265 Jezreel Valley 266 the measurement of Judah (Josh 15 : 56). Ahinoam, 2. The Area by the Spring. Below the tel is an allu- one of David’s wives, originated from Jezreel (1 Sam vial covered terrace with evidence of occupation 25 : 43). The traditional identification of this town from the Neolithic (7th millennium) onwards. In with Tell Ṭarrāme has been contested. 2007 the Israel Antiquities Authority undertook a small salvage excavation on a section of the terrace, Bibliography: ■ Vos, J. C. de, Das Los Judas: über Entstehung und Ziele der Landbeschreibung in Josua 15 (VTSup 95; Leiden and exposed remains from the Intermediate Bronze 2003). [Esp. 440–45] Age. In 2012 an airborne LiDAR scan revealed archi- tectural remains and new excavations were com- 2. Place in Issachar menced in 2013 directed by Jennie Ebeling of the University of Evansville and Norma Franklin of the The Israelite town of Jezreel (MT Yizrĕ el, “El/God University of Haifa. sows”) is mentioned in 2 Kgs 9–10 (see “Jezreel [Place in Issachar]”). Bibliography: ■ Ebeling, J. et al., “Jezreel Revealed in Laser Bob Becking Scans: A Preliminary Report of the 2012 Survey Season,” NEA 75.4 (2012) 232–39. ■ Franklin, N., “Jezreel: Before and After Jezebel,” in Israel in Transition: From Late Bronze II to Iron IIA (c. 1250–850 BCE), vol. 1, The Archaeology (ed. L. L. Jezreel (Place in Issachar) Grabbe; LHBOTS 491; London 2008) 45–53. ■ Ussishkin, I. Archaeology D./J. Woodhead, “Excavations at Tel JezreeI 1990–1991: II. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Preliminary Report,” Tel Aviv 19 (1992) 3–56. ■ Ussishkin, D./J. Woodhead, “Excavations at Tel Jezreel 1992–1993: Second Preliminary Report,” Levant 26 (1994) 1–71. ■ Us- I. Archaeology sishkin, D./J. Woodhead, “Excavations at Tel Jezreel 1994– Jezreel consists of two sites; the tel and a site over- 1996: Third Preliminary Report,” Tel Aviv 24 (1997) 6–72. looking the spring of Jezreel, 810 meters northeast ■ Zimhoni, O., “The Iron Age Pottery from Tel Jezreel: An Interim Report,” Tel Aviv 19 (1992) 57–70. ■ Zimhoni, O., of the tel. “Clues from the Enclosure-fills: Pre-Omride Settlement at 1. The Tel. The Israel Antiquities Authority con- Tel Jezreel,” Tel Aviv 24 (1997) 83–109. ducted salvage excavations in 1988 and 1989 on the Norma Franklin east side of the tel. They exposed some Iron Age structures and Hellenistic to Roman period archi- II. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament tectural and agricultural elements. These excava- The Israelite town of Jezreel (MT Yizrĕ el, “El/God tions spurred the launch of a full-scale expedition sows”) was located in the tribal area of Issachar at led by David Ussishkin of Tel Aviv University and the southern edge of the valley of Jezreel. The city John Woodhead of the British School of Archaeol- has been identified with Tell Yezreel. It was a royal ogy in Jerusalem. They conducted seven seasons of city under the Omride dynasty. Ahab’s palace was excavation from 1990 to 1996. The dominant fea- adjacent to the vineyard of Naboth (1 Kgs 21). There ture excavated was a 9th century BCE rectangular exists some discussion whether the Vineyard of Na- enclosure measuring 289 by 157 meters with a case- both was located at Jizreel or at Samaria, the latter mate wall system that supported a deep construc- city being the capital of the Northern Kingdom. tional fill. The south, west and east sides were pro- From a narrative as well as from an archaeological tected by a rock-cut moat, ca. 12 meters wide and point of view it is, however, more convincing to lo- 6.5 meters deep. Two corner towers were exposed cate the story at Jizreel. According to the books of and two other corner towers are presumed to have Kings Jehu’s slaughter of the Omride dynasty took existed. A six-, or possibly four-chambered gate al- place in Jezreel (2 Kgs 9–10). The cultural memory lowed entry from the south. of this event gave rise to the expectation of a world Construction of the enclosure complex was changing “Day of Jezreel” (Hos 2 : 2, ET 1 : 11). dated to ca. 880 BCE and attributed to the Omride Bibliography: ■ Naaman, N., “Historical and Literary dynasty. A large quantity of restorable vessels were Notes on the Excavation of Tel Jezreel,” Tel Aviv 1997 (1997) retrieved from the southeast tower, while typologi- 122–8. ■ Ussishkin, D., “Jezreel, Samaria and Megiddo: cally similar pottery came from the constructional Royal Centres of Omri and Ahab,” Congress Volume Cambridge fill material testifying to a pre-enclosure phase also 1995 (VT Sup 66; Leiden 1997) 351–64. Bob Becking dating to the 9th century BCE. Earlier architectural remains were not well pre- served. However intense agricultural activity in the Jezreel Valley Iron I is suggested by the large