ABEL-MEHOLAH ā bəl mĭ hō lə (אָבֵ֣ל מְחﯴלָ֔ה, meadow of dancing). An unidentified site E of the Jordan; the residence of Elisha the prophet (1 Kings 19:16). This is where Elijah, returning from Horeb on his way to Damascus, found Elisha and his servants plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. Previously, this site had figured in Gideon’s smashing victory over the Midianite camp in the Jezreel Valley. The direction of the Midianites’ flight (Judg 7:22) is the real clue to identification. Aharoni has them fleeing eastward in the direction of Zarethan (instead of Zeredah, i.e., Zererah) and identifies the site with Khirbet Tell el- Hilu (?). S. Cohen has them flee southeastward toward Zererah and identifies the site with Tell el- Maqlub on the Wadi el- Yabis as proposed by N. Glueck in AASOR XXV-XXVIII, I (1951), p. 216. Jerome and Eusebius pointed to the W side of the Jordan River to a site about ten m. S of Beth-shean where a Wady named Molih exists and the modern Tell Abu Sifri.

During the Solomonic reign, Abel-meholah is mentioned in the area of Baana (1 Kings 4:12), one of the twelve administrative officers for Solomon’s governmental districts.

The man to whom Saul’s eldest daughter, Merab, was given (instead of to David) was one named Adriel, the Meholathite (1 Sam 18:19; 2 Sam 21:8). On the meaning and etymology of Meholah, see W. F. Albright’s interesting and convincing discussion in ARE, pp. 125-129 and footnote 96, p. 210.

Bibliography N. Glueck AASOR. XXV-XXVIII, Pt. I (1951), 211-223; W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel (4th ed. 1956), 128ff.; J. Simons. GTT (1959), 293, 294; Y. Aharoni (tr. A. F. Rainey), Land of the Bible (1967), 241, 278.