Here also, at the edge of the mountains, is the village of Deir Abân, supposed, by the early Christians, to mark the site of Ebenezer, the boundary of Samuel's pursuit of the Philistines, and of the land held by the Jews at that period. On the north brink of the Vale of Sorek (in which also Delilah lived) there is a conspicuous white chapel on the hill, dedicated to Neby Samit, and close to the village of Zoreah. Confused traditions--which are, however, probably of Christian origin--connect this prophet with Samson, whose name is recognisable in other parts of this district Under the forms Shemshûn, Sanasîn, and 'Aly (as at Gaza), and also a little farther south as Shemsîn and Samat. It appears probable that the tomb now shown at Zoreah, is that known, to the Jews, in the fourteenth century as Samson's; and the tradition, thus traced to other than monkish origin, is very possibly as genuine as that which fixes the tombs of Joseph and Phinehas near Shechem. Here, then, we are in Samson's country, and close to Zoreah we should naturally look for the Rock Etam.
The substitution of B for M is so common (as in Tibneh for Timnah), that the name "'Atâbâ may very properly represent the Hebrew Etam (or "eagle's nestâ); and there are other indications of the identity of the site. It is pre-eminently a "rockâ--a knoll of hard limestone, without a handful of arable soil, standing, above deep ravines, by three small springs. The place is also one which has long been a hiding-place, and the requirements of the Bible story are met in a remarkable way; for the word rendered "top of the Rock Etamâ is in reality "cleftâ or "chasm;â and such a chasm exists here--a long, narrow cavern, such as Samson might well have "gone downâ into, and which bears the suggestive name Hasûta, meaning "refugeâ in Hebrew, but having in modern Arabic no signification at all.
This remarkable "cave of refugeâ is two hundred and fifty feet long, eighteen feet wide, and five to eight feet high; its south-west end is under the centre of the modern village; its north-east extremity, where is a rock shaft, ten feet deep, leading down from the surface of the hill, is within sixty yards of the principal spring.