Kishon

The Kishon (meaning winding or hard) was a seasonal river of central Palestine, rising on the slopes of Mount Tabor and in the hills of Gilboa before flowing northwestward through the Jezreel Valley to drain into the Mediterranean near Haifa at the foot of Mount Carmel. For much of the year a series of pools, it could become a raging torrent in the rainy season when the flat valley floor turned to mud and flooded.

Two of the most dramatic events in Israel's history unfolded at the Kishon. In Deborah and Barak's battle against Sisera, God threw the Canaanite chariot army into panic—and then the Kishon swept them away, transforming Sisera's greatest military asset (chariots, which required firm ground) into a liability in the flooded plain (Judges 4–5). The Song of Deborah celebrates: The torrent Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon (Judges 5:21). Centuries later, Elijah executed the 450 prophets of Baal at the Kishon after the fire contest on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:40). The Kishon thus became associated with two great divine victories over paganism in Israel's national memory.