Atad

Atad was a threshing floor near the Jordan River where the Egyptians mourned Jacob's death.

Atad, also known as Abel-mizraim, was a threshing floor located east of the Jordan River. It was named in the Bible as the place where the funeral procession of Israel (or 'Jacob'), led by his son Joseph, stopped to mourn on their way from Egypt to Hebron (Genesis 50:10-11). The name Abel-mizraim means "mourning of the Egyptians," referring to the seven-day period of lamentation observed by the Egyptians accompanying Joseph. The threshing floor of Atad was likely a prominent landmark in the region, suitable for a large gathering. Its location east of the Jordan suggests that it was in the territory later allotted to the tribes of Reuben or Gad.

Buckthorn, a place where Joseph and his brethren, when on their way from Egypt to Hebron with the remains of their father Jacob, made for seven days a “great and very sore lamentation.” On this account the Canaanites called it “Abel-mizraim” (Gen. 50:10, 11). It was probably near Hebron. The word is rendered “bramble” in Judg. 9:14, 15, and “thorns” in Ps. 58:9.