The Harod Valley ( he, עמק חרוד, Emek Harod) is a valley in the Northern District of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. It is the eastern part of the

Jezreel Valley The Jezreel Valley (from the he, עמק יזרעאל, translit. ''ʿĒmeq Yīzrəʿēʿl''), or Marj Ibn Amir ( ar, مرج ابن عامر), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern Distr ...

,a transitional zone that extends to the

Beit She'an Valley The Beit She'an Valley ( he, בקעת בית שאן or he, עמק בית שאן) is a valley in Israel. The valley lies within the Beit She'an rift, part of the Afro-Syrian Rift (Jordan Rift Valley), which opens westwards to the Harod Valley. I ...

. From south it locked by

Mount Gilboa Mount Gilboa ( he, הַר הַגִּלְבֹּעַ, translit=Har hagGīlbōaʿ ; ar, جبل جلبوع ''Jabal Jarbūʿ'' or ''Jabal Fuqqāʿa''), sometimes referred to as the Mountains of Gilboa, is the name for a mountain range in Israel. It ...

and by the

Issachar Plateau The Issachar Plateau or Issachar Heights ( he, רמת יששכר, Ramat Yissaḫar/Ramot Yissaḫar) is a basalt plateau in the eastern part of Lower Galilee. It is bounded by the Tabor Stream in the north and the Harod Valley in the south an ...

from north. It is named after the

Ma'ayan Harod Ma'ayan Harod ( he, מעיין חרוד, lit=the Spring of Harod) or Ayn Jalut ( ar, عين جالوت ', lit. "the Spring of Goliath", formerly also and in Hebrew) is a spring on the southern border of the Jezreel Valley, and the location of ...

("Spring of Harod", i.e., "Spring of

Goliath Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) a ...

") at the edge of the valley. It is naturally separated from the western part of the Jezreel valley by a watershed. While the Jezreel Valley is drained via the

Kishon River The Kishon River ( he, נחל הקישון, ; ar, نهر المقطع, , or , – ''the river of slaughter'' or ''dismemberment''; alternative Arabic, ) is a river in Israel that flows into the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Haifa. Course ...

to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

, the Harod Valley is drained through the

Harod Stream The Harod Stream he, נחל חרוד, Nahal Harod, ar, نهر جالود, Wadi Jalud is a stream in Israel that flows west to east, from the Givat HaMoreh area via the Harod Valley and Beit She'an Valley into the Jordan River, about north o ...

("Nahal Harod", "Wadi Jalud" in Arabic), which flows from

Givat HaMoreh Givat HaMoreh (Hebrew: גבעת המוֹרֶה), in Arabic: Jebel ed-Duhy, is a hill in northern Israel on the northeast side of the Jezreel Valley. The highest peak reaches an altitude of , while the bottom of the Jezreel Valley is situated at ...

via Beit She'an Valley into the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

. Ma'ayan Harod is the largest of the springs emerging on the northern slopes of

. The source of the spring as well as other springs in the

to the east, comes from fresh rainwater that percolate into the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

hills of

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first- ...

and collect in an underground water reservoir beneath the areas of the Palestinian cities of

Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...

and

Jenin Jenin (; ar, ') is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate of the State of Palestine and is a major center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, Jenin had a population of app ...

. The water emerges from the hills as they incline north towards the valleys. At this valley the waters emerge from a natural cave known as "Gideon's Cave". The valley covers about 40 sq.km. and is intensely cultivated."The Harod Valley Case Study"
/ref> It is a corridor 18 km. long and 5 km. max wide. The exact border between the Harod Valley and the Beit She'an Valley depends on the conventions. For example, according to soil and precipitation parameters the border is the

Sde Nahum Sde Nahum ( he, שְׂדֵה נַחוּם, ''lit.'' Nahum Field) is a kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley in northern Israel. Located around 4 km northwest of Beit She'an, it falls under the jurisdiction of Valley of Springs Regional Council. ...

Beit Alfa Beit Alfa ( he, בֵּית אַלְפָא; also Beit Alpha, Bet Alpha and Bet Alfa) is a kibbutz in the Northern District of Israel, founded in 1922 by immigrants from Poland. Located at the base of the Gilboa ridge, it falls under the jurisdic ...

line, while according to the climate, the border is defined by

Kfar Yehezkel Kfar Yehezkel ( he, כְּפַר יְחֶזְקֵאל, ''lit.'' Yehezkel Village) is a moshav ovdim in northern Israel. Located in the Jezreel Valley, six kilometres southeast of Afula, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. I ...

. The climate of the valley transitions from the Mediterranean climate of the western part of the Jezreel Valley to the arid dry-steppe climate of the

Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...

.Karen Covello-Paran
"The Jezreel Valley during the Intermediate Bronze Age: Social and Cultural Landscapes"
Ph.D., 2015 There is a fault line between Mount Gilboa and the floor of the valley, with many spring along the line. Until the mid-20th century the valley was swamped, similarly to the Jordan Valley. Now the swamps are drained.Efraim Orni, Elisha Efrat, ''Geography of Israel'', 1971
transcript
at encyclopedia.com)

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book , last1=Julie Baretz , title=The Bible on Location: Off the Beaten Path in Ancient and Modern Israel , publisher=

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Univer ...

Jewish Publication Society The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by reform Rabbi Joseph Krauskop ...

, isbn=978-0-8276-1189-4 , pages=37–51 , chapter=Gideon at En Harod Judges 6; 7; 8:22–28 (additional reading: 8:1–21), date=June 2015 Valleys of Israel Northern District (Israel)

See also

References

Bibliography