Dictionary Summary: Meadow of the house of Maachah, a city in the north of Palestine, in the neighbourhood of Dan and Ijon, in the tribe of Naphtali. It was a place of considerable strength and importance. It is called a “mother in Israel”, i.e., a metropolis ([2 Sam. 20:19](/2sam#2Sam.20.19)). It was besieged by Joab ([2 Sam. 20:14](/2sam#2Sam.20.14)), by Benhadad ([1 Kings 15:20](/1kgs#1Kgs.15.20)), and by Tiglath-pileser ([2 Kings 15:29](/2kgs#2Kgs.15.29)) about B.C. 734. It is elsewhere called Abel-maim, meadow of the waters, ([2 Chr. 16:4](/2chr#2Chr.16.4)). Its site is occupied by the modern Abil or Abil-el-kamh, on a rising ground to the east of the brook Derdarah, which flows through the plain of Huleh into the Jordan, about 6 miles to the west-north-west of Dan. ²