The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 366

Ver& 12-16.-.Armageddon. It is the name of a place. It lies to the north-weai of the Plain of Esdraelon, on the southern slopes of Carmel. It is mentioned on various occasions in the Bible (cf. i'lljra). But these verses tell of a great event aonnect«l with it. I. WHAT WAS THIB? It is called "the battle of that great day of God Almighty• (ver.14). Whether St. John had some literal battk taking place in Ms day present in his mind, we cannot certainly say. Not improbably he had. Most of the symbols of this book refer, we think, to events with which he was familiar. Thus is it with all prophecies, not least with this one. Such events form the basis of those wider facts which alone can fill up the prophet's words. In this case it is fhe last great conflict with evil to which his wordli point, and of which we have not a few premonitions in the Scriptures. How far we are to understand what we read, here and elsewhere, literally, and how far figuratively, it is impossible to say, as the prediction is for the future, and is yet unfulfilled. Bot why it is called Armageddon may be because the Plain of Esdraelon was the battle-field of Palestine. And at Megiddo,-and Armageddon meana the hill of Megiddo-it was that King Josiah was defeated, and great sorrow had come upon God's people. And it was the hope of the adversary of God that what had been done to Josiah should be done to Jesus (Hengstenberg). Also it was, like llarathon, Waterloo,eto.,a name for a decisive conflict, and this last one 1bould be such. But this Scripture will be of little avail to us if we think only of the pa~t or of the unknown future. The conflict of good and evi'l ia wsr proceeding. And, in this soul Ind that, Armageddons-<lecisive conflicts-are oontinually being fought. See, in .the conversion of Saul at Damascus, how the forces of evil were overthrown.. There ~mea in most men's lives a crisis in which the question-Whose shall I be-the Lord'■ aa. xn. 1-21.) THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 407