Rock of Etam is mentioned as a rock with the cave where
Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
hid after smiting the
Philistines
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...
"hip and thigh with a great slaughter." It was in
Judah but apparently in the low hill country (same place as the town of
Etam) . The rocky hill on which lies the village of
Beit `Atab, near Sur`ah (
Zorah
Zorah ( he, צרעה) or Tzorah (), was a biblical town in the Judaean Foothills. It is identified with the depopulated village of Sar'a. It has been identified with the former village of Sar'a, now often referred to as Tel Tzora.
Location
Zor ...
), was suggested by
Conder to be the "Rock of Etam," by way of a corruption of its name.
[Claude Reignier Conder, ''Tent Work in Palestine'' (vol. 1), London 1879, pp]
273275
/ref> Others suggest that the cavern known as `Arak Isma`in, as described by Hanauer (PEFS, 1886, 25), is to be identified with the "Rock of Etam." The cavern, high up on the northern cliffs of the Wady Isma`in, is a noticeable object from the railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
as the train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...
enters the gorge. ['']International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
The ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' refers to two different versions of a Bible encyclopedia: a 1915 fundamentalist edition, and a 1979–1995 revised evangelical edition.
The first version was published under the general editorship ...
'', 1915 (public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
)
References
{{Samson
Hebrew Bible places
Samson