megiddo

1 definition found

megiddo - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  Megiddo
  place of troops, originally one of the royal cities of the
  Canaanites (Josh. 12:21), belonged to the tribe of Manasseh
  (Judg. 1:27), but does not seem to have been fully occupied by
  the Israelites till the time of Solomon (1 Kings 4:12; 9:15).
  
    The valley or plain of Megiddo was part of the plain of
  Esdraelon, the great battle-field of Palestine. It was here
  Barak gained a notable victory over Jabin, the king of Hazor,
  whose general, Sisera, led on the hostile army. Barak rallied
  the warriors of the northern tribes, and under the encouragement
  of Deborah (q.v.), the prophetess, attacked the Canaanites in
  the great plain. The army of Sisera was thrown into complete
  confusion, and was engulfed in the waters of the Kishon, which
  had risen and overflowed its banks (Judg. 4:5).
  
    Many years after this (B.C. 610), Pharaohnecho II., on his
  march against the king of Assyria, passed through the plains of
  Philistia and Sharon; and King Josiah, attempting to bar his
  progress in the plain of Megiddo, was defeated by the Egyptians.
  He was wounded in battle, and died as they bore him away in his
  chariot towards Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chr. 35:22-24), and
  all Israel mourned for him. So general and bitter was this
  mourning that it became a proverb, to which Zechariah (12:11,
  12) alludes. Megiddo has been identified with the modern
  el-Lejjun, at the head of the Kishon, under the north-eastern
  brow of Carmel, on the south-western edge of the plain of
  Esdraelon, and 9 miles west of Jezreel. Others identify it with
  Mujedd'a, 4 miles south-west of Bethshean, but the question of
  its site is still undetermined.