SALIM , near to which was Ænon ( John 3:23 ), lay on the west of Jordan (cf. John 1:28; John 3:26; John 10:40 ). Ænon is placed by the Onomasticon eight Roman miles south of Scythopolis ( Beisân ), ‘near to Salim and Jordan.’ This points to the neighbourhood of the ruin Umm el-‘Amdân , with Tell er-Ridhghah on the north, where the tomb of Sheik Selîm probably preserves the ancient name. Ænon , ‘place of springs,’ we may find in the seven copious fountains near by. In Christ’s time the district belonged probably to Scythopolis, not to Samaria. The difficulties of other suggested identifications can be got over only by doing violence to the text (Cheyne, EBi [Note: Encyclopædia Biblica.] , s.v. ), or to the sense.
W. Ewing.