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Bible Encyclopedias
En-Dor
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Heb. Eyn-Dor', עֵן דּוֹר , fountain of Dor, i.e., of the age, 1 Samuel 28:7, Sept. Ε᾿νδώρ v.r. Ἀενδώρ; but defectively עֵן דֹּר in Joshua 17:11, Sept. Δώρ, v.r. Ε᾿νδώρ ; and ρ 0 αΔ 9 ᾿οι in Psalms 83:10 [11], Sept. Ἀενδώρ; Josephus ῎Ενδωρον᾿, Ant. 6:14, 2), a place which, with its "daughter-towns" (בָּנוֹת ), was in the territory of Issachar, and yet possessed by Manasseh (Joshua 17:11). This was the case with five other places which lay partly in Asher, partly in Issachar, and seem to have formed a kind of district of their own, called "the three, or the triple Nepheth" (q.v.). The Israelites were unable to expel the Canaanites from it until a late period. Endor was long held in memory by the Jewish people as connected with the great victory of Deborah and Barak over Sisera and Jabins. Taanach, Megiddo, and the torrent Kishon all witnessed the discomfiture of the huge host, but it was emphatically to Endor that the tradition of the death of the two chiefs attached itself (Psalms 83:9-10). Possibly it was some recollection of this, some fame of sanctity or good omen in Endor, which drew the unhappy Saul thither (see Thomson, Land and Book, 2:161) on the eve of his last engagement with an enemy no less hateful and no less destructive than the Midianites (1 Samuel 28:7). Endor is not again mentioned in the Scriptures; but it was known to Eisebius and Jerome, who describe it (by the same name, Ἀενδώρ and Ε᾿νδώρ, AEndor and Endor) as a large village in the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, 4 miles S. of Tabor (Onomast. s.v. Ἀηνδώρ, AEndor), near Nain and Scythopolis (ib. s.v. ᾿Ηνδώρ, Endor). It was recognized during the Crusades (Brocardus, c. 6, page 176; Marin. Sanut. page 248), but was then partially lost sight of till the 17th century (Doubdan, page 580; Nau, page 632; Maundrell, Apr. 19). On the bleak northern slope of Jebel Duhy (the "Little Hermon" of travelers) the name still lingers, attached to a considerable but now deserted village (Burckhardt, Trav. page 342; Robinson, Res. 3:218; Schwarz, Palest. page 149). The rock of the mountain, on the slope of which Endur stands, is hollowed into caves, one of which, containing a little fountain, the entrance narrow, between rugged rocks, and partly covered with a fig-tree, may well have been the scene of the incantation of the witch (Van de Velde, Narrative, 2:383). The distance from the slopes of Gilboa to Endor is 7 or 8 miles, over difficult ground (Porter, Handb. 2:358).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'En-Dor'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/e/en-dor.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
