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Bible Encyclopedias
Etam
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or 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 (;; ). 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 (; ), 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.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Etam'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/e/etam.html.
