1. A city of Manasseh, Jos 17:11, four miles south of mount Tabor, near Nain, in the way to Scythopolis, Ps 83:9-10. Here the witch lived whom Saul consulted, 1Sa 28. The pretence of this sorceress that she could call up the spirits of the dead from their repose was evidently false. She was amazed and appalled when the form of Samuel really appeared, sent by God himself to put her to shame, and bring to king Saul his last warning.

fountain of Dor; i.e., "of the age", a place in the territory of Issachar (Jos 17:11) near the scene of the great victory which was gained by Deborah and Barak over Sisera and Jabin (comp. Ps 83:9-10). To Endor, Saul resorted to consult one reputed to be a witch on the eve of his last engagement with the Philistines (1Sa 28:7). It is identified with the modern village of Endur, "a dirty hamlet of some twenty houses, or rather huts, most of them falling to ruin," on the northern slope of Little Hermon, about 7 miles from Jezreel.

("the spring of Dor".) In Issachar, yet Manasseh's possession. Here it was that Sisera and Jabin perished (Ps 83:9-10). Endor is not mentioned in Judges 4 as the scene of the Canaanites' overthrow; but Taanach and Megiddo are mentioned with Endor in Jos 17:11, and in Judges 4 they are represented as the scene of the battle with Sisera's host. Endor being near would naturally be the scene of many "perishing"; an undesigned coincidence between the psalm and the independent history, and so confirming both.

The good omen associated with the place may have lured Saul to his fatal visit to the witch (1Sa 28:7). Endur is still a village on the slope of a mountain to the N. of jebel Duhy, "the little Hermon." Caves abound there, in one of which probably the incantation took place; eight miles, over rugged ground, from the Gilboa heights; so that Saul must have passed the Philistine camp on his way from his own army to the witch, and the way the unhappy king crept round in the darkness may be traced step by step.

En'-dor

City with its towns, possessed by Manasseh though situated in Issachar. It was apparently the scene of the death of Sisera and of Jabin; and it was the residence of the woman with a familiar spirit consulted by Saul. Jos 17:11; 1Sa 28:7; Ps 83:9-10. Identified with Endor, 32 38' N, 35 23' E. The rock on which it stands has many caves, in one of which the witch may have carried on her incantations. From Gilboa it is distant 7 or 8 miles across difficult ground.

En'-dor

(fountain of Dor), a place in the territory of Issachar, and yet possessed by Manasseh.

Jos 17:11

Endor was the scene of the great victory over Sisera and Jabin. It was here that the witch dwelt whom Saul consulted.

1Sa 28:7

it was known to Eusebius, who describes it was a large village four miles south of Tabor. Here to the north of Jebel Duhy the name still lingers. The distance from the slopes of Gilboa to Endor is seven or eight miles, over difficult ground.

ENDOR, a city in the tribe of Manasseh, where the witch resided whom Saul consulted a little before the battle of Gilboa, Jos 17:11; 1Sa 28:13. Mr. Bryant derives Endor from En-Ador, signifying fons pythonis, "the fountain of light," or oracle of the god Ador: which oracle was probably founded by the Canaanites, and had never been totally suppressed. The ancient world had many such oracles; the most famous of which were that of Jupiter-Ammon in Lybia, and that of Delphi in Greece: and in all of them, the answers to those who consulted them were given from the mouth of a female; who, from the priestess of Apollo at Delphi, has generally received the name of Pythia. That many such oracles existed in Canaan, is evident from the number which Saul himself is said to have suppressed; and such a one, with its Pythia, was this at Endor. At these shrines, either as mock oracles, contrived by a crafty and avaricious priesthood, to impose on the credulity and superstition of its followers; or, otherwise, as is more generally supposed, as the real instruments of infernal power, mankind, having altogether departed from the true God, were permitted to be deluded. That, in this case, the real Samuel appeared is plain both from the affright of the woman herself, and from the fulfilment of his prophecy. It was an instance of God's overruling the wickedness of men, to manifest his own supremacy and justice.