And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.”

11. What does the name of the battleground mean in Hebrew itself?

¹¹ Those prophetic words were originally written by John the Evangelist in common Greek. But when they were translated into Hebrew itself in the nineteenth century, verse sixteen read: “And they congregated them to the place that the Hebrews call The Mountain of Megiddo [Har Megiddon].”​—Rev. 16:16, Hebrew translation by Salkinson-Ginsburg; also, by F. Delitzsch.

12. So where do some claim that the final war will be fought, but what questions does such an idea raise?

¹² It is because the name Har–Magedon means The Mountain of Megiddo that some Bible expositors and some prominent religious clergymen who make worldwide broadcast by radio have said that the coming universal war will be fought in the land of Israel, in the Valley of Megiddo, at the ruins of the ancient city of Megiddo. In fact, if a tourist visits those ruins today he will read a sign that marks the place and that says that here, according to the view of some, the final war is to be fought. But, broad though the valley plain in front of the mound of ruins of ancient Megiddo may be, it could never accommodate an assembly of the armies of the kings and rulers of the entire inhabited earth. And what issue would a war there before the literal site of Megiddo really settle? Are the non-Jewish nations, with their warships, their air fleets, their war tanks, their intercontinental ballistic missiles and their motorized armies to fight the Republic of Israel at Megiddo as the central strategic battlefield of the entire earth? Will it therefore be the Republic of Israel that will find itself on the victorious side at the place called Har–Magedon?

13. What fact about Revelation do those making such an application disregard, as illustrated in the case of its use of the “great river Euphrates”?

¹³ Those who take the name Har–Magedon or The Mountain of Megiddo in a literal way provoke such questions as those. They disregard the noteworthy fact that the Bible book Revelation or Apocalypse was written largely in picture language, with the use of a large number of symbolisms or figurative expressions. For example, when Re 16 verse twelve of this same sixteenth chapter speaks of the sixth plague of God as being emptied out upon the “great river Euphrates,” it does not mean that this sixth symbolic plague is fulfilled upon the literal Euphrates River that is now straddled by the land of Iraq. In ancient Bible times, that river’s focal point was the city of Babylon, which headed the third world power of Bible history, the Babylonian Empire. The use of the Euphrates as a symbol draws attention therefore to the still-existing world empire of false religion, which the book of Revelation calls Babylon the Great, which Re 16 verse nineteen of this same sixteenth chapter mentions. In the same manner, Re 16 verse sixteen uses the name Har–Magedon symbolically because of its historical associations.

14. What double meaning did the name Megiddo take on, and why?

¹⁴ The name Megiddo is dynamic. In secular history and in Biblical history the name stirred up memories of decisive battles. Why? Because the city then dominated a strategic land passageway between Europe, Asia and Africa, and so invaders could advantageously be challenged and halted there by the inhabitants. So Megiddo took on a double meaning, that of tragic defeat for one side and that of glorious victory for the other side.

20. What, in our day, is represented by the “place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon”?

²⁰ What now, in our day, is represented by the “place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon”? As with ancient Megiddo, it denotes a world situation that involves a decisive war. It denotes that stage in world hostility toward God that calls for settling of the issue over which the hostility has arisen. Since ancient Megiddo on its rise of ground strategically commanded the land passageway from one landmass or continent to another, so Har–Magedon denotes that ultimate state to which world affairs come where the political rulers unitedly apply force to make their way through and where God must react with a counterforce according to His purpose. Thus the future of the universe is to be determined by what results from the opposing of contrary forces to each other.

21. (a) With such a viewpoint of Har–Magedon, at what or for what will we not be looking? (b) Our further examination of the Scriptures will now enable us to do what?

²¹ Having such a Scriptural viewpoint of what Har–Magedon really means will keep us from looking in the wrong direction and from expecting the wrong thing. We will not be looking to the geographical location of ancient Megiddo in the land of Israel. We will not be looking for a converging of all the armed forces of the nations there with the Republic of Israel as their target of attack. We will not be looking for mass conversion of the Jews in the Republic of Israel to acceptance of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. We will not be led to the idea that we must line up with the natural Jews in the Republic of Israel in order to survive on the victorious side at Har–Magedon. To the contrary, we will see that the Valley of Megiddo, yes, the whole Republic of Israel, is not the issue involved. We will diligently examine all the inspired sacred Scriptures and will, with the help of God’s spirit, determine what the real issue at Har–Magedon is. Then we shall know on which side of the issue to take our stand in order to survive with the victors at the real Har–Magedon.