Mount Carmel, including its coastal headland, is a 24-mile (39-km) mountain range in northwest Israel near the coast of the Mediter-ranean Sea (Jer. 46:18). Not explicitly mentioned in the New Testament, the beauty of its lush vegetation, with a variety of trees, plants, and flowers, is the subject of Hebrew poetry and prophetic imagery (Song 7:5; Isa. 35:2).
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| Elijah slaying Baal prophet |
King Saul set up a monument for himself on Mount Carmel after defiantly disobeying the Lord’s command to totally destroy the Amalekites (1 Sam. 15:12), subsequently rejected by the Lord as Israel’s king. His successor David married Abigail the Carmelitess, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, whose sheep and goat farm was at Carmel (1 Sam. 25:2-42; 27:3; 30:5). Later the prophet Elisha’s homebase appears to have been in this area as well (2 Kings 2:25; 4:25).
Mount Carmel is probably best remembered as the location to which the prophet Elijah called all Israel to witness his confronting, mocking, and executing 450 prophets of Baal, while the manifested power of God turned the hearts of the people back from idolatry (1 Kings 18:19-40). It was here that Elijah prayed seven times for rain, following a three-and-a-half-year drought, and God answered his prayer (vv. 41-45; Jas. 5:17-18).
The Jezreel Valley
From the Mediterranean coast just north of Mount Carmel, stretching southeastward to the Jordan Valley, are the fertile plains of the Jezreel Valley, the richest agricultural land in the region. The name of the valley, shared with one of its main cities, means “God sows” (cf. Hos. 2:22-23).1 The topography is comparatively flat, providing an easily accessible north-south trade route between Mesopotamia/Asia Minor and Egypt, and east-west between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
The area was also militarily strategic, conducive to gathering large troops for battle (Judg. 6:33) and fighting with iron chariots (Josh. 17:16-18; 2 Kings 9:16; 10:15-16). This is where Gideon’s 300 Israelite soldiers faced seemingly insurmountable odds as they battled Midianite, Amalekite, and Arab troops “as numerous as locusts” but were triumphant by the power of God (Judg. 6:33–8:28).
In the lower Jezreel Valley, two cities of importance, because of their strategic locations, were Jezreel and Megiddo (1 Kings 4:12). The city of Jezreel, whose residents were Jezreelites,2 was on the southeastern end of the valley, about 12 miles (19 km) south of Nazareth at the western foothills of Mount Gilboa. King Saul’s final battle against the Philistines was fought here, resulting in his death (1 Sam. 29:1). King Ahab’s son Jehoram and widow Jezebel and all the rest of his household and allies were violently killed here (2 Kings 9:7–10:11). The name “Jezreel” was practically synonymous with bloodshed, destruction, and judgment (Hos. 1:4-5).
Tel Megiddo
In the southwest section of the Jezreel Valley (the area known as the Valley of Megiddo) are the 35-acre ruins of the ancient city of Megiddo, although in Israelite times it was less than half this size. Formerly a Canaanite city-state and administrative center for the region (Josh. 12:21), it guarded a narrow pass intersecting important military and trade routes. Inevitably it became the site of major military conflicts involving the Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines, and Israelites.
After oppressing God’s people for two decades, the Canaanite forces of Sisera were defeated at Megiddo by the divinely-empowered Israelite armies of Barak (Judg. 5:15, 19). During Solomon’s reign Megiddo was a fortified city included among Israel’s 12 districts (1 Kings 4:12; 9:15), only to be captured by the Egyptians when the kingdom divided. In the 9th century BC Judah’s king Ahaziah was killed at Megiddo (2 Kings 9:27). The Egyptians won yet another decisive battle at Megiddo in the 7th century BC, where Judah’s king Josiah was mortally wounded (2 Chron. 35:20-23).
Like Jezreel, there was so much violence and bloodshed in the plains of Megiddo that it became a symbol of divine judgment. An apocalyptic scene is depicted in Revelation 16:12-16, a vision of God’s wrath poured out on the corrupt world of sin, where the Hebraic expression Armageddon (Greek Har-magedōn) is used, a compound word meaning “mountain” or “hill” of “Megiddo.” The actual city of Megiddo lies between the mountains and foothills of Mount Carmel to the northwest and Mount Gilboa to the southeast, the two separated by about 42 miles (67 kms). Megiddo is in the near vicinity of neither. In fact, the site of Megiddo is a tel or mound of debris accumulated over centuries, surrounded by vast level plains.
The reference is clearly metaphoric, as per the symbolic character of the book of Revelation and its repeated use of well-known places to symbolize other things (e.g., Rev. 9:14; 11:8; 14:1, 8; 16:12; 21:2). “Armageddon” is a symbol, not a literal locality, representing God’s final overthrow of the forces of evil. While this played out in the eventual collapse of the tyrannical Roman Empire (Rev. 18:2), God’s righteous people ultimately reign victorious over sin forevermore (Rev. 19:11-21).
Reflections
There is a long history of defiance, resistance, and antagonism toward the divine will, relentlessly vying for the attention and allegiance of God’s people. May we learn from the tumultuous past of the places we have visited that God always wins! “Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again” (1 Kings. 18:37, NKJV).
--Kevin L. Moore
Endnotes:
1 Other applications of the name occur elsewhere in scripture (e.g., Josh. 15:56; 1 Sam. 27:3; 1 Chron. 4:3; Hos. 1:4).
2 Josh. 19:18; 2 Sam. 2:9; 4:4; 1 Kings 21:1-16; 2 Kings 9:21-25.
Related Posts: Israel Part 1, Israel Part 2, Israel Part 3, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Jordan Part 1, Jordan Part 2, Palestinian West Bank
Image credits:
Mt Carmel & Elijah statue, <https://www.bibleplaces.com/mtcarmel/>
Jezreel, <https://www.beinharimtours.com/a-visit-to-the-jezreel-valley/>
Megiddo, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Megiddo#/media/File:%D7%AA%D7%9C_%D7%9E%D7%92%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95.JPG>
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