Abelmeholah
A'bel-meho'lah (Heb. Abel' Mecholah', מחוֹלָה אָבֵל, meadow of dancing; Sept. Α᾿βελμεουλά and Α᾿βελμαουλά, Vul. Abelmehula and Abelneuel), a place not far from the Jordan, on the confines of Issachar and Manasseh, in the vicinity of Beth-shittah, Zeredah, and Tabbath, whither Gideon's three hundred picked men pursued the routed Midianites (Jg 7:22). It was the birthplace or residence of Elisha the prophet (1Ki 19:16), and lay not far from Beth-shean (1Ki 4:12); according to Eusebius (Onomast. Βηθμαελά), in the plain of the Jordan, 16 (Jerome 10) Roman miles south, probably the same with the village Abelmea mentioned by Jerome (ibid. Eusebius less correctly Α᾿βὲλ νεά) as situated between Scythopolis (Bethshean) and Neapolis (Shechem). It is also alluded to by Epiphanius (whose text has inaccurately Α᾿βελμούδ v. r. Α᾿μεμουήλ, and wrongly locates it in the tribe of Reuben), and (as Α᾿βελμαούλ) in the Pas(kal Chronicle (see Reland, Palest. p. 522). It was probably situated not far from where the Wady el-Maleh (which seems to retain a trace of the name) emerges into the Aulon or valley of the Jordan; perhaps at the ruins now called Khurbet esh-Skul', which are on an undulating plain beside a stream (Van de Velde, Narrative. 2:340). This appears to agree with the conjectural location assigned by Schwarz (Palest. p. 159), although the places he names do not occur on any map.
