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ABEL-BETH-MAACAH

(Heb. ʾāḇēl bêṯ-maʿăḵâ)

A city cited in biblical and other ancient Near Eastern texts, best identified with modern Tell Abil al-Qamḥ (“Meadow of the Wheat”; 204296). The latter is an imposing mound of 10 ha. (25 a.) on the northern border of Israel near Metulla, near a major waterfall of the Jordan River tributaries, at the juncture of the Huleh Valley and the Beqaʿ Valley in Lebanon. The site is mentioned in the 19th/18th-century b.c. Egyptian Brussels Execration Texts (no. 47); in the list of sites of Thutmose III’s first Asiatic military campaign ca. 1468 (probably no. 92; ʾu-bil); and possibly in the 14th-century Amarna Letters (no. 256; yuabilîma).

Several biblical references suggest that Abel-beth-maacah (also called Abel-mayim) was originally part of the holdings of the well-known Jordanian family of Maʿacah, later allotted to the tribe of Dan as “a mother in Israel,” i.e., probably a cult center (cf. 2 Sam. 20:14-22). According to 1 Kgs. 15:20 (= 2 Chr. 16:4) Abel-beth-maacah was captured by Ben-hadad I of Damascus ca. 829. Both biblical texts (2 Kgs. 15:29) and possibly Assyrian texts (a-b-il[ak-kal]) show that Abel-beth-maacah was taken by Tiglath-pileser III ca. 733/732.

The site has never been excavated, but surface surveys by William G. Dever in 1973 produced evidence of occupation throughout nearly all of the Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Ages, with especially strong walls and a glacis of MB, as well as occupation in the Iron I-II, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and later periods. The scant archaeological evidence confirms that Abel-beth-maacah’s superb stratigraphic location, abundant material resources, and strong defenses made it no doubt as important as nearby Hazor and Dan in most periods. Perched astride the historic borders of Israel, Aramea, and Phoenicia, Abel-beth-Maacah was indeed the “northern gateway” of ancient Israel.

Bibliography. W. G. Dever, “’Abel-Beth-Maʿacah: ‘Northern Gateway of Ancient Israel,’ ” in The Archaeology of Jordan and Other Studies, ed. L. T. Geraty and L. G. Herr (Berrien Springs, 1986), 207-22; J. Kaplan, “The Identification of Abel-Beth-Maachah and Janoah,” IEJ 28 (1978): 157-60; H. Tadmor, “The Southern Border of Aram,” IEJ 12 (1962): 119-22.

William G. Dever

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ABEL-BETH-MAACAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)