=Central and Commanding Position.= The Plain of Esdraelon, like the Plain of Sharon, was a great highway of the nations. Through the broad valleys which lead into it came from every quarter the invaders, whether for peaceful or violent conquest, for here all the important roads converged. On its western border ran the great coast road from Egypt to Phœnicia. The eastern branches of the road also entered the plain from the south through three different avenues. The one was through the valley which led from the Plain of Sharon to the southeastern end of Mount Carmel. Still more direct and easy was the approach through northwestern Samaria along the Wady Arah, past the famous old fortress of Megiddo. The third was farther east along the broad Plain of Dothan to Engannim, the present Jenîn, and thence along the eastern side of the Plain of Esdraelon. These highways in turn connected with those which ran past Mount Tabor to the populous cities on the Lake of Gennesaret and thence to Damascus and the East. Another important artery of trade ran along the wide, level Plain of Jezreel, past Bethshean that guarded its eastern gateway^{(12)} to the Jordan and thence northward to Damascus or directly eastward to Gilead and the desert (_cf._ chap. IX). =Importance of the Plain in Palestinian History.= The Plain of Esdraelon was both the door and the key to Palestine. Through it came the ancient conquerors to possess the land. The Midianites in the days of Gideon were but a part of that ever-advancing Arab horde, which surged up through the Plain of Jezreel whenever the government of central Palestine was weak. On its gently sloping hills from the days of Thotmes III to Napoleon were waged the great battles that determined the possession of the land. Here, under the leadership of Deborah, the Hebrews fought the valiant fight that left them masters of Canaan and free to pass over the barrier of plain that had hitherto kept apart the tribes of the north from those of the south. V THE HILLS OF SAMARIA AND JUDAH