Jezreel

Jezreel was a city and a wide green valley in northern Israel, and most of what Scripture tells about it is violent. Ahab’s palace stood there, and so did Naboth’s vineyard, which was taken from him by murder. In 2 Kings 9, Jehu drives his chariot into the city, with the watchman calling out that the driving is furious, and Joram and Jezebel both die. Further south, Saul and his sons fell in battle nearby. Hosea gives the name to a child as a sign of judgment, yet the prophet ends with hope that Judah and Israel will be gathered together. Start with 2 Kings 9.

40 verses

Joshua

Joshua 15:56

And Jezreel, and Jokdeam, and Zanoah,

Joshua 19:18

And their border was toward Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem,

1 Samuel

1 Samuel 25:43

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.

1 Samuel 27:3

And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.

1 Samuel 29:1

Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel.

1 Samuel 29:11

So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

1 Samuel 31:1

Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.

1 Samuel 31:2

And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons.

1 Samuel 31:3

And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.

1 Samuel 31:4

Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.

1 Samuel 31:5

And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.

1 Samuel 31:6

So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.

1 Kings

1 Kings 18:45

And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

1 Kings 18:46

And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

2 Kings

2 Kings 9:15

But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.

2 Kings 9:16

So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.

2 Kings 9:17

And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace?

2 Kings 9:18

So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.

2 Kings 9:19

Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.

2 Kings 9:20

And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.

2 Kings 9:21

And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.

2 Kings 9:22

And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?

2 Kings 9:23

And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah.

2 Kings 9:24

And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.

2 Kings 9:25

Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him;

2 Kings 9:26

Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the LORD; and I will requite thee in this plat, saith the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD.

2 Kings 9:27

But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.

2 Kings 9:28

And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David.

2 Kings 9:29

And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.

2 Kings 9:30

And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.

2 Kings 9:31

And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?

2 Kings 9:32

And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs.

2 Kings 9:33

And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot.

2 Kings 9:34

And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter.

2 Kings 9:35

And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.

2 Kings 9:36

Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:

2 Kings 9:37

And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.

Hosea

Hosea 1:4

And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

Hosea 1:5

And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

Hosea 1:11

Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

God scatters. (1.) A town of Issachar (Josh. 19:18), where the kings of Israel often resided (1 Kings 18:45; 21:1; 2 Kings 9:30). Here Elijah met Ahab, Jehu, and Bidkar; and here Jehu executed his dreadful commission against the house of Ahab (2 Kings 9:14-37; 10:1-11). It has been identified with the modern Zerin, on the most western point of the range of Gilboa, reaching down into the great and fertile valley of Jezreel, to which it gave its name.

(2.) A town in Judah (Josh. 15:56), to the south-east of Hebron. Ahinoam, one of David’s wives, probably belonged to this place (1 Sam. 27:3).

(3.) A symbolical name given by Hosea to his oldest son (Hos. 1:4), in token of a great slaughter predicted by him, like that which had formerly taken place in the plain of Esdraelon (comp. Hos. 1:4, 5).

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

Jezreel

(1.) A city situated in the plain of the same name between Gilboa and Little Hermon, now generally called Esdraelon. [ESDRAELON] It appears in (Joshua 19:18) but its historical importance dates from the reign of Ahab, B.C. 918-897, who chose it for his chief residence. The situation of the modern village of Zerin still remains to show the fitness of his choice. Int he neighborhood, or within the town probably, were a temple and grove of Eastward, with an establishment of 400 priests supported by Jezebel. (1 Kings 16:33; 2 Kings 10:11) The palace of Ahab, (1 Kings 21:1; 18:46) probably containing his "ivory house," (1 Kings 22:39) was on the eastern side of the city, forming part of the city wall. Comp. (1 Kings 21:1; 2 Kings 9:25,30,33) Whether the vineyard of Naboth was here or at Samaria is a doubtful question. Still in the same eastern direction are two springs, one 12 minutes from the town, the other 20 minutes. The latter, probably from both its size and its situation, was known as "the spring of Jezreel." With the fall of the house of Ahab the glory of Jezreel departed.

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(2.) A town in Judah, in the neighborhood of the southern Carmel. (Joshua 15:56) Here David in his wanderings took Ahinoam the Israelites for his first wife. (1 Samuel 27:3; 30:5)

(3.) The eldest son of the prophet Hosea. (Hosea 1:4)

Jezreel

(seed of God), a descendant of the father or founder of Etam, of the line of Judah. (1 Chronicles 4:3) (B.C. about 1445).

Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Dictionary entries from Easton's Bible Dictionary and Smith's Bible Dictionary. Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.