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•ABEL-BETH-MAACHAH meadow of the house of Maachah, a city in the north of Palestine, in the neighbourhood of Dan and Ijon, in the tribe of Naphtali. It was a place of considerable strength and importance. It is called a “mother in Israel”, i.e., a metropolis (2 Samuel 20:19). It was besieged by Joab (2 Samuel 20:14), by Benhadad (1 Kings 15:20), and by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15:29) about B.C. 734. It is elsewhere called Abel-maim, meadow of the waters, (2 Chronicles 16:4). Its site is occupied by the modern Abil or Abil-el-kamh, on a rising ground to the east of the brook Derdarah, which flows through the plain of Huleh into the Jordan, about 6 miles to the west-north-west of Daniel‌‌‌‌‌‌

•ABEL-CHERAMIM (Judges 11:33, R.V.; A. V., “plain of the vineyards”), a village of the Ammonites, whither Jephthah pursued their forces.

•ABEL-MEHOLAH meadow of dancing, or the dancing-meadow, the birth-place and residence of the prophet Elisha, not far from Beth-shean (1 Kings 4:12), in the tribe of Issachar, near where the Wady el-Maleh emerges into the valley of the Jordan, “the rich meadow-land which extends about 4 miles south of Beth-shean; moist and luxuriant.” Here Elisha was found at his plough by Elijah on his return up the Jordan valley from Horeb (1 Kings 19:16). It is now called ‘Ain Helweh.

•ABEL-MIZRAIM meadow of Egypt, or mourning of Egypt, a place “beyond,” i.e., on the west of Jordan, at the “threshing-floor of Atad.” Here the Egyptians mourned seventy days for Jacob (Genesis 50:4-11). Its site is unknown.

•ABEL-SHITTIM meadow of the acacias, frequently called simply “Shittim” (Numbers 25:1; Joshua 2:1; Micah 6:5), a place on the east of Jordan, in the plain of Moab, nearly opposite Jericho. It was the forty-second encampment of the Israelites, their last resting-place before they crossed the Jordan (Numbers 33:49; 22:1; 26:3; 31:12; comp. 25:1; 31:16).

•ABEZ tin, or white, a town in the tribe of Issachar (Joshua 19:20), at the north of the plain of Esdraelon. It is probably identified with the ruins of el-Beida.

•ABIA my father is the Lord, the Greek form of Abijah, or Abijam (Matthew 1:7), instead of Abiah (1 Chronicles 7:8). In Luke 1:5, the name

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