Plains

Plains. This one term does duty, in the Authorized Version, for no less than eight distinct Hebrew words.

1. Abel. (meadow). This word perhaps answers more nearly to our word, "meadow" than any other. It occurs in the names of Abel-maim Abel-meholah, Abel-shittim and is rendered "plain" in Jdg 11:33 -- "plain of vineyards." See Abel, 2.

2. Bik’ah or Bik’a. (to cleave, a valley). Fortunately, we are able to identify the most remarkable of the bik’ahs of the Bible, and thus, to ascertain the force of the term. The great plain or valley of Coele-Syria, the "hollow land" of the Greeks, which separates the two ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, is the most remarkable of them all. Out of Palestine, we find denoted by the word, bik’ah, the "plain of the land of Shiner," Gen 11:2, the "plain of Mesopotamia," Eze 3:22-23; Eze 8:4; Eze 37:1-2, and the "plain in the province of Dura." Dan 3:1.

3. Ha arabah. (dry region). The peculiar name of the valley of the Jordan.

4. Hak kikkar. (ciccar), (to move in a circle, as a coin or a loaf). The plain around Jericho. Gen 13:10).

5. Ham mishor. (oven place, plain). In Deu 3:10, it refers to the region now called El Belka, the high level table-lands, (of Moab), east of the Dead Sea.

6. Ha shefelah. (a low plain). The invariable designation of the depressed, flat or gently-undulating region which intervened between the highlands of Judah and the Mediterranean, and was commonly in possession of the Philistines.

7. Elon. (oak, or grove of oaks). Our translators have uniformly rendered this word "plain;" but this is not the verdict of the majority or the most trustworthy of the ancient versions. They regard the word as meaning an "oak" or "grove of oaks", a rendering supported by nearly all the commentators and lexicographers of the present day. The passages in which the word occurs erroneously translated "plain" are as follows: plain [oak or grove] of Moreh, Gen 12:6; Gen 11:30, plain [oak grove] of Mamre, Gen 13:18; Gen 14:13; Gen 18:1, plain [grove of the wanderers] of Zaanaim, "wanders", Jdg 4:11, plain [oak of the covenant, or monumental oak] of the pillar, Jdg 9:6, plain [grove] of Meonenim, "magicians", Jdg 9:37, plain [oak or grove] of Tabor, 1Sa 10:5.

8. Emek. (valley). As applied to the Plain of Esdraelon and other valleys or plains, as Achor, Ajalon, Baca, Berachah, Bethrehob, Elah, Gibeon, Hebron, Jehoshaphat, Keziz, Rephaim, Shaveh, Siddim, and Succoth, besides the valley of "decision" in Joe 3:14.

abel ("meadow"; compare ABEL MEHOLAH.) Biqu’ah, the great, plain Coele ("hollow") Syria between Lebanon and Antilebanon; Bikath Aven, Amo 1:5; "the valley (Biqa’ath) of Lebanon" (Jos 11:17; Jos 12:7), Biqua’ath Mizpeh (Jos 11:8); still called el Bekaa, 60 miles long, five broad. Also 2Ch 35:22; Gen 11:2; Neh 6:2; Dan 3:1. Hac Ciccar, the region round about the Jordan valley (Gen 13:10; Gen 19:17; Gen 19:25-29). Ham Mishor (Deu 3:10; Deu 4:43), the smooth (from yaashar, "straight") downs of Moab stretching from Jordan E. of Jericho into the Arabian desert, contrasting with the rugged country W. of Jordan and with the higher lands of Bashan and Argob.

The Belka pasture, regular in its undulations, good in its turf (2Ch 26:10). Ha ’Arabah, the Jordan valley and its continuation S. of the Dead Sea. Ha shephelah, the undulating, rolling, "low hills" between the mountainous part of Judah and the coast plain of the Mediterranean (Deu 1:7, "the vale"; 2Ch 28:18, "the low country"); Seville in Spain is derived from it. ’Elon ought to be translated "oak" or "oaks" (Gen 12:6; Gen 13:18; Jdg 4:11; Jdg 9:6; Jdg 9:37; 1Sa 10:3). Emek the valley of Jezreel (Esdraelon), the eastern part, Megiddo the western part, of the one plain.