attend SOUTHWEST BIBLE AND MISSIONARY CONFERENCE "America’s Unique
WO R D S WO R D by Charles L. Feinberg, Th.D., Ph.D., Director, Talbot Theological Seminary from the
Arm ageddon
Conference” combining —
F rom time to time there appears even in the secular press of the day the word Armageddon. It is found in the Authorized Version in Revela tion 16:16; the American Standard Version renders it more accurately as Har-Magedon. The Apostle John, in speaking of the activity in the end time of demon spirits that lead astray the kings of the earth, states: “ And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har- Magedon.” The compound word oc curs only here in the New Testament. The Hebrew words mean “mountain of Megiddo” and the passage is expli cit in indicating it is the name of a place. However, the name has fared vari ously at the hands of expositors. The suggestion has been presented that the word has a figurative, not a geo graphical meaning. Th e , word is made to stand arbitrarily for the hosts of wickedness assembled at a place figuratively called Armageddon. An other view maintains that, because Megiddo is a valley and not a moun tain, the allusion is purely symbol ical, having reference to the result of the great and final conflict between good and evil. The sufficient refuta tion of these views is the clear state ment of the text that a place is in tended. But there is difference of opinion among those who understand the name of a geographical locality. At various times suggestions have named the valley of the Mississippi, Sebasto pol, the Crimea, France, Mount Tabor and the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The oldest explanation of the word seems to be that of Hippolytus who understood it to mean “ smooth place,” that is, the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:12). Jerome saw it in Mount Tabor. Luther connected it with a Hebrew root ( hrm , meaning curse) and translated in a marginal gloss, “verdammte Krieger, verfluchte Rues- tung” (cursed warriors, reprobate armament), taking the word from herem and gad. Certain expositors have equated the name with “ the
mount of the congregation” of Isaiah 14:13 and claimed that the name con tains a survival of an ancient tradi tion about a battle of the gods on a mountain. This Babylonian idea of world conflict on some mountain height has not been commonly ac cepted. One scholar has taken pains to point out that the Hebrew forms of “Har-Magedon” and “ the great Rome” have the same numerical value—304. The Scripture is plain that the word is the name of a place where the hosts of the nations will be gath ered together to do battle against Is rael. Many of the difficulties would be resolved if it were realized that the m o u n t a i n and the valley are viewed as one, the plain of Megiddo comprehending the prolongation of the plain of Esdraelon to Mount Car mel; too, the war of the great day of God Almighty will comprise more than one battle. Part of the conflict will be about Jerusalem, part of it in the north at Megiddo and part toward the east at Edom (Isa. 63). This area has been the scene of many mighty contests in the Holy Land. Here Israel fought Sisera and the Canaanites (Judg. 5:19); Ahaziah engaged in the battle that resulted in his death (2 Ki. 9:27); and Josiah was slain when he went against the army of Necho (2 Ki. 23:29; Zech. 12:11). It is supposed to have been settled about 3500 B.C. Archeological excava tions have disclosed that Solomon built ample stables at Megiddo for more than 400 horses. It is mentioned in the Tell el-Amama Tablets and is presently identified with the modem el-Lejjun on the western border of the plain of Esdraelon. As far as military strategy is concerned, the place is very important because it commands the pass through the mountains be tween the plains of Sharon and Es draelon. Armageddon will truly be the mountain of slaughter as the na tions of earth receive their final an swer from the Lord God Almighty on their proposal to wipe Israel finally from the earth. The stage is even now being set for the denouement. END.
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CHR ISTIAN PR INTER FOR M ISSIONAR IES By Maxwell D. Lathrop, missionary in Mexico, in Sunday School Times "All my furlough,” stated a mis sionary from Africa, "I have been looking for a printer who will re produce the Old Testament stories that I have translated. When the printers see the unusual characters of our language, they throw up their haiids . . . In order to meet the printing requirements of a corps of one hundred translators, working among Mexico’s forty or more Indian tribes, this California printer* has installed a linotype and presses near Mexico City . . . Missionaries who have printing problems are invited to\ correspond with Mr. Farson.” *AI!an Farson, Inter-American Gospel Press, Specializing in Foreign Language Printing, Domingo Diez 77, Cuerna vaca, Mexico. (Affiliated with The Church Press, Glendale, California.)
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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