Thoughts from the Holy Land: Megiddo

Overlooking the Jezreel Valley and Mt. Tabor

In two days, what has surprised me most is the places that have the biggest impact on me are not the places that I expected.  And the places that I expected to move me deeply were in many ways lost in the bustle and trade of the religious tourism industry.  Not entirely, as there were touching moments, only that places I hadn’t considered had a much deeper and profound effect. 

One of the places we have visited that I was confused as to why it was on our itinerary has been one of the most interesting.  In the region between Caesarea and Tiberias there is place that was inhabited from 7000 BCE to 586 BCE.  The town is called Megiddo, but better known by its name given by the author of Revelation, Armageddon.  What is interesting about Megiddo is it rests on top of hill overlooking the Jezreel Valley to the west.  Its location was made ideal by controlling trade and providing protection, was one of the most sought after locations in our early recorded history.  The town changed hands 25 times until it ceased to be occupied during the Babylonian Captivity.

The granary at Megiddo

Walking through Megiddo, we saw the stables that held 450 horses, a gigantic granary to store wheat and other grains during sieges, and a deep well that tunneled under the mountain to provide a water source that only Megiddo would know about, camouflaged from rival communities.  The town was designed to be able to withstand a perpetual amount of conflict, and even with this design, the town continued to be conquered.  Megiddo is the embodiment of our human strife and struggle for power.  The town is a symbol that conveys the story of human history: our history can always be reduced to war. 

I have always struggled with the interpretations of Revelation that tries to claim the story as a Biblical Prophecy.  I do not read Scripture in that way.  I see the story of Scripture as timeless, not confined to a certain moment in history, certainly not our future story with specific places and times. I suspect that some people are drawn to visit Megiddo because they believe it will be the future site of Armageddon, maybe drawn to believe the stories of the “Left Behind Series” as if two American authors know exactly how our story will unfold, minute by minute, conflict by conflict.  Instead, I found myself drawn back to John of Patmos’s interesting choice of location.

What strikes me is John of Patmos knows the story of Megiddo and picks the city as the site of the last human battle.  The significance is not a future prediction, but the reality that the reign of Christ will finally break the cycle of violence that has defined our human existence.  In the place that embodies human strife and violence, the cycle is finally broken. 

Life is full of strife.  We are fortunate to be living in a time and place that often feels absent of that, but on a global scale, and with more and more connection with people who suffer, we know that part of our human condition is to be proximate to suffering, often at the hands of violence.  And yet we have faith that the God that dwells with us in the midst of this pain is working towards a moment when that cycle is finally broken. 

As we stood on Megiddo, it was calm and peaceful, even with conflict a few hundred miles away. But we can be hopeful that peace will spread from that place because that is our faith.  We believe that God will break the cycle, that God is breaking the cycle of violence and war and strife. May we pray for us to realize that moment and may it become true for all people in all places, thy will be done.

John+