Maachah

Maachah (meaning oppression or pressed down) was a small Aramaean kingdom located near Geshur, east of the upper Jordan and northeast of the Sea of Galilee, on the slopes of Mount Hermon. Its inhabitants were called Maachathites. Maachah was among the territories that Joshua was unable to drive out and that therefore remained as Gentile enclaves within Israel's borders (Joshua 13:13). When the Ammonites hired foreign troops against David, they recruited a thousand men from the king of Maachah (2 Samuel 10:6, 8; 1 Chronicles 19:7), but the combined coalition was decisively defeated by Joab.

Maachah is also the name of several people in the Old Testament, most notably a wife of David (2 Samuel 3:3) who was daughter of Talmai king of Geshur and mother of Absalom, and a daughter of Abishalom who became the beloved wife of Rehoboam and mother of King Abijah of Judah (1 Kings 15:2). The geographical kingdom and the personal name share a common Semitic root related to pressure or subjugation.