Zerin is seated on the brow of a rocky and very steep descent into the great and fertile valley of Jezreel, which runs down between the mountains of Gilboa and Her- mon. Lying comparatively high, it commands a wide and noble view, extending down the broad valley on the east as far as the Jordan (2 Kings ix, 17) to Beisan (Bethshean), and on the west quite across the great plain to the mountains of Carmel (1 Kings xviii, 46). It is described by Dr. Eobinson {Researches, iii, 163) as a most magnificent site for a city, which, being itself a conspicuous object in ever\' part, would naturally give its name to the whole region. In the valley directly under Zerin is a considerable foinitain, and another still larger somewhat further to the east, under the northern side of Gilboa, called Ain Jalud. There can, therefore, be little question that as in Zerin we have Jezreel, so in the valley and the fountain we have the " valley of Jez- reel" and the " fountain of Jezreel" of Scripture. Ze- rin has at present little more than twenty humble dwell- ings, mostly in ruins, and with few inhabitants. (See De Saulcy, i, 79 ; ii,306sq. ; Schwarz, p. 164 ; Thomson, ii, 180.)— Kitto.
The inhabitants of this city were called Jezreklites (Heb. Yezreeli', "'bxr in, 1 Kings xxi, 1, 4, 6, 7, 15, 16 ; 2 Kings ix, 21, 25).
Jezreel, Blood of (Q'^'Cl, i. e. bloodshed), put for the murders perpetrated by Ahab and Jehu at this place (Hos. i, 4). See below.
Jezreel, Day of (ci"', i. e.jKriod), put for the pre-
JEZREEL, DITCH OF 918 JEZREEL, VALLEY OF
of the execution of venc;eance for the atroci- I shoot o. Esdraelon, running down eastward to the Jordan, nmmittcd ( Hos. i, 5). See 3, below. This was caUed the " Valley of Jezreel ;" and Bethshan,
with the other towns in and around the valley, was orig- inally inhabited by a tierce and wavlike race who had " chariots of iron" (Josh, xvii, 1 G) . The region fell chiefly to the lot of Issachar, but neither this tribe nor its more powerful neighbor Ephraim was able to drive out the an-
cient people (xix, 18). The " valley of Jezreel" became
natural sprint/), a place where Saul encamped before the ti,p g .gno of one of the most signal victories ever achieved fatal battle of Gilboa (1 Sam. xxix, 1). Still in the , ^^y ^jjg Israelites, and of one of the most melancholy de- sanie eastern direction from Zerin are two springs, one fg^tg tjigy ever sustained. In the time of the Judges, 12 minutes from the town, the other 20 minutes (Robin- : jj^g ]\iidi'anites, Amalekites, and "children of the East" sun, Jilb. lies, iii, 1C7). This latter spring "flows from I crossed the Jordan, and "pitched in the valley of Jez- under a sort of cavern in the wall of conglomerate rock, '• ^g^i " almost covering its green pastures with their which liere forms the ba.se of Gilboa. The water is ex- ! jg^fg^ ^og^g^ and herds (Judg. vi, 33 sq.). Gideon has- cellent ; and issuing from crcviees in the rocks, it spreads | ^ j^y summoned the warriors of Israel round his standard, out at once into a tine limpid pool 40 or 50 feet in diam- I 3,-1"^ ^ook up a position on the lower slopes of Gilboa, eter, fidl of tish" (Robinson, iii, 1C8). This probably, I gi^gg ^ t^^g ",^.gu of Harod" (vii, 1; also called "the
dieted time
tics there committed (H
Jkzreel, Ditch ok (^n, Septuag. 7rpo7-£/x((7/ia), was simplv the fortification or intrenchments surrounding the city, outsitle of which Naboth was executed (1 Kings xxi,23"; comp.ver. 13). See Trench.
Jezkeei, Fouxtais of Ci';'?, alwaj-s a perennial
both from its size and situation, is the one above re ferred to. It is also probably the same as the spring (A. V. " well") of " Ilarod," where Gideon encamped be- fore his night attack on the Midianites (Judg. vii, 1). (Possibly the nearer spring may distinctively have been caUcd that of Jezreel, and the farther one that of Har- wl.) The name of Harod, " trembling," probably was taken from the " trembling" of Gideon's army (Judg. vii, S). It was the scene of successive encampments of the Crusaders and Saracens, and was called by the Chris- tians Tuhania, and by the Arabs A in Jdli'id, " the spring of (ioliath" (Robinson, i>'i6. Res. iii,G9). This last name, wliich it still bears, is derived from a tradition men- tioned by the Bordeaux Pilgrim, that here David killed Cioliath. The tradition may be a confused reminiscence of many battles fought in its neighborhood (Ritter, Jor- dan, p. 416) ; or the word may be a corruption of " Gil- ead," supposing that to be the ancient name of Gilboa, and thus explaining Judg. vii, 3, " depart from INIount Gilead" (Schwarz, p. 334). See Gi lead. According to Josephus (.!«/. viii, 15,4,0), this spring, and the pool attached to it, was the spot where Naboth and his sons were executed, where the dogs and swine licked up their blood and that of Ahab, and where the harlots bathed in the blood-stained water (Sept.). But the natural in- ference from the present text of 1 Kings xxii,38 makes the scene of these events to be the pool of Samaria. — Smith. See Naboth.