Encyclopedia of The Bible – Atad
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Atad

ATAD ā’ tăd (אָטָ֔ד, thorn). A threshing floor in Trans-Jordan on the road to Hebron, mentioned in the story of the burial of Jacob. The funeral cortege, on its way northward to Hebron, stopped at the threshing floor of Atad, where the Egyptians mourned seven days for Joseph’s father. The place was therefore given the name Abel-mizraim, “mourning of the Egyptians” (Gen 50:10, 11). A geographical problem is seen in the statement that Atad was “beyond” (i.e., E of the Jordan), since the direct route from Egypt to Hebron would be W of the Jordan. It is possible that the cortege followed an old trade route through the Sinai peninsula.