to the king’s golden image in response to particular music. (Dan. 3:5, 8, 12) When they were questioned by the enraged king, their firm refusal to violate their conscience and their expression of faith in Jehovah resulted in the king’s having them thrown into a superheated furnace, where they were miraculously protected by God’s angelic representative. Following their release by the shaken king, and after physical examination and observation by the king’s court, they were restored to royal favor.—Dan. 3:15-30; see MESHACH; SHADRACH.

ABEL

(Aʹbel) [a breath; vapor; transitoriness].

1. The second son of Adam and his wife Eve, and the younger brother of their firstborn son Cain. (Gen. 4:2) It is probable that, while yet alive, Abel had sisters, since the record mentions the birth of daughters to his parents, but their names are not recorded. (Gen. 5:1-4) As a man he became a herder of sheep; his brother, a farmer.—Gen. 4:2.

After an indefinite period of time, Abel made an offering to Jehovah God. Cain did likewise. Each brought of what he had: Abel, of the firstlings of his flocks; Cain of his produce. (Gen. 4:3, 4) They both had belief in God. They undoubtedly learned of Him from their parents and must have known why they all were outside the Garden of Eden and denied entry to it. Their offerings indicate a recognition of their alienated state and an expression of desire for God’s favor. God expressed favor toward Abel’s offering but not Cain’s. How the approval and the rejection were manifested the record does not show. But the reason for God’s approval of only Abel’s offering is made clear by later writings. The apostle Paul lists Abel as the first man of faith, at Hebrews 11:4, and shows that this resulted in his sacrifice being of “greater worth” than Cain’s offering. By contrast, 1 John 3:11, 12 shows Cain’s heart attitude to have been bad; and his later rejection of God’s counsel and warning, and his premeditated murder of his brother Abel demonstrated this.

While it cannot be said that Abel had any foreknowledge of the eventual outworking of the divine promise at Genesis 3:15 concerning the promised “seed” yet his offering of the firstlings of his flock certainly was appropriate and undoubtedly was also a factor in God’s expression of approval. To the Giver of life, Abel gave as his gift life, even though it was only from among his flocks.—Compare John 1:36.

Jesus shows Abel to have been the first martyr and object of religious persecution waged by his intolerant brother Cain. In doing so Jesus speaks of Abel as living at the “founding of the world.” (Luke 11:48-51) The word “world” in this text comes from the Greek koʹsmos and in its use here means the ‘world of mankind.’ By the expression “the founding [Greek, ka·ta·bo·lesʹ] of the world,” Jesus manifestly referred to the birth of children by Adam and Eve, thereby producing a world of mankind. Paul includes Abel among the “cloud of witnesses” of pre-Christian times.—Heb. 11:4; 12:1.

Because of his faith and divine approval, the record of which continues to bear witness, it could be said that Abel, “although he died, yet speaks.” (Heb. 11:4) At Hebrews 12:24 the apostle refers to “Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling, which speaks in a better way than Abel’s blood.” Abel’s blood, though shed in martyrdom, did not ransom or redeem anyone, anymore than did the blood of his sacrificed sheep. His blood in effect cried to God for vengeance upon assassin Cain. The blood of Jesus, here presented as validating the new covenant, speaks in a better way than Abel’s in that it calls to God for mercy upon all persons of faith like Abel, and is the means by which their ransoming is possible.

Since Seth was evidently born shortly after Abel’s death and when Adam was 130 years of age, it is possible that Abel may have been as much as 100 years old at the time of his martyrdom.—Gen. 5:3.

2. A town also called Abel-beth-maacah or Abel of Beth-maacah. Elsewhere used as a prefix to the names of various places.—2 Sam. 20:18; see ABEL-BETH-MAACAH.

3. At 1 Samuel 6:18 the Authorized Version refers to “the great stone of Abel,” while the marginal reading says, “Or, great Abel, that is, mourning.” However, modern translations generally read here simply “the great stone.” (Compare AT, JB, NC [Spanish], NW and others.) While the Masoretic Hebrew text uses the word ʼa· velʹ in this verse, the Greek Septuagint and the Aramaic Targum translate it as if it were ʼeʹven, that is, “a stone.” This agrees with verse 14 of the same chapter. It could not refer to Abel of Beth-maacah, since the incident recorded at 1 Samuel 6:18 took place near Beth-shemesh in Judah.

ABEL-BETH-MAACAH

(Aʹbel-beth-maʹa·cah) and Abel of Beth-maacah [meadow of the house of oppression], or simply Abel [meadow].

A fortified city of Naphtali in northern Palestine probably four miles (6.4 kilometers) W of Dan, identified with the modern village of Tell Abil. It was favorably located on the road from Hazor northward at the intersection of the E-W route from Damascus to Tyre. David’s men under Joab besieged the city when the rebel Sheba fled there. Thereupon a wise woman, speaking for the “peaceable and faithful ones of Israel,” pleaded with Joab not to destroy Abel, from of old the place to inquire for wise judgments, hence a “mother in Israel”; meaning also, probably, a metropolis or city having dependent towns. Heeding this woman’s advice, the inhabitants pitched Sheba’s head over the wall and the city was spared.—2 Sam. 20:14-22.

Instigated by Asa of Judah, Syrian Ben-hadad struck down Abel-beth-maacah to divert Baasha of Israel from building Ramah. (1 Ki. 15:20; see RAMAH.) Abel of Beth-maacah was captured by Tiglath-pileser of Assyria during the reign of Pekah, and its inhabitants were sent into exile. (2 Ki. 15:29) While the passage is mutilated, it evidently appears in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser in the list of cities he conquered. The surrounding fertile, well-watered fields doubtless gave rise to another merited name, Abelmaim [meadow of waters]. Its situation made it a good storage place.—2 Chron. 16:4.

ABEL-KERAMIM

(Aʹbel-kerʹa·mim) [meadow of vineyards].

The most distant point to which Jephthah pursued the Ammonites in their defeat. (Judg. 11:33) It is generally held to be situated between Heshban and Rabbah or Rabbath-ammon (modern Amman). Eusebius (Onomastica 32.15-16) located it as about six miles (9.7 kilometers) from Rabbath-ammon, but the direction is uncertain. It is generally identified today with Khirbet es-Suq, about five miles (8 kilometers) S and a little W of Rabbath-ammon, though some recommend Naʽur, about nine miles (14.5 kilometers) W of Rabbath-ammon as the probable location.

ABEL-MAIM

See ABEL-BETH-MAACAH.

ABEL-MEHOLAH

(Aʹbel-me·hoʹlah) [meadow of dancing or dance place by a perennial stream].

The home of Elisha, where Elijah found him plowing and anointed him prophet successor.—1 Ki. 19:16-19.

At an earlier date Abel-meholah figures in the account of the defeat of the Midianites by Gideon’s small band of warriors. The disorganized flight of the Midianites is reported to have carried them “as far as the outskirts of Abel-meholah by Tabbath.”—Judg. 7:22.

Because Tabbath lies E of the Jordan River, effort has been made since 1951 to identify Abel-meholah with Tell el-Maqlub on the Wadi el-Yabis. Additional argument adduced for this now popular identification has been that Elijah, after leaving Horeb, stopped at Abel-meholah to anoint Elisha and had the further