Jezreel Valley: Armageddon
Stand at Armageddon (Revelations 16:16) overlooking the Valley of Jezreel (Hosea 1:4), and place of Ezekiel’s End of Days war of Gog and Magog. Here is the crossroads of the world where three intercontinental highways converge- from Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Valley of Armageddon
Valley of Armageddon
We are standing atop the biblical mound of Megiddo, one of the most important cities in Bible times, looking out over the Jezreel Valley, also known as Armageddon in the New Testament. The name Armageddon is a Hebrew word that literally means “Hill of Megiddo”. We read about it in Revelations – the last book of the New Testament with regard to the End of Days war: “And I gathered them [the nations] unto a place known in the Hebrew tongue as Armageddon” (Rev. 16:16)
War of God & Magog
This End of Days battle is also alluded to in the Gog and Magog war described in Ezekiel (38:3-23): “Thus said the Lord: Behold, I am against you, Gog, the prince… I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains… I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’.
Book of Revelations
In Revelations 20:7 we read more on the End of Days battle: “When the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war.”
Crossroads of the world
So why did this place – Armageddon – take on an association with an End of Days war? The answer lies in the geography of the area. Three intercontinental roads converge here in the valley, from Europe, Asia, and Africa. And for that reason all the great conquerors of antiquity have passed this way: Alexander the Great from the north (Greece), Nebuchadnezzer from the east (Babylon), and the pharaoh Thutmoses III from the south (Egypt). Another interesting point- it’s pretty much equal distance from this spot to the some of the world’s most strategic capital cities: Madrid, Paris, Moscow, Bombay, and Nairobi!!!
Why is it also called Jezreel?
The name Jezreel – Yizra’el in Hebrew- means “God will sow”. As the largest and most fertile valley of the country, it was in bible times the bread basket of the country. The significance of the name, and nature of the area as prime farm land, raises the biblical question, “who” will sow the seed and provide grain, the staff of life: The God of love and justice that that lives within us, or the pagan stone gods? Indeed, on nearby Mount Carmel, Elijah called the people to decide who is the true provider- Yahweh or Ba’al (Canaanite equivalent of Zeus or Jupiter). In the Bible God warns the people that if they follow the pagan gods he will bring drought upon the land, there will be no rain, and then of course no wheat, as it is a rain dependent crop, not an irrigated one.
Jezreel son of Gomer the harlot
Jezreel is also the name of the prophet Hosea’s son from the harlot Gomer whom he married (Hosea 1:3-4). God asked Hosea (8th century BC) to marry a harlot in order to demonstrate what real devotion and love is. Such was the love and devotion of Yahweh to his people, in spite of their behavior as harlots, chasing the skirts of the pagan gods.