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 Esdraelon
    the Greek form of the Hebrew "Jezreel," the name of the great
    plain (called by the natives Merj Ibn Amer; i.e., "the meadow of
    the son of Amer") which stretches across Central Palestine from
    the Jordan to the Mediterraanean, separating the mountain ranges
    of Carmel and Samaria from those of Galilee, extending about 14
    miles from north to south, and 9 miles from east to west. It is
    drained by "that ancient river" the Kishon, which flows westward
    to the Mediterranean. From the foot of Mount Tabor it branches
    out into three valleys, that on the north passing between Tabor
    and Little Hermon (Judg. 4:14); that on the south between Mount
    Gilboa and En-gannim (2 Kings 9:27); while the central portion,
    the "valley of Jezreel" proper, runs into the Jordan valley
    (which is about 1,000 feet lower than Esdraelon) by Bethshean.
    Here Gideon gained his great victory over the Midianites (Judg.
    7:1-25). Here also Barak defeated Sisera, and Saul's army was
    defeated by the Philistines, and king Josiah, while fighting in
    disguise against Necho, king of Egypt, was slain (2 Chr.
    35:20-27; 2 Kings 23-29). This plain has been well called the
    "battle-field of Palestine." "It has been a chosen place for
    encampment in every contest carried on in this country, from the
    days of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, in the history of
    whose wars with Arphaxad it is mentioned as the Great Plain of
    Esdraelon, until the disastrous march of Napoleon Bonaparte from
    Egypt into Syria. Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Crusaders,
    Frenchmen, Egyptians, Persians, Druses, Turks, and Arabs,
    warriors out of every nation which is under heaven, have pitched
    their tents in the plain, and have beheld the various banners of
    their nations wet with the dews of Tabor and Hermon" (Dr.
    Clark).