词解
Jezreel (je?z're?-e?l). [Heb. Yizre?e?l, God sows.”]
1. A descendant of Judah (1 Chr 4:3).
2. The first-born son of the prophet Hosea. His name stood for a sign that God would avenge the blood spilled by King Jehu at Jezreel (Hos 1:4, 5).
3. A city in the territory of Issachar (Jos 19:17, 18). In a war with the Philistines the Israelites encamped at the fountain of Jezreel (1 Sa 29:1, 11). The city is specifically named as belonging to the realm of Ishbosheth, Saul’s son (2 Sa 2:8, 9). Ahab chose the city as the place for a palace and for his residence. It was there that Naboth was murdered for refusing to sell his vineyard to the covetous king (1 Ki 21:1–6). Jezebel lost her life there, as did also 70 sons of Ahab, whose heads were afterward piled up in heaps at the gate of Jezreel by order of Jehu (2 Ki 9:30 to 10:11). Hosea prophesied that this blood guilt at Jezreel would be avenged on the house of Jehu (Hos 1:4).
The Hellenistic name of the city, and of the plain in which the city stood, was Esdraelon. The present name of the site is Zer?é?n, a place 8 mi. (c. 13 km.) southeast of Megiddo (Palestine Under Joshua and the Judges). Though lying in a plain Zer?é?n is prominently and strategically situated so that it commands a splendid view of the surrounding country, to the east as far as the Jordan.
4. The name of a valley. In OT times the name applied only to the eastern section of the great plain that lies north of the Carmel ridge and south of the Galilean mountains. This valley was the scene of Gideon’s attack on the encamped Midianites and Amalekites (Jgs 6:33). Later, however, the term Valley of Jezreel was extended to include the whole plain north of the Carmel ridge. In hellenistic times this area was called the Plain of Esdraelon (a Greek modification of the name Jezreel). Jerusalem in Time of Christ.
5. A town in the hill country of Judah (Jos 15:56); not identified. David’s wife Ahinoam came from there (1 Sa 25:43; 27:3).