It actually refers to Mt. Megiddo, a hill in north central Israel which looks out on the plain of Jezreel, where a huge battle involving many nations is thought by prophecy experts to take place just prior to the end of world history. On the hills opposite Har Megiddo sits the town of Nazareth, where Jesus lived most of His life. What takes place at Armageddon is described in the New Testament book of Revelation, chapter 16:
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.
Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.” (quoting Jesus)
Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!”
Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. (New International Version) Because of Micah 5’s second verse -- “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (New International Version) -- we had been regarding this section of scripture as fertile ground for Christmas codes, certainly not codes about the last great battle on earth. In fact, we did locate a few Christmas codes in this area of the Old Testament, but later decided that the Proverbs 15 cluster was much richer in codes about the birth of Christ.
As we again read the text of Micah 5, we began to see possible connections between it and this great battle that prophecy experts say is to take place in northern Israel, and which some believe will be interrupted by the coming of Jesus Christ to begin His rule of world peace from Jerusalem. As the text in the previous chapter, a part of the cluster, says,
He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore. (New International Version) Chapter 5 describes the nation of Israel under its all-powerful new King, speaking of the centuries between the First Century, A.D., and the latter part of the 19th century, when Israel was not occupied by the Jews, and describing what it will be like after the arrival of their Messiah, which Christian prophecy generally agrees will be during the battle of Armageddon.
Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace.
When the Assyrian invades our land and marches through our fortresses, we will raise against him seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men. They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod with drawn sword.
He will deliver us from the Assyrian when he invades our land and marches into our borders.
The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for man or linger for mankind.
The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which mauls and mangles as it goes, and no one can rescue.
Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies, and all your foes will be destroyed.
“In that day,” declares the Lord, “I will destroy your horses from among you and demolish your chariots. I will destroy the cities of your land and tear down all your strongholds. I will destroy your witchcraft and you will no longer cast spells.
I will destroy your carved images and your sacred stones from among you; you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.
I will uproot from among you your Asherah poles and demolish your cities.
I will take vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations that have not obeyed me.” (New International Version) We stumbled on this cluster by searching for the six-letter term for Armageddon, together with the four-letter term for Magog and the three-letter term for Gog. While there were 28 occasions in the Tanakh when all three terms appeared together, the Micah 5 occurrence was the strongest and best in terms of its relationship to the surface text. Once we had this beginning of a cluster, we then asked Dr. Jacobi to attempt to extend the closest terms into longer ELSs, with mixed results.
A few comments on some of the terms found. We searched for Red Heifer after one of our readers sent us an article from a Jewish publication reporting on the birth of a red heifer in Israel earlier this year. Some see this as a necessary step to bona fide sacrifice in a third temple. This is a subject that is nothing short of inflammatory to Palestinians and Moslems, because a new temple may have to be constructed on or very near the Temple Mount, location of the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam’s holiest sites.
Zubaidah refers to Abu Zubaidah, the highest known Al Qaeda figure taken captive since September 11. He is being held in an unknown location, and has allegedly been cooperating with his interrogators, which ties in to one of our most interesting post-911 ELS findings, the 27-letter code, Carry the Mountain. Zubaidah will Tell Something of Value as a Gift as the Monument of the Sect is Finished. This code crosses both Ezekiel 37 and 40 clusters.
Here is what we have found in the Micah 5 Cluster so far, using mainly the Revelation passage as a source of terms to search:
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