Abelane
H3 on the Map.
Abil el-Qamh. Roman period city succeeding Abel-beth-maacah (Heb. Brook of the house of oppression). Located twelve miles N of Lake Huleh. It was a place of importance, a metropolis, and called a "mother in Israel" (2 Sam 20:19). It was besieged by Joab, Ben-hadad, and Tiglath-pileser (2 Sam 20:14; 1 Kings 15:20; 2 Kings 15:29).
Bible Scriptures - Abel-beth-maacah
2 Samuel 20:14 - And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.
1 Kings 15:20 - So Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.
2 Kings 15:29 - In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.
2 Samuel 20:19 - I [am one of them that are] peaceable [and] faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
- ABEL-BETH-MAACAH
a'-bel-beth-ma'-a-ka ('abhel beth ma`akhah, "the meadow of the house of Maacah"):
The name appears in this form in 1 Ki 15:20 and 2 Ki 15:29. In 2 Sam 20:15
(Hebrew) it is Abel-beth-hammaacah (Maacah with the article). In 20:14 it
appears as Beth-maacah, and in 20:14 and 18 as Abel.
In 2 Sam it is spoken of as the city, far to the north, where Joab besieged
Sheba, the son of Bichri. In 2 Ki it is mentioned, along with Ijon and other
places, as a city in Naphtali captured by Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria. The
capture appears also in the records of Tiglath-pileser. In 1 Ki it is mentioned
with Ijon and Dan and "all the land of Naphtali" as being smitten by Benhadad of
Damascus in the time of Baasha. In the account in Chronicles parallel to this
last (2 Ch 16:4) the cities mentioned are Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim. Abel-maim is
either another name for Abel-beth-maacah, or the name of another place in the
same vicinity. The prevailing identification of Abel-beth-maacah is with Abil, a
few miles West of Dan, on a height overlooking the Jordan near its sources. The
adjacent region is rich agriculturally, and the scenery and the water supply are
especially fine. Abel-maim, "meadow of water," is not an inapt designation for
it.
Smiths Bible Dictionary - Abel-beth-maachah
Abel-beth-maachah
(meadow of the house of oppression), a town of some importance, 2Sa 20:15 in the
extreme north of Palestine, which fell an early prey to the invading kings of
Syria, 1Ki 15:20 and Assyria. 2Ki 15:29
Easton's Bible Dictionary - Abel-beth-maachah
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 Sam. 20:19). It was besieged by Joab (2 Sam.
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 Chr.
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 Dan.