ESDRELON, — Plain of Palestine, between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, Galilee and Samaria, so called (Judg. 1, 8; 4, 5; 7, 3) in the form and softness of Jizer'el (volg. Lezrahel). With the powerful choice of Amram of the Asmoneans and Herod it was simply called “the great plain” (1 Mach. 12, 19; Flavius Josephus, Bell. Jud., III, 12).
It has the form of an irregular triangle with a base of 35 km., between the southern slopes of Carmel and the flanks of the Samaritan mountains, and sides of 25 km., pointing to the base of Thabor. Watered by the river Muqatqa (the biblical Cison), which flows into the Mediterranean, and by the Nahr Galud (Harad, Judg. 7, 1), which empties into the Jordan, the vast depression is notably fertile, though in some zones marshy. Because of the unevenness of the terrain — the height varies from 25 to 100 m. above sea level — particular zones are distinguished there, such as the field of Megiddo (2 Par. 35, 32; Zach. 12, 11) and the valley of Jezreel (Judg. 6, 33; 7, 1).
A hub of roads connecting the empires of the East to those of the West, it was always a preferred battleground, with memories of the famous victories of Thutmose III, of Barak (Judg. 4, 5), of Gideon (Judg. 7, 1), and of the Philistines against King Saul (1 Sam. 31, 7).