Abelites, Abelians, or Abelonians, a sect of heretics who appeared in the diocese of Hippo, in Af- rica, about the year 870. They insisted upon marriage, but permitted no carnal conversation between man
and wife, following, as they said, the example of Abel, and the prohibition in Gen. ii, 17. When a man and woman entered their sect they were obliged to adopt a boy and girl, who succeeded to all their property, and were united together in marriage in a similar manner. Augustine says (De Hair. cap. 87) that in his time they had become extinct. The whole sect was at last re- duced to a single village, which returned to the Church. This strange sect is, to some extent, reproduced in the modern Shakers.— Mosheim, Ch. Hist. c. ii, pt, ii, ch. v, § 18.
Abellane. See Abel-beth-maachah. Abelli, Louis, Bishop of Rodez (South France), was born at Vez, 1604. He was made bishop in 1664, but resigned in three years, to become a monk in the convent of St. Lazare, at Paris. He was a violent op- 1 poser of the Jansenists, and author of a system of Dog- matic Theology, entitled Medulla Theologica (repub- lished in Mayence, 1839), and also of Vie de St. Vincent de Paul, 4to. He was an ardent advocate of the wor- ship of the Virgin Mary, and wrote, in its defence, La Tradition de. Veglise touchant le culte de la Vierge, 1652, 8vo. He died in his convent in 1691.
i Abelmachea. See Abel-beth-maachaii.
\ A'bel-ma'im (Heb. Abel Ma'yim, D^E ^SS, meadow of water ,• Sept. A/SfX^aiV, Vulg. Abelmain), one of the cities of Naphtali captured by Bendahad (2
. Chron. xvi, 4); elsewhere (1 Kings xv, 20) called
\ Abel-beth-maachah (q. v.).
Abelmea. See Abel-meholah.
\ A'bel-meho'lah (Heb. Abel' Meclwlah', -l?a» tisinp, meadow of dancing; Sept. 'Aj5iXf.iiovXa and 'AfiiXpaov?.a, Vulg. Abelmehula and Abelmerda'), a place not far from the Jordan, on the confines of Issa- cliar and Manasseh, in the vicinity of Beth-shittah, Zeredah, and Tabbath, whither Gideon's three hun- dred picked men pursued the routed Midianites (Judg.
, vii, 22). It was the birthplace or residence of Elisha the prophet (1 Kings xix, 16), and lay not far from Beth-shean (1 Kings iv, 12); according to Eusebius (Onomast. liift/.iatXa'), in the plain of the Jordan, 16 (Jerome 10) Roman miles south, probabh- the same with the village Abelmea mentioned by Jerome (ibid. Eusebius less correctly 'A(3tX via) as situated between Scythopolis (Cethshean) and Neapolis (Shechem). It is also alluded to by Epiphanius (whose text has inac- curately 'ApiXpoiiS v. r. 'A/.iinovi]X, and wrongly lo- cates it in the tribe of Reuben), and (as 'A/3fA/<«oi''A) in the Past hid Chronicle (see Reland, Palazst. p. 522). It Mas 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 ; per- haps at the ruins now called Kkurbet esh-Shuk, which are on an undulating plain beside a stream (Van de
I Velde, Narrative, ii, 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. A'bel-miz'rai'm (Heb. Abel' Mitsra'yim, b^
1 d^S'O, meadow rf Egypt; but which should probably be pointed D",^i^*2 ?3N, E'bel Mitsra'yim, mourning of the Egyptians, as in the former part of the same verse ; and so appear to have read the Sept. irivGoc, Aijvtctov, and Vulg. Planctus sEgypti), a place beyond (i. e. on the west bank of) the Jordan, occupied (perhaps sub- sequently) by the threshing-floor of Atad. where the Egyptians performed rheir seven days' mourning cer- emonies over the embalmed body of Jacob prior to in- terment (Gen. 1, 11). See Atad. Jerome (Onomast. Area Atad) places it between Jericho and the Jordan, at three Roman miles distance from the former and
1 two from the latter, corresponding (Reland, Pala?st. p.
! 522) to the later site of Beth-hoglah (q. v.).
ABEL-SHITTIM
13
ABERNETHY
A'bel-shit'tim (Heb. Abel' hash-Skittim', ^2X d^lSil, meadow of the acacias; Sept. 'A/SfArxarraV, Vulg. Abel-satini), a town in the plains of Moab, on the east of the Jordan, between which and Beth-Jesi- moth was the last encampment of the Israelites on that side the river (Num. xxxiii, 49). See Exode. The place is noted for the severe punishment which was there inflicted upon the Israelites when they were seduced into the worship of Baal-Peor, through their evil intercourse with the Moabites and Midianites. See Baal. Eusebius (Onomast. Saryeiv) says it was situ- ated near Mount Peor (Reland, Palcest, p. 520). In the time of Josephus it was a town embosomed in palms, still known as Abila or Abile ('A/3i\a or 'A/3i'X?;), and stood sixty stadia from the Jordan (Ant. iv, 8, 1 ; v, 1, 1). Rabbinical authorities assign it the same relative position (Schwarz, Palest, p. 229). It is more fre- quently called Shittim merely (Num. xxv, 1 ; Josh, ii, 1 ; Mic. vi, 5). From the above notices (which all refer to the sojourn of the Israelites there), it appears to have been situated nearly opposite. Jericho, in the eastern plain of Jordan, about where Wady Seir opens into the Ghor. The acacia-groves on both sides of the Jordan still " mark with a line of verdure the up- per terraces of the valley" (Stanley, Palestine, p. 292), and doubtless gave name to this place (Wilson, Lands of the Bible, ii, 17).