Abel-meholah standard
the Midianites in their first panic fled down the valley of Jezreel and the Jordan "toward Zererah" (Jud 7:22).
Where is Abel-meholah in the Bible?
Abel-meholah was a town in ancient Israel located in the Jordan Valley, west of the Jordan River and several miles south of Beth-shean. It is best known as the birthplace of the prophet Elisha, one of the most significant figures in Old Testament history. The town appears in the book of Judges in connection with Gideon's pursuit of the Midianites, where it marked an important geographical point in the Jordan Valley region. Based on biblical geography, Abel-meholah was situated in a fertile area bordered by other notable locations like Succoth and Zarethan, making it a significant settlement in Israel's tribal territories.
In Scripture1 biblical book
- Judges
Abel-meholah
ISBE 1915 (Public Domain)the Midianites in their first panic fled down the valley of Jezreel and the Jordan "toward Zererah" (Jud 7:22). Zererah (Zeredah) is Zarethan (2Ch 4:17; compare 1Ki 7:46), 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 (Jud 8:4 ff). 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.
Abel-meholah is also mentioned in connection with the jurisdiction of Baana, one of Solomon's twelve commissary officers (1Ki 4:12) as below Jezreel, with Beth-shean and Zarethan in the same list. 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.
Presumably Adriel the Meholathite (1Sa 18:19; 2Sa 21:8) was a resident of Abel-meholah. Willis J. Beecher
a'-bel-miz'-ra-im ('abhel mitsrayim, "meadow of Egypt"): A name given to "the threshing floor of Atad," East of the Jordan and North of the Dead Sea, because Joseph and his funeral party from Egypt there held the