אַבֵל מַיִם
Abel-Majim, a place in Palestine
Definition
Abel-Maim is a place name meaning 'meadow of water' or 'watercourse,' referring to a location in ancient Palestine. It appears only once in the Bible in 2 Chronicles 16:4, where it is identified as a city King Ben-Hadad of Aram captured from King Baasha of Israel. The name suggests it was a fertile, well-watered area, likely a town or region in the northern part of Israel, possibly in the territory of Naphtali. Its single mention serves to specify a geographical location in a historical military account.
Biblical Usage
This proper noun is used only once in the Old Testament, in 2 Chronicles 16:4. It functions strictly as a geographical identifier within a historical narrative describing King Asa of Judah's conflict with King Baasha of Israel. The context is a report of territorial losses, listing cities captured by Ben-Hadad, Aram's king, at Asa's request. No other biblical books reference this location.
Etymology
The name is a compound of two Hebrew words: 'Abel' (H58, אָבֵל), meaning 'meadow' or 'stream,' and 'Mayim' (H4325, מַיִם), meaning 'water.' Thus, it literally translates to 'meadow of water.' This follows a common Hebrew pattern for place names (e.g., Abel-Meholah, Abel-Shittim) that describe a location's physical characteristic, in this case, a well-watered or fertile plain near a water source.
Semantic Range
Place names in the ancient Near East often described a location's key physical features, which was vital for identification in an oral culture. 'Abel-Maim' immediately conveyed to an ancient Israelite that this was a fertile, desirable area with a reliable water supply, making it an economically and strategically valuable settlement. Its capture in 2 Chronicles 16:4 underscores the constant territorial disputes and shifting control of such valuable lands among the kingdoms of Israel, Judah, and Aram.
Abel-Meholah (H65) — Another 'meadow' place name, meaning 'meadow of dancing,' located in the Jordan Valley. Abel-Shittim (H63) — A place name meaning 'meadow of acacias,' located east of the Jordan River.
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
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