Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/96

50 Abel -Maim

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Abeles, Simon 96. 10; 225. 5) it iiiilcs

from

to dt'tiiic

iKit possibli' tiini'

was

sitimtpd six or seven

Pliilnflclpliiii (Hiililiatli-Aininoii) llic

of Eusi'bius. the

exact iiiodcin

iiliici'

was

still

viiieynrds.

ABEL-MAIM traci

ill

site.

Roman but it is In the

noted for its J. D. P.

("Meadow of the Waters"): A now known as AliilelKaiiih.

l|i|ier (ialilee.

taken by the Syrians under Hen hada<l (II C'hron, In the correspondin!: list of I Kiu<;s. .v. 20 4).

xvi. it

town was

tisrures as Ai!Kl.-BETil-MAAtii.ii. whieli

taken by the Assyrians 732

B.C. (II Kirnrs. xv. 29).

G.

ABEL-MEHOLAH

("

15.

Danee-Meadow"):

L.



Oeeurs oidy

in

Genesi;.

(1.

interpreted liy Septuagint, Vulgate, and the Pcshito (loUnwed by A. V.)as "Mourning of the Egy]itians." or "of Egypt ": and there can be no doubt that it was intended to sviggest a connection with Abel. The narrative states that Josejih, attended by a great company (ver. 91 took Ins father's body out of Egypt, and at the first village across the Canaanitish border hehl the customary funeral rites, peculiar to Syria even at the present time. In Genesis (1. 10) the locality is calU'd "the threshingtloor of A tad " (= "buckthorn " or "bramble ": combuckthorn. rhninniiD. Linn.), liare Assyrian ctiiln and its situation is given as being " beyond Jordan." This expression, "beyond Jordan." repeated in verse 1 1, seems very strange, as it implies that the mourning party went around the north end of the Dead Sea. On tliis aecoimt. Cheyne (in "Ency. IJibl." i. 7, 8) suggests, with some reason, that the oiiginal reading was Sil.ior, a branch of the Nile, which is mentioned (Josh. xiii. :!) as marking the E.gyptianCanaanitish frontier. This would jdacc Abel-ndzraim in Canaan just over the Egyptian border, where one would naturally expect to find it. From theanalogy of such namesas Abel-meholah. Abel-shittim, etc., it seems clear that Abel here has It

is

=

no connection with 73S, "to mourn," hut simply means "meadow of Egypt" (compare WincUlcr in " Altorientalische Forsehungen " p. 34. who thinks that Miznum here is a later change from an original "Musri,"

in

northern Arabia).

J,

In B.abbinical Literature

D. P.

The

rabbis say respectively "The

liolh names, signifying Jlourning of Egypt " and "The Thorn Threshingfloor." are derived from the mourning over Jacoli. According to the rabbinical account he sons of Jacob had scarcely crossed the frontier at Abel-mizraim with the body of their father, when their cousins.

that

1

13.(:

Tail.,

Wa

yehi.

18,"

ABEL-SHITTIM

The

three times in the Old Testament: (1) In .ludjres. vii. 22 it is stated that (Jideon fnllowed the Midianites as far as the "lip" of Abel-meholah imder {i.e.. near) Tabbath. It has been conjectured that this "lip" is the bank marking the edjre of the Jordan valley. (2) In I Kings, xix. IG it is mentioned as the home of f^lisha. (H) In I Kings, iv. 12 it appears as one of the limits of the province assigned toHaana. thes(mof Ahihid, oneof Scdomon'sofliccrs. It is highly probable also thiit Harzillai the Meholathite (I Sam. xviii. 11). II S;im. xxi. S) was a native of Abel-nieholab (see Hauzii,i,.i). Eusebius and Jerome ("Onomastiea Sacra," cd. La,garde, 97, 11: 227, 3.")) strtte that Abelnuud (or 'A/Jf^/ini/.ai) wassituatc(l ten Roman ndles south of Betb-sliean (Scythniinlis). in the territory of Issachar. and that it was inhaliiled Tins Maelai was situated where the in their time. AVadi al-.Malih enters the Jordan valley (see also Testaments of Patriarchs, Levi, chap. ii.). J. I). P.

