MEGUIDO
Name of doubtful meaning.
It is a Palestinian town of great strategic importance. It dominated the plain of Esdraelon and the pass that led through the mountains to the plain of Sharon.
The modern locality is Tell el-Mutesellim, explored since 1903, at first by Germans, and later especially by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago; The excavations in this place are among the most successful in all of Palestine.
Various levels have been found that, in conventional archaeological interpretation, are attributed to the remains of twenty successive cities. The tell is 23 m. Tall.
This place has been occupied throughout history. The conventional chronology gives it around 3500 BC. for the construction of the first city, although the date of 4,500 BC is assigned. for the first signs of human occupation.
However, these dates have been assigned based on archaeological correspondences with Egypt of some ceramics, and must be revised in light of new data that has emerged about the chronology of Egypt (see EGYPT, HYCROS, HITTITES, etc.).
For a penetrating examination of the issues involved in the archeology of Megiddo, see Courville, D. A.: “Archaeology of Megiddo”, in “The Exodus Problem and its Ramifications” (Challenge Books, Loma Linda, Ca. 1971, pp. 189-202 ).
An example of the problems in dating and identifying the different levels could be level IX, dated by conventional chronology to around 1580, the time when the city was conquered, but not destroyed, by Thutmose III.
Based on the revised chronology, this pharaoh is identified with the biblical Shishak. Josephus (Ant. 8:10, 2) specifically states that, in 927 BC, the cities of Judah surrendered to Shishak without a fight (see PHARAOH, etc.).
Certainly, Courville shows that with chronological revision many problems and paradoxes that arise with conventional chronology disappear.
Among others, a notable discovery has been that of the seal of “Schema, official of Jeroboam” (no doubt referring to Jeroboam II, king of Israel, 782-743 BC).
When Joshua entered the country, Megiddo was ruled by a Canaanite king who was killed (Josh. 12:21). Surrounded by the territory of the tribe of Issachar, it was nevertheless assigned to Manasseh, who did not expel the Canaanites from it (Josh. 17:11; Judges 1:27; 1 Chron. 7:29).
Equipped with impressive stone walls with an original thickness of 4 m, which was later doubled, it was, at the time of discovery, 3.5 m high. (cf. Deut. 1:28).
There was a course of water near it (Judges 5:19), which passed not far from Beth-shean and Taanach (Judges 1:27; 1 Kings 4:12). A tunnel was built to be able to get water from a well without having to go outside, in anticipation of future sieges.
A fascinating description of this tunnel, with its entrance and gallery, is found in James Michener’s novel “The Source”, in which it is set in an imaginary Tell Makor. Solomon (971-931 BC) improved his fortifications (1 Kings 9:15-19; 10:26).
In the conventional chronological framework, the stables found in levels IVB-VA are attributed to Solomon. However, internal evidence demands the attribution of these stables to Ahab (874-853 BC).
This is the point of view that has been proposed based on the research of Yigal Yadin in 1960; This harmonizes with Assyrian inscriptions which state that this king had 2,000 chariots as part of his military forces, although no indication is given of where they were quartered.
Other incidents that occurred in Megiddo included the death of Ahakiah, king of Judah, who had fled there after being wounded by Jehu’s soldiers (2 Kings 9:27). King Josiah was killed in the neighboring plain, during the battle between him and Pharaoh Necho (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chron. 35:22). His subjects made a great cry and mourning for him (2 Chron. 35:25; Zech. 12:11)
The excavations have brought to light the citadel that crowned the eminence of Tell el-Mutesellim, the camp of the Roman legion that was in Megiddo was five minutes away, in the place known as el-Lejjûn, a name derived from the Latin . “leggio”, legion. Bricks have been found bearing the mark of the 6th legion. The name of Megiddo is part of that of Armageddon