Jezreel, Fountain of

Where Saul encamped before the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam. 29:1). In the valley under Zerin there are two considerable springs, one of which, perhaps that here referred to, "flows from under a sort of cavern in the wall of conglomerate rock which here forms the base of Gilboa. The water is excellent; and issuing from crevices in the rocks, it spreads out at once into a fine limpid pool forty or fifty feet in diameter, full of fish" (Robinson). This may be identical with the "well of Harod" (Judg. 7:1; comp. 2 Sam. 23:25), probably the Ain Jalud, i.e., the "spring of Goliath."

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Moreh, the Hill of

Probably identical with "little Hermon," the modern Jebel ed-Duhy, or perhaps one of the lower spurs of this mountain. It is a gray ridge parallel to Gilboa on the north; and between the two lay the battle-field, the plain of Jezreel (q.v.), where Gideon overthrew the Midianites (Judg. 7:1-12).

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Hareth

Thicket, a wood in the mountains of Judah where David hid when pursued by Saul (1 Sam. 22:5). It was possibly while he was here that the memorable incident narrated in 2 Sam. 23:14-17, 1 Chr. 11:16-19 occurred. This place has not been identified, but perhaps it may be the modern Kharas, on the borders of the chain of mountains some 3 miles east of Keilah.

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Jezreel

God scatters. (1.) A town of Issachar (Josh. 19:18), where the kings of Israel often resided (1 Kings 18:45; 21:1; 2 Kings 9:30). Here Elijah met Ahab, Jehu, and Bidkar; and here Jehu executed his dreadful commission against the house of Ahab (2 Kings 9:14-37; 10:1-11). It has been identified with the modern Zerin, on the most western point of the range of Gilboa, reaching down into the great and fertile valley of Jezreel, to which it gave its name. (2.) A town in Judah (Josh. 15:56), to the south-east of Hebron. Ahinoam, one of David's wives, probably belonged to this place (1 Sam. 27:3). (3.) A symbolical name given by Hosea to his oldest son (Hos. 1:4), in token of a great slaughter predicted by him, like that which had formerly taken place in the plain of Esdraelon (comp. Hos. 1:4, 5).

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Jezreel, Valley of

Lying on the northern side of the city, between the ridges of Gilboa and Moreh, an offshoot of Esdraelon, running east to the Jordan (Josh. 17:16; Judg. 6:33; Hos. 1:5). It was the scene of the signal victory gained by the Israelites under Gideon over the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the "children of the east" (Judg. 6:3). Two centuries after this the Israelites were here defeated by the Philistines, and Saul and Jonathan, with the flower of the army of Israel, fell (1 Sam. 31:1-6). This name was in after ages extended to the whole of the plain of Esdraelon (q.v.). It was only this plain of Jezreel and that north of Lake Huleh that were then accessible to the chariots of the Canaanites (comp. 2 Kings 9:21; 10:15).

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Azal

(Zech. 14:5) should perhaps be rendered "very near" = "the way of escape shall be made easy." If a proper name, it may denote some place near the western extremity of the valley here spoken of near Jerusalem.

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Beth-jeshimoth

House of wastes, or deserts, a town near Abel-shittim, east of Jordan, in the desert of Moab, where the Israelites encamped not long before crossing the Jordan (Num. 33:49; A.V., "Bethjesimoth"). It was within the territory of Sihon, king of the Amorites (Josh. 12:3).