Difference between revisions of "Abel-Meholah"

<p> <translit> ā´bel </translit> - <translit> mē̇ </translit> - <translit> hō´lah </translit> ( <span> אבל מחולה </span> , <i> <translit> 'ābhēl meḥōlāh </translit> </i> , "meadow of dancing"): The residence of [[Elisha]] the prophet ( <span> 1 Kings 19:16 </span> ). When [[Gideon]] and his 300 broke their pitchers in the camp of Midian, the [[Midianites]] in their first panic fled down the valley of [[Jezreel]] and the [[Jordan]] "toward Zererah" ( <span> [[Judges]] 7:22 </span> ). [[Zererah]] (Zeredah) is [[Zarethan]] ( <span> 2 [[Chronicles]] 4:17 </span> ; compare <span> 1 Kings 7:46 </span> ), separated from [[Succoth]] by the clay ground where [[Solomon]] made castings for the temple. The wing of the Midianites whom Gideon pursued crossed the Jordan at Succoth ( <span> Judges 8:4 </span> ). This would indicate that Abel-meholah was thought of as a tract of country with a "border," [[West]] of the Jordan, some miles [[South]] of Beth-shean, in the territory either of [[Issachar]] or West Manasseh. </p> <p> Abel-meholah is also mentioned in connection with the jurisdiction of Baana, one of Solomon's twelve commissary officers ( <span> 1 Kings 4:12 </span> ) as below Jezreel, with Beth-shean and Zarethan in the same list. </p> <p> [[Jerome]] and [[Eusebius]] speak of Abel-meholah as a tract of country and a town in the Jordan valley, about ten [[Roman]] miles South of Beth-shean. At just that point the name seems to be perpetuated in that of the [[Wady]] Malib, and Abel-meholah is commonly located near where that Wady, or the neighboring Wady Helweh, comes down into the Jordan valley. </p> <p> [[Presumably]] [[Adriel]] the [[Meholathite]] ( <span> 1 [[Samuel]] 18:19 </span> ; <span> 2 Samuel 21:8 </span> ) was a resident of Abel-meholah. </p>