Hadadrimmon

Biblical Text

Hadadrimmon appears only once, in Zechariah 12:11. Zechariah 12 prophesies that "in that day" there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem. The place name occurs in a simile comparing that mourning to an earlier one: "In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon" (Zechariah 12:11, KJV). The following verses, 12:12–14, state that the family of the house of David, the family of the house of Nathan, the family of the house of Levi, and the family of Shimei will each mourn apart, and their wives apart. The text does not explain what mourning took place at Hadadrimmon; it simply assumes that the reader already knows of the event.

Background

The first element of the name, "Hadad," is known to be the name of a storm god worshiped in ancient Syria and Aram. "Rimmon" was likewise used as the name of a deity worshiped by the Arameans, as in "the house of Rimmon" mentioned by Naaman in 2 Kings 5:18. For this reason, many scholars regard Hadadrimmon as a place name derived from the names of this deity. It is also frequently noted that "Rimmon" is identical to the Hebrew word for pomegranate.

Megiddo was a strategic site on the southwestern edge of the Jezreel Valley. Because it lay on a major route, it became a battlefield many times. The exact location of Hadadrimmon has not been identified. The fourth-century scholar Jerome is reported to have identified it with a place near Jezreel then called Maximianopolis. Some scholars connect it with a present-day village south of Megiddo, but this is not the consensus view.

Interpretation and Debate

There are two main views on what the mourning of Hadadrimmon refers to.

• Mourning for the death of Josiah: Josiah, king of Judah, was killed at Megiddo while fighting Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt (2 Kings 23:29–30; 2 Chronicles 35:20–24). Second Chronicles 35:25 records that Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and that "all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel." Both the location at Megiddo and the enduring national mourning fit the passage. For this reason, Jewish interpretive tradition and many Protestant commentaries follow this view.
• Ritual lament for a deity: Some scholars take "Hadad" and "Rimmon" as divine names and understand the passage as referring to the wailing of a pagan cult for a fertility god believed to die and rise again each year. The women weeping for Tammuz in Ezekiel 8:14 are cited as a comparable example. However, there is little in the text to support this view directly.

In either case, the central point of the text is that the mourning of Hadadrimmon was a well-known standard of extreme grief. The text says nothing further about the specific circumstances.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

This mourning is connected with the immediately preceding verse, Zechariah 12:10. In that verse God says that He will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem "the spirit of grace and of supplications," and that "they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son." The New Testament applies this passage to the cross of Jesus. John 19:37 cites these words in connection with the death of Jesus, whose side was pierced with a spear, and Revelation 1:7 says that at the Second Coming those who pierced Him and all kindreds of the earth will wail because of Him. For this reason, Protestant commentaries often read the mourning of Hadadrimmon as an image of the deep, repentant sorrow of those who come to recognize the Messiah.