number of rock-cut, bottle-shaped installations and cisterns that cover I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament the summit and its slopes. There was also meager II. Judaism evidence for occupation during the Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Ages. I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Later remains, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader and The fertile valley of Jezreel (MT ēmeq Yizrĕ el)isthe Ottoman, exist on the western half of the tel. They name of a large plain in Northern Israel. The name have been partially excavated but not fully pub- “El/God sows” reflect this fertility of the region. lished. The valley is surrounded by hills and mountain Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 14 Authenticated | [email protected] © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2017 Download Date | 1/2/19 1:18 AM 267 el-Jib 268 ridges: the Samarian highlands and Mount Gilboa, One of the most popular modern Hebrew folk- the Mount Carmel range, the slopes of lower Gali- songs is the “Song of the Valley,” by Nathan Alter- lee. To the East the valley stretches to the Jordan man (1910–1970) (Troen: 62 ). It was written for a valley. The area that has continously been inhabi- 1934 Zionist movie, To a New Life (Le-ḥayyim Ḥada- tated from the Chalcolithic age onward, can be con- shim, dir. Juda Leman; the film was sometimes sidered as part of the original kernel of the “Israel- called Land of Promise), and set to music by Daniel ite“ settlements. The area is of great importance for Sambursky (1909–1975). The song, a dark lullaby, trade routes supplying a relatively easy access from begins with a pastoral evocation of the valley, and the via maris to the inland Aramaic kingdoms. The the soft sounds of the wheat fields and the sheep. valley was the scene of many military confronta- In the chorus, the poet asks the question from Isa tions. The battle of Megiddo between Egypt and a 21 : 11: “Watchman, what of the night?” Then the coalition of Canaanite chieftains took place in the night’s silence is broken by a gunshot, and a man – 15th century BCE. The Bible narrates encounters in perhaps it is the watchman – is killed. the valley between Gideon and an eastern coalition (Judg 6 : 3) and between King Saul and the Philis- Bibliography: ■ Alterman, N., “Song of the Valley” (avail- ■ tines (1 Sam 29). 2 Kgs 23 : 19 relates that Josiah able at www.zemereshet.co.il). [Heb.] Bar-Gal, Y./S. Sha- mai, “The Swamps of Jezreel Valley: Myth or Reality,” Cathe- died near Megiddo when overplaying his hand in dra 27 (1983) 163–74. [Heb.] ■ Marmorstein, M., “‘Silence the conflict between the rising power of Babylonia in Jezreel’: The Story of a Hebrew Song,” Musaf-Shabbat and Egypt. All these battles gave rise to the expecta- (June 22, 2012). [Heb.; available at musaf-shabbat.com] tion in Christian Eschatology of a final battle be- ■ Naor, M., The Jezreel Valley 1900–1967 (Jerusalem 1993). tween “good” and “evil” at Armageddon (the [Heb.] ■ Shalev, M., My Russian Grandmother and Her Ameri- mountain of Megiddo). can Vacuum Cleaner: a Family Memoir (New York 2011); trans. of id., Ha-Davar hayah kakhah (Tel Aviv 2009). ■ Stahl, N., Bibliography: ■ Redford, D. B., The Wars in Syria and Pales- Other and Brother: The Figure of Jesus in the 20th Century Jewish tine of Thutmose III (CHANE 16; Leiden 2003). ■ Niemann, Literary Landscape (New York 2013). ■ Sufian, S., Healing the H. M., “Kern-Israel im samarischen Bergland und seine zeit- Land and the Nation: Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, weilige Peripherie,” UF 35 (2003) 421–85. 1920–1947 (Chicago, Ill. 2007). ■ Troen, S. I., Imagining Zion: Bob Becking Dreams, Designs, and Realities in a Century of Jewish Settlement (New Haven, Conn. 2003). II. Judaism Joseph Davis The Jezreel Valley was the first large tract of land See also /Megiddo bought in Palestine by the Zionist movement. For a crucial period of about thirty years, from the be- ginning of the British Mandate in Palestine in el-Jib 1921, until the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Valley (as it came to be called in modern /Gibeon, Gibeonites Hebrew, Ha-Emeq, with the definite article) became a center of Zionist agricultural settlement and a hub of the kibbutz movement. Many of the new Jibrı¯l settlements and kibbutzim were given ancient or /Gabriel biblical names, such as En Harod (Judg 7 : 1; founded in 1921), Nahalal (Judg 1 : 30; 1921), Bet Alfa (1922), Kfar Gideon (Judg 7 : 1; 1923), Beit ha- Jidlaph Shita (Judg 7 : 22; 1935), as well as Barak (1956), Jidlaph (MT Yidlāp; LXX Ιεδλα, but Alexandrinus: Devorah (1956), and kibbutz Yizreel (Jezreel) itself Ιελδα) is the seventh son of Milcah and of Nahor (1948).