Kishon
Watercourse of the Esdraelon Plain, crossed several times by the apostolic group.
Description[edit | edit source]
The first times the apostolic group faces the Kishon, Maria Valtorta does not name the river she describes:"A watercourse that flows rapidly towards the sea, swollen by spring rains and snowmelt, stops their march (…) Peter runs over and says: “The bridge is further upstream, where the road from Ptolemais to Engannim crosses”"[1].Again:
"There is a narrow valley with a deep torrent, certainly powerful because of the violence of its flow during floods, now reduced to a silver foam in the middle of its bed. The torrent runs towards the sea brushing the base of Carmel"[2].It is finally from a traveler questioning Peter that the name is learned. "Is this the Kishon?"[3]. The Kishon is mentioned several more times, which is not surprising since this river cut the north-south route along the entire length of the Esdraelon Plain.
"Near the wide bay of Sicaminon, the most abundant among them, the Kishon debouches into the sea after forming a sort of water mirror at the confluence with another stream, near its mouth"[4].
Its name[edit | edit source]
Kishon, Qishon. The exact etymology of the word "Kishon" (קישון in Hebrew) is not clearly established. It could derive from the Hebrew root "kashah" (קשה), which means "hard" or "difficult". This could refer to the nature of the riverbed or its rapid flow.
Where is it mentioned in the work?[edit | edit source]
GRM 334.1.
Learn more about this place[edit | edit source]
An intermittent river 70 km long, originating at Mount Gilboa, and flowing into the Mediterranean near Haifa, after crossing the Esdraelon Plain. Only the last eleven kilometers have a permanent course today. It is quite remarkable that Maria Valtorta describes “a narrow valley with a deep torrent” when the Apostles and Jesus descend from the hill where they had rested before continuing towards Sicaminon. For it is precisely only at that place that the Kishon flows “over a length of five km, inside a narrow valley bordered by the heights of Tivon, Mount Carmel and Alonim”[5]. In biblical times, it was (during the rainy season) a river “impassable like the ocean”. In the 18th century, in normal times, Victor Guérin stated: “it can be crossed on foot, even at its mouth”[6].
On its banks, two significant events of the Bible took place:
Explore[edit | edit source]
- 32° 49’ 00’’ N / 35° 02’ 00’’ E /
- +50m.
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.
Article partially written based on the Geographical Dictionary of the Gospel by Jean-François Lavère.
- ↑ GRM 192.1.
- ↑ GRM 249.5.
- ↑ GRM 255.1.
- ↑ GRM 325.1.
- ↑ See Kishon on Wikipedia.
- ↑ GUÉRIN, Holy Land Vol. 2, p. 162.
- ↑ Sisera was a young general of the Canaanite army oppressing Israel. He was defeated by the Hebrew army raised at the instigation of the prophetess Deborah and led by Barak. Sisera took refuge in a friendly tent where Yael the Homemaker hid him, but taking advantage of his sleep, she killed him with a tent peg. (Judges 4:2-22 | Judges 5:20-22).
- ↑ Elijah, the sole prophet of the God of Israel, challenged 450 priests of Baal. The trances and incantations of Baal’s priests remained unanswered by Heaven. At the end of the day, the offerings prepared by Elijah on an altar of 12 stones are immediately consumed. Elijah then orders the extermination of Baal’s priests: “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape! And they seized them. Elijah brought them down to the torrent of Kishon, where he slaughtered them” (1 Kings 18:22-40).