Jezreel
יִזְרְעֶאל
Where was biblical Jezreel? At Tel Jezreel, by Kibbutz Yizre'el, about 30 km southwest of Tiberias. I mark it certain.
Ahab wanted the vineyard of Naboth, right beside his palace here. Naboth would not sell his ancestral inheritance, so Jezebel had him framed and stoned. Years later Jehu charged into Jezreel and had Jezebel thrown from her window.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Jezreel, by Kibbutz Yizre'el
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Yizrael, Yizre'el, Esdraelon, Zer'in, Tel Jezreel
- Location
- 32.5574° N, 35.3304° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The Arab village of Zer'in kept the name. It stood on a low ridge that looks east down the Harod Valley toward Gilboa and the Jordan. A watchman here could see riders coming from the east, exactly as in the story of Jehu. Excavators uncovered a large royal enclosure on the hilltop, with casemate walls, corner towers and a rock-cut moat from the days of Ahab's dynasty. This is where Ahab raced home from the Carmel, with Elijah running ahead of his chariot.
I filmed on the tel for the Walking Tanach episode Prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel. The palace area is fenced off and overgrown, and there isn't much to see. But on the slope beside it there is a plastered cistern cut into the rock from that period. It was once capped with a stone with a small hole for the bucket.
Further down the slope are First Temple terraces and a winepress cut into the rock, with mosaic stones set into it. Someone has even planted a vine there! Once a vineyard, always a vineyard. I think this is the likely vineyard of Naboth.
Ahab didn't want it for wine. He wanted an herb garden. Grain, wine and oil can come from far away and wait in the storehouses. Fresh herbs and vegetables need a garden next to the palace kitchen. And Ahab made a fair offer, a better vineyard or its price in money. Jezebel, a Phoenician king's daughter, came from a world where kings took what they wanted.
Don't confuse this Jezreel with the Jezreel in Judah, home of David's wife Ahinoam.
Watch: Prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel
Walking Tanach, Episode 2. Filmed on the tel, at the cistern and Naboth's winepress.
Visiting today
Tel Jezreel has a lookout over the valley, modest remains and a replanted orchard called Naboth's garden. I filmed at the cistern and the winepress for Prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- The Spring in Jezreel right beside it
- The Spring of Harod 3 km east
- Shunem 5 km north
- Mount Gilboa 8 km southeast
- Endor 11 km northeast
- Taanach 11 km west