The meaning of this name is 'the mountain of Megiddo', a city in the

plains of Jezreel, at the north -east of Mount Carmel.  If a map is

consulted, it will be seen that Mount Carmel forms a promontory that juts out

into the sea, some thirty -five miles below Tyre, and sixty miles above

Joppa.  It stands at the head of a great plain called the plain of Jezreel,

which, stretching inland to the Jordan, includes the tower of Megiddo, and is

incorporated in the name Armageddon.

It is highly suggestive that the first appearance of Megiddo in the Old

Testament is at the place where the triumphant Joshua subdued a number of

Canaanitish kings, including in their number 'the king of Megiddo' (Josh.

12:21).  Megiddo came into the possession of the tribe of Manasseh, who,

however, failed to drive out the Canaanites (Josh. 17:11,12).  Megiddo is

among the places mentioned in the Song of Deborah, in Judges 5:19, a

foreshadowing of the day when all the enemies of the Lord shall perish (verse

In the days of Solomon, a wall was built that incorporated Megiddo

because of the attack of Pharaoh (1 Kings 9:15,16).  Other incidents of

somewhat disastrous nature are chronicled in 2 Kings 9:27; 23:29,30 and 2

Chronicles 35:20 -24.  The only actual reference to Megiddo in the Prophets

is found in Zechariah 12:10,11.  In the day when the Lord defends and

delivers Jerusalem from the siege laid against it, He will also open the

blind eyes of Israel and 'they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced'

saith the Lord, and with that look will come a national mourning.

'In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the

mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon' (Zech. 12:11).

Nothing is certainly known of the city called Hadadrimmon, but from a

hint of Jerome and other sources, it is thought to be the same as Rummaneh,

west of Esdraelon.  It was evidently well known in the days of Zechariah.

Joshua 'fought the kings of Canaan in Taanoch by the waters of Megiddo'.  The

true Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Captain of the Lord's host, will meet

the kings of the earth and of the whole oikoumene (the prophetic earth) in

the battle of that great day of God Almighty and gather them together into a

place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.  This takes place at the

outpouring of the sixth vial upon the river Euphrates, and involves the

dragon, the beast and the false prophet, together with the spirits of demons

working miracles (Rev. 16:12 -17).

Verse 15 interposes between 'to gather' of verse 14, and 'He gathered'

of verse 16, an admonition 'Behold, I come as a thief.  Blessed is he that

watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his

shame'.  This is an important note.  It links Armageddon with the Second

Coming of the Lord:

'The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night ... but ye,

brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a

thief ... let us watch' (1 Thess. 5:2 -6).

Again 2 Peter 3:10 says:

'The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night',