MAACAH
(Maʹa·cah) [oppression, or, perhaps, stupid].
The name of several persons and of a kingdom.
1. A child born to Nahor, Abraham’s brother, by his concubine Reumah. The child was evidently a male, as a kingdom and its inhabitants derived their name from this person.—Gen. 22:23, 24; 2 Sam. 10:6, 8.
2. Wife of the Manassite Machir.—1 Chron. 7:14-16.
3. One of the concubines of Caleb (the son of Hezron) who bore several of his children.—1 Chron. 2:18, 48, 49.
4. The wife of Jeiel “the father of Gibeon.”—1 Chron. 8:29; 9:35.
5. One of David’s wives and the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur. She was Absalom’s mother.—2 Sam. 3:2, 3; 1 Chron. 3:1, 2.
6. Father or ancestor of Hanan, a mighty man of David’s military forces.—1 Chron. 11:26, 43.
7. Father or ancestor of Shephatiah, a prince of Israel appointed leader of the Simeonites in David’s organization of the king’s service.—1 Chron. 27:1, 16, 22.
8. Father of Achish, king of Gath, to whom Shimei’s slaves fled early in Solomon’s reign. (1 Ki. 2:39) This Maacah may be the same person as Maoch of 1 Samuel 27:2; see MAOCH.
9. Absalom’s granddaughter, who was the most beloved wife of Judean King Rehoboam and the mother of King Abijah (Abijam). (2 Chron. 11:20-22; 1 Ki. 15:1, 2, 9, 10) She was regarded as “lady” in the kingdom, being queen mother, until her grandson, King Asa, in a restoration of true worship, removed her “because she had made a horrible idol for the sacred pole,” or the Asherah. (1 Ki. 15:9-13; 2 Chron. 15:16) She is called Micaiah (Mi·caiʹah) at 2 Chronicles 13:2; see GRANDPARENTS.
10. A petty kingdom in existence in N Palestine at the time of the Israelite invasion, also called Maacath. The territory of the tribe of Manasseh evidently was to embrace this area but the record shows that the Israelites did not dispossess the inhabitants of that land, so ‘they kept dwelling in the midst of Israel.’ (Deut. 3:14; Josh. 13:13) Generally associated with the neighboring kingdom of Geshur, Maacah appears to have been located to the N of that kingdom and bordered on the region of Bashan. (Josh. 12:5) It is usually considered to have occupied the area running from the southern slopes of Mount Hermon down to the Huleh Basin and from the Jordan River eastward to the edge of the Syrian Desert, or, basically, the northern part of the present district of Golan.
Maacah was an Aramaean (Syrian) kingdom, its people perhaps descending from Nahor’s son of the same name. (Gen. 22:24; 1 Chron. 19:6) When the Ammonites went to war against King David they hired the services of the king of Maacah, along with those of other kingdoms. The small number of troops provided by Maacah, as compared with those of the other allies, may indicate the small size of the Maacathite kingdom. (2 Sam. 10:6-8) Joab’s victory over the Ammonites and their Syrian allies was followed up by a further victory over the Syrians by King David. (2 Sam. 10:13-19) From later accounts it seems likely that the kingdom of Maacah eventually came under the domination of the kingdom of Damascus.