If you haven’t brushed up on your Bible stories lately, this one involves a big showdown where soldiers of Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II clashed with the forces of King Josiah, a ruler of Judah and believed to be a descendant of Jesus. The battle supposedly took place at a site called Megiddo.
Up until recently, there wasn’t any physical proof that this battle actually occurred. But now, it looks like that might be changing.
What was ‘Armageddon’ in the Bible?
Most people recognize the word “Armageddon” as representing some sort of epic, final battle between good and evil. It’s shown up in everything from movies to religious sermons and is widely associated with the end of the world.
The term appears in the Book of Revelation, which says: “And they (demons) gathered the kings and armies of the world together at the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon (Armageddon).”
In ancient Greek translations of the Bible, “Har-Magedon” refers to Tel Megiddo, the exact site where the Bible says King Josiah was killed. His death is also mentioned in the Book of Kings, making this location a major Biblical hotspot.
The importance of the findings at Tel Megiddo
Dr. Assaf Kleiman, one of the co-authors of the new study, said the discovery connecting King Josiah’s death to the biblical site of Armageddon came as a major surprise for the archaeological team.
“This scenario may be linked to the biblical account about the killing of King Josiah of Judah by Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo in 609 BC,” Finkelstein noted.
“The Bible recounts the death of Josiah at Megiddo in two places,” he added.
“On this background, the new evidence for an Egyptian garrison, possibly with Greek mercenaries, at Megiddo in the late seventh century BC, may provide the background to the event.”
That brings us to the big question – how exactly does King Josiah’s death tie into the end-of-days scenario, and what role did the ancient Egyptians play in all of this?
How was Ancient Egypt involved in ‘Armageddon’?
It seems the connection may lie in the idea that King Josiah’s death at Megiddo is the very reason the site became associated with apocalyptic prophecy in the first place.
Finkelstein told LiveScience that Josiah was widely seen as a deeply spiritual leader. After his death, the idea of a future doomsday battle began to take hold in religious thinking. It would then make sense for such a final showdown to be imagined at the very place where Josiah was struck down by Egyptian forces.
“It would make sense to place the final battle out there due to Israel’s history of that location,” added Hope Bolinger from Christianity.com.