Ein Gedi, the oasis where David hid from Saul: reserve, synagogue and visiting

Ein Gedi in the Bible: David, Saul and the cut robe

The story belongs to the age of the Judges and the first kings. David, who had defeated Goliath and married Saul's daughter, has had to flee the court: the king sees him as a rival. Pursued from one hiding place to the next in the wilderness of Judah (1 Samuel 22-23), he reaches the Dead Sea shore.

"And David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at En-gedi."

1 Samuel 23:29 (KJV; 24:1 in Hebrew Bibles)

"The rocks of the wild goats"

Hearing of it, Saul takes three thousand chosen men and seeks David "upon the rocks of the wild goats" (1 Samuel 24:2). The Hebrew word is ya'el, the Nubian ibex, which you still meet on the slopes of the reserve today. The setting of the story, with its cliffs, sheepfolds and caves, fits the Ein Gedi landscape well.

The cave and the cut robe (1 Samuel 24)

Saul goes alone into a cave "to cover his feet", a biblical euphemism for relieving himself, unaware that David and his men are hiding at the back. David's companions see the day when God has delivered the enemy into their hands.

"And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily."

1 Samuel 24:4 (KJV)

David immediately regrets it and holds back his men: he will not raise his hand against "the Lord's anointed" (24:6). Outside the cave he shows Saul the piece of cloth, proof that he could have killed him. The king weeps and admits: "I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand" (24:20). The two men part, and David and his men go up "unto the hold" (24:22).

Other mentions of En-gedi

• Joshua 15:62: En-gedi is one of the six wilderness towns allotted to the tribe of Judah, alongside "the city of Salt".
• 2 Chronicles 20:2: a coalition from across the Dead Sea camps "in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi", before being defeated in the reign of Jehoshaphat.
• Song of Songs 1:14: "My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi." The word rendered "camphire" (kopher) is usually understood as henna; the "vineyards" evoke the oasis plantations.
• Ezekiel 47:10: in the vision of the river flowing from the Temple and healing the Dead Sea, "the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim". The prophet chooses the oasis as a symbol of life beside a sea without fish.

Ein Gedi Nature Reserve: Nahal David, Nahal Arugot and ibex

Declared a nature reserve at the end of 1971, the Ein Gedi reserve covers about 14,000 dunams (1,400 hectares) between the Judean Desert plateau and the Dead Sea. Four perennial springs (David, Shulamit, Ein Gedi and Arugot) feed two canyons, Nahal David (Wadi David) and Nahal Arugot (Wadi Arugot), where acacia, Christ's thorn jujube, Euphrates poplar and Sodom apple grow.

Nahal David and David's Waterfall

This is the best-known route: a trail climbs the canyon from pool to pool to David's Waterfall. A wheelchair-accessible section leads to the first pool. Higher up, more demanding trails reach the Shulamit spring, the so-called Lovers' Cave (Dodim), the Ein Gedi spring and the Chalcolithic temple. The stream's name recalls 1 Samuel 24; it is a modern name, not an established location.

Nahal Arugot

Further south, Nahal Arugot is longer, wilder and more physical. Its trail follows a perennial stream between high walls towards pools and a so-called "hidden" waterfall. The INPA describes it as a route for fit hikers, with an earlier last-entry time than the rest of the reserve.

Ibex and hyraxes

Nubian ibex roam the slopes and trail edges; rock hyraxes, small stocky mammals, bask on the boulders. Both already appear together in a single verse of the Bible:

"The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies."

Psalm 104:18 (KJV)

Archaeology of Ein Gedi: from the Chalcolithic temple to Tel Goren

Plentiful water drew people here long before David. The excavations of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Exploration Society, directed by Benjamin Mazar from 1961 to 1965, and later those of Yizhar Hirschfeld on the Roman and Byzantine village (1996-2002), have traced more than five thousand years of history.

The Chalcolithic temple (c. 3500 BC)

On a terrace above the Ein Gedi spring, a stone enclosure wall surrounds a courtyard, a long main building and a smaller annex. Spotted in 1956 by Yohanan Aharoni, sounded in 1957 by Joseph Naveh and excavated in 1962 under Mazar's direction, with David Ussishkin in the field, this Ghassulian building dates to about 3500 BC. No contemporary village has been found nearby: it probably served as a regional sanctuary for semi-nomadic groups. Ussishkin suggested linking it to the famous Nahal Mishmar copper hoard, found in 1961 in a cave further south; the idea is still debated.

