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-maim,

meadow of the waters, (2 Chr. 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.