Colonel David Hansen (Ret.)a
UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF GEOGRAPHY IN BIBLICAL STUDY
Scale model of Meggido (in the Meggido museum) from about the time of Ahab.
Megiddo! An important city for all of recorded history. The very name elicits excitement. Writers like Michener, who used Megiddo as a model for his fictional Tell Makor in The Source, and Bible scholars have been captivated by the events which comprise its long and colorful past.
Megiddo’s importance as a future battleground is inferred in the New Testament: Armageddon is the place of God’s final victory over the forces of the world (Rev 16:16). And, for readers of this magazine, Megiddo offers an excellent example of the geographic influences in the establishment of ancient cities.
Since earliest times, people with mutual commercial or agricultural interests have searched for naturally occurring defensive locations where they could safely pursue their enterprises. Towns were constructed to protect the inhabitants from unfriendly
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 85
friendly neighbors and marauding armies. Considerations which prompted the early settlers to select town sites have not changed over the centuries and many of the most favorable locations grew to great size. Megiddo is one such place and it attests that “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” [Eccl 1:9 (NIV)]
Unlike many ancient cities, much of Megiddo’s history is known. Thus, Megiddo makes an excellent case study of the military significance of cities in the Bible. Its revealed history is so exhaustive that we know Megiddo was the target of one of the first recorded campaigns by a military conqueror. A tomb inscription from the Early Bronze Age describes how an Egyptian general, Weni, a commander under the Pharaoh Pepi I (ca 2325–2275 BC), invaded the area in which Megiddo lies. Weni’s tomb inscription describes how he found fortified towns, excellent vineyards and fine orchards. Weni campaigned at least four more times around Megiddo and put down “insurrections” there, probably local farmers chafing under the oppressive Egyptian rule.1
In succeeding centuries, Megiddo continued to attract Egyptian military operations. It is the site of the world’s earliest battle for which any detailed record exists. A well-preserved battle description is carved on the walls of the Temple of Karnak and shows how Pharaoh Thutmose III, one of Egypt’s greatest sovereigns and her finest military strategist, fought a coalition of Syrian princes there in 1469 BC.
History has continued to record famous and infamous leaders and nations who have campaigned in and around Megiddo: Philistines, King Saul, Ahab, Romans, Greeks, Crusaders, Saracens, Napoleon and the World War I British General, Allenby, who was so proud of his victory at Megiddo that, upon being elevated to nobility, assumed the title Viscount Allenby of Megiddo.2
What made Megiddo so important that it has been the focus of military activities for millennia? Yohanan Aharoni provides a framework for investigating this question. In his comprehensive historical geography of the Holy Land, he lists four reasons early settlers chose a particular piece of terrain.3
They are:
• Thoroughfares: Important towns flourished along the main lines of travel and their principal intersections.
• Strategic locations: Hills or other geographic features which would provide protection to the settlers and could be fortified.
• Water sources: Accessibility of, or to, a water supply.
• Agricultural lands: Economies from earliest times have been based upon agriculture; thus, the nearness of fertile fields has been important.
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 86
Examining each of Aharoni’s points, as they pertain to Megiddo, helps to illustrate the city’s commercial and military significance.
Thoroughfares
To appreciate the role of Megiddo in controlling ancient trade routes, it should be remembered that the Arabian desert east of Canaan is a formidable obstacle to travel. Merchants, pilgrims (like Biblical Abraham), and armies have avoided the inhospitable desert by taking a circuitous route through the Fertile Crescent,4 the western terminus of which is Egypt, the eastern in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf. Military strategists have long recognized the importance of the geographic region known as Palestine, or Canaan, because it channels international traffic along the narrow coast of the Mediterranean Sea and through mountain passes easily controlled by highway robbers and defending armies.5
One of these passes, the so-called “Megiddo Pass,” is south of the modern city of Haifa and cuts through the Carmel Mountains by way of a narrow, five-mile-long ravine, the Wadi ‘Arah. The northern exit of Wadi ‘Arah opens onto the Valley of Jezreel, with its lush eastern plain called Esdraelon, Greek for “Jezreel.” George Adam Smith, in his classic description of the Holy Land, explains the strategic significance of the Esdraelon Plain by making reference to its five passes (one of which is the Wadi ‘Arah).
With our eyes on these five entrances, and remembering that they are not merely glens into neighbouring provinces, but passes to the sea and to the desert — gates on the great road between the empires of Euphrates and Nile, between the continents of Asia and Africa — we are ready for the arrival of those armies of all nations whose almost ceaseless contests have rendered this plain the classic battleground of Scripture. Was ever an arena so simple, so regulated for the spectacle of war? Esdraelon is a vast theater, with its clearly-defined stage, with its proper exits and entrances.6
A half-mile northwest of the wadi’s exit onto the Plain of Esdraelon is Tell el-Mutesellim, the hill upon which lies the ruins of the city-for-tress, Megiddo. From the tell the entire Esdraelon Valley can be seen. The hill also overlooks the intersection of two ancient routes which converge at the entrance to the Wadi ‘Arah, roads still in use today. One road connects eastern Canaan with the ancient port of Acco. The other road, the one which goes through the Wadi ‘Arah or the “Megiddo Pass,” is the route from Mesopotamia to Egypt.
