MAON, MAONITES. 1. In Judges 10:12 the Maonites are mentioned together with the Zidonians and Amalekites as having oppressed Israel. They dwelt in Mt. Seir, south of the Dead Sea. According to 1 Chronicles 4:41 f., the Maonites (called Meunim in this passage) were, in the reign of Hezekiah, driven out of their pasture land by the Simeonites. The passage is interesting as showing how long the original Canaanites held their own in the land after the Israelite invasion. In 2 Chronicles 26:7 they are mentioned as having been overcome by Uzziah (cf. 2 Chronicles 20:1 , where ‘Ammonites’ should probably be ‘Meunim’).
2. A different place of the name of Maon is mentioned in Joshua 15:55; this was a small town in the hill-country of Judæa. It was in the ‘wilderness’ of Maon that Nabal dwelt ( 1 Samuel 25:2 ), and in this district David sojourned on two occasions during the period of his outlaw life ( 1Sa 23:24 ff., 1 Samuel 25:2 ff.).
W. O. E. Oesterley.
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