Har-Magedon

VIEW:45 DATA:01-04-2020

HAR-MAGEDON.—The name of the place in which, according to Rev_16:16 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] Armageddon), the kings of the lower world are to be gathered together by the Dragon, the Beast, and the false prophet, to make war upon God. The most generally accepted location makes this to be the mountains of Megiddo, that is to say, those surrounding the plain of Megiddo, in which so many great battles of the past were fought. The difficulty with this explanation is that one would expect the plain rather than the mountains to be chosen as a battle-field. Another explanation finds in the word a survival of the name of the place in which the gods of Babylonia were believed to have defeated the dragon Tiâmat and the other evil spirits. Such a view, however, compels a series of highly speculative corrections of the text, as well as various critical suppositions regarding the structure of the Book of Revelation. While the reference is apocalyptic, it seems probable on the whole that the word perpetuates Megiddo as the synonym of the battle-field—whether above the earth or in the under world—on which the final victory over evil was to be won.
Shailer Mathews.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

Har'-magedon. (hill of Megiddo). Rev_16:16. Used in the Revised Version for Armageddon. The change is chiefly Har, hill, in place of Ar, city. See Armageddon.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

har-ma-ged?on (Ἁρμαγεδών, Harmagedō̇n from Hebrew , har meghiddō, ?Mount of Megiddo?; the King James Version Armageddon): This name is found only in Rev_16:16. It is described as the rallying-place of the kings of the whole world who, led by the unclean spirits issuing from the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, assemble here for ?the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.? Various explanations have been suggested; but, as Nestle says (HDB, s.v), ?Upon the whole, to find an allusion here to Megiddo is still the most probable explanation.? In the history of Israel it had been the scene of never-to-be-forgotten battles. Here took place the fatal struggle between Josiah and Pharaoh-necoh (2Ki_23:29; 2Ch_35:22). Long before, the hosts of Israel had won glory here, in the splendid victory over Sisera and his host (Jdg_5:19). These low hills around Megiddo, with their outlook over the plain of Esdraelon, have witnessed perhaps a greater number of bloody encounters than have ever stained a like area of the world's surface. There was, therefore, a peculiar appropriateness in the choice of this as the arena of the last mighty struggle between the powers of good and evil. The choice of the hill as the battlefield has been criticized, as it is less suitable for military operations than the plain. But the thought of Gilboa and Tabor and the uplands beyond Jordan might have reminded the critics that Israel was not unaccustomed to mountain warfare. Megiddo itself was a hill-town, and the district was in part mountainous (compare Mt. Tabor, Jdg_4:6, Jdg_4:12; ?the high places of the field,? Jdg_5:18). It will be remembered that this is apocalypse. Har-Magedon may stand for the battlefield without indicating any particular locality. The attempt of certain scholars to connect the name with ?the mount of congregation? in Isa_14:13 (Hommel, Genkel, etc.), and with Babylonian mythology, cannot be pronounced successful. Ewald (Die Johan. Schrift, II, 204) found that the Hebrew forms of ?Har-Magedon? and ?the great Rome? have the same numerical value - 304. The historical persons alluded to in the passage do not concern us here.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

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