Pharaoh Thutmoses III, mentioned earlier, has left us a description of how he attacked the coalition of Syrian armies at Megiddo. The 300 Syrian princes and their chariot armies had assembled to halt Thutmoses’ invasion. The Pharaoh’s report says he approached the Megiddo Pass from the south and paused to seek military counsel from his generals. Although the route through the wadi was the most direct approach to the Esdraelon Plain and Megiddo, it was clearly the most dangerous. Traversing it would require Thutmose’s large army to go “single-file”,7 stringing out his elements and making them vulnerable to attacks and ambushes. Thutmoses’ commanders, well aware of the danger, advised, “How is it possible to march upon this road which
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 87
becomes narrower. .. ? Will not horse go behind horse, the troops and the people likewise?”8
Thutmose considered his generals’ advice to avoid the pass and use two other, less treacherous, passes northwest and southeast of Megiddo. After contemplating their recommendations to avoid the Megiddo Pass, he ordered his army to attack straight though it! His audacity succeeded because the enemy armies, certain he would take the less dangerous routes, had set ambushes at the very passes Thutmoses’ generals had urged him to use. By unexpectedly emerging from the Wadi ‘Arah, Thutmose surprised the Syrians who fled in panic toward the safety of Megiddo’s walls and escaped annihilation only because Pharaoh’s army paused to loot the deserted camp.
Fought a half century before the Israelites entered the “Promised Land,” Thutmoses’ battle is arresting in its detail and illustrates Megiddo’s critical location at the junction of major international highways and a strategic mountain pass. The importance of the “Megiddo Pass” as an entryway to northern Canaan has not diminished over the centuries. Josiah, a king of Israel, lost his life defending the Megiddo Pass from
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 88
an Egyptian Army (609 BC) (2 Chr 35:22–24). During the First World War (1918 AD), General Allenby’s cavalry rushed through the “Megiddo Pass” (the strategy used by Pharaoh Thutmose III), surprising the pass’ defenders. Allenby was then able to encircle and defeat the fleeing Turkish army and its German advisors. Surely, in strategy and tactics, there is “.. . nothing new under the sun.”
Strategic
Archaeologists have found evidence of occupation at Megiddo dating back 5, 000 years. From the time of its earliest settlers, protection was a major preoccupation of those who controlled the hill. As we have learned, due to their location on one the most important road systems of the ancient Near Eastern world, Megiddo’s inhabitants were often subjected to attacks as armies attempted to gain control of the strategic thoroughfares and the road through the pass.
Many invaders unsuccessfully tried to dislodge the defenders of Megiddo. As described previously, Thutmose’s surprise attack through the Megiddo Pass caused the Syrian army to withdraw to the city walls. Unable to breach the walls after seven months, and wanting to return to Egypt, the Pharaoh signed a peace accord which lasted three years.
Thutmose was not the only commander who failed to penetrate Megiddo’s fortifications. Joshua was unable to reduce Megiddo as he did Hazor, Jericho and Ai.b Joshua, after destroying many of the Canaanite armies, allotted the territory in which Megiddo was located to the tribe of Manasseh. “But Manasseh did not drive out the people of. .. Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.” (Jgs 1:27 NIV). Megiddo was to remain in Canaanite hands until the time of Solomon (l Kgs 4:12 and 5:19).
Why were Megiddo’s fortifications so difficult to assault? Archaeologists have found that during most of the 2nd millennium BC, Megiddo was a flourishing town, deep in Canaanite territory, with strong walls and city gates. They have also discovered that the largest city wall, constructed in the Early Bronze period (EB II), was 25 feet thick with stone foundations preserved to a height of over 12 feet.9 Yigael Yadin, in a brilliant piece of detective work, discovered more walls, fortification systems and a gate built during King Solomon’s reign. The extensive walls, of considerable thickness and height, suggest that Megiddo was nearly impregnable from earliest times and the fact that many of history’s greatest military commanders were unable to destroy the city supports that
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 89
One-half of the six-chambered Meggido city gate from the time of Solomon.
conclusion.
Water Source
Placing a city on a hill may have helped early settlers feel more secure, but it complicated their problems of getting water. Then, as today, easy access to water was a primary consideration in establishing a city. However, in time of war, people also needed to insure their water supply. Few hills had water sources on, or near, their top. Springs, farther down the hillside or at the hill’s base, were necessarily outside the city walls and susceptible to capture. Inhabitants took great pains to protect, camouflage and conceal spring entrances from the prying eyes of an enemy.
