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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: En-Gedi
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EN-GEDI (‘spring of the kid’).—A place ‘in the wilderness’ in the tribe of Judah (Jos_15:62), where David for a time was in hiding (1Sa_23:29; 1Sa_24:1). Here the Moabites and Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat (2Ch_20:2). The Shulammite compares her beloved to henna flowers in En-gedi (Son_1:14); and in Ezekiel’s idealistic vision of the healing of the Dead Sea waters, a picture is drawn of fishers here spreading their nets (Eze_47:10). An alternative name is Hazazon-tamar, found in Gen_14:7 and 2Ch_20:2. There is no doubt of the identification of En-gedi with ‘Ain Jidy, a spring of warm water that breaks out 330 ft. above the level of the Dead Sea, about the middle of its W. side. It once was cultivated, but is now given over to a wild semi-tropical vegetation.
R. A. S. Macalister.