Harod, Well Of

Google Maps: Harod (32° 32´, 35° 21´)

HAROD, WELL OF [ISBE]

HAROD, WELL OF - ha'-rod (`en charodh, "fountain of trembling"): The fountain beside which (probably above it) Gideon and his army were encamped (Jdg 7:1). Moore (Judges, in the place cited.) argues, inconclusively, that the hill Moreh must be sought near Shechem, and that the well of Harod must be some spring in the neighborhood of that city. There is no good reason to question the accuracy of the common view which places this spring at `Ain Jalud, on the edge of the vale of Jezreel, about 2 miles East of Zer`in, and just under the northern cliffs of Gilboa. A copious spring of clear cold water rises in a rocky cave and flows out into a large pool, whence it drains off, in Nahr Jalud, down the vale past Beisan to the Jordan. This is probably also to be identified with the spring "which is in Jezreel," i.e. in the district, near which Saul encamped before the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam 29:1). `Ain el-Meiyiteh, just below Zer`in on the North, is hardly of sufficient size and importance to be a rival to `Ain Jalud.

See ESDRAELON.

W. Ewing