Reference: Jezreel
Easton
God scatters. (1.) A town of Issachar (Jos 19:18), where the kings of Israel often resided (1Ki 18:45; 21:1; 2Ki 9:30). Here Elijah met Ahab, Jehu, and Bidkar; and here Jehu executed his dreadful commission against the house of Ahab (2Ki 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 (Jos 15:56), to the south-east of Hebron. Ahinoam, one of David's wives, probably belonged to this place (1Sa 27:3).
(3.) A symbolical name given by Hosea to his oldest son (Ho 1:4), in token of a great slaughter predicted by him, like that which had formerly taken place in the plain of Esdraelon (comp. Ho 1:4-5).
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And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's widow.
And it came to pass in a little while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, near by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had defended Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael king of Syria. But king Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If this is your mind, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel. read more. So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram. And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? turn you behind me. And the watchman reported, saying, The messenger came to them, but he comes not back again. Then he sent out a second on horseback, who came to them, and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What have you to do with peace? turn you behind me. And the watchman reported, saying, He came even unto them, and comes not back: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously. And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and struck Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot. Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take him up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him; Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, says the LORD; and I will repay you in this plot, says the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plot of ground, according to the word of the LORD. But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Shoot him also in the chariot. And they did so at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulcher with his fathers in the city of David. And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. And when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and adorned her head, and looked out at a window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trod her under foot. And when he had come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter. And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. Therefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the territory of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as refuse upon the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying, Now as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and armor; read more. Choose the best and fittest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house. But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand? And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the guardians of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants, and will do all that you shall bid us; we will not make any king: do you that which is good in your eyes. Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If you are mine, and if you will hearken unto my voice, take you the heads of the men, your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up. And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel. And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning. And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, You are righteous: indeed, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these? Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD has done that which he spoke by his servant Elijah. So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his close associates, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass on that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
Hastings
The Hebrew name from which is derived the name of the Plain of Esdraelon (see Esdraelon). The plain is called 'the Valley of Jezreel' in Jos 17:16; Jg 6:33; Ho 1:5.
1. Primarily, however, it denotes an Important city overlooking the Plain on the south in the border of the tribe of Issachar. Here, by 'the fountain of Jezreel'
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But the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and its villages, and they who are in the valley of Jezreel.
Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.
David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites encamped by a fountain which is in Jezreel.
And made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.
Baana the son of Ahilud; in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is by Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jokmeam:
And it came to pass in a little while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, near by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
And these were the sons of the father of Etam; Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash: and the name of their sister was Hazelelponi:
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass on that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
And the earth shall answer with grain, and wine, and oil; and they shall answer Jezreel.
Morish
Jez'reel
1. Descendant of 'the father of Etam.' 1Ch 4:3. (Six Hebrew MSS, the LXX, and the Vulgate read 'sons' instead of 'father.')
2, 3. Symbolical name both of the son of Hosea and of Israel. Ho 1:4,11. Jezreel is interpreted both 'God scatters' and 'God sows.' Ho 1:4 refers to judgement upon the house of Jehu and the house of Israel; and Ho 1:11 to blessing, when of both Israel and Judah it will be said, "Ye are the sons of the living God." Then "great shall be the day of Jezreel:" cf. Ho 2:22-23; "I will sow her unto me in the earth." Then God will say to her, "Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God."
4. City of Judah, from whence David married Ahinoam. Jos 15:56; 1Sa 25:43;
5. City in Issachar, the abode of Ahab and Jezebel, and principally connected with their history. It was the scene of Jezebel's tragical end. Jos 19:18; 2Sa 2:9; 4:4; 1Ki 18:45-46; 21:1,23; 2Ki 8:29; 9:10-37; 10:1-11. Identified with Zerin, 32 34' N, 35 19' E.
6. The extensive valley or plain in which the last-named city was situated, in southern Galilee. It has been called the battle-field of Palestine. It was where Barak triumphed, and where Josiah was defeated, Jg 5:19; 2Ch 35:22
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But the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and its villages, and they who are in the valley of Jezreel.
The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.
Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.
And these were the sons of the father of Etam; Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash: and the name of their sister was Hazelelponi:
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass on that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
And the earth shall answer with grain, and wine, and oil; and they shall answer Jezreel.
And the earth shall answer with grain, and wine, and oil; and they shall answer Jezreel. And I will sow her for myself in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them who were not my people, you are my people; and they shall say, you are my God.
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Smith
Jez're-el
(seed of God), a descendant of the father or founder of Etam, of the line of Judah.
(B.C. about 1445).
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And these were the sons of the father of Etam; Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash: and the name of their sister was Hazelelponi:
Watsons
JEZREEL, a royal city of the kings of Israel, who sometimes resided here as well as at Samaria. Ahab, in particular, is known to have made this his residence: near to whose palace was the vineyard of the unfortunate Naboth. The name of Jezreel was by the Greeks moulded into that of Esdraela; which is described by Eusebius and Jerom, in the fourth century, as a considerable town. In like manner, the valley of Jezreel obtained the name of the valley or plain of Esdraelon; which is still described as very fertile, and much frequented by the Arabs for its fine pasturage. This is the largest, and at the same time the most fertile, plain in the land of Canaan; and is called, by way of eminence, the Great Plain. It may be estimated at thirty miles in length, and twenty in breadth. The river Kishon flows through it. See ESDRAELON.