En Gedi (Ein Gedi)

עֵין גֶּדִי

Where was biblical En Gedi? At Tel Goren, below the Ein Gedi spring, about 40 km southeast of Jerusalem. I mark it certain.

David and his men hid deep in a cave in these cliffs. Saul, hunting them, walked in alone, and David crept up, cut the corner from his robe, and let him live.

By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker

Site today
Tel Goren, below the Ein Gedi spring
How sure
Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
Other names
En-gedi, Engedi, Hazazon-tamar, Tel Goren, 'Ein Jidi
Location
31.4616° N, 35.3925° E (Google Maps)
En Gedi (Ein Gedi) on the hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel
Ein Gedi on our hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel. Get the full map as a print →

How we know where it was

The name never moved. Ein Gedi means "spring of the kid goat," and the ibex still climb the cliffs above, the Bible's "rocks of the wild goats." It is the only large freshwater oasis on this shore of the Dead Sea, so there was never a real question where it was.

Why did David come here? The landscape answers. Water in one of the driest deserts on earth. Ibex for meat. Shade. And caves all through the cliffs to disappear into. What happened in that cave mattered. Saul came out of it admitting that David would be king. As I see it, the house of David starts here.

The rest of the Bible fits the same oasis. Joshua lists Ein Gedi among the wilderness towns of Judah. The Song of Songs sings of the vineyards of Ein Gedi. Chronicles has an army from Moab and Ammon coming around the sea to "Hazazon Tamar, which is Ein Gedi." And Ezekiel saw a healed Dead Sea with fishermen spreading their nets from Ein Gedi.

Excavators at Tel Goren, the mound below the spring, found a Judean town from late in the days of the Judean kings. Its installations may have served the famous perfume industry. Jews kept living at Ein Gedi for centuries after, and their ancient synagogue is nearby.

Watch: The Hidden Oasis

Filmed at the springs. Reed pens, acacia wood, and the cave where David spared Saul.

Visiting today

The nature reserve has the Nahal David waterfalls, the ibex and the spring trail above Tel Goren, and the ancient synagogue is in the national park next door. I filmed The Hidden Oasis at the springs and cut a reed pen there. Two of the Torah scrolls I have written were written with Ein Gedi reeds.

Read it in the Bible

Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.

See Ein Gedi on the interactive map →

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