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		Hill of Moreh Photos Scriptures ref.

Hill of Moreh - location profile

Location and Setting

• The Hill of Moreh, also called "Little Hermon" because its profile resembles that of Mount Hermon, is located in the eastern part of the Jezreel Plain.
• This "Hill of the Teacher" lies about half way between the Nazareth Ridge and Mount Tabor on the north and Mount Gilboa on the south. It is separated from Mount Gilboa by the Harod Valley, a distance of three to four miles.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• When the Midianites invaded the Valley of Harod from the east during the period of the Judges, they camped between the Hill of Moreh and Mount Gilboa (Judg 7:1).
• In preparation for his night attack on the Midianites, Gideon divided his men into three groups (Judg 7:16). It is likely that he deployed one contingent on the Hill of Moreh, another on Mount Gilboa, and one between them, at the western entrance to the valley. When the signal was given, this strategy would have produced a semicircle of lights and sounds, causing the Midianites to retreat in panic down the valley to the Jordan.
• Near the northeastern side of the hill was En-dor, the home of the medium the desperate king Saul consulted before his battle with the Philistines near Jezreel. To reach it, he was forced to secretly circle the eastern end of the Hill of Moreh, a distance of almost ten miles.
• Shunem was located near the base of the south side of the Hill of Moreh, toward its western end. From Shunem, Jezreel, the summer residence of Ahab and Jezebel a generation later, was easily visible just four miles across the valley. At Shunem, Elisha raised the young son of the couple who had hosted him.
• Nain was located on the north side of the Hill of Moreh, about three miles around its western end from Shunem. Jesus had traveled some twenty miles from Capernaum to Nain, to raise a young man and give him back to his widowed mother. This event may have evoked memories in the mourners of that other raising of a dead son of a mother that had occurred centuries before but just an hour’s walk away at Shunem.

Bibliography

1. Gunner, R.A.H. and F.F. Bruce. "Moreh" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.
2. Verhoef, P.A. "Moreh, Hill of" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.