Abel Beth Maacah

ABEL BETH MAACAH (ā'bel bĕth mā'a-ka, Heb. ’āvēl bêth ma‘ăkhâh). Abel of Beth-Maacah, in KJV written “Maachah”; Abel, i.e., “meadow,” or perhaps “brook,” near Beth Maacah. A town in the extreme north of Palestine, probably about twelve miles (twenty km.) north of Lake Huleh, in the tribe of Naphtali (2Sam.20.15; 1Kgs.15.20). Sheba, son of Bicri, fled to it when his revolt against David failed. The town was saved from assault by Joab when, with its proverbial shrewdness, it followed the advice of “a wise woman” that the people sacrifice Sheba (2Sam.20.14-2Sam.20.22). About eighty years later it was seized by Benhadad (1Kgs.15.20) and in 734 b.c. by Tiglath-Pileser, who carried off its inhabitants to Assyria (2Kgs.15.29).