Tel Megiddo
“And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Harmagedon.”
— Revelation 16:16
Megiddo, in a sense, represents the first and the last in the Bible. It’s one of the first cities Joshua and the tribes encountered in Canaan, and according to the apostle John, Megiddo will also mark the world’s final war. Destroyed at least 25 times over the past four or five thousand years, Megiddo also represents both the resilient and power-hungry nature of humankind.
Clear back in Genesis, both of these human qualities became descriptive of Adam and Eve, as they left the cradle of Eden and entered the savage, unchartered world that lay ahead. It fascinates me, their story, and especially Eve’s story, her longing and suppression, how her experiences shaped her, how the men in her life affected her, and how her relationship with God evolved.
Eve’s story is like the source story, the metanarrative, of my own life story, and maybe of all women’s stories, in some way. All of us have yearned to love and be loved, to be forgiven, to be freed from our past, to be empowered partners, recognized for our character, creativity, strengths, skills, and proclivities. And we have all experienced, in some way, rejection, limitations, unfair expectations, burdened by obligations we didn’t choose, blanket guilt we didn’t earn, blame and shame.
It’s not that men haven’t experienced all those things, too; it’s just I’ve never been a man, that’s not been my journey, though for most of my life I can honestly say I’ve felt robbed not having that coveted “Y” gene. It’s only been recently that I’ve finally embraced the goodness of being a woman, as I slowly grew to understand Eve’s story, and to recognize how much God honors and loves women, how the Lord has accomplished heroic triumphs, and truly breathtaking achievements through women, and has always intended Eve to be as mighty and valiant as Adam. In her own way, as a woman.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
