Healing Well of Miriam

When anyone thinks of the End of Days, his thoughts go to Armageddon, the final battle that has been spoken of, preached about, and dreaded for generations.  The idea of “End Times” wars is not quite so simple, and not completely in the future.  The battle spoken of by the Prophet Ezekiel is Gog and Magog, during which it is said that the nations of the world will come up against Israel and be defeated by the forces of Heaven.  However, there is a battleground in Israel that has been the focus of historically changing events.  It is called Megiddo, which in Greek is Armageddon.   Battles in this place have been called the beginning of war, historically, and the end of war, prophetically.

In the 15^th century BC Pharaoh Thutmose III led Egyptian forces against a coalition of Canaanite vassal states to subdue their rebellion.  Historians place the timing of the battle in either 1482 BC or 1479 BC.

In 609 BC Pharaoh Necho was leading his army to battle against the king of Assyria.  The route passed through the territory of Judea, and King Josiah refused to give the Egyptians passage.   In that battle at Megiddo King Josiah was killed (II Kings 23:29-30).  With King Josiah’s death, the reprieve for Judea expired, and the kingdom fell to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who destroyed the First Temple and carried the people into captivity. 

The modern Battle of Megiddo was fought during World War I in September of 1918 from the 19th to the 25th. The Ottoman Empire lost control of the Holyland to the British forces under General Allenby on Wednesday, 25 September 1918, which was the fifth day of Sukkot, 19 Tishrei, 5679.  

It is very important to note that the readings during the Holiday of Sukkot include the passage from Ezekiel concerning the Battle of Gog and Magog—Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.  Also quite noteworthy is that the gematria of Gog and Magog in Hebrew is 70, which is the number associated with the Nations.  It has been said that the battle of Gog and Magog would come in three stages:  World War I, World War II, and the war at the end of time. With that in mind, it has also been said that World War I prepared the Land for the Jews, and World War II prepared the Jews for the Land.  Clearly, the tragedies of World War II changed minds in the world to bring about the founding of the State of Israel.  By looking at history with the understanding of the words of the Prophets, we can see the judgments and movements of Heaven’s Courts.  This is also true with current events—the words of the Torah and the Prophets are born out before our eyes, making us witnesses to the Truth of God’s Word to us.  

In 1991 there was an international coalition against Iraq after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in August of 1990.  He had claimed to be the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar, and there were some very interesting parallels.  There was a billboard in Baghdad of him in full Babylonian regal dress, posing as the emperor, implying that he felt entitled (and perhaps divinely appointed) to re-establish the Babylonian Empire.  Desert Storm began in January of 1991 with air assaults on Baghdad.  True to his word, Iraq shot the first missile at Israel the following night.  This war ended on Purim day.  However, with the missile launchers in western Iraq still intact, the war didn’t really seem to be over, just that first battle.  Even after Saddam Hussein’s capture, trial, and execution in 2006, the regional unrest continued, suggesting the first Gulf War was either a prelude to, or the first installment of,  a protracted final battle of Gog and Magog.   

On Wednesday, November 22, 1995, at 6:15am there was a 7.3 earthquake that was felt from Damascus to Cairo.  At the time my family was living in the Judean Desert mountains over the Jordan Valley, so we definitely felt that shake our house. That evening I was listening to the news, that headed with the reporting of the earthquake.  Right after that, the news was that the first international observers had arrived in Jenin (in northern Israel) for the Palestinian elections.  I jumped out of my chair to find my TaNaKH, thinking of Ezekiel’s words!— “It shall be on that day, that day that Gog comes against the soil of Israel…on that day a great earthquake will take place upon the soil of Israel (38:18-19).”

Stories of modern Israel’s wars are filled with accounts of miracles of divine protection, recalling the promises of the Torah and Prophets.  Even against seemingly impossible odds and through the most dire of circumstances, Israel has come through victorious.  So it was with the Gulf War, during which the missiles hit empty buildings and vacant lots.  The scuds that had killed thousands in Iraq’s war with Iran killed one person in Israel with a direct hit.  The wars of the End of Days have filled generations of hearts dread and terror.  Yet, the real message is one of true triumph of justice and the will of Heaven on earth.