The possession by the Canaanites of chariots strengthened and tipped with iron, such as were used by the Egyptians Exodus 14:7, is named here by the children of Joseph as a reason why they could not possess themselves of the plains. “The valley of Jezreel” is the broad low valley which sweeps from “Zerin” between the mountains of Gilboa and the range of little Hermon eastward down to the Jordan. It was most likely in this valley that the host of the Midianites was encamped, when attacked by Gideon Judges 7:1, Judges 7:8. The great plain of Jezreel, called the plain of Esdraelon (Esdrelom, Judith 1:8), extends from Carmel on the west to the hills of Gilboa, little Hermon, and Tabor on the east, a distance of full sixteen miles; and its breadth between the rocky mass of southern Palestine and the bolder mountains of Galilee on the north, is about twelve miles. Its position as well as its open area make it the natural battlefield of Palestine.
Related Commentaries of Joshua 17:16
Joshua 17:16
16 And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel.