Guarding your Valleys and Fighting Your Giants OR A Tale of 2 Vales - Part 1

In November when bus #9 was standing on top of Mount Carmel our tour guide Ari - who had been an officer in the IDF Armoured Corps - said something that really made an impact on me, in the context of looking down at the Jezreel Valley spread below us. He said, "Battles fought for the mountains are won in the valleys." Here is the view we had: 

The Jezreel Valley was of great strategic importance throughout Israel's ancient history and continues to be so today. Why? Look at this topographical map. The Jezreel Valley is clearly seen running east/west from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Jordan River Valley. It bisects several of the more numerous north/south valleys that lead up into the mountainous heartland of Israel. 

In ancient times to attack Jerusalem directly from the east meant an arduous up and down and back and forth series of climbs and switchbacks through the Judean Mountains. Each climb and descent or switchback gave the defenders a chance to regroup, harass and delay the attackers in hopes of demoralizing their intentions entirely. 

"Battles fought for the mountains are won in the valleys". 

That is why all these Biblical battles and confrontations took place in the Jezreel Valley: 

Gideon defeats the Midianites - Judges 6&7
Saul dies on Mt. Gilboa - 1 Samuel 31
Solomon rebuilds and fortifies Megiddo - 1 Kings 9:15
Elijah defeats prophets of Baal - 1 Kings 18
Jehu and Jezebel - 2 Kings 9

If your invading army could gain, hold and traverse the Jezreel Valley, it could attack Jerusalem from the rear through its much easier easterly attack route with essentially just 1 climb instead of 10 or 12. That is why at its far eastern end, just before any attacking army would turn south and head towards Jerusalem from the rear, Solomon upgraded and rebuilt the ancient fortress town of Megiddo to guard his capital's northern flank.

Other strategic and important biblical places located on the slopes or in the valley are also: 

Nazareth - Jesus hometown -  Matthew 2:23 
Mt. Tabor - the place of Jesus' transfiguration - Matthew 17:2 

Because it of its ancient strategic importance and the ease through which a foreign invader could assault Jerusalem, the final battle of Armageddon (Har Megiddo) is even pictured as happening there... complete with a 300,000,000 man army. 

Armageddon - Revelation 16:16

All Ari's talk of invading armies using the valley shortcut to assail the mountain capital of Jerusalem left me thinking about what Solomon and Paul both said about what we should guard if we intend to keep the Enemy of our Souls at bay: 

Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.

Proverbs 7:1
Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

1 Timothy 4:16
16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Both Solomon and Paul note that each of us has two "valleys" the enemy wants to attack us through that we need to guard and protect if we are going to win the war for our "mountains", as it were. 

Our heart... the place from which our actions spring

and 

Our doctrine... the ideas implicit and explicit that govern our theology