Battle of Har-Magedon

Kings gather at a place called “Har-Magedon” for the war of the great day of God pantokrator (Revelation 16:12-16). If we put aside our assumptions about this scene and follow the threads indicated by the text, what can we say about this battle?

One clue lies in the identification of the first group of kings as kings “those from the rising of the sun” (ton apo anatoles heliou, v. 12). There’s another reference to the sun in the immediate context, the scorching sun of the fourth bowl that burns men with fire (vv. 8-9). The kings who come from the sunrise are coming from that scorching sun, accompanying the sun. They are sun kings.

Another clue lies in the the phrasing of verse 12. The Euphrates is dried up to “prepare a way” for the kings to cross. That scene itself evokes exodus and Isaiah’s new exodus, the return from exile, as well as Abraham’s original journey to Canaan from “beyond the river.” The kings from the sunrise cross into the land like Joshua entering the land for conquest, or like Israel, whose way was prepared when they left Egypt (Exodus 23:20). There are echoes of the gospels’ mashup of Isaiah and Malachi (cf. Mark 1:2 with Isaiah 40:3-4 and Malachi 3:1).

The kings come from the sun and they come across a prepared way. And that takes us to Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God, and part of that declaration is the fact that the Lord placed a tabernacle for the sun in the sky (v. 4). From that tent, the sun comes out every morning to run his course, exuberant as a bridegroom (vv. 5-6). In Psalm 19, we have a way for the sun; in Revelation 16, we have a way prepared for kings from the sun. In Psalm 19, the sun is a bridegroom running his course; could the kings of Revelation 16 be friends of the bridegroom, friends of the sun?

That suggestion fits neatly into Revelation. The Hebrew name “Har-Magedon” appears to mean “Mountain of Assembly” or “Mountain of Feasting” (taking magedon a variation of mo’ed, “appointed time”). Besides, the battle is never joined in Revelation 16. Two armies are gathered, but they don’t do anything. We only see a battle take place after the city falls, when Jesus goes out conquering with the sword from his mouth, accompanied by white-robed followers (19:11-16). He goes out as a warrior; He goes out as a Bridegroom-Warrior, who has just issued an invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb (19:9). Those who accompany Him in their bright robes are the friends of the Bridegroom, the dazzling sun kings who rose through the heavens with the Sun.

A tissue of speculations, perhaps, and a few paragraphs cannot unravel the millions of words written about this passage over the centuries. But perhaps a line of inquiry worthy of further investigation: The battle of Har-Magedon is the end of the world, but it is the end of the world that comes every time the kings from the sunrise gather to celebrate the wedding feast and then follow the Bridegroom as He marches out to conquer with the Word of His mouth.