KISHION and KISHaN Vjp, 'hardness ;' Ktcrcfu, ; Alex. Ktatt6a ; Cesian), a Cown of Tssachar, apparently situated in the great plain of Esdraelon, where most of those with which it is grouped also stood (Josh. xix. 2o). It was one of four allotted to the Levites (xxi. 2S). It is called Kedesh in Chron. vi. 72, which may perhaps have been a later name for it [KEDEsx]. Some think that Kishon owes its name to the more celebrated river Eishon ; and others that it took its name from the river. The two names, however, though similar in sound, have different roots, irvp coming from riVp, to be hard ;' and iiri+p, from vip, to be bent as a bow' (cf. Gesenius, Thesaurus; Keil on Josh. ad loc.) The site of the town is unknown. —J. L. P.
KISHON (1\1:34p, tortuous,' from e5ip, to be bent ;' Kum@ ; .Alex. Ktcr63v and Keicri3v ; Cisau), a celebrated river of Palestine, which drains nearly the whole plain of Esdraelon, and falls into the Mediterranean near the northern base of Mount Carmel. The Kishon has a vast number of little branches or tributaries falling into it from the hills on the north and south sides of the plain. Its highest sources on the north-east are at Tabor, as is stated by Jerome (Onamast., s. v. Cison). This has been denied by Shaw ( Travels, i. 168), but its truth has been satisfactorily established by many recent travellers (Robinson, B. R., ii. 336, 363; Munro, Summer Ramble, i. 2S1). The watershed on this part of the plain might be defined, with a near approach to accuracy, by a line drawn from the base of Tabor to the village of Nain on the opposite hill; on the west side of that line the water flows to the Mediterranean through the Kishon ; on the east to the Jordan. During the summer all the water-courses are perfectly dry, but when the heavy rains of winter and early spring fall, large torrents rush down from Tabor and the hills of Galilee, speedily fill the deep miry beds in the alluvial plain and render the passage of them both difficult and'dangerous. In the end of March 1858 the writer travelled from Nazareth to Jenln ; rain had fallen for two days before, amd he had extreme difficulty in crossing one of the channels through which a considerable stream was flowing westward (cf. Thomson, The Land and the Book,
P. 434, English ed.) The soil of the whole plain is so soft and deep, and the natural drainage so defective, that a fall of Ain converts large sections of it into dangerous swamps. During the battle between the French and the Arabs, on April r6th, 1799, many of the latter are said to have been drowned in the stream which flows westward through the plain from Deburieb, at the foot of Tabor (Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 339 ; cf. Robinson, ii. 363). The highest source of the Kishon on the south-east is the large fountain of Jenin, the ancient En-gannim, the water from which, increased by a number of the streamlets from the surrounding hills, flows westward across the plain through a deep channel, during the winter months ; but in summer this channel, like the northern one, is perfectly thy (Van de Velde, Travels, i. 362; Thomson, 435). The two channels unite at a point a few miles north of the site of Megiddo. The channel of the united stream is here deep and miry ; the ground for some distance on each side is low and marshy ; and the fords during winter are always difficult, and often, after heavy rain, impassable ; yet in summer, even here, the whole plain and the river bed are dry and hard (Robinson, ii. 364 ; Thomson, 1. c.) These facts strikingly illustrate the narrative of the defeat of Sisera. The battle was fought on the south bank of the Kishon, at Megiddo (Judg. iv. 13 ; v. 19). While the battle raged a violent storm of wind and rain came on (Judg. v. 4, 20 ; cf. Joseph. Antig. v. 5. 4). In a short time the hard plain was turned into a marsh, and the dry river-bed into a foaming torrent. The Canaanites were driven back on the river by the fiery attack of Barak, and the fury of the storm ; for • the earth trembled, the heavens dropped . . . the stars in tbeir courses fought against Sisera.' The war-horses and chariots dashing madly through the marshy ground ruade it much worse ; and the soldiers, in trying to cross the swollen torrent, were swept away. The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon' (Judg. v. 21).