Andrews Uniuersity Seminary Studies, Spring 1989, Vol. 27, No.

1,69-78
Copyright @ 1989 by Andrews University Press.

RESEARCH NOTE

THE ETYMOLOGY OF HAR-MAGEDON (REV 16:16)

HANS K. LARONDELLE
Andrews University

Although the linguistic origin of biblical terms may prove to

be uncertain and need not necessarily determine theological mean-
ing, such terms may still carry some religious significance. This is
apparent from Rev 9: 11, where the name of the angel of the Abyss
is given both in Hebrew (Abadddn) and in Greek (Apollybn). The
phrase harmageddn in Rev 1616 deserves attention for its possible
theological frame of reference. Harmageddn, usually given in En-
glish as "Armageddon," occurs only once in all of Scripture, and it
is accompanied by the added clue that the name is given "in
Hebrew," the language of the OT. From a linguistic standpoint,
biblical scholars are divided in their assumptions as to the original
Hebrew word lying behind Har-Magedon. In fact, they generally
regard the etymological problem as being unso1vable.l

The Patristic View

The oldest view set forth by Christian commentators concern-
ing Har-Magedon was that the term meant literally "Mountain of
Slaughter," as evidenced, for example, by Andreas of Caesarea and
Oecumeniu~.~ This interpretation apparently traced magedbn back
to the Aramaic stem @dad, meaning "to cut down, to hew down,"
or the Hebrew root g&jad, meaning "to cut, to break in upon, to
penetrate."

'See listings of the various conjectures in R. H. Charles, The Revelation of St.

John, ICC (Edinburgh, 1920), 2:5O-5 1; Encyclopaedia Biblica, 1899 ed., s.v. "Arma-
geddon," by T. K. Cheyne.
2Josef Schmid, Studien zur Geschichte des Griechischen Apokalypse-Textes,
part 1, Der Apokalypse-Kommentar des Andreas von Kaisareia, Miinchener Theo-
logische Studien, vol. 1 (Munich, 1955), p. 175; H. C. Hoskier, ed., The Complete
Commentary of Oecumenius on the Apocalypse, University of Michigan Studies,
Humanistic Series, vol. 23 (Ann Arbor, MI, 1928), p. 180.
70 HANS K. LARONDELLE

Har-Magedon Connected with Megiddo

A second view is that Har-Magedon is somehow to be con-
nected with Megiddo, a city in the Esdraelon plain, near Mount
Carmel. Holding basically to this view can be reckoned all those
who see magedon as the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name
Megiddo. It is a notable fact that the LXX has transliterated Meg-
iddo once by Mageddn (Judg 1:27) and also by Mageddd (2 Chron
35:22). In addition, Megiddo was the historic site of a victorious
war of Yahweh against the Canaanite kings, celebrated in the
famous Song of Deborah (Judg 4 and 5; see especially 5: 19). Many
exegetes refer further to Ezekiel's apocalyptic portrayal of the final
war against Yahweh on "the mountains of Israel" (Ezek 38:8, 21;
39:2, 4, 17) to strengthen this as a typological taproot of Arma-
geddon in the O T history of Israel. The nearest mountain to
Megiddo is Carmel, which witnessed Elijah's dramatic victory over
the prophets of Baal and where these prophets also were put to the
sword (1 Kgs 18).
For linguistic and theological reasons of the foregoing kind,
the identification of mageddn with Megiddo has found "the widest
acceptance with scholar^."^ After reviewing the theories that have
been set forth, E. Nestle concludes: "Upon the whole, to find an al-
lusion here to Megiddo . . . is still the most probable explanation." *

Har-Magedon Connected with Mount Zion or the

Mountain of God
The conjecture that harmageddn would be the Greek translitera-
tion of har mdcZd, "Mountain of Assembly," a reference to the
celestial "mountain" of God in Isa 14:13 (and indirectly to Ps

%hen T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, (London, 1919; reprint Grand

Rapids, 1979), p. 685; cf. Charles, 2:50; Henry Barclay Swete, The Apocalypse of St.
John, 3d ed. (London, 1909), p. 209; The International Standard Bible Encyclo-
pedia, 1979 ed., S.V."Armageddon," by W. W. Buechler ("the generally accepted
view"); The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., S.V."Har-Magedon," by R. J. A.
Sheriffs; The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, 1970 ed., S.V. "Har-
Magedon"; Edward Robinson, A Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament,
new ed. (New York, 1858),p. 94.
"James Hastings, ed. A Dictionary of the Bible, 1909 ed., S.V. "Har-Magedon,"
by Eberhard Nestle.
 ETYMOLOGY OF HAR -MAGEDON 71

48: 1-8), is mentioned by most commentators, but favored by few.5

Introduced as a suggestion by F. Hommel in 1890, it was rejected
by most scholars as linguistically untenable (cf., e.g., H. Gunkel),
because, as stated by Joachim Jeremias, it "does not show how we
are to explain the rendering of P in 'lg3B by y" in mageddn.6 G. R.
Beasley-Murray today judges likewise that this "speculation must
be viewed as dubious."7 For the same reason The Seventh-day
Adventist Bible Dictionary calls the assumption that har mdcZd
is the Hebrew original improbable.* In Hommel's view, Har-
Magedon refers to the world mountain of the gods in Babylonian
mythology.9 Others think of Mount Zion.

