Abel
† Catholic_Encyclopedia ► Abel
("Meadow")
Name of several places distinguished by additional words:
(1) Abel-Beth-Maacha (meadow of the house, or family, of Maacha).In Vulgate also "Abeldomus and Maacha," "Abeldomus Mancha", "Abela and Maacha"; identical with Abel-Maim (meadow of water), II Par., xvi, 4. It was a city in Upper Galilee, a little west of Dan.—II K., xx. 14-19; III K., xv, 20; IV K., xv, 29; II Par., xvi, 4.
(2) Abel-Keramim (meadow of vineyards), a village of the Ammonites, about six miles from Philadelphia. Jud., xi, 33.
(3) Abelmehula, Abelmeula (Abelmechola, "a meadow of the dance"), in the Jordan valley near Bethsan.—Jud., vii, 23; III K., iv, 12; xix, 16.
(4) Abel-Misraim (Vulg. "the mourning of Egypt"), according to St. Jerome identical with the "threshing floor of Atad." Gen., 50:10 sq.
(5) Abelsatim, Settim, Setim, Hebr. abhel hashshittim (meadow of acacias) is a place in the plains of Moab. Num., xxv, 1; xxxiii, 49; xxxiv-xxxvi; Jos., ii, 1; iii, 1; Mich. vi, 5.
(6) The great Abel in I K., vi, 18, is a misreading for the great ebhen (stone).
Vigouroux, in Dict. de la Bible (Paris, 1895) HAGEN, Lex. Bibl. (Paris, 1905); HOLZAMMER, in Kirchenlex. (Freiburg, 1882); CONDER, in Dict. of the Bible (New York, 1903).
A.J. MAAS