Jezreel Valley: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The Jezreel Valley is a large plain and inland valley in the north of Israel. It takes its name from the city of Jezreel, located on a low hill on the southern edge, and overlooking, the valley.

The Jezreel Valley is the location of a number of important settlements, both ancient and modern. The ancient city of Megiddo is located in the south and west of the valley. The largest modern settlement in the Jezreel Valley is the city of Afula.

The Jezreel Valley is significant to Christian believers as the site of the future Battle of Armageddon.

In the Bible, the Valley of Jezreel lies to the north of Jezreel, between the ridges of Gilboa and Moreh, an offshoot of Esdraelon, running east to the Jordan River (Joshua 17:16; Judges 6:33; Hosea 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 victory, the Israelites were here defeated by the Philistines, and Saul and Jonathan, with the flower of the army of Israel, fell (1 Samuel 31:1-6).

This name was in after ages extended to the whole of the plain of Esdraelon. It was only this plain of Jezreel and the one north of Lake Huleh that were then accessible to the chariots of the Canaanites (compare 2 Kings 9:21; 10:15).