ABEL
(Heb. Hebhel), a breath, or vanity, the second son of Adam and Eve. He was put to death by his brother Cain (Gen. 4:1). Guided by the instruction of their father, the two brothers were trained in the duty of worshipping God. "And in process of time" (marg. "at the end of days", i.e., on the Sabbath) each of them offered up to God of the first-fruits of his labours. Cain, as a husbandman, offered t......
ABEL-BETH-MAACHAH
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). It was besieged by Joab (2-Sam 20:14), by Benhadad (1-Kings 15:20), and by Tiglath-pileser (2-Kings 15:29) about B.C. 734. It is elsewhere called......
ABEL-CHERAMIM
(Judg. 11:33, Judg. 11: R.V.; A. V., "plain of the vineyards"), a village of the Ammonites, whither Jephthah pursued their forces.......
ABEL-MEHOLAH
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 vall......
ABEL-MIZRAIM
meadow of Egypt, or mourning of Egypt, a place "beyond," i.e., on the west of Jordan, at the "threshing-floor of Atad." Here the Egyptians mourned seventy days for Jacob (Gen. 50:4). Its site is unknown.......
ABEL-SHITTIM
meadow of the acacias, frequently called simply "Shittim" (Num. 25:1; Josh. 2:1; Micah 6:5), a place on the east of Jordan, in the plain of Moab, nearly opposite Jericho. It was the forty-second encampment of the Israelites, their last resting-place before they crossed the Jordan (Num. 33:49;22:1;26:3;31:12; 25:1;31:16).......
BABEL, TOWER OF
the name given to the tower which the primitive fathers of our race built in the land of Shinar after the Deluge (Gen. 11:1). Their object in building this tower was probably that it might be seen as a rallying-point in the extensive plain of Shinar, to which they had emigrated from the uplands of Armenia, and so prevent their being scattered abroad. But God interposed and defeated their design by......
MEHETABEL
wife of Hadad, one of the kings of Edom (Gen. 36:39). ......
ZERUBBABEL
the seed of Babylon, the son of Salathiel or Shealtiel (Hag. 1:1; Zorobabel, Matt. 1:12); called also the son of Pedaiah (1-Chr 3:17), i.e., according to a frequent usage of the word "son;" the grandson or the nephew of Salathiel. He is also known by the Persian name of Sheshbazzar (Ezra 1:8, Ezra 1: 11). In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, he led the first band of Jews, numbering 42,360 (......
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