Difference between revisions of "Abel-Meholah"

<p> <strong> [[Abel-Meholah]] </strong> (‘meadow of the dance <em> or </em> circle’). [[A]] place in the [[Jordan]] valley, the limit of Gideon’s pursuit of the [[Midianites]] (&nbsp; Judges 7:22 ); in the administrative district of [[Taanach]] and [[Megiddo]] under [[Solomon]] (&nbsp; 1 Kings 4:12 ); the native place of Adriel, husband of Merab, Saul’s daughter (&nbsp; 1 Samuel 18:19 ), and of [[Elisha]] (&nbsp; 1 Kings 19:16 ). The suggested identifications are uncertain. See Moore’s <em> Judges </em> , p. 212. </p> <p> [[R.]] [[A.]] [[S.]] Macalister. </p>

<p> ("the plain of the dance".) The birthplace of Elisha, where he was found at his plow by [[Elijah]] returning up the Jordan valley from [[Horeb]] (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:16). [[N.]] of the Jordan valley, [[S.]] of [[Bethshean]] (Scythopolis) (&nbsp;1 Kings 4:12). To its neighborhood fled the Midianites routed by [[Gideon]] (&nbsp;Judges 7:22). It pertained to the half tribe of Manasseh. </p>

<p> '''A'bel-meho'lah.''' ''(meadow of the dance).'' In the northern part of the Jordan valley, &nbsp;1 Kings 4:12, to which the routed Bedouin host fled from Gideon, &nbsp;Judges 7:22. Here Elisha was found at his plough by Elijah returning up the valley from Horeb. &nbsp;1 Kings 19:16-19. </p>

<p> '''Abel-Meholah''' (''â'bel-me-hô'lah'' ), ''meadow of the dance.'' &nbsp;Judges 7:22. [[A]] town in the plain of Jordan, distinguished as the home of Elisha. &nbsp;1 Kings 4:12; &nbsp;1 Kings 19:16. </p>

<p> (Heb. Abel' Mecholah', מְחוֹלָה אָבֵל, ''meadow of dancing;'' Sept. Ἀβελμεουλά and Ἀβελμαουλά, Vul. ''Abelmehula'' and ''Abelneuel),'' a place not far from the Jordan, on the confines of [[Issachar]] and Manasseh, in the vicinity of Beth-shittah, Zeredah, and Tabbath, whither Gideon's three hundred picked men pursued the routed Midianites (&nbsp;Judges 7:22). It was the birthplace or residence of Elisha the prophet (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:16), and lay not far from Beth-shean (&nbsp;1 Kings 4:12); according to [[Eusebius]] ''(Onomast. Βηθμαελά),'' in the plain of the Jordan, 16 (Jerome 10) Roman miles south, probably the same with the village ''Abelmea'' mentioned by [[Jerome]] ''(ibid.'' Eusebius less correctly Ἀβὲλ νεά ) as situated between [[Scythopolis]] (Bethshean) and [[Neapolis]] (Shechem). It is also alluded to by [[Epiphanius]] (whose text has inaccurately Ἀβελμούδ v. ''r. Ἀμεμουήλ,'' and wrongly locates it in the tribe of Reuben), and (as Ἀβελμαούλ ) in the ''Pas(kal Chronicle'' (see Reland, ''Palest.'' p. 522). It was probably situated not far from where the [[Wady]] el-Maleh (which seems to retain a trace of the name) emerges into the Aulon or valley of the Jordan; perhaps at the ruins now called ''Khurbet esh-Skul','' which are on an undulating plain beside a stream (Van de Velde, Narrative. 2:340). This appears to agree with the conjectural location assigned by Schwarz (Palest. p. 159), although the places he names do not occur on any map. </p> <p> [[Addendum]] [[From]] [[Volume]] 11: </p> <p> Tristram conjectures this to be "a spot now called Sher-habiel, a trace of the name lingering in the neighboring Wady Maleh" (Bible Places p. 229);. while Lieut. Conder locates it at "a place now called [[Ain]] Helweh, in the Jordan valley, to which the direct road led past [[Shunem]] down the valley of Jezreel' (Tent Work, 1, 124). </p>