Bible Location
Meaning: mourning of sickness · 3 cross references · Modern-day map available
Abel-meholah was the Jordan Valley town associated with Elisha and with pursuit after Gideon's victory. It is important because it links prophetic calling with earlier deliverance history in the valley region. First appears in Judg 7:22.1
AI summary: Abel-meholah matters because it belongs to both the judges and prophetic traditions. Judges places it along the line of Midian's retreat, tying it to Gideon's victory, while Kings makes it far more personal as the home of Elisha, where Elijah finds him at the plow and summons him into prophetic ministry. The cross references present Abel-meholah as a fertile valley town where defeat of enemies and the calling of a prophet both left lasting memory.1
Meadow of dancing, or the dancing-meadow, the birth-place and residence of the prophet Elisha, not far from Beth-shean (1 Kings 4:12), in the tribe of Issachar, near where the Wady el-Maleh emerges into the valley of the Jordan, “the rich meadow-land which extends about 4 miles south of Beth-shean; moist and luxuriant.” Here Elisha was found at his plough by Elijah on his return up the Jordan valley from Horeb (1 Kings 19:16). It is now called ‘Ain Helweh. 3
AI-assisted summary prepared for ai-BIBLE and stored as page content, based on dictionary material, place metadata, and linked Bible cross references.
Alistair de Blacquiere-Clarkson, “ai-BIBLE Bible Names JSON Factsheet Aggregating Material from Smith’s Bible Dictionary & Hitcocks’s New and Complete Analysis of the Bible.” ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
M.G.Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.