Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ABEL-MEHOLAH

(Heb. ʾāḇēl mĕḥôlâ)

The home town of Elisha (1 Kgs. 19:16). According to Judg. 7:22 Gideon chased the Midianites “toward Zererah” (Zarethan), as far as “the border of Abel-meholah”(cf. 1 Kgs. 7:46). There he crossed the Jordan (Judg. 8:4), so Abel-meholah may have been a territory or town near the Jordan. 1 Kgs. 4:12 mentions Abel-meholah as part of the territory ruled by an administrator named Baana, noting that Abel-meholah lay “below Jezreel,” and listing Zarethan and Beth-shean as nearby cities.

Scholars have offered numerous suggestions as to its location, including Tell Abû Sifri, near the junction of the Wadi el-Helway and the Wadi Maliḥ (which may preserve the name Meholah), S of Beth-shean but some distance from the Jordan, and Tell Abû Sûs (203197), ca. 15 km. (11 mi.) S of Beth-shean and closer to the Jordan. Of the two, the latter is more likely.

The term “Meholathite” (1 Sam. 18:19; 2 Sam. 21:8) apparently referred to a resident of Abel-meholah.

Paul L. Redditt

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ABEL-MEHOLAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)