Valley of Megiddo - Fri., 4/4/08

I'm a day late posting about this but our afternoon adventure yesterday was to the Valley of Jezreel. More commonly referred to as Megiddo, it is located between Mt. Carmel where Elijah battled the 450 prophets on the west and on the east are Mt. Tabor, where Barak, with the help of Deborah, defeated the troops of Sisera (Judges 4), and Mt. Gilboa, where King Saul was killed (1 Sam. 31:8). Also on the eastern side of the valley and towards the north, perched on the side of a mountain, sits the now large city of Nazareth. Of course, in the time of Christ it was only a small village of 500-1000 people. Here is a view of Nazareth in the distance from the western side of the valley.


Due to its geographical location the Valley of Megiddo has been a fierce battle ground for millenia. Solomon built a gate there to control the area and, of course, a palace. The ruins from his time can still be seen today. Referred to by archaeologists as the birthplace of biblical archaeology, they have dug 23 layers into the tell. (Abigail: do you remember studying archaeological tells in school? For those of you not in 4th grade history, a tell is a mound created by centuries of dirt and vegetation collecting and building up on a site causing a hill to form.) Here is a picture showing the layers to the side of the digsite where they have dug down. You can see some of the palace foundation at the bottom of the picture.


Here is a picture walking through the gate. The gates we have seen in Caesarea and here at Megiddo are not like you picture in a middle ages type movie. Both of the ones we have seen have two or three 90 degree turns in them to slow down the approach of advancing armies. The turns also allowed more places for guards to hide and better defend the city. The wood beams in this picture have been recreated recently but the stones are original to the time of Solomon.


Here are some of the walls from Solomon's palace:


Here is a picture of Solomon's grain silo in the ruins. We are looking down into it and there is a staircase on the far side so as the grain level lowered they could go further down into it to get the grain. I thought of my Bible study ladies when I saw this because although it is from the time of Solomon, I'm sure it is very similar to the ones Joseph built in Egypt during the seven years of plenty in order to have enough grain to survive the seven years of drought.


The only source of water for the people living in the palace was several stories below ground. Today they have added a steel staircase and we had to walk down 183 steps to get to the water below. Once down there we had to walk through a narrow tunnel about 200 feet to get to the Megiddo spring. All of that had to be hand dug out of the rock and whenever they needed fresh water they had to climb down into the cave, minus the steel stairs that have been added now for the tourists' convenience.


Although I'm going to start with a light hearted story, the sobering part of Megiddo lies in considering its future. I never knew until standing here that Nazareth is on a hillside overlooking the Megiddo Valley. All little boys dream of the heroes they will be when they grow up. For some, they want to be an astronaut and be the first one to land on the moon. Some little boys imaginations slay mighty dragons or have a wild west shoot out with the bad guys. I now picture a little boy by the name of Jesus stopping His play in the outskirts of Nazareth and looking down into the valley that spread out before Him. For Him though, His thoughts wouldn't have been the result of an overactive imagination. For Him, His thoughts were the result of being God Incarnate - God in the flesh. As such, did He know what His future held? I believe so, and if I'm right, did He look down into the valley and think thoughts like, "Someday, when I grow up, I'm going to ride a valiant white horse into this valley and defeat Satan and all his minions." Rather than being the vain imaginings of a small child, we know this to be the truth of His future and the future of the valley.

Revelation 16:15-17 - 15"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."
16Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
17The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!"

Revelation 19:11-21 - 11I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
17And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great."
19Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Rev. 14:20 tells us that the blood from the fury of God's winepress will flow as high as a horse's bridle for 180 miles. To stand overlooking that valley and consider its future is, as I said, a sobering moment. Let's take every moment we can now to keep those we know from encountering that event from the wrong side. For those of us who know the Lord, we will be the ones riding victoriously behind Christ as He defeats Satan and then begins to set up a glorious kingdom on earth for the next 1,000 years! Praise God for His grace in extending that option to us.