E'tam, The rock,
a cliff or lofty rock, into a cleft or chasm of which Samson retired after his slaughter of the Philistines.
This natural stronghold was in the tribe of Judah; and near it, probably at its foot, were Lehi and Ramath-lehi and Enhakkore.
The name Etam was held by a city in the neighborhood of Bethlehem,
which is known to have been situated in the extremely uneven and broken country round the modern Urtas.
He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam. Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi.
Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" And he said to them, "As they did to me, so I have done to them."
When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands.
When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.
But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out of it. When he drank, his strength returned and he revived. Therefore he named it En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.
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