Valley
After Abraham died, Isaac’s servants dug in the valley of Gerar till they struck spring water, but Isaac left after the Gerar herdsmen strove with Isaac’s herdsmen over the spring; Isaac called it the well Esek. Then Isaac’s servants dug another well, but strife came again over access to the spring and Isaac called it the well Sitnah. Finally, Isaac left that area and dug another well, and no strife ensued, so Isaac called the well Rehoboth. Isaac said, “For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” He went up to Beer-sheba, received a reiteration of the Abrahamic covenant from God Himself, built an altar, called on the name of the LORD, pitched his tent there, and had his servants dig another well. (Isaac 26, KJV)
Moreover, in 2 Kings 3:16, we see that the LORD told Elisha to fill a valley with ditches—that is to say, the valley would not have wind or rain but would nevertheless be filled with water, so that the people and the cattle and the beasts would be able to drink. In Psalm 84:5-6, one reads that “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.” (KJV)
Valley of Murmuring (Valley of Decision)
According to the commandment of the LORD, Moses sent twelve of the sons of Israel into the land of Canaan, where they searched out the land for a period of 40 days. Unfortunately, in the valley of Eshcol—also known as the brook of Eshcol, so called because of the huge cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from that place—many of these began to murmur and ended up discouraging the children of Israel. The murmurers gave an evil report of the land, complaining that it was “a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof” and that the men therein were of great stature; they even suggested they make a captain that would take them back to Egypt, the land of their slavery, so that their wives and children would not become prey to the oversized Canaanites! Of course, Joshua and Caleb stood strong in the face of those who gave up—that is to say, in front of Shammua, son of Zaccur, of the tribe of Reuben; Shaphat, son of Hori, of the tribe of Simeon; Igal, son of Joseph, of the tribe of Issachar; Palti, son of Paphu, of the tribe of Benjamin; Gaddiel, son of Sodi, of the tribe of Zebulun; Gaddi, son of Susi, of the tribe of Joseph, that is to say, of the tribe of Manasseh; Ammiel, son of Gemalli, of the tribe of Dan; Sethur, son of Michael, of the tribe of Asher; Nahbi, son of Vophsi, of the tribe of Naphtali; and Geuel, son of Machi, of the tribe of Gad. Of course, Joshua was known as Oshea, son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, and Moses called him Jehoshua; and Caleb was the son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah. Caleb valiantly called on his people to go at once and possess the land of Canaan, which he said they were able to overcome, but he and Joshua were outnumbered. The LORD would not let the ten murmurers, or the rest of the men that were twenty years old or more, inhabit the land of Canaan because of their disobedience; but the LORD did let Joshua and Caleb and all the children, ages nineteen or less, go into the good land of milk and honey to inhabit it. Indeed, the ten murmurers died by the plague before the LORD and their carcasses fell right there in the wilderness. (Numbers 13-14, KJV)
The word for “valley” in Numbers 32:9 and Deuteronomy 1:24, in which the valley of Eshcol appears, has the Hebrew root nachal, connoting “taking an inheritance.” Nachalah means “a stream, a winter torrent, a narrow valley with a brook running through it, or a shaft.” (The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Nashville: Nelson, 1996, in the Hebrew and Aramaic appendix) Therefore, it would seem there is some irony that the valley of murmuring, as it were, would produce a wonderful stream for Joshua, Caleb, and the under-twenty children when they entered the good land, but would produce a torrent of judgment on the ten murmurers as they died of a plague in the wilderness. Perhaps the Holy Spirit’s use of nachal or nachalah in this context signifies that as people—as part of God’s creation and as beings made in His image—we can turn our lives into a good stream of God’s blessings or into a harsh torrent of punishment from God depending on whether or not we accept and obey Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior in this life. In effect, the valley of Eshcol became a valley of decision for the twelve sons of Israel that searched out the land of Canaan: they either chose loyalty to the God of Israel, or they chose disloyalty to God, preferring instead to pine for Egypt.
In Joel 3, we see that the nations will be gathered into the valley of Jehoshaphat, where the LORD will judge the wicked heathen all around. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” (Joel 3:14, KJV) Note that the word “multitudes” is repeated twice—that means there will be an astonishingly huge throng of people coming to fight against Jerusalem, and it would seem reasonable to infer that a large part of this wicked anti-Israel army will consist of the 200-million-man force, under the kings of the east, that will probably cross over the dried-up Euphrates enroute to Israel (Revelation 9, 16). The sun and moon will be darkened and the stars won’t shine; the LORD will roar from Zion, uttering His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake. Zechariah 12-14 also describes this end-time battle, including the huge earthquake precipitated by the LORD’s setting foot on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem; the LORD will come with the saints; the LORD will smite those who fought against Jerusalem by sending a plague that will cause their flesh to rot away while they’re standing, cause their eyes to rot away in their holes, and their tongues to rot away in their mouths. In other words, the LORD will win a victory for Israel, and the wicked heathen who hate Jerusalem will lose. For believers, the good news is that the Lord Jesus will reign from Jerusalem as the roaring Lion of Judah, and a fountain will come out of the house of the LORD and water the valley of Shittim (last part of Joel 3).
Beware the Ravens of the Valley
Ravens are sometimes used to depict an agent of punishment. For instance, in Proverbs 30:17, we read that “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” Why would the punishing ravens be ravens of the valley? I’m not sure. There are many examples in the Bible of punishing battles that take place in valleys (the Valley of Megiddon in Zechariah 12:14 being the site of the great end-times battle known as the Battle of Armageddon, in which the nations that gather against Jerusalem will be defeated by the LORD)—so perhaps the ravens of the valley are in this case an extension of the punishing hand of God as an evil one gets his just desserts in a valley; or perhaps the image is that a raven can do its best and most dramatic swooping by dropping down onto the valley bottom. Either way, the message is clear enough: one is to honor his parents (Ephesians 6:1-3), and he is not to mock his father or despise his mother.
Valley of Sacrifice
In Deuteronomy 21, it is written that if a slain man is found in a land which the LORD has given to a people, and they don’t know who killed the man, then the elders of the nearby city should cut off a heifer’s neck in a rough valley (neither eared nor sown); and the Levitical priests should minister unto him and bless him in the name of the LORD; and certain elders should wash their hands over the beheaded heifer, saying that they did not shed this blood and they did not see who did the deed, and asking the LORD for mercy upon His people Israel, so that the Israelites would be forgiven and not charged with the shedding of innocent blood. It is interesting that a valley would again be the site of a sacrifice.
Moses and Valleys
In Deuteronomy 34, it is written that Moses died in Moab, and was buried in a valley in Moab, near Beth-peor; shortly before his death, Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto Mount Nebo, from whence he saw the land that was sworn by the LORD to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, including the plain of the valley of Jericho.