MAACAH, and MAACHAH in 2 Sam. x. 6 the Vat. Cod. reads 'A/40*, but the Alex. Maaxd ; Maacha). 1. A small but very ancient kingdom of Canaan (Deut. iii. 14 ; Chron xix. 7). The Gentile noun is Maachathi, or Maachathite (4379pn ; ; Maclean). The exact position of Maachah is not defined in Scripture, but there are numerous inci dental notices which indicate with sufficient exact ness the locality. In Dent. iii. 14 it is said, 'Jail took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of the Geshuri and Maachathi. Argob is unquestion ably identical with the modern province of Lejah [ARGOB], and consequently Maachah must have been situated on the borders of that province. From Josh. xii. 5, it appears that the Maachathites lived, not in Bashan, but just adjoining it ; and in ch. xiii. II they are mentioned in close connection with Hermon :—‘ And Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan unto Salcah.' The Israelites were not able to expel the Maachathites ; and Joshua states that ' they dwell among the Israelites unto this day' (xiii. 13). From this it seems highly probable that their territory was one of great natural strength—rocky or mountainous. The Maachathites were, at a later period, closely allied with Damascus ; and the principality was then called Aram-Maachah(1317, ; Syria Maacha); and from this it may be inferred that it bordered on Aram, and was reckoned a part of it ; and thus it must have been on the north of the Trans-Jordanic territories (i Chron. xix. 6, 7). Again, in 2 Sam. xx. 14, 15, a dis trict called Beth-Maachah is mentioned as within or on the border of Palestine, and Abel, one of its towns, was besieged ; and it appears from 2 Kings xv. 29, that this Abel of Beth-Maachah lay between Ijon and Kedesh, near Dan (cf. 2 Chron. xvi. and consequently at the western base of Hermon [ABEL-BETH-MAAcHAH]. All these incidental notices point to one district, and one alone, as the ancient Maachah. It lay on the northern border of Palestine, and extended from the foun tains of the Jordan north-east to the plain of Damascus, and east to the defiles of Argob, or Trachonitis, where the Geshurites appear to have had their home [GEsitu RITES]. The little king dom embraced the southern and eastern declivities of Hermon, and a portion of the rocky plateau of Iturea (Porter's Damascus, i. 319 ; cf. you riz al of
Sac. Lit. for July 1854, p. 31o). Bochart makes Maachah a town, and identifies it with the Bpi caros of Ptolemy, situated near the Dead Sea (Opera, i. 79). Reland proves that this view is untenable (Pal., p. 112), and he points out the real position of the province (p. 519). Some recent writers would locate Maachah in the stony desert of el-.Kra (properly el-Harra) away to the east of Bashan (Smith's Dict. of the Bible, s. v.) ; but this seems clearly at variance with the above notices, and there is no other evidence in its favour.* The Maachathites, like their neighbours the Geshurites, were a warlike people. They success fully resisted all attempts of the Israelites to expel them (Josh. xiii. 11-13) ; and they joined the Ammonites in an attempt to resist the growing power of King David (z Sam. x. 6 ; I Chron. xix. 7). Notwithstanding this, the Israelites appear to have had some friendly intercourse with the tribe, for Eliphelet, one of David's mighty men, was a Maachathite (z Sam. xxiii. 34) ; and Jaazaniah, the son of a Maachathite,' was a captain in the army of Israel at the time of the captivity (2 Kings xxv. 23). After this the name appears no more in history.
2. The name of several individuals mentioned in Bible history. Maachah (Moxd), a son of Nahor, Abraham's brother (Gen. xxii. 24). May not this man have been the founder of the king dom, and the progenitor of the Maachathites? Maacah (Maaxd ; Alex. Maaxci9), Absalom's mother, and the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2 Sam. iii. 3 ; I Chron. iii. 2). Probably this name may indicate that the Geshurites and Maachathites were of the same stock.
Maachah (Maaxd), the mother of Abijam, said in I Kings xv. 2 to be the daughter of Abishalom (or Absalom ; cf. z Chron xi. zi); but in 2 Chron. xiii a, the mother of Abijam is called Michalak (am= ; Maaxd ; Michaia), the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.' The solution of the difficulty probably is, that the woman had two names, and that Absalom was her grandfather. The Tar gumists give a different but much less probable solution.
Maachah (3Iocuxd ; Alex. Moaxd), the wife of Machir the Manassite (1 Chron. vii. 15). Others of this name are mentioned in r Kings ii. 39 ; I Chron. ii. 48 ; viii. 29 ; xxvii. i6.—J. L. P. ••