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 1Ki 15:20 and 2Ki 15:29. In 2Sa 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 2Sa it is spoken of as the city, far to the north, where Joab besieged Sheba, the son of Bichri. In 2Ki 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 1Ki it is mentioned with Ijon and Da 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 (2Ch 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.

Written by Willis J. Beecher