Jezreel and the Jezreel Valley are mentioned by name many times in the Old Testament. However, you will not find it named in the New Testament.
Jezreel Valley (Ha-Emek) means God Sows or The Valley of God’s Sowing. It is Israel’s largest valley nearly 15 miles north to south, and about 30 miles west to east. The junction of the major route for travel from north to south, the Via Mares, and from west to east is located in the Jezreel Valley at Tel Megiddo. It has two main water sources; the Kishon to the west and the Harod to the east.
Because of its strategic location, it has witnessed countless wars. When Napoleon was in Israel (1799), he was reported as saying that the Jezreel Valley provided the perfect battle ground for the world’s armies.
Tel Megiddo dominates the southwestern entrance to the Jezreel Valley. Tel Megiddo (Hebrew - Har Megiddo) is trans-literated Armageddon in Revelation 16:16.
Mount Tabor rises in the north. Deborah and Barak destroyed the army of Sisera there.
Nazareth overlooks the Jezreel Valley from the northwest.
The Old Testament uses the name to refer to the entire valley which separates Galilee from Samaria, including the valley of Esdraelon. The valley was important militarily as a battle site for Deborah (Judges 4-5), Gideon (Judges 6-7), Saul (2 Samuel 4), Jehu (2 Kings 9-10), and Josiah (2 Kings 22).
The northern city of Jezreel, which guarded the corridor to Beth Shean, was the site of the royal residence of Omri and Ahab where the incident of Naboth's vineyard occurred. (1 Kings 21)
David's wife Ahinoam was from the southern city of Jezreel which is located in the vicinity of Ziph. (1st Samuel 25:43-44)
The prophet Hosea called his son Jezreel as a symbol to show the evil nature of the dynasty of Jehu which began with battles in Jezreel. The name also symbolized that God will sow seeds of prosperity after the annihilation. (Hosea 1:4, 5)
Additional references to Jezreel in the Old Testament: 2nd Kings 9:30; 1st Chronicles 4:3; 2nd Chronicles 22:6; and Hosea 2:22.
In 2005, archaeologists discovered the remains of a church, believed to be from the third century, a time when Christians were still persecuted by the Roman Empire. The remains were found at the Megiddo Prison. Among the finds is a well-preserved 580 sq. foot mosaic with fish symbols and a Greek inscription stating that the church is consecrated to “the God Jesus Christ.”
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