Megiddo

MEGID'DO (place of troops?), a city of Manasseh, situated within the borders of Issachar, and formerly a royal city of the Canaanites, whose king and its neighboring towns were conquered by Joshua. Josh 12:21; Josh 17:11; Jud 1:27; 1 Kgs 4:12; 1 Kgs 9:15; 1 Chr 7:29. It has generally been identified with the place afterward called by the Romans Legio, now Lejjun,where are ancient foundations and prostrate columns. The neighboring stream, probably the "waters of Megiddo," is the largest perennial tributary of the Kishon, and feeds three or four mills. Jud 5:19. The valley or plain of Megiddo, also called "Megiddon," was part of the plain of Esdraelon. 2 Kgs 9:27; 2 Kgs 23:29-30; 2 Chr 35:22; Zech 12:11. Here Barak and Deborah gained a great victory over the Canaanites under Sisera, Jud 4:6-17, and it has been the great battle-field of Palestine. Ahaziah, mortally wounded, died there; Josiah was defeated by Pharaoh-necho, and mortally wounded, 2 Kgs 33:29; 2 Chr 35:20-24; and the place, in Hebrew, is called Armageddon, "city of Megiddo." Rev 16:16. The modern Lejjun, which has generally been regarded as representing Megiddo, is on the south-western edge of the great plain of Esdraelon, 6 miles from Mount Carmel, 11 from Nazareth, and 14 from Tabor. It commands the important pass to the plain of Philistia. A stream flows near it, and there is a large spring which some regard as the "waters of Megiddo." A few ruins remain, and from them a wide view is gained of the famous battleground. Conder declines to accept the above identification, and suggests Me-Jedd'a, a large ruin near Beisan, and 10 miles from Jenin, as Megiddo. There are four springs of clear water, and a considerable stream flowing to the northwest into the Nahr Jalud. This would place the valley of Megiddo in the broad valley leading from Jezreel to Bethshean.