Jezreel

Jezreel names a city in the south of the territory of the tribe of Judah, a separate city of the tribe of Issachar that became a royal residence under the house of Omri, the broad valley that runs between the central highlands and Galilee, and a descendant of Etam in the line of Judah. The same name reappears in Hosea as the symbolic name of a prophet's son, where it carries both a verdict on the house of Jehu and a promise of restoration.

A City in Judah

A Jezreel is listed among the cities allotted to Judah in the territory of the tribe of Judah: "and Jezreel, and Jorkeam, and Zanoah," (Jos 15:56). David's wife Ahinoam comes from this Judahite Jezreel: "David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives" (1Sa 25:43). Through the Philistine years she travels with him as "Ahinoam the Jezreelitess" (1Sa 27:3).

A City in Issachar

A second Jezreel falls inside the border of Issachar: "And their border was to Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem," (Jos 19:18). After Saul's death, Abner makes Ish-bosheth king "over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel" (2Sa 2:9), placing the city among the political centers of the northern tribes.

Ahab's Royal Residence

Under Ahab Jezreel functions as a second royal seat alongside Samaria. After the contest on Carmel "the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel: and the hand of Yahweh was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel" (1Ki 18:45-46). The vineyard episode opens at the same address: "Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, close by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria" (1Ki 21:1). Ahab's son Joram likewise convalesces there: "King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah" (2Ki 8:29).

Jehu's Purge

The verdict on Ahab's house falls in Jezreel. Jehu rides from Ramoth-gilead and is sighted from the watchtower of the city (2Ki 9:17). He meets Joram and Ahaziah "in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite" (2Ki 9:21), kills Joram with an arrow between the arms, and orders his body cast "in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite," invoking Yahweh's earlier word about "the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons" (2Ki 9:25-26). Inside the city Jezebel is thrown from a window and trampled (2Ki 9:30-33), and Elijah's word is fulfilled: "In the portion of Jezreel will the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the body of Jezebel will be as dung on the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel" (2Ki 9:36-37). Jehu then "struck all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and those who he knew well, and his priests, until he left him none remaining" (2Ki 10:11).

The Valley as Battlefield

The valley of Jezreel is the wide plain that the Canaanites of Beth-shean and Megiddo controlled with chariots: "all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are in Beth-shean and its towns, and they who are in the valley of Jezreel" (Jos 17:16). It is the staging ground for Gideon's enemies: "all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel" (Jud 6:33). It is also where Saul's last campaign begins: "the Israelites encamped by the fountain which is in Jezreel" (1Sa 29:1), and from which the Philistines move out (1Sa 29:11) to the rout at Gilboa, where Saul, Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua are killed in one day (1Sa 31:1-6). The news that runs from Jezreel to the house of Saul leaves Jonathan's son Mephibaal lame for life (2Sa 4:4).

A Descendant of Etam

The name surfaces again in Judah's genealogy: "And these were the father of Etam: Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi;" (1Ch 4:3).

Hosea's Son Jezreel

Hosea is told to give his first son the name of the city where Jehu's slaughter took place: "Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. And it will come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel" (Ho 1:4-5). The same name turns into a sign of reversal at the end of the oracle: "the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel" (Ho 1:11). The name that condemned the dynasty becomes the name under which Yahweh sows.