ENGEDI

Fountain of the kid, 1Sa 24:1,3; called also Hazezon-Tamar, that is, the city of palm-trees, there being great numbers of palm-trees around it, Ge 14:7 2Ch 20:1,2. It stood near the middle of the western shore of the Dead sea, twenty-five or thirty miles south- east of Jerusalem, in the edge of the loftiest part of the wilderness of Judea, a region full of rocks and caverns, 1Sa 23:29 Eze 47:10. See cut in SEA, 3. The heights of En-gedi are fifteen hundred feet above the Dead Sea. At four hundred feet from the sea a fine and copious fountain, still bearing its ancient name, flows down to the sea, watering in its course a fruitful valley and a plain half a mile square, in both of which ruins are found. The mountainside was formerly terraced, and the whole spot was on oasis of fertility, So 1:14.

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Engedi. Engedi
Fountain of the kid, place in the wilderness of Judah (Josh. 15:62), on the western shore of the Dead Sea (Ezek. 47:10), and nearly equidistant from both extremities. To the wilderness near this town David fled for fear of Saul (Josh. 15:62; 1 Sam. 23:29). It was at first called Hazezon-tamar (Gen. 14:7), a city of the Amorites.

The vineyards of Engedi were celebrated in Solomon’s time (Cant. 1:4). It is the modern ‘Ain Jidy. The “fountain” from which it derives its name rises on the mountain side about 600 feet above the sea, and in its rapid descent spreads luxuriance all around it. Along its banks the osher grows abundantly. That shrub is thus described by Porter: “The stem is stout, measuring sometimes nearly a foot in diameter, and the plant grows to the height of 15 feet or more. It has a grayish bark and long oval leaves, which when broken off discharge a milky fluid. The fruit resembles an apple, and hangs in clusters of two or three. When ripe it is of a rich yellow colour, but on being pressed it explodes like a puff-ball. It is chiefly filled with air...This is the so-called ‘apple of Sodom.’” Through Samaria, etc. (See APPLE.)