Verse 16
16. And he Rather they, referring to the spirits of devils, Revelation 16:14. It is the three demons who go as envoys to the kings of the earth, to form alliance and compact their forces against the divine invasion.
Gathered them The success is gained, the alliance formed, and the armies are gathered.
Armageddon A symbolic name invented by St. John and nowhere else found. Ar is the Greek form of the Hebrew har, mountain; and Mageddon is the Greek form of the Hebrew Megiddo. Megiddo was the scene of the great defeat of Sisera by Deborah and Barak, celebrated in Hebrew poetry by the song of Deborah, and thence traditionally glorious as the scene of a great victory for Jehovah. Our seer elevates it, though a plain, into a mountain, as symbol of the pre-eminence of the future conflict.
All this indicates that the place is symbolical. When the day of this battle comes, the world will include not Europe alone, but America, Asia, and even Africa. The cities of the nations, Revelation 16:19, fall in the catastrophe with Babylon. We are not at all required to expect that such a contest will be decided in a single spot on the plain of Esdraelon or anywhere else.
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