The Layered History of Megiddo in the Bible

The Megiddo isn’t a large piece of land.  When I visited Israel in 2013, all I saw were dig spots on a dry and rocky landscape. Our guide told us that 20 layers of civilization are buried here.  It was the first time that I recognized how Biblical land may be spotted with sites we can still visit: Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee but it is just the icing on a 20-layer cake! 

However,  that doesn’t make the Megiddo any less important to the inhabitants who lived here. Its location on the Via Maris, the coastal trade route that connected Egypt to Damascus, made it invaluable to anyone who conquered it.  It’s view over the lowlands prevented a surprise attack. 

It was also the site of many battles.  Joshua and his army conquered it early in their land possession initiative.  Later, it was the deciding battle that Deborah and Barak won that brought peace and a new determination to obey and worship God.  Unfortunately, it was a peace and repentance that didn’t last.

Megiddo is also where Solomon stabled his horses. And remember King Ahab and Queen Jezebel?  Ahab had a tunnel built to secure an under water spring located under

the Megiddo. It sustained his people during siege and kept him in office.

Probably the most interesting information about the Megiddo is not what has already happened there, but what is yet to come.  Zechariah 12:10-12 predicts that the Megiddo will somehow factor into a national grief of the Jewish people when they recognize who Jesus is.

Did you know that Megiddo is mentioned in the New Testament?  We don’t easily recognize it because it uses the Greek translation of this powerful piece of land.  The Greek name for  Megiddo is Armageddon.  Whatever you have heard about Armageddon is usually more guess than truth because it really isn’t explained in the Bible.  Is it the final war to end all wars?  Maybe.  My takeaway is that it is a reckoning for the world like no other in whatever way God wants to bring it.  Yes, it will be some kind of end, but it will also birth a glorious new beginning.  Doomsday thinking isn’t what Jesus taught about end times and that’s what I choose to remember.

What are the layers of your life you live with and want to forget or wish you could go back to?  The issue is not whether you liked the layers but what you learned from them and if you learned the right lesson. 

God laments when anyone uses some part of life as an excuse to live with hurt, anger, or any other negative outlook.  He knows it colors relationships and self-perception. He always meets us where we are.  However, His love, redemption, and  forgiveness can address everything we’ve ever experienced.  But only if we let Him do His work His way.

If you’ve ever visited an archaeological dig, you know that the work of unburying the past  is careful, tedious, and painfully long.  We visit museums to see the result and stand in awe. 

I think it is a metaphor for the kind of work God can do in us with layers of our lives we’d rather forget or at least wish they had given us more of what we wanted. Healing for the past takes more than a shovel.   God has all the right tools to bring the kind of healing that we didn’t know we needed.  And all we have to do is ask.