Joshua 15:62

The city of Salt. Probably near the valley of Salt ( 2 Samuel 8:13 ; 2 Kings 14:7 ; 1 Chronicles 18:12 ), which must have been near the border of Edom, and in close proximity to the Dead Sea (see note on Joshua 3:16 ). En-gedi. The "fountain of the kid." Here David took refuge from Saul ( 1 Samuel 24:1 ). This place, now Ain Jidy, is situated in "a plain or slope about a mile and a half in extent from north to south". Here the ruins of the ancient city of Hazezon Tamar, or "the felling of the palm trees" ( Genesis 14:7 ), are to be found, a city perhaps "the oldest in the world," may still be seen. "The cluster of camphire" (or rather of henna, the plant with which Oriental women stained their nails—So Joshua 1:14 ) may still be found there, and its perennial torrent dashes still into the Dead Sea. In later times than those of the Old Testament the Essenes planted their headquarters here.