ABEL SHITTIM or SHITTIM

ABEL SHITTIM or SHITTIM (Heb. אָבֵל הַשִּׁטִּים), a town in the plains of Moab where the Israelites camped before crossing the Jordan (Num. 33:49; Josh. 2:1, 3:1). Several noteworthy events are connected with the place and its surroundings. Here Balaam attempted to curse the tribes (Num. 22–24; Micah 6:5) and the Israelites sinned with the daughters of Moab and were punished by a plague (Num. 25). Abel-Shittim is also mentioned in later sources. Zeno (259 b.c.e.) purchased wheat there for his Egyptian master. It was a flourishing town during the period of the Second Temple, renowned for its fertile date groves and grain fields. Josephus mentions a town Abila 60 ris (about 7 mi.) from the Jordan (Jos., Ant., 4:1; 5:1). The early city has been identified by Glueck with Tell al-Hammām at the outlet of Wadi al-Kafrayn which runs from the Mountains of Moab to the Jordan Valley. Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age i pottery and an abundance of potsherds from the Iron Ages i and ii have been found on the tell. In the Hellenistic period, the inhabitants moved to a spot in the Jordan Valley to which they transferred the name of their previous settlement, today Khirbat al-Kafrayn. Captured by the Romans, Abel-Shittim escaped destruction during the Jewish War (66–70) and it was populated at least until the end of the Byzantine period.

bibliography:

Horowitz, Ereẓ Yis, s.v.; Press, Ereẓ, 1 (1951), 3; N. Glueck, River Jordan (1946), passim; idem, in: basor, 91 (1943), 13–18; idem, in: aasor, 25–28 (1951), 371 ff.; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 234. add. bibliography: K. Prag, in: Levant 23 (1991), 55–66.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]