1Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek; and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel. 2The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rear with Achish.
3Then the princes of the Philistines said, “What about these Hebrews?”
Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years? I have found no fault in him since he fell away until today.”
4But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For with what should this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Should it not be with the heads of these men? 5Isn’t this David, of whom people sang to one another in dances, saying,
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands?’”
6Then Achish called David and said to him, “As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords don’t favor you. 7Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you not displease the lords of the Philistines.”
8David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant so long as I have been before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
9Achish answered David, “I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God. Notwithstanding, the princes of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ 10Therefore now rise up early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you; and as soon as you are up early in the morning and have light, depart.”
11So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines; and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
The Jezreel Valley is the triangular breadbasket of the Land of Israel, stretching about 20 miles on each of its three sides. Even its name means “God sows,” something that Hosea 1:11 and 2:21-23 uses for a play on words. While Jezreel was allotted to Issachar (Josh 19:18) in the lower Galilee region, it was not able to be taken until the time of Saul and David; and thus the valley is likely to be equated with “Horoshet HaGoim”—the Plowed Fields of the Gentiles, in this time, mainly the Egyptians (see Rainey and Notley, The Sacred Bridge, pp. 150-151). This fertile valley shares the name Jezreel with the town Jezreel, now known as Zerin (Arabic) or Tel Yizreel (Hebrew). Since Jezreel the city is not mentioned before the Israelite period, it seems likely to be founded by the Israelites. The Jezreel Valley is also known as the Esdraelon Valley in the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, and on the west side of the Valley is HarMegdon, more commonly known as Armageddon (Revelation 16:16).
Saul and the Israelite army camped at a spring near Jezreel against the Philistines (1 Sam 29:1). Under Solomon, Jezreel is part of the border of the fifth district of the kingdom (1 Kgs 4:12). Under Ahab (9th century b.c.), Jezreel had become the winter capital of the Israelite kingdom and we hear about Naboth’s vineyard in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab, King of Samaria, in 1 Kgs 21:1. The Usurper King Jehu had a famous chariot ride from Ramot Gilead (in Jordan) and then killed both kings of Israel and Judah as well as Jezebel who was thrown out of an upper story palace window (2 Kgs 9:32). Previously Elijah had run before Ahab’s chariot when he returned to his palace in Jezreel (1 Kgs 18:46). It may be that Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers took place near Jezreel as Luke 17:11-19 reports that he was passing “between Samaria and Galilee.” [footnote: See H.G.M. Williamson, “Jezreel in the Biblical Texts,” Tel Aviv 18 (1991):72-92; and subsequent reports in Tel Aviv.]
Tel Jezreel was excavated by David Ussishkin and John Woodhead, but unfortunately almost nothing was preserved for posterity. Thankfully, with the few stones left and the overview of the Jezreel and Harod Valleys, one can still be greatly helped in reimagining the Biblical stories.