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 road, northward from Jerusalem, and descend into the plain, perhaps by Dothan. The engagement took place in "the Valley of Megiddo" (2 Chron. xxxv. 22). The Egyptian archers in their long array, so well known from their sculptured monuments, shot at King Josiah, as he rode in state in his royal chariot, and he was sore wounded, and placed in his reserve chariot, and carried to Jerusalem to die. Dean Stanley remarks that all other notices of the battle are absorbed in this one tragical event, and the exact scene of the encounter is not known.

The position of Megiddo is not fixed very definitely in the Bible narrative. But a broad valley (as we see above) was named from the city, and the "waters of Megiddo" are also spoken of. Major Conder believes he has found the place and the name, in the large ruined site of Mujedda, at the foot of Gilboa—a mound from which fine springs burst out, with the broad valley of the Jalud river to the north. Otherwise Megiddo has been located on the Mukuttà, near Lejjun. Mr Trelawney Saunders considers it an objection to Conder's site that it is separated from the river Kishon and the town of Taanach, and cannot be made to fit in with the account of Ahaziah's flight from Jezreel (2 Kings ix. 27). The king, having been smitten at "the going up to Gur," near Ibleam, fled to Megiddo, where he died. But if Megiddo were in the Plain of Bethshean he would hardly be likely to do this, seeing that Jehu his enemy made his furious advance upon Jezreel through that plain. Besides, he fled by the way of the "garden house," En-gannim (the modern Jenin); the garden-like character of which spot is still perserved—and Jenin would not be on the route between Zerin and Mujedda.

[Authorities and Sources:—"Tent-Work in Palestine." Major Conder. "Introduction to the Survey of