Joshua 17:16

have chariots of iron The iron chariots of the Canaanites were objects of terror to the Israelites, see above, ch. Joshua 11:6-9. They were the main reason why the Israelites could not establish themselves in the plain, on which Beth-shean, Taanach, and Megiddo were situated. The forest they could occupy, but the plain, where the "chariot-cavalry" of their foes were so effective though powerless in the mountains, they could not reduce. Comp. Judges 1:19; Jdg 4:3; 1 Samuel 13:5. Compare as to the insecurity of the plains the remarks of Tristram: "No matter how wide, how rich, how well cultivated a plain may be, like Acre or Esdraelon, its tame monotony is never relieved by a single village. These are all hidden in the nooks of the mountains; for no fellâhin or cultivators would venture to dwell where any night they might be harried by a party of Bedouin troopers, and to this risk they gladly prefer an hour or two's weary climb added to their daily toil: while no traveller would dream of encamping even for a night in the open plain." Land of Israel, p. 421.

the valley As the "hill" here denotes Mount Ephraim, so the valley country includes both (a) the valley or ghôrof the Jordan near Bethshean, and (b) the wide plain of Jezreel, between Gilboa and little Hermon, to which, in its widest extent, the name of Esdraelon has been applied in modern times; a name first used in Jdt 1:8. "It was only this plain of Jezreel, and that north of Lake Huleh, that was then accessible to the chariots of the Canaanites. It was in this plain of Jezreel that Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went forth in chariotsto meet the enemy (2 Kings 9:21). It was here that Jehu passed in a chariotto Samaria, to meet the faithful Jehonadab (2 Kings 10:15). And Wilson (Lands of the Bible, ii. 303), in leaving the hilly district of Judæa, wholly unfitted for vehicles, and entering the plain of Esdraelon at Jenin, was surprised to see how entirely it differed from the country which he had previously traversed, and how easily it might be crossed by excellent highways, if the custom of the country admitted of the use of vehicles. In the days of the Jews, the plain was so associated with the use of the chariot, that this term became to a certain extent an exponent of the power of the people inhabiting the plain. The chariotwas the glory of Ephraim, as the horse was of Judah (Zechariah 9:9-10). Carl Ritter's Geography of Palestine, ii. 327, 328.