Revelation 16:16 - Exposition

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon; or, as in the Revised Version, they Fathered; that is, the "spirits" of Revelation 16:14 , of which this is a continuation, the same verb συνάγω being repeated. By the employment of the Hebrew term, attention is called to the symbolical nature of the name. Similar cases occur in Revelation 9:11 and elsewhere in St. John's writings (see on Revelation 9:11 ). The correct reading, ἁρμαγεδών , Har-Magedon, signifies "Mountain of Megiddo;" the Authorized Version, ἀρμαγεδών , Armageddon, "City of Megiddo." Mount Megiddo possibly refers to Carmel, at the foot of which lay the Plain of Megiddo, which was well known to every Jew as a gathering place for hostile hosts and as the scene of many battles. It is referred to in Zechariah 12:11 as a type of woe, on account of the overthrow and death of Josiah having taken place there ( 2 Kings 23:29 ). Ahaziah also died there ( 2 Kings 9:27 ); and there also the Canaanitish kings were overthrown ( 5:19 ). The name is, therefore, indicative of battle and slaughter, and intimates the complete overthrow in store for the dragon and the kings of the earth, which is described later on ( Revelation 19:1-21 .).