Etam (Hastings' Dictionary)

It is uncertain whether there may not have been two places so called in Judah. The to\vn Etam (1 Ch i'-^') was in Simeon, near Kimmon. It may be the place fortified by Rehoboam (2 Ch 11"), though there noticed with Bethlehem and Tekoa. The Rock Etam (Jg 15'- ") was Samson's refuge, and had in it a peculiar 'fissure' (I'y?) or 'cavern' (AV 'top'). In the Talm. an Etam near Bethlehem is noticed (see Neubauer, G^og. Talm. s.v.) These may represent three distinct sites. 1.

Etam of Simeon is very clearly the ruin 'Ait tin near Rimmon of Simeon, on the hUls N.W. of Beer- sheba. SWP vol. iii. sheet xxiv. 2. Etam near Bethlehem is represented by the present 'Ain 'A tan, at the so-called Pools of Solomon (Rom. reservoirs connected with Pilate's aqueduct to Jerus. ), the traditional site of the ' sealed fountain ' (Ca 4'*), identified by the Rabbis with Nephtoah. SiVP vol. iii. sheet xvii. 3.

The Rock Etam is an undefined site, but may have been near Samson's home at Zorah. There is a remarkable rocky hill to the E., on which the village Beit 'At&h now stands, nnder which is a curious cavern in the rock. The change of B for M is not uncommon (cf. TiMNAH), and this is a possible site for Samson's refuge. SWP vol. iii. sheet xvii. LiTKKATtTRE.— Besides the above, see Robinson, BRF^ L 477 ; Guirin, Jvid)e, iii. 117 f.. 303; Baedeker-Socin, Pal.^ 134 f.; Schick, ZDPV i. 162f.

; PEFSt, 1875, 12 ; 1876, 176 ; 1878, 116 ; 1881, 43, 323 ; Conder, Tent- Work, L 276 ff. ; Moore, Judges, 342 ff. C. R. Conder. ETHAM (DciK, LXX 'Oedfi, Ex 13> ; Bovedw, Nu 33«- '. The Coptic has nrfduij.. Ex 13^ [Wilkins], and epovSai. [Wilkins], epovBav [Sah. Ciasca]. LXX and Cop. omit Ethara in Nu 33').— The station at which the Israelites arrived after leaving Succoth. It is described (Ex 13-'", Nu 33) as being 'on the edge of the wilderness.' This wilderness (called W.

of Etham, Nu 33«, and W. of Shur, Ex 15") was traversed by the Israelites after crossing the sea. It must therefore be east of the Isthmus of Suez, and Etham would be on its W. edge. If on leaving Egypt the Israelites went along Wady TumUat [see ExoDtrs (Route of), § i.], tliey would make for the broad tract of dry ground to the N. of Lake Timsali, and the position of Etham would be where their route crossed the EgyP- frontier, i.e. in the neighbourhood of the modern Ismailia.

Naville places Etham here, but explains the word as designating the land of Atuma, which is mentioned in the papyrus Anastasi vi. The land of Atuma there mentioned is generally supposed to be the land of Edom. See Piuahiroth and the Litera- ture under Exodus (Route of), § ii. [Brugsch's ' Exodus and the Egyptian Monuments ' may lio read in English in vol. li. of the translation (1879) of his E<]tfpt tt-ndcr tke Pharaohs, or in New Ed. (1891, in' one vol.) p. 318ff.] A. T. CHAPMAN.