mdo757 said:
Yes, I have given great thought to the word, "Zion." In fact, I given enough thought to the word to know what "Armageddon" actually means and the term stands for "Har Megido," the "Mount of Megiddo." It has nothing to do with "Zion" in that "Zion" was in southern Israel, in Judah, and was used to describe Judah, Jerusalem the city of David, and the Temple (the Daughter of Zion where the Mount of the congregation Zion is actually located). Megiddo was in Israel (the ten tribes in the northern section) and was the scene of many battles.
In fact, it is assumed that the Mount of Megiddo is where Elijah and the false prophets of Baal faced off - with Elijah (with God's help) won the face off.
1. Components of the Name: The noun Armageddon, written in Greek as Harmagedon, designates the place where the forces of evil gather to fight the Lord. The text states that it is a Hebrew name. Hence, most interpreters find in the name the combination of two Hebrew words. The first is har, which in Hebrew means "mountain, mount." But the second part of the word, magedon, is the bone of contention. Is there a Hebrew word that corresponds to the Greek spelling?
2. Mount of Megiddo: The traditional solution has been to find in the term magedon a reference to the ancient city of Megiddo in Israel. The name of that city is spelled in the Greek translation of the Old Testament as Mageddo (Joshua 17:11) or as Magedon (2 Chron. 35:22), the same spelling we find in Revelation 16:16. The same spelling would support this interpretation. The problem is that we do not find in the Old Testament the noun Megiddo preceded by the term har ("mountain"). There is no such place as Har-Magedon.
Some have attempted to partially solve the problem suggesting that "mountain" refers to the mountain that was in front of the city of Megiddo, namely, Mount Carmel. That was the mountain on which Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal and the Lord revealed Himself as the true object of worship. In context that would mean that Armageddon is Satan's last attempt to become the sole object of worship on Planet Earth. That function of the name nicely fits the message of Revelation, but the explanation of the name itself is far from certain.
3. Mount of Assembly: The other main possibility is to find in Harmagedon a reference to Isaiah 14:13, where we find the Hebrew phrase har moced, usually rendered "mount of assembly." The main problem here is again a linguistic one. The g of magedon is absent from moced, as well as the ending on. The vowels are not exactly the same, but that is not a major problem, because the Hebrew script did not have vowels. The g is not a major problem.
The Battle Over "Armageddon" - ÃÂngel Manuel RodrÃÂguez
"A careful study of "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" shows that conservative Christianity's massive God-is-behind-modern-Israel theology is not true. Revelation's focus is not on "Israel after the flesh" (Israel One), but on "the Israel of God" (Israel Two) composed of both Jews and non-Jews (including Arabs), who are centered in Jesus Christ."
Israel and Armageddon - Will God defend the Middle East Jews during Earth's last battle? - by Steve Wohlberg (a "Jew" BTW)
