelled against God. He allowed Jabin the Canaanite king to oppress them for twenty years. When they cried out to God, he sent Deborah the prophetess to lead Israel (Judges 4:1-14). She inspired Barak and the northern tribes to gather near Mount Tabor to ambush Sisera and his nine hundred chariots. The Canaanites were defeated and Sisera came to a messy end in the tent of Jael (Judges 4:15-24).

Megiddo became one of Solomon's principal fortified cities like those at Hazor and Gezer. Extensive stables have been discovered large enough to accommodate 450 horses. These possibly date from the time of Solomon or more probably belonged to Ahab. During the divided monarchy, Megiddo again fell into the hands of the Egyptians and then to the Assyrians. In 609 B.C. Pharaoh Neco II and his Egyptian army passed through the valley of Jezreel on his way to fight against the Assyrians. King Josiah ignored God's guidance and tried to resist the Egyptians at Megiddo but was fatally wounded, despite his disguise, by an Egyptian archer and died in battle there (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 35:20-24). The prophet Zechariah, speaking prophetically, compared the mourning for the death of king Josiah in Jerusalem with that of the crucified Lord (Zechariah 12:10-12). Summarising the importance of the Valley of Jezreel in Biblical history, George Adam Smith writes, "Esdraelon lies before you...the scenes of Barak's and Gideon's victories, of Saul's and Josiah's defeats, of the struggles for freedom in the glorious days of the Maccabees. There is Naboth's vineyard and the place of Jehu's revenge upon Jezebel; there Shunem and the house of Elisha; there Carmel and the place of Elijah's sacrifice..."

There is one brief reference to Megiddo in the Book of Revelation where Armageddon means the Hill of Megiddo (Revelation 16:14-16). The Apostle John describes a great battle between the armies of the world on the final day of the Lord. It is possible that this portrays a literal battle or is perhaps a symbolic reference to the final overthrow of evil by God.

At a time when there is much foreboding about the future, Megiddo reminds us to put our hope in the sovereignty of God who rules over history, not in our intellectual genius, military strength or financial resources (Jeremiah 9:23-24).