Dictionaries :: Abelshittim

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Abelshittim:

(the meadow of the acacias) in the "plains" of Moab, on the low level of the Jordan valley; as contradistinguished from the cultivated "fields" on the upper level of the table‐land. Here-their last resting‐place of Israel before crossing the Jordan-Israel "pitched from Beth‐jesimoth unto Abel‐Shittim" (Numbers 33:49). The place is most frequently mentioned by its shorter name of Shittim. SEE [SHITTAH TREE, SHITTIM]. In the days of Josephus it was still known as Abria, the town imbosomed in palms, 60 stadia from the city. The town and the palms have disappeared; but the acacia‐groves, denoted by the name Shitttim, still remain, "marking with a line of verdure the upper terraces of the Jordan valley" (Stanley, S.&P. p. 298.)