Tel Goren and the En-gedi of the kings of Judah

The first known permanent village was built on Tel Goren, a mound near the springs, late in the monarchy: around the middle or second half of the 7th century BC (some evidence points to the late 8th century). Mazar found installations with jars and basins that he linked to a craft industry, perhaps the production of balsam perfume. No village remains go back to the time attributed to David. That does not contradict 1 Samuel, which describes a refuge in the wilderness, not a town.

From the Persian period to Byzantium

• c. 3500 BC — Chalcolithic temple above the Ein Gedi spring.
• 7th–6th century BC — Judahite village on Tel Goren, until the Babylonian conquest.
• Persian and Hellenistic periods — renewed settlement; Hasmonean citadel on Tel Goren.
• 1st century AD — Pliny the Elder praises "Engada" for its palm groves. According to Josephus, the Sicarii holding Masada raided Ein Gedi at Passover and killed more than seven hundred women and children (Jewish War 4.402-404).
• 132-135 — during the Bar Kokhba revolt, letters found in the caves of Nahal Hever are addressed to the commanders of Ein Gedi.
• Early 4th century — Eusebius of Caesarea describes it as "a very large village of Jews".
• 6th–7th century — the Byzantine village and its synagogue are destroyed by fire.

Ein Gedi's wealth came from dates and above all from balsam, a shrub that yielded a very costly perfume and medicine, grown only in a few oases of the region such as Jericho.

The Ein Gedi synagogue and "the secret of the town"

Found by chance in the kibbutz fields in the 1960s, the Ein Gedi synagogue was excavated in the early 1970s by Dan Barag, Yosef Porat and Ehud Netzer. First built as a modest hall in the 3rd century, it was enlarged several times, with a niche for the Torah ark and rows of pillars. It was destroyed by fire: in the 6th century according to several authors, perhaps under Justinian, or in the early 7th century according to others.

The bird mosaic

The prayer hall floor is covered by a geometric mosaic. At its centre a medallion shows four birds, with peacocks and other birds in the corners. There are no human figures, unlike some other synagogues of the same period.

The inscription that curses the traitor

In the western aisle, a long panel in Hebrew and Aramaic opens with a list: the ancestors of humanity from Adam to Japheth, the signs of the zodiac, the twelve months, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, Daniel's three companions. Other lines thank donors. A final section contains a curse unique in ancient Jewish epigraphy. It targets anyone who causes a quarrel between a man and his neighbour, slanders his friend to the gentiles, steals his friend's property or reveals "the secret of the town":

"He whose eyes range over the whole earth and who sees what is hidden, he will set his face against that man and against his seed, and will uproot him from under the sun. And all the people said: Amen, amen, selah."

Ein Gedi synagogue inscription (translation based on published editions)

No one knows for sure what the secret was. The most widely accepted explanation, proposed by the Talmud scholar Saul Lieberman, is the know-how of growing balsam or making its perfume, the source of local wealth. Other readings remain possible. Several sources state that the original panel is now displayed in Jerusalem, at the Israel Antiquities Authority's National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel.

The En-Gedi scroll, read without being unrolled

In 1970 the excavators found a completely charred scroll near the ark, impossible to open. In 2015-2016 a University of Kentucky team (Brent Seales), working with the Israel Antiquities Authority, "unwrapped" it virtually from a CT scan: it contains the opening verses of Leviticus, in a text identical to the Masoretic text. Its date is debated: 3rd-4th century AD by radiocarbon, earlier on the basis of the handwriting.

Visiting Ein Gedi today

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Three entrances, one ticket

The INPA divides the reserve into three areas: Nahal David, Nahal Arugot and the antiquities park (the synagogue). The two trails must be booked separately online; a ticket for one area gives same-day entry to the others. The synagogue can be visited without booking, with its own ticket if you come only for it. It is reached along paved paths and sheltered under a large white canopy.

Kibbutz Ein Gedi

Founded in 1953 by Nahal pioneers, the kibbutz maintains a botanical garden of about 100 dunams, with homes set among hundreds of plant species. It also offers accommodation. The reserve is about 1 km to the north along Route 90.

Can you swim in the Dead Sea at Ein Gedi?

As a rule, no. The rapid retreat of the Dead Sea has opened hundreds of sinkholes, sudden collapses of the ground. The Ein Gedi public beach has been closed for years, and the kibbutz's former spa no longer takes bathers according to available information. To swim, visitors usually go to the managed beaches of Ein Bokek, about thirty kilometres further south. Never step off marked access routes near the shore.

Around Ein Gedi

Ein Gedi combines easily with the other sites on the western shore: Masada, about twenty kilometres south; Qumran and its scroll caves, further north; and, south of the Dead Sea, the Mount Sodom landscapes linked to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.