ABEL-MIZKAIM

the sons of Ishmnel, Esau, and Ketiirah, appeared large numbers against them, believing that the Egyi>tians, of whom there were many in the jiroeession, intended to invade Palestine. IJul when they )ierceived .laeob's bier, and Joseph's crown carried l)ehiud it in state, the thirty six princes among them .sent their crowns also, to be carried in Ihi' funeral j)rocession. Hence the name "Thorn Threshingtloor"; for Abel-mizraim was so encircled by a row of crowns as to rendnd oneof a threshing floor, which is usuallv surrounded bv a hedge of thorns (Sotah, in

ed. Bu'ber,

liarallels there ciled),

name oeeurs

11).

50

Num.

only in

("

Acacia

i.

222, anil'the L. G.

Meadow

")

Found



xiii 49: but IIa-Shittim("The Aca-

same iilacc. is mentioned in and Micali, vi. 0. It is dear from these passages that this locality was a town, or perhaps a district, of Moab, which was the final headi|uarters of Joshua before he crossed the Jordan, Josephus ("Ant." iv. 8, § 1 v. 1, § 1) states that cias"), evidinllv the

Num. XXV.

1,

Josh.

iii. 1,



was

time a town, Abila. full of palmtrees, at a distance of sixty stadia (seven and onehalf Roman miles) from the Jordan, and describes it as the spot where Closes delivered Ihi' exhortations of Deuteronomy. Roliertson Smith may l)e right in identifying it with the moilern Khirbet elKef rein (Cheyne. " Ency. Pibl."). where ruins still exist. There is to this day an acacia grove not far from the place, although the jialms mentioned by Josephus are no longer there. In I Sam vi. 18, the words "even unto the great stone of Abel" can contain no allusion to our Abel shittim. The acacia {shittnh), an Egy|itian loan-word (Tristram, " Natural History there

in his

of the Bible," p, 390), is the iS/niiii Kyt/ptiiicii of the ancients and the Mimom Niloticu of Linna>us. See Ar.uT.^. J. D. P.

ABEL, SOLOMON BEN LE'VI

KALMAN HA-

Russian educator and elliieal writer: born March 11, 1837, at Novoniyesto-Sugiut (Ncustadt),

district of Rossieny, government of Kovno, Russia; died at Telsli, governnicnt of Kovno, Oct. 12, 1886.

success as a teacher at the Yeshibaliof Telsh led to being |ilaced in the highesf rank of the educational

I lis

its

iiistitiilions (jf

by

bis

Lithuania.


 * icisthunioiis wcirk

-Vbel

is

generally

known

"Bet Slielcjinnh"

(The

liduse of Soliinion). pul)lished at Wilna. 1893, a most characteristic product of modern Hebrew literature, showing excejitional nobility of tone in its application of rabbinic ideas to the current affairs of everyday life and business. It givesa full cnmpendium of the ralibiiiical jurisprudence dealing with business and inheritance, though incidentally it contains the rules concerning the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, as also of almsgiving (zidnknli) and it is distinguished from other works dealing with the same or similar tollies by the excellence of its style, which is in a pure Xeo Hebraic, recalling in many respects that of .Maimonides' " >u ha-Hazakah,"and by no means in the usual crabbed style of later Talmudic authors. It was especially designed by its autlinr Inr jKipular use. though it has every mark of having been written by a thorough student and scholar of Talnindic law. The writer especially emphasizes the ethical side of his subject, as is shown by the following remark ,

about taking interest from non-Jews: "The Torali (ii<] not forliid taking: interest frcnn non-Jews, for commerce entails siicti lint that the passaiire can not lie constrncd as favorintr iisur.v may lie seen from the fact that, acconlini: to the Talnuid. v(anri.s otherwise jierniitted Ui Jews may not be eaten if they e-xcite dispiist. Thus, continued Aliel. Iioy iniidi less is it pe'miissihle t^i do things which excite moral dispnst. .'*uch as usury and the like, when the welfare of tmr soul must lie of at least as much importance to us as the health of our

Iwdy?"