Har-Magedon and the Septuagint Version of Zechariah 12:11

It seems that another linguistic phenomenon should be con-
sidered: the generally overlooked fact that the LXX in one instance
actually paraphrases (not transliterates) the name Megiddo in its
Greek version. In Zech 12:11, the LXX renders the phrase referring
to the plain of Megiddo as en pedig ekkoptomenou, which may be
translated literally into English as, "in the plain of the cut down
[pomegranate grove]." lo This unique Greek paraphrase of Megiddo
suggests that the Jewish translators responsible for the LXX per-
ceived in Megiddo, not the Hebrew stem yiicad ("to assemble"), but

5The best defense of this application seems to be Charles C. Torrey, "Arma-

geddon," HTR 31 (1938): 237-48.
6Joachim Jeremias, "Har Magedon," TDNT 1:468; see also, idem. "Har Mage-
don," ZNW 31 (1932):77; The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1939 ed.,
s.v. "Har-Magedon," by W. Ewing; Biblisch-Theologisches Handworterbuch zur
Lutherbibel und zu neueren Uberset~un~en, 1964 ed., s.v. "Harmagedon," by Gerold
Jalpers; Funk and Wagnall's New "Standard" Bible Dictionary, 1936 ed., s.v. "Har-
Magedon," by Andrew C. Zemos; James Hastings, ed. Dictionary of the Bible, 1963
ed., s.v. "Armageddon," by S. Mathews and F. C. Grant; Calwer Bibellexikon, 1959
ed., s.v. "Harmagedon," by Rudolf Borchert.
7G. R. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, The New Century Bible Commentary (Lon-
don, 1974), p. 245.
8SDA Bible Dictionary (1979),s.v. "Armageddon."
gFritz Hommel, "Inschriftliche Glossen und Exkurse zur Genesis und zu den
Propheten," NKZ 1 (1890): 406-408.
lOThe English bishop, Charles Wordsworth discovered this fact in the LXX
version of Zech 12:ll. Commenting on Rev 16:16, he states, "The word Arma-
geddon, then, signifies a Mountain of slaughter; like that valley of decision or
72 HANS K. LARONDELLE

rather Hebrew g8dad and Aramaic g"dad, meaning "to cut down. "
This conclusion supports the interpretation of Armageddon by the
first Christian expositors (Andreas and Oecumenius) mentioned
above.

The Theological Significance of Har-Magedon

Har-Magedon, "Mount Megiddo," is the apocalyptic name in
Rev 16:16 for the place where end-time Babylon and her worldwide
kings will receive the divine judgment because of their ultimate
rebellion (i.e., war) against God (Rev 16:19-21). It stands in direct
contrast to Mount Zion in Rev 14:1 as the place of divine deli-
verance for the 144,000 faithful saints of the Israel of God. Both
Megiddo and Zion are symbolic places, to be defined theologically
in the full perspective of Israel's history in the O T ("in Hebrew").
It needs to be recounted that the environment of Megiddo has
witnessed the dramatic defeat and destruction of the Canaanite
kings through the flooding of the river Kishon in the days of
Deborah (Judg 5:19-21); the slaughter of the false prophets of Baal
in the Kishon Valley in Elijah's time (1 Kgs 18:40);l2 and the
untimely death of the misled, pious king Josiah fighting on the
plain of Megiddo, which caused the annual mourning of all the
tribes of Israel (2 Kgs 23:29; 2 Chron 35:20-25; cf. Zech 12:ll).
Austin Farrer has summed up the theological significance of Har-
Magedon most comprehensively:
So in sum, Mt. Megiddo stands in his mind for a place where
lying prophecy and its dupes go to meet their doom; where kings
and their armies are misled to their destruction; and where all the
tribes of the earth mourn, to see him in power, whom in weak-
ness they had pierced. For there the stars in their courses fight
against princes, and the floods of destruction sweep them away
(Judgesv. 19-21).13
- --

cutting off, described by the Prophet Joel (iii. 14), and it is a figurative expression
similar to that in the same Prophet, namely, the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel iii. 2.
12), or judgment of God," The New Testament o f Our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ in the Original Greek (London, 1872), 2:248.
"For an extensive review of the views of the older commentaries, see Hans K.
LaRondelle, Het Bijbelse Toekomstbeeld (Brussels, 1962), pp. 280-311, 390-392.
'*See W. H. Shea, "The Location and Significance of Armageddon in Rev
16:16,"AUSS 18 (1980): 157-162.
13AustinFarrer, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (Oxford, 1964), p. 178.
 ETYMOLOGY OF HAR-MAGEDON 73

In response to the literal application of Armageddon in the

future to the geographic location of a "Mount Megiddo" in Pales-
tine,14 two remarks can be made: First of all, a literal "Mount
Megiddo" is never mentioned in the O T and does not actually
exist. Consequently, the earliest Christian interpreters (including
Origen and Eusebius) did not see in Har-Magedon the name of a
place at all. A second, and decisive, argument against interpreting
the reference in Rev 16:16 with geographic literalism is the fact that
the OT prophets had already clearly designated the locality of the
apocalyptic struggle: namely, on the mountains and valleys around
Mount Zion (Joel 2:32; 3:l-17; Isa 29:l-7; Ezek 39:ll; Dan 1l:45;
Zech 12:2, 3, 9; 14:l-4; cf. also 4 Ezra 13:35-39).The book of Revela-
tion continues this uniform O T eschatology (Rev 14:1, 20; 20:9),
with but one theological modification: The Lamb of God deter-
mines the new-covenant fulfillment and consummation of all of
God's covenant promises and curses (see Rev 7:9- 10; 12:17; 14:12;
15:1, 2; 17:14; 19:ll; 21:9, 22, 23; 22:1, 3; cf. 2 Cor 1:20). Just as
"Mount Zion'' (Rev 14:l) is defined by the gospel as the place of
Messianic salvation (Heb 12:22-24), so "Mount Megiddo" must be
similarly defined as the place of curse and doom for the antichrist.

14C. I. Scofield and E. Schuyler English, eds., T h e New Scofield Reference Bible
(New York, 1967), pp. 1368, 1372.