Esdraelon

(seed, or sowing, of God) (Judith 1:8; 3:9) — name of an extensive plain in lower Galilee, which took its name from the city of Esdraelon (formerly Jezreel). After the ancient city of Jezreel that stood on it, the plain itself is sometimes called in Holy Scripture the plain of Jezreel, and sometimes, after the city of Megiddo, the plain of Megiddo. Josephus calls it the Great Plain. It stretches to the south and southwest of Mount Tabor and Nazareth, and is remarkable for its extent, beauty, and fertility.

In ancient times it was the scene of many bloody battles, such as that between Deborah and Barak on the one hand and Sisera, the Syrian [Canaanite] commander, on the other (Judg. 4:14), between Ahab and the Syrians (1 Kings 20:26), between Saul and the Philistines (1 Sam. 29:1), between Gideon and the Midianites (Judg. 6:33), and others. According to the testimony of modern travelers, it occupies an area of 15 square miles. One of them says that this plain seems, as it were, especially destined for the battles and warfare of every age and people, from the days of Barak to the days of Bonaparte (Napoleon I).

On it have fought by turns Hebrews, pagans, Egyptians, Saracens, Crusaders, revolutionaries, French, Persians, Druze, Turks, and Arabs. On the plain of Esdraelon the tents and pavilions of almost every conqueror and every tongue under heaven have stood and stretched out, and how often have they seen their banners drenched with the dew of the mountains of Tabor and Hermon! The soil of the plain is extraordinarily fertile, and in almost every direction picturesque views open before one — to the north, the hills of Nazareth; to the south, the mountains of Samaria; to the east, the mountains of Tabor and Hermon; and to the southwest, Mount Carmel.

The present-day Syrians have forgotten the biblical name Esdraelon, just as they have perhaps forgotten its history as well. Today the natives call it Merj ibn Amir (the meadow of the sons of Amir).