MAON, MAONITES.1. In Jdg_10:12 the Maonites are mentioned together with the Zidonians and Amalekites as having oppressed Israel. They dwelt in Mt. Seir, south of the Dead Sea. According to 1Ch_4:41 f., the Maonites (called Meunim in this passage) were, in the reign of Hezekiah, driven out of their pasture land by the Simeonites. The passage is interesting as showing how long the original Canaanites held their own in the land after the Israelite invasion. In 2Ch_26:7 they are mentioned as having been overcome by Uzziah (cf. 2Ch_20:1, where Ammonites should probably be Meunim).
2. A different place of the name of Maon is mentioned in Jos_15:55; this was a small town in the hill-country of Judæa. It was in the wilderness of Maon that Nabal dwelt (1Sa_25:2), and in this district David sojourned on two occasions during the period of his outlaw life (1Sa_23:24 ff., 1Sa_25:2 ff.).
W. O. E. Oesterley.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909