The Valley of Jezreel
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The Midianites cross the Jordan and camp in the Valley of Jezreel, and Gideon's test begins.
Jezreel is the broad plain between Galilee and the central hills, the granary of the north and the corridor of armies. Gideon fought there; Ahab kept a palace there; Naboth died for a there; Jehu's coup was executed there. Hosea turns the name, God sows, into both sentence and promise.
The great triangular plain across the north: Gideon's victory, Ahab's palace road, Jehu's fury, and the armies' highway of every age.
- the Valley of Jezreel, the plain of Megiddo, Esdraelon (Greek)
- The Jezreel valley · Israel
Every army moving between Egypt and the north crossed this plain; its edges saw more battles than any other ground in the land. Megiddo, at its western pass, gave its name to Armageddon.
- Judges 6:33 The Midianites cross the Jordan and camp in the Valley of Jezreel, and Gideon's test begins.
- Judges 7:1 Gideon's three hundred camp by the spring of Harod
- 1 Kings 21:1-3 Naboth's vineyard in Jezreel beside Ahab's palace
- 2 Kings 9:16-26 Jehu drives furiously to Jezreel, and Jezebel falls
- Hosea 1:4-5 Judgment for the blood of Jezreel
What we know
Certain
- The plain's identity and its strategic role are secure; Megiddo's excavated gates and stables match the biblical fortress city.