Etam

E′tam, a town in the tribe of Judah, which was decorated by Solomon with gardens and streams of water, and fortified by Rehoboam along with Bethlehem and Tekoa (1Ch 4:3; 1Ch 4:32; 2Ch 11:6). From this place, according to the Rabbins, water was carried by an aqueduct to Jerusalem. Dr. Robinson inclines to find Etam at a place about a mile and a half south of Bethlehem, where there is a ruined village called Urtas, at the bottom of a pleasant valley of the same name. Here there are traces of ancient ruins, and also a fountain, sending forth a copious supply of fine water, which forms a beautiful purling rill along the bottom of the valley. It is usually supposed that ’the rock Etam,’ to which Samson withdrew (Jdg 15:8; Jdg 15:11), was near the town of the same name. Urtas seems too far inland for this; there is, however, a little to the east, the Frank mountain, which (this consideration apart) would have furnished just such a retreat as the hero seems to have found.

A town in Judah near Bethlehem and Tekoa; a favorite resort of Solomon, and fortified by Rehoboam, 1Ch 4:3,32 2Ch 11:6 . Its supposed site is now occupied by a ruined village balled Urtas, a mile and a half southwest of Bethlehem, not far Solomon’s Pools. "The rock Etam" to which Samson withdrew, Jdg 15:8-19, may have been in this vicinity, perhaps the Frank mountain two miles east.\par

E’tam. (lair of wild beasts).

1. A village of the tribe of Simeon, specified only in the list in 1Ch 4:32. Compare Jos 19:7.

2. A place in Judah, fortified and garrisoned by Rehoboam. 2Ch 11:6. Here, according to the statements of Josephus and the Talmudists, were the sources of the water from which Solomon’s gardens. and the pleasure-grounds were fed, and Bethlehem and the Temple supplied.

1. A village in the S. of Simeon (1Ch 4:32).

2. In Judah, garrisoned by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:6); near Bethlehem and Tekoah. Etam was one of Judah’s descendants (1Ch 4:3).

3. ETAM THE ROCK. Now Beit ’Arab, a steep, stony, bore knoll, standing amidst the winding, narrow valleys, without a blade of grain on its sides, but olive groves at its feet and three abundant springs. This answers to Etam, which was large enough for 3,000 men of Judah to go up to its top. It is not far from Manoah’s patrimony from whence Samson "went down" to it. Lower than Eshu’a (Eshtaol) toward the S., yet conspicuous from more than one side (Courier). Into a cleft of it Samson retired after slaying the Philistines for burning the Timnite woman who was to have been his wife (Jdg 15:8; Jdg 15:11-19). In Judah, with Lehi or En-hak-kore at its foot.

Probably near the city Etam (2): distant enough from Tinmath to seem a safe retreat for Samson from the Philistines’ revenge, yet not too far for them to reach in searching after him; The many springs and rocky eminences round Urtas seem the likely site where to find the rock of Etam and the En-hak-kore. Conder identifying Etam with Beit ’Atab says that Etam, meaning in Hebrew "cleft," answers to the singular rock tunnel, roughly hewn in the stone, and running from the midst of the village eastward to the chief spring. This cavern, which is called "the place of refuge," is 250 ft. long, and from 5 to 8 ft. high, and 18 ft. wide.

Here Samson could hide without any one lighting, except by accident, on the entrance of the tunnel. Its lowness compared with the main ridge of the watershed accounts for the "came down." Josephus (Ant. 8:7, sec. 3) mentions an Etham 50 furlongs from Jerusalem, where were the sources from which Solomon’s pleasure grounds were watered, and Bethlehem and the temple supplied. Williams (Holy City, 2:500) says there is a wady Etam still on the way from Jerusalem to Hebron. A spring exists a few hundred yards S.E. of El-Burak (Solomon’s Pools) called Ain Atan, answering to the Hebrew for Etam (Tyrwhitt Drake, Palestine Exploration)

(Hebrew Eytam’, עֵיטָם, eyrie, i.e., place of ravenous birds; Sept. Ητάμ in Judges, Αἰτάμ in 1Ch 4:3, elsewhere Αἰτάν; Josephus Αἰτάν in Ant. 5:8, 8, ᾿Ηταμέ in Ant. 8:10, 1, ῎Ηθαμ in Ant. 8:7 7, 3; Vulg. Etam), the name apparently of two places in Palestine.

