Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HAROD

(Heb. ḥărōḏ)

1. A spring where Gideon and his men camped (Judg. 7:1). Many scholars identify the site with the spring of ʿAin Jālûd (184217), 3.2 km. (2 mi.) E of Zerʿin below the cliffs of Mt. Gilboa. The spring flows from a rocky cave into the Jalud River and eventually reaches the Jordan. At the spring of Harod (“trembling”), Gideon tested his men before the battle against the Midianites, who were camped in the valley below. The first group dismissed by Gideon were those who “trembled” (Heb. ḥārēḏ). The final test came at the waters of the spring itself. Years later, before the fateful battle with the Philistines, Saul camped at a “spring” in the Jezreel Valley (1 Sam. 29:1), which some identify with Harod.

2. A town possibly identified with Khirbet el-Haredan (178126), SE of Jerusalem, although its exact location remains uncertain. Two of David’s famous Thirty, Shammah and Elika, may have been from Harod (2 Sam. 23:25). However, a few manuscripts read “Harorites,” and the LXX omits Elika (cf. 1 Chr. 11:27, which refers only to Shammoth [Shammah] “the Harorite”). The difference in spelling may be explained by the orthographic similarity of daleth and resh.

Stephen von Wyrick

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HAROD

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)