Although Megiddo’s choice as a settlement was determined by its hill location, the fact that there was an ample spring at the base of the hill was also important. Unfortunately for the settlers, the spring was located far below, and outside of, the natural terrain features upon which the walls were to be built. As a result, Megiddo’s residents devised ingenious methods of protecting access to the spring’s water in times of war.
There is still evidence of several water systems at Megiddo. The earliest one, a step system cut from the base of the hill to the spring chamber, dates from before the 10th century BC. The next, probably constructed during Solomon’s reign in the 10th century BC, was a stairway cut diagonally from inside the city walls down to the spring. This stairway was subsequently covered with a wooden roof and camouflaged with dirt. By digging under the walls, this stairway connected the earlier step system outside the walls.
The most recent system, constructed about the time of King Ahab (9th century BC), consisted of a 115-foot shaft dug inside the city walls. A 200-foot tunnel was constructed which connected the deep shaft to the spring’s chamber at the base of the hill. To prevent observation of the spring, the old steps were blocked
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 90
Interior of the water tunnel at Meggido which was cut through the bedrock to allow passage to the spring from inside the city walls.
Sign with diagram of the Meggido water system. Note the tunnel with descending steps cut through bedrock from inside the city wall. From Solomon’s time or earlier.
with a wall and access to the spring could then be gained from inside the city walls by descending the shaft and walking through the tunnel.10
Today, these systems have been excavated. Visitors to Megiddo can
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 91
climb down the 115-foot shaft and follow the tunnel to the spring. The modern explorer exits the spring’s chamber by the older steps from which Ahab’s walls have been removed. It is a moving experience to descend the steps and walk the 3,000-year-old tunnel. For those who do, it is a vivid lesson of how much labor and engineering knowledge was required to build such an underground complex. That so much energy went into this enterprise confirms the assumption that securing water was important to Megiddo’s survival and emphasizes the difficulty of combining a defensible location with accessibility of water. By the time of the Romans, Megiddo’s inhabitants were no longer able to protect the spring and, as a result, the city’s value as a defensive location declined and it fell into disuse.
Agricultural Lands
Earlier, we mentioned that Egypt’s General Weni campaigned in the Jezreel Valley 4200 years ago and admired its vineyards and orchards. The Valley’s ancient reputation for agricultural fertility is further seen in the Hebrew translation of Jezreel, “God sows.” Aharoni’s description of the Jezreel Valley includes this statement: “The importance of the Jezreel Valley lies in its rich alluvial soil and the principal branches of the Via Maris which crossed it in several directions.”11 It is interesting that Aharoni mentions the Valley’s agricultural significance before mentioning its geographic location astride major traffic arteries.
At the turn of this century, Adam Smith wrote an eyewitness account of the Holy Land. As Smith stood on Mount Gilboa, he described the Valley spread out before him:
The valley was green with bush and dotted by white villages. .. . But the rest of the plain [was] a great expanse of loam, red and black, which in a more peaceful land would be one sea of waving wheat with island villages; but has mostly been what its modern name implies, a free, wild prairie, upon which one or two hamlets ventured forth from the cover of the hills. . .12
Many of the first Jewish settlers in the early part of the 20th century came to this valley and turned Smith’s “prairie” into a rich and productive garden and later editions of Smith’s geography listed Jewish settlements in Palestine. Interestingly, most of the first settlements were found in this valley.13 Like the early settlers of ancient times, modern farmers discovered the climate, soil and water were capable of growing crops and feeding stock. Further, the nearby hills provided a convenient place to establish homes.
Although these comments about the agricultural fertility of the Jezreel Valley probably do not bring the same excitement as accounts of battles and warriors, the valley’s agricultural potential has been, nonetheless, essential in the selection of Megiddo as a homesite throughout history.
Megiddo A Prototype
The hill upon which Megiddo was built has provided a strong defensive location, with ample fresh water, to those who farmed the valley’s rich soils or did business with merchants and travelers on the ancient roads at the hill’s base. It was a military objective because of its strategic location, close to the entrance of the Wadi ‘Arah on the major route to Egypt from Mesopotamia. As armies
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 92
marched against it, the inhabitants increased their security by erecting stronger walls, providing storage facilities, and later hiding their water source.
Megiddo, as a prototype, helps us to understand other ruins that dot the landscape of the Holy Land. Their Biblical names may seem obscure, but every name has its own exciting story to tell. Towns were not settled by chance. Selected by their inhabitants, the cities prospered or decayed because of the location’s ability to fulfill one, or all, of the four factors we have discussed.
Picture of the Meggido Pass taken in 1909. This is the Wadi ‘Arah about one mile southwest of the valley’s northern exit. The road was just a trail then.
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 93
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue “Armageddon.” (Rev 16:16, KJV)
Picture taken from the same spot in 1985. The valley has been developed in the meantime and a modern highway constructed.