1. A village (הָצֵר) of the tribe of Simeon, specified only in the list in 1Ch 4:32 (comp. Jos 19:7); but that it is intentionally introduced appears from the fact that the number of places is summed as five, though in the parallel list as four. Near this place (hence its name, q.d. eagle’s nest) was probably situated a "rock" (סֶלִע, πέτρα, silex) or clif, into a cleft or chasm (סְעַיŠ, A.V. "top") of which Samson retired after his slaughter of the Philistines, in revenge for their burning the Timnite woman who was to have been his wife (Jdg 15:8; Jdg 15:11). This natural stronghold (πέτρα δ᾿ ἐστὶν ὀχυρά, Josephus, Ant. 5:8, 8) was in the territory usually assigned to the tribe of Judab yet not far from the Philistine border; and near it, probably at its foot, was Lehi or Ramath-lehi, and Enhak-kore (15:9, 14, 17, 19). As Van de Velde has, with great probability, identified Lehi with Lekiyeh, on the edge of the Philistine plain S.E. of Gaza (Narrative, 2:141), he is probably also right in locating this Etam at tell Khewefeh, a little north of it (Memoir, page 311), in the immediate vicinity of tell Hua or En-hakkore (q.v.). Schwarz’s location of Etam at Khudna (he says Gutna, i.e., Utma, Palest. page 124) is without support.

2. A city in the tribe of Judah, fortified and garrisoned by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:6). From its position in this list we may conclude that it was near Bethlehem and Tekoah; and in accordance with this is the mention of the name among the ten cities which the Sept. insert in the text of Jos 15:60, "Thecoe and Ephratha, which is Bethleem, Phagor and Etan (Αἰτάν)," etc. Here, according to the statements of the Talmudists, were the sources of the water from in which Solomon’s gardens and pleasure-grounds were fed, and Bethlehem and the Temple supplied. (See Lightfoot, on Joh 5:1-47) Hence we may perhaps infer that the site was identical with that of Solomon’s Pools at El-Buruk, near Bethlehem (see Schwarz, Palaest. page 268). SEE JERUSALEM; SEE WATER. Josephus (Ant. 8:7, 3) places it at fifty stadia (in some copies sixty) from Jerusalem (southward), and alleges that Solomon was in the habit of taking a morning drive to this favored spot in his chariot. It is thus probable that this weas the site of one of Solomon’s houses of pleasure, where he made him gardens and orchards, and pools of water (Ecc 2:5-6). The same name occurs in the lists of Judah’s descendants (1Ch 4:3), but probably referring to the same place, Bethlehem being mentioned in the following verse. SEE JEZREEL

3. Dr. Robinson (Researches, 1:515; 2:168) inclines to find Etam at a place about a mile and a half south of Bethlehem, where there is a ruined village called Urtas, at the bottom of a pleasant valley of the same name. Here there are traces of ancient ruins, and also a fountain, sending forth a copious supply of fine water, which forms a beautiful purling rill along the bottom of the valley. This location is in accordance with all the foregoing notices, and is adjacent to Solomon’s Pools (Thomson, Land and Book, 2:431). Williams (Holy City, 2:500) fully accredits the above Rabbinical account, and also states that the old name is perpetuated in a wady Etam, which is on the way to Hebron from Jerusalem, and that there are still connected with it the largest and most luxuriant gardens to be met with in the hilly region of Judaea.

Eternal is in general the rendering in the A.V. of the Hebrews עוֹלָםolam’, and the Greek αἰών or αἰώνιος (both frequently "everlasting," "ever," etc.), besides occasionally of קֶדֶם, ke’demn (strictly early, of yore, referring to the past, Deu 33:27, elsewhere "ancient," ’’of old," etc.), and ἀϊvδιος (Rom 1:20; "everlasting," Jud 1:6), which is kindred in etymology and import with αἰώνιος. Both עוֹלָםand αἰών are properly represented by "eternal," inasmuch as they usually refer to indefinite time past as well as fetusre. The former is from the root עָלִם, to hide, and thus strictly designates the occult time of the past, q.d. "time out of mind," or time immemorial (Psalm 129:24; Jer 6:16; Jer 18:15; Job 22:15; Amo 9:11; Deu 32:7; Pro 22:28; Psa 24:7; Psa 143:3; Eze 26:20), but not necessarily remote antiquity (Psa 139:24; Job 22:15; Jer 6:16; Jer 18:15; Dan 9:24; and especially. Isa 58:12; Isa 61:4). Prospsetively it denotes an indefinite time to come, forever, i.e., relatively, e.g. to an individual life (Deu 15:17, Exo 21:6; 1Sa 27:12, etc.), that of a race (1Sa 2:20; 1Sa 13:12; 2Sa 7:16; 1Ch 17:12, etc.), or of the present constitution of the universe (Ecc 1:4; Psa 104:5; Psa 78:69, etc.); or absolutely (Gen 17:7-8; Exo 12:14; Jer 51:39; Ecc 12:5, etc.). Yet that the nature of the subject is to apply the only limitation is shown by the fact that while the term is used of God in the widest sense, both of the past and future (Gen 21:33; Isa 40:28; Dan 12:7), it is also employed hyperbolically or poetically of a "good long period" (Isa 30:14-15), especially in salutations and invocations (1Ki 1:31; Neh 2:3). In all these significations and applications it is often used in the plural (עוֹלָמַים), whether past (Isa 51:9; Dan 9:24; Ecc 1:10) or future (Psa 61:5; Psa 77:6, etc.), and this sometimes in a reduplicated form, like "ages of ages" (αἰῶνες). Peculiar is the Rabbinical usage (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 1620) for the world (so Greek αἰών), but only in Ecc 3:11. — Gesenius’s and Fürst’s Hebrews Lex. s.v.; Hommel, De vi vocis עוֹלָם (Wittemb. 1795).

The Greek term αἰών remarkably corresponds to the Hebrew עוֹלָםin nearly all these senses, and is its usual rendering in the Sept. It is derived from ἄω, ἀϊvω, to breathe, or directly from the adverb αέί (originally αἰεί), always (itself an old dative from an obsolete noun αί῝ός or αἴον =Lat. aevum, probably derived from ἄω, and the same in root with the English ever, and also, perhaps, aye), with the locative termination ών appended to the root. The adjective αἰώνιος, with which we are here more directly concerned, follows most of the shades of meaning and appropriations of the primitive. Its general import is enduring, perpetual. In the N.T. it is spoken of the past in a restricted manner, in the sense of ancient or primeval (Rom 16:25; 2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2); or of the past and future absolutely (Rom 16:26; Heb 9:14); elsewhere of the future, in an unlimited sense, endless (2Co 4:18; 2Co 5:1; Luk 16:9; Heb 13:20; Heb 9:12; Rev 14:6; 1Ti 6:16; Phm 1:15), as of the prospect of Christ’s kingdom (2Pe 1:11), but especially of the happy future of the saints in heaven (particularly in the phrase "life everlasting," Mat 19:16; Mat 19:29; Mat 25:46, and often), or the miserable fate of the wicked in hell (e.g. as punishment, Mat 25:46; condemnation, Mar 3:29; judgment, Heb 6:2; destruction, 2Th 1:9, or fire, Mat 18:8; Mat 25:41; Jud 1:7). — Robinson, Lex. of the N.T. s.v.; Leavitt, in the Christian Month. Spect. 9:617; Goodwin, in the Chris. Examiner, 9:20; 10:34, 166; 12:97, 169; Stuart, in the Spirit of the Pilgrims, 2:405; Cremer, Worterbuch d. N.T. Gracitat, page 46.

Etam (ç’tam), the Rock. The place of Samson’s retreat after the slaughter of the Philistines. Jdg 15:8; Jdg 15:11. Conder locates it at Beit ʾAtâb, a little north of Eshuʾa (Eshtaol), which he thinks fully meets all the requisites of the case. It has clefts, caves, and a rock tunnel which would so effectually conceal one that those not acquainted with the place might not find him, nor even the entrance to the tunnel, except by accident.

[E’tam]

1. Village of the tribe of Simeon. 1Ch 4:32.

2. City of Judah, fortified by Rehoboam. 2Ch 11:6. Identified with ruins at Aitun, 31° 30’ N, 34° 55’ E.

3. A descendant of Judah. 1Ch 4:3. The meaning is doubtful; some MSS read ’sons of Etam;’ and others, ’sons of the father of Etam;’ it may refer to the ’founder’ of the above city, No. 2.

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By: Emil G. Hirsch, M. Seligsohn

1. Village of the tribe of Simeon (I Chron. iv. 32), not found in the parallel list of localities in Joshua.

2. Place in Judah, near Bethlehem, fortified and garrisoned by Rehoboam (II Chron. xi. 6).

3. A rock, also in Judah, to which Samson retired after the slaughter of the Philistines (Judges xv. 8, 11), and near which place was the fountain En-hakkore. It is mentioned in the Talmud (Zeb. 54b) as "the fountain of Etam" (), the mostelevated place in Palestine. Josephus ("Ant." viii. 7, § 3) places this fountain sixty stadia south of Jerusalem, and mentions that the water was brought to that city by means of aqueducts, the remains of which were still visible in his time. A village called "Etam" occurs in the Mishnah (Yeb. xii. 7), and is, perhaps, identical in site with the fountain of that name (see Robinson, "Biblical Researches," i. 515, ii. 168).

4. In I Chron. iv. 3 "Etam" may be either a person or a place; if the latter, it must be identical with the Etam of Judah.

ETAM.—An altogether obscure place name, applied to a rock in a cleft of which Samson took refuge (Jdg 15:8), whence he was dislodged by the Judahites (v. 11), and therefore presumably in Judahite territory (cf. 1Ch 4:3). Also applied to a village in the tribe of Simeon (1Ch 4:32), and a town fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:6). Whether there are here one or two or three places, and where it or they were, are unanswered questions.

R. A. S. Macalister.

ē´tam עיטם, ‛ēṭam; Codex Alexandrinus, Απάν, Apán, Codex Vaticanus, Αἰτάν, Aitán):

(1) Mentioned in Septuagint along with Tekoa, Bethlehem and Phagor (Jos 15:59). In 2Ch 11:6 it occurs, between Bethlehem and Tekoa, as one of the cities built “for defense in Judah” by Rehoboam. Josephus writes that “there was a certain place, about 50 furlongs distant from Jerusalem which is called Ethan, very pleasant it is in fine gardens and abounding in rivulets of water; whither he (Solomon) used to go out in the morning” (Ant., VIII, vii, 3). Mention of ‛Ain ‛Aitān, which is described as the most elevated place in Palestine, occurs in the Talmud (Z^ebhāḥı̄m 54b), and in the Jer. Talmud (Yōmā) 3 fol 41) it is mentioned that a conduit ran from ‛Atān to the Temple.

The evidence all points to ‛Ain ‛Atān, the lowest of the springs supplying the aqueduct running to Solomon’s pools. The gardens of Solomon may very well - by tradition, at any rate - have been in the fertile valley below ‛Urtas. The site of the ancient town Etam is rather to be looked for on an isolated hill, with ancient remains, a little to the East of ‛Ain ‛Atān. 1Ch 4:3 may also have reference to this Etam.

(2) A town assigned to Simeon (1Ch 4:32). Mentioned with EN-RIMMON (which see), identified by Conder with Khurbet ‛Aiṭūn in the hills Northwest of Beersheba.

(3) The rock of Etam, where Samson took up his dwelling after smiting the Philistines “hip and thigh with a great slaughter” (Jdg 15:8, Jdg 15:11), was in Judah but apparently in the low hill country (same place) . The rocky hill on which lies the village of Beit ‛Atab, near Sur‛ah (Zorah), was suggested by Conder, but unless (3) is really identical width (1), which is quite possible, the cavern known as ‛Arak Isma‛in, described by Hanauer (PEFS, 1886, 25), suits the requirements of the story better. The cavern, high up on the northern cliffs of the Wady Isma‛in, is a noticeable object from the railway as the train enters the gorge.