Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MAHALAB

(Heb. mēḥeḇel; Akk. Maḫallibu)

A city in the tribal allotment of Asher. The precise form of this place name is uncertain. In Josh. 19:29 the MT has Heb. mēḥeḇel,” while LXX B reads “from Leb and Achzob” and LXX A has “from the allotment of Achziph”; both Greek manuscripts understand the first letter of the MT form to be the Hebrew preposition “from.” In LXX B the letters b and l were metathesized, but they were not in LXX A (ḥeḇel II, “rope, cord, allotted piece of field”; cf. Deut. 32:9). The record of Sennacherib’s third campaign contains a reference to Maḫallibu (ANET, 287); this toponym is normally identified with Khirbet el-Maḥalîb, 6 km. (3.7 mi.) NE of Tyre. Judg. 1:31 reveals another variant form of the place name: “Ahlab” (cf. the position of the l and b) is part of the tribal allotment of Asher. Because of Sennacherib’s topographic reference, a majority of scholars conclude that the precise form of the name in the MT and LXX of Josh. 19:29; Judg. 1:31 is corrupt and should be understood as Mahalab.

Bibliography. N. Naʾaman, Borders and Districts in Biblical Historiography (Jerusalem, 1986).

Chris A. Rollston

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MAHALAB

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)