ESDRAELON - The name of the great plain N. and E. of Mount Carmel. The word is a transliteration of the Greek name which is itself thought to be derived from the Hebrew Jezreel (q.v.). Although the name Esdraelon as such does not appear in the Hebrew of the OT or the Greek of the NT, and is found in the Apocrypha only in Jth.1.8, 3.9, 4.6, 7.3, it has come to be the best-known designation of the great plain. The Arabic name is Merj Ibn 'Amir; its territory was divided in 1948 between Israel and the Kingdom of the Jordan. It is probable that the name of the city Jezreel (q.v.) was applied to its adjacent plain (Jos.17.16, Jg.6.33, Hos.1.5), and then to the entire plain. Similarly, the name of the city Megiddo was applied to the plain (2 Ch.35.22, Zec.12.11), although in both cases it is difficult to determine whether the names apply to all or to a part of the great plain.
It is roughly triangular in shape covering an area of about 20 miles NW. to SE., and 14 miles NE. to SW. From the sea-coast to the Bay of 'Akka (and modern Haifa) it affords passage into the mountainous interior of Palestine. It is drained by the Kishon (q.v.) and is, over nearly all its area, remarkably fertile, although in the rainy seasons it has become marshy. Great cities such as Megiddo and Taanach (q.v.) lined its borders, and it served as a bread-basket for a much larger region.
Under the various names discussed above, the plain is frequently referred to as a battlefield. Here Deborah and Barak routed the armies of Jabin and Sisera (Jg.4), and here Gideon defeated the Midianites (7). Saul here fought his last battle with the Philistines (1 S.28-31). Josiah here attacked Pharaoh Neco on his way to Mesopotamia and was slain (2 K.23.30). It was the scene of the encampment of Holofernes (Jth.7.3), and of Saladin in 1186. Napoleon defeated an army of Arabs here in 1799, and General Allenby won a decisive victory over the Turks here in 1917. The plain was referred to by the Apocalyptic writer (Rev.16.16) as Armageddon (q.v.), the scene of the final battle between the cosmic forces of good and evil. [Article: Dictionary of the Bible, J.Hastings, 2nd Ed., T&T.Clark, 1963 - R.A.S.M. - W.L.R.]