The Jezreel Valley
The Jezreel Valley is home to some of the most
fertile farmland in Israel and it is a place with wonderful vistas.
The agricultural heartland of the country; it is an area rich in
natural springs.
While there are other valleys in Israel, in Hebrew
the Jezreel Valley is often referred to simply as “Ha’emek - The
Valley”. This is a great area for hiking, picnicking – enjoying
nature and learning about both modern and biblical history.
It has been a long time since I called this area
my home. But, if the saying “Home is Where the Heart Is” is true,
then this is still my home. For me, this land where my grandfather
and grandmother first met and fell in love is as close as it gets to
paradise on earth.
The valley got its name from the biblical city of
Yizre’el that served as a wintering place during the time of the monarchy.
The city flourished under the reign of King Omri and was ultimately
destroyed by Tiglath-Pileser III, in 732 BCE.
Until the early 1920s when the first Jewish
settlements were established in the area, almost 30 years before the
birth of the new nation, The Jezreel Valley had many swamps.
In September 1921 Kibbutz Ein Harod was
established near the Spring of Harod, it was the second Jewish
settlement in the area. During the 1920s there were six Jewish
settlements in the valley.
As early as 1891 the man who would later be known
as the “Redeemer of the Valley”, Yehoshua Hankin began
negotiating for the purchase of 40,000 acres (160,000 dunam) at a
price 16 Franc per dunam. The deal fell through and the sale was
delayed until 1909. The first parcel of land purchased was 2,375
acres (9,500 dunam) and it was used to establish Merhavia, the first
settlement in the valley, in 1911.
The Turks exiled Hankin and the major land
purchase in the valley, 17,500 acres (70,000 dunam) was only
concluded in 1920 after his return. Hankin is buried on Mt. Gilboa
overlooking the land that he liberated. Moshav Kfar Yehoshua is named
after him and serves as a living memorial to his deeds.
While in biblical times the primary cities
mentioned in the valley were Megiddo,
Yizre’el and Beit Shean in
modern times Afula and Beit Shean are the primary towns in the area.
Yizre’el is no longer a city, but rather a kibbutz established by demobilized Palmach soldiers in 1948. And the Megiddo of today is a tel that is home to a
hoard of archaeological ruins.
Aside from the great battle between Saul and the
Philistines, the incident involving the vineyard of Naboth the
Jezreelite (I Kings 21)
occurred in the area as well. King Ahab coveted Naboth’s vineyard
and asked Naboth to give the vineyard to him (the King also said he
would replace it with another vineyard or pay for it). Naboth replied
by saying, “The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the
inheritance of my fathers unto thee.” Ahab was not pleased, but it
was his wife Jezebel who was really enraged. She had Naboth stoned to
death and then told her husband to go claim what was rightly his. The
intersection of the road that leads down from tel Yizre’el (Route #
675) and connects to Route # 71, the Afula Beit Shean road is aptly
named Navot Junction (Navot is the Hebrew pronunciation of Naboth).
It was at the Spring of Harod, at the foothills of
the Gilboa, that Gideon chose the warriors that would help him defeat
the Midianites. And according to the Book
of Revelation (the New
Testament) Armageddon is located the Jezreel Valley.
Aside from its agricultural significance the
Jezreel Valley was an important thoroughfare even in ancient times as
it presented an easy route from the ocean in the west to the
mountains east of the Jordan River and to Egypt. It was along the
route mentioned in the bible as the Way to the Sea (Isaiah
9:1) and part of what was later known by the Romans as the Via Maris, the ancient route from Egypt to Mesopotamia. The importance of the valley in terms of
transportation continues to this day, as many trucks from Amman, Jordan travel through it on their way the port of Haifa.
Many of the kibbutzim and moshavim in the area offer Bed & Breakfast type guestrooms.
These are not necessarily luxurious accommodations, but in most cases
they certainly offer more than the Spartan image that one might think
of. Kibbutz Ma’ale Gilboa, a religious kibbutz right on Mt.
Gilboa will be of interest to those who keep kosher.
Kibbutz Ein Harod Ichud is in the process of building wooden A-frame
units (furnished right down to a jacuzzi) that command a wonderful
view of the valley and the Gilboa (the units are scheduled for
completion sometime in April-May).
Note: Jezreel is pronounced Yizra’el in Hebrew.
The ‘im’ suffix indicates plural, therefore kibbutzim is
the plural of kibbutz.
Sources: Copyright � 2000 Gems
in Israel All rights reserved. Reprinted
with Permission.
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