Mattanah

Mattanah ("gift") was a station on Israel's wilderness itinerary as they crossed the Arnon and approached the Promised Land from the south. The Numbers 21:18-19 itinerary reads: "from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the region of Moab, by the top of Pisgah which looks down on the desert." This brief sequence covers the final approach from the Arnon up to the heights of Pisgah opposite the Promised Land — passing through the well at Beer where Israel sang the Song of the Well, then on through Mattanah and Nahaliel. The site of Mattanah is uncertain; it has been identified with Khirbet el-Medeiyineh in central Moab, somewhere between the Arnon and the heights of Abarim.