Derived from a rather rare Hebrew verb meaning "squeeze/press," (the verb appears only 3x in the OT), Maacah was a rather common name for both men and women in the OT (it is also a place-name). At least 4 different persons of this name (mostly with no details about them) may be identified; they are, in the chronological order:
1. One of the offsprings (sex not indicated) of Nahor's (Abraham's brother) concubine, Reumah (Gen 22:24). Nothing is known about him.
2. Caleb's concubine, who bore him two sons (1 Chron 2:48).
3. Sister of Makir the "father of Gilead" (1 Chron 7:14).
4. Makir's wife, who bore him a son, Peresh (1 Chron 7:16).
5. Wife of Jeiel (the "father of Gibeon") who bore him six sons (1 Chron 8:30; 9:35), one of whom was Saul's grand-father, Ner.
6. The daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur, and one of David's wives, with whom she bore Absalom (2 Sam 3:3; 1 Chron 3:2).
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7 & 8. The father of Hanan, one of David's "mighty men" (1 Chron 11:43) and the father of Shephatiah, one of the officers appointed in David's administration over the Simeonites (1 Chron 27:16).
9. King of Gath and father of Achish at the time of Solomon's reign (1 Ki 2:39).
10. Daughter of Absalom (son of David) who married Rehoboam (2 Chron 11:20); "Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines" (v21). She became the mother of Abijah.
11. Wife of Abijah and mother of Asa, a woman of idolatrous inclination. In characterizing Asa as God-fearing, the author of Kings reported that Asa was prepared even to remove his mother ("grandmother" in NIV) as the queen-mother (1 Ki 15:13).
NB: There is some uncertainty about the last two ladies in the list. One way of interpretating the data is to posit only one Maacah, the wife of Rehoboam, and that the woman deposed as queen-mother was Asa's grandmother (as the NIV has it, 2 Chron 15:16). The other reading suggests two consecutive queen-mothers, one the wife of Rehoboam and the other the wife of his son Abijah ("daughter of Uriel of Gibeah" 2 Chron 13:2) who, therefore, would be (contra NIV) Asa's mother.
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