Abel-Shittim, Hebrew meaning "Meadow of the Acacias", is found only in the Book of Numbers (Num. 33:49); but Ha-Shittim (Hebrew meaning "The Acacias"), evidently the same place, is mentioned in Numbers, Joshua, and Micah(Numbers 25:1, Joshua 2:1; 3:1, Micah 6:5). It was the forty-second encampment of the Israelites, associated with Israelite cultural integration and inter-marriage with the Moabite residents, the heresy of Peor and the Covenant of Peace according to which God recognized the zeal of Phinehas and the permanence of the Aaronic priesthood (Numbers 25:1-14).