Location and Setting
- Jezreel lies at the western
end of Mount Gilboa, where it slopes down to the level of the Valley
of Jezreel. The city overlooks the whole plain to the north and west.
- The city’s name, meaning "God sows," was perhaps a reference to the
fertility of the region. Subsequent events would provide another kind of reference for the
name: the sowing of the seeds of idolatry for which Ahab and Jezebel would reap the awful
fruit of their bloody deaths.
- The surrounding valley, or plain, which bears the name of the city, is the largest in
Israel. Its fertility and abundant water made it "the breadbasket" of the land,
supplying local needs and producing enough grain and vegetables for export. It was this
fruitfulness that made the area desirable to invaders like the Midianites in the period of
the Judges.
- Jezreel also attracted Ahab, a king of the Northern Kingdom in the mid-ninth century
B.C., and his wife Jezebel. Its location on the road that linked the International Coastal
Highway in the plain to Ramoth-gilead on the Transjordanian Highway provided a strategic
base for Ahab’s wars with the Arameans (Syrians) of Damascus.
Historical and Biblical Significance
- Jezreel was allotted to the tribe of Issachar (Josh 19:18).
- Saul and his army camped near Jezreel in preparation for their battle with the
Philistines, who had stationed themselves across the Harod Valley near Shunem (1 Sam
28:4). Saul had led his men to that strategic place on the eastern branch of the
International Coastal Highway to try to retake it from the Philistines. Their control of
this route had effectually cut off the northern tribes from Saul’s control and
protection.
- Saul and three of his sons died on Mount Gilboa, probably on the western slope to the
south of Jezreel. If he had hoped that God would intervene for him, as He had for Gideon
there, he was disappointed. Gideon was a man obedient to God; Saul was self-ruled.
- Some two hundred years later, Ahab built a summer palace at Jezreel. His neighbor,
Naboth, owned a fruitful vineyard nearby on land he had inherited from his ancestors. The
king coveted that vineyard, craving it for his vegetable garden (1 Kings 21). His queen
from Sidon, Jezebel, devised a conspiracy that led to Naboth’s death and gave the
vineyard to Ahab. Elijah’s prophecy of God’s judgment on each of the royal pair
was fulfilled in gruesome detail, dogs licking the king’s blood from his battle
chariot and dogs crunching the bones of the queen (1 Kgs 22:37-38; 2 Kgs 9:30-37).
- At Ramoth-gilead, another drama was unfolding. Commanded by God, Elisha had anointed
Jehu, a captain in Israel’s army as king. His assignment was to destroy the line of
Ahab and eliminate Baal worship (2 Kgs 9:1-10). As he rode "furiously" down from
Gilead, across the Jordan, and up the Harod Valley, he was quickly identified by the
watchman guarding Jezreel. From an observation post, the watchman would have had a clear
view down the valley along the northern slopes of Mount Gilboa. This herald of Jehu’s
approach was the beginning of an eventual change of Israel’s dynasties (2 Kgs
9:16-20).
Bibliography
- Alden, R.L. "Jezreel" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible.
Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
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