EN-GEDI (‘spring of the kid’). A place ‘in the wilderness’ in the tribe of Judah ( Joshua 15:62 ), where David for a time was in hiding ( 1 Samuel 23:29; 1 Samuel 24:1 ). Here the Moabites and Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat ( 2 Chronicles 20:2 ). The Shulammite compares her beloved to henna flowers in En-gedi ( Song of Solomon 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 ( Ezekiel 47:10 ). An alternative name is Hazazon-tamar , found in Genesis 14:7 and 2 Chronicles 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.