And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.
Sisera gathered together ... from Harosheth of the Gentiles - (see the note at Judges 4:2.) Several allied kings brought their respective troops also (see Judges 5:3; Judges 5:19). Sisera, believing that with his immense host he could easily surround the mount Tabor, and force the rebels to surrender, marched out into the plain of Esdraelon.
Unto the river of Kishon, х nachal (H5158), a torrent, apparently from the deep gully or ravine through which it flows; Septuagint, eis ton cheimarroun, the wintry torrent; qiyshown (H7028) - i:e., curved, winding (from qiysh (H7027), a bow); and this is the character of the stream, which, as flowing through a level plain, pursues a very meandering course.] 'We still find the same river a considerable stream, under the name of el-Mukutta, flowing along the base of Carmel into the bay of 'Akka. A principal source of the Kishon is in the vicinity of mount Tabor; although probably the branch fed from the southern arm of the plain and the southern hills is in general not less important. During the rains much water must necessarily come from the wadies northwest of Tabor, and there form what Burckhardt calls the river of Deburieh, upon the great plain near that village. But the Kishon of the plain is not now a permanent stream: it usually flows only during the season of rain, and for a short time afterward. Yet the river, as it enters the sea at the foot of Carmel, never becomes dry; and we must therefore seek for its perennial sources along the base of that mountain. Whether the brook at Lejjun (Megiddo) reaches the bed of the Kishon during the summer we are not informed; but the main sources appear to be lower down in the valley by which the channel issues from the plain of Esdraelon' (Robinson, 'Biblical Researches,' 3:, p. 228, 229; also 'Physical Geography,' p. 171; Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 331). That plain is said to be about 15 miles square. While Deborah and Barak stationed their bands of devoted followers on the broad summit of Tabor, the host of Sisera, with its nine hundred iron chariots, naturally took up its position on the level plain of Megiddo, on its southwestern extremity by the banks of the Kishon, and near the Canaanite town Taanach (Judges 4:19) (i:e., sandy soil), now Taannuk, a village on the slope of the hills skirting